Can “The Way It Used To Be” Work?
SCSCS Is Testing That Theory
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While
many of you were preoccupied with Talladega weekend-before-last, this race fan
spent Saturday evening at Dominion Raceway in Thornburg, Va., just south of
Fredericksburg and a little north of Richmond, right next to I-95. On offer was
an intriguing program featuring three traveling series: the Super Cup Stock Car Series, the USAC
Speed2 Eastern Midgets, and the Southern Ground Pounders vintage cars, plus two
weekly divisions: Modifieds and Dominion
Racers. Nearly 250 laps of feature racing was scheduled, but a surprise rain
storm sent us home after just over half the show. Still, it was a good night.
Here’s Dominion Raceway from the air and from
the infield as the SCSCS feature took the green flag.
Dominion
is a first-class facility, built three years ago to replace the late, much
lamented Old Dominion Speedway in Manassas, which fell victim to the relentless
need for more suburban housing. I’m sure some Old Dominion regular competitors
and fans don’t like the location - about an hour south of the old track - but
it’s closer for others and more accessible for just about everyone. I really
hope the place succeeds, because it could be a model for the sport’s future.
My
main reason for attending was the Super Cup series (SCSCS), a group born out of
what used to be the Hooters/USAR/Pro-Cup series and supported by drivers and
teams who wanted to have competitive racing without prohibitive costs,
especially expenses caused by constant rule-changing. Over a decade after it
started, SCSCS is still plugging along, hardly a major force in pavement racing
(10 races this year at six tracks in Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia,
Tennessee and Ohio), but true to its roots. (In part, the schedule also reflects
the desire to limit travel costs.)
Ex-ARCA Bob Schacht holds off ex-Pro Cup Allen Purkhiser on a restart.
The
result is an interesting mix of racers: long-time NASCAR competitors Brad
Teague (now age 70!) and Mike Potter, ex-ARCA veterans Bob Schacht and A.J. Henrikson, and Todd Peck, who was at Dominion before a
scheduled truck ride at Dover. Various other backgrounds were there, plus a
two-car team of 61-year-old Larry Berg and his 19-year-old granddaughter,
Samantha Rohrbaugh.
Samantha Rohrbaugh
signs autographs for fans prior to the race’s start. In her first SCSCS start, Rohrbaugh moved smartly up to 9th place but spun
during a tight, three-car battle for position and ended in 11th, and
she brought the car home in one piece.
The
cars included some former Xfinity and ARCA machines, ex-Pro Cup vehicles and
who-knows what else - one entrant had a stock Corvette V8 in his Chevy, which
he gassed up at the Sunoco across I-95 from the track.
What
makes it all work is a balancing act that tries to tweak the various cars to
keep competition even without making anybody sell the ranch to change a car.
That’s gotten the SCSCS a longer lifespan than many smaller series.
Bob
Schacht won the first of two scheduled 50-lap features - the other fell victim
to the rain - and although he clearly had the best car, the top five stayed
pretty closely bunched. The race’s “talking point” saw Schacht take second from
J.J. Pack, who spun; there was clearly a difference of opinion between the
principles in the incident about contact/no contact.
Schacht and Purkhiser
put a lap on Ron Langdon (17) while battling for the lead.
So
what does this small, low-buck racing group that runs at weekly tracks and
didn’t draw a packed house for its appearance at Dominion have to do with
mighty NASCAR? Well, I think NASCAR might well benefit from bending a little
bit in the SCSCS’s direction, simplifying rules and cutting costs to keep more
racers and teams in the sport and to make it more affordable to everybody.
For
me, it would be more enjoyable, too.
Frank’s
Loose Lug Nuts
An
online article last week from Forbes
Magazine painted one of the most dismal pictures I’ve yet to read about
NASCAR’s declining popularity. The attendance and TV ratings numbers were
deeply depressing, and the conclusion was that, despite the requisite corporate
smiles, nobody in Daytona seems to have a clue as to how you turn around this
train before the track runs out.
How many more grandstands will have to be
removed before it looks like Cup races are being run in front of capacity
crowds again?
Stage
racing got a harsh evaluation, with which I tend to agree. Despite relentless
forced excitement by TV and radio commentators, I just don’t hear fans saying
anything good about that innovation. Old fans hate it, and new fans don’t seem
to care.
NASCAR
has to start by slashing costs, maybe even going back to racing something
actually based on stock cars. That’s where the SCSCS’s approach to minimalist
rules-making might come in handy. It also would keep the sport going after the
last multi-million dollar sponsor has left the building.
It’s
just depressing, because we love this sport and don’t want to see Cup racing go
down the drain, which could happen. Unfortunately, nobody seems to have any
faith in the current Daytona brain trust being able to save the day.
Back when it seemed NASCAR could do no wrong,
North Wilkesboro was closed because it was too small and didn’t deliver the
right demographics for sponsors. When the next track closes, the reasons might
be different.
Oh,
well, there are other forms of racing, which are fun, competitive and a lot
cheaper for everyone involved. But I’ve seen some great racing at Richmond,
Charlotte, Martinsville - and a lot of places that no longer run Cup or even
exist - and not having that option would be sad.