Leaving Daytona and Looking Forward to Atlanta
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It is with heavy
hearts that Race Fans Forever bids a collective adieu to one of the greatest
artists of our time or any other time. Sam Bass, NASCAR’s first “Official
Artist”, was called Home to the Lord on February 16, 2019.
Sam was my friend.
That says it all.
Rest in peace beautiful soul. I hope you can see now how very much you are
missed by so many.
I bid
you welcome gentle readers, and our usual cordial ‘Howdy” to our assigned
reader of all things NASCAR on this cold, soggy and dreary day in the North
Georgia hills. I’m pretty sure everyone reading this knows that the Daytona 500
was run last Sunday… and was even finished by a few… eventually. 21 Warriors
were already in the garage or the scrap heap, while 19 actually “finished” the
race, though only 14 of those were on the lead lap. Typical restrictor plate
carnage otherwise known as idiocy! I truly wish all those that claim to “love”
that sort of non-racing could be billed for the damage sustained in every “Big
One”. That would serve to cool the ardor in a heartbeat. Denny Hamlin was the
first survivor, but as was pointed out to me, didn’t get the gala trip to New
York City that has been part of the prize for many years. I haven’t a clue on
that one.
Your
scribe realizes that you are all anxiously awaiting the dawn of this year’s
latest and greatest “new package”, which is almost promised to cure all of the
ills NASCAR currently suffers. Yeah, right! It won’t, and when it doesn’t,
we’ll be told that there is still “tweaking” to be done, which is NASCAR speak
for “we don’t really care what you think. We like it!” I’ve already addressed
the great “tapered spacer” debate and other word games in an
article from last October so I won’t bore you with all that another
time. Feel free to refresh your memory before moving forward.
Before
we leave Daytona behind, there is one part of SpeedWeeks that I’d like to
address in clear and unwavering terms.
The
Thursday night Twin 150s or Dual Duels have outlived any reason to exist. Not
only are they poorly attended, but they have been rendered pointless by the
Charter System. That destructive little idea guarantees 36 cars a spot in the
field, or to be more precise, 36 sponsors. Starting fields have been lowered to
40 cars for the Cup series. Entered in this year’s race were 42 cars, so six
were not guaranteed to race. Among them, two got a spot on their Sunday
qualifying time. That means that we ran 2 full races, always with the
possibility of major destruction to some or many beautiful pieces of racing machinery,
to place the final two back markers of the four cars remaining. That is
ludicrous!
Here’s
a novel idea NASCAR. Run the Cup qualifying on Thursday evening instead of the
previous Sunday… you know, like every other race. The slowest two cars would
have gone home and no one was forced to run an extra, meaningless demolition
derby. Believe me when I say that those dual races are not looked upon with
adoration by car owners. As a fan, I’ve grown extremely weary of waiting for
the wrecks while praying they don’t happen, in races that are no longer
relevant to the sport. They cannot legitimately abide with the Charter System.
It takes away their reason for existence. Now, if the Charter System were to be
revoked, then the races could remain and set the entire field, as they used to
do. Honestly, if given my “druthers”, I’d be more than happy to keep the dual races
and ditch the guaranteed spots in the Great American Race, or anywhere else for
that matter.
If we
look ahead to Atlanta, there are only 37 cars on the entry list. No one will go
home, so why even bother to put them on the track to qualify? Ping-pong ball
roulette is just as effective. Fans don’t come to qualifying anymore. The
Charters have made placement pretty much useless. Just cut a day off the
schedule and set them by points or luck of the draw. That would save the teams
some of that money everyone is saying we’re trying to spend less of.
And
speaking of Atlanta, or in this case, North Georgia, we are at this moment
being treated to a thunder storm… in FEBRUARY! It’s Tuesday afternoon as I
type, but like everyone else hereabouts, I’ve checked the forecast for this
weekend and the word “bleak” come to mind…
It is
now Wednesday morning and the forecast has changed. There is hope for a race on
Sunday. No promises for Friday or Saturday, but Sunday looks to be clear and
Monday as well. Of course, this is the time of year when the forecast can
change every ten-minutes or so. Atlanta is already down to a single race date
and scheduling that one remaining race in February reeks of planned
obsolescence. Why can’t NASCAR schedule that Western Swing of Las Vegas, ISM
(Phoenix) and Auto Club… and maybe Texas while they’re out there, then come
back to Atlanta and Martinsville? It’s still not really warm in March, but more
doable than February. Methinks they might just want shed of us!
I’ll
close this week with a tribute to Sam Bass,
written, I believe by his wife Denise. Godspeed Sam!
Our
Classic Country Closeout this week is a single song and one of my all-time
favorites done by my absolutely favorite singer. Here then, for Sam, is “Peace
in the Valley” by Red Foley. At times YouTube amazes me. Following that
beautiful song they are presenting a wonderful collection of Red’s hymns… the
perfect send-off for a dear friend.
One
last thought… nominations for the NASCAR Hall of Fame will be coming up soon.
I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking that Sam Bass is more than deserving of a
spot in that Hall for all the love and beauty he has created for this sport.
His talent stands alone and unchallenged, and he did more than many could
imagine for NASCAR and so many of the drivers in it, both past and present. To
all my Twitter tweeps, let’s get this trending! #NominateSamBass!
Be well gentle readers, and remember to keep smiling.
It looks so good on you!
~PattyKay