Let’s Think Speed Bumps, Mixed Surfaces, and (Gasp!) Intentional Contact
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(This
is being written before Sunday, when the Charlotte Roval race was scheduled to
run, with the assumptions that it WAS run and that it didn’t forever end discussion
of the need for variety in NASCAR tracks.)
Somehow,
I always come back to Curtis Turner’s half-century-old suggestion to put a
speed bump on the backstretch at Charlotte to make the races more interesting.
God bless Pops.
With
Curtis in mind, and with the 2019 Roval race in the rear-view mirror, take a
look at this:
Now
let’s talk about how many Cup races this season (or in recent years) weren’t as
much fun to watch as that clip. I could start a fan club for the Batmobile car.
So if Charlotte could create the Roval, why can’t other current Cup tracks –
mainly the less-than-highly-anticipated mile-and-a-halfs
– make some changes to both race format and track to create more variety and
possibly build back interest in Cup/Xfinity/Gander racing?
If you watched the
Perris video, you know that the Batmobile didn’t look much like this by the end
of the race.
Obviously,
we need a couple of dirt tracks, and maybe even one with a mixed surface, which
is common in European racing and used to be seen at least occasionally here.
You could have paved straights and clay turns, which would be wild. “Democross” (or “Demo Cross”), as the Perris race on the
YouTube video was called, is a term that covers all kinds of mixed action
racing, even mixed surfaces. Our example is one part demo derby, one part
enduro, and one part obstacle course. There’s another example on video that has
jumps.
This isn’t much more
than one of Curtis Turner’s speed bumps, but a little elevation change livens
up a race, dontcha think?
“Aaahhh,” you say, “but you’re tearing up those cars, and
Cup racing already is too expensive.”
True,
but if the cars were MUCH cheaper, you could tear them up and
still spend much less. (You wouldn’t even have to worry about eliminating pit
stops, which is the latest really stupid idea some executive genius is
floating. Let’s get one thing straight: the excess in NASCAR today is the cost
of the race car and engine, and until that terrible problem is addressed,
nothing else matters.)
“Aaahhh,” you say, “but back in your ‘good old days,’ most
races were on half-mile dirt tracks, and nobody complained then about same-ness
in NASCAR venues.
True,
but that was BEFORE TV brought the whole schedule to every fan.
In those days, few fans saw more than a handful of races – those closest to
home – so it didn’t really matter what the others looked like.
West Capital Speedway
in California was packed on this day 64 years ago, in part because fans
couldn’t watch these races on TV every weekend
Speaking
of TV, did you notice how poorly TV did at covering the Perris race – even
though that broadcast followed the leader much less than networks and NASCAR.
That’s because there were things going on all over the track at the same time,
which makes a race much more fun to watch in person than when all the effort
goes into creating constant battles for the lead to watch on TV. I will repeat
myself and say that the effort to ensure battles for the lead has actually made
racing LESS INTERESTING to watch in person, because there are only a
couple of focal points on the track at a given time – an arrangement that makes
for better TV. That wasn’t the case decades ago.
“Aaahhh,” you say, “but in your ‘good old days,’ the crowds
were smaller; racing wasn’t as popular then as it is now.”
True,
but many of those fans from the NASCAR’s-the-new-big-thing days are gone
forever, pursuing whatever next-big-things have come since, and the sport has
yet to find its stable fan base, which might turn out to be closer to the “good
old days” than 2005. Sad but true.
So
let’s cut to the chase. Here’s a quickly devised suggestion of a 36-race
schedule that would provide diversity AND show which drivers can do it
all:
TWO
races on 2-1/2 - mile superspeedways (that’s right – just two)
TWO
races on a 2 - mile superspeedway
FIVE
races on 1-1/2 - mile superspeedways (under rules making them more
interesting than at present)
ONE
race at Darlington
FOUR
races on 1 - mile speedways
TWO
races on ¾ - mile speedways (because Richmond can be awesome under different
rules)
SIX
races on ½ mile or 5/8 - mile speedways
THREE
races on paved road courses
ONE
ROVAL race
ONE
race on a dirt road course
FIVE
races on ½ to ¾ mile dirt tracks
TWO
biathlon or triathlon races (a portion or a 1-mile or larger track; a portion
on a short track, asphalt or dirt, and maybe a portion on a road course)
TWO
novelty races (mixed surface, obstacle course, and/or “full contact”)
Now
you can have all the fun you want asking, “But what about
Indianapolis/Talladega/Kansas/etc.,” but note that more than one-third of the
events above are on venues that don’t currently exist on the circuit, so some
of those dates could go to existing tracks that create new facilities to host
the events.
Oh,
and the cars are MUCH cheaper with ONE set of rules for all
tracks (possibly with the exception of adding rock screens for dirt).
Here’s
one last bonus: If you make the cars really cheap – and here I’m talking
today’s safety features on cars from more than half a century back – not only
can you build and potentially wreck more of them for less than the current
exorbitant cost, but you can be more serious about the rules.
My
scenario in that perfect world: Eric
Jones’ car fails post-race inspection and is disqualified. A large car crusher
is rolled out from the infield to the start-finish line, and the #20 is dropped
in. Can you hear the cheering?
Maybe next time you
guys will pay more attention to the rules
Frank’s
Loose Lug Nuts
In
the discussion of possibly eliminating pit stops in Xfinity and Gander races,
Adam Stern mentioned that teams were looking at cutting costs as a way to
improve their business models. I have this feeling that the number of local,
grassroots racing teams that have ever mentioned the words “business model” in
conjunction with their operations or the sport in general is pretty tiny.
I
also have a feeling that the entire “eliminating pit stops” discussion is an
example of the charter system moving NASCAR closer and closer to the “business
model” we remember as CART, and we all remember how well that turned out.
Here’s
my idea of the right “business model” for this sport. In IMCA/RaceSaver sprint
car racing, there’s a guy named Larry McVay from
Bordentown, N.J. This year he seems headed for a fourth-place finish in points
with the Mid-Atlantic Sprint Series, which races in Jersey, Delaware and
Eastern Pennsylvania, but he also finished tenth in points with the Central
Pennsylvania-based PA Sprint Series. Some of the PASS races are more than three
hours from his home.
On
Labor Day weekend, he splurged and traveled to a Laurel Highlands Sprint Series
race at the Bedford Fairgrounds Speedway, farther west in Pennsylvania (nearly
four hours from home), and he won. The quickest way for him to reach all of
these tracks is via the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which will cost you a tire and a
couple of cans of fuel in tolls.
Larry McVay in victory lane at Bedford Fairgrounds Speedway
He
does all this driving a pickup truck and hauling his car on an open trailer. He
has a second car in which his daughter Marie has started her racing career this
year.
I
don’t think his team is planning an IPO anytime soon, but he’d likely accept
some sponsorships.
He
owns his own car, and I admire him every bit as much as any car owner in the
NASCAR/Cup world.