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More Chase, Baby!
11/15/2016 David Nance |
On October, 20 2016, Frank
Buhrman posted an interesting article entitled "Frank Likes the Chase...Kind Of". As expected,
his well-reasoned article created some rather lively discussions among the
readership. In it, Frank proposed a
challenge of sorts when he stated,
"We also can take baby steps to continue tweaking
the Chase, but I’m not ready to return to crowning the Cup champ with three
races to go in the season, and I kind of like the winner-take-all feeling at
Homestead."
Though he never identified
what kind of baby steps he felt were needed, I thought I would offer my two
cents worth on the topic even though, for the record, I think it’s safe to say
that I’m a’gin it (as they say around these parts).
I won’t repeat my reasons for
my opposition here as they can be viewed in part in the comment section on
Frank’s article and besides, the purpose here isn’t to rehash those
discussions, but to focus on the baby steps for improving the methodology.
But as Frank describes in his
challenge, the current Chase system does prevent crowning a champ with three
races to go, forcing it to go to the final race. In other sports such as baseball, a team
sweeping the World Series in four games used to be viewed as a mark of
greatness. But in our auto racing series
crowning a champion with races remaining is viewed as boring and something that
must be avoided like the plague or maybe more accurately avoided like a Joe
Gibbs Racing Toyota leading the pack at a Talladega Chase race.
The result - the Chase.
What never gets mentioned
however, is while addressing that concern and producing artificial excitement,
that same Chase also robs us of any chance to have more than four drivers
competing for the championship in the final race, like we had when six drivers
started the 1992 Hooters 500 in Atlanta with a chance to win the Cup. Now that was a championship race!
Sorry, I digress.
But after a dozen years and
multiple missed opportunities to rid the sport of this contrivance to crown a
champ, it's pretty obvious to even the staunchest opponents that the Chase is
not going away anytime soon. And sadly,
after a few more years of it we will have an entire segment of fans who will
know no other way to crown a Cup Champion than through this contrivance.
So with the Sanctioning
Body’s commitment to this methodology, baby steps of possible improvements are
probably the only hope we have. And for
those who are in the a’gin it crowd, that is
unfortunately, little to no hope at all.
But with all that said, what
baby steps can be taken to put lipstick on this hog called the Chase (no
disrespect meant to pigs) and make this a bit more attractive? When you
consider the politics, economics, prides and egos involved, I’m not even sure
baby steps are a realistic possibility, but for this exercise we’ll assume they
are. So what baby steps can we take?
All that said, I believe
there is little hope for modifying the Chase itself. To quote Mike Helton, “It is what it is” and
I believe the Sanctioning Body is quite pleased with its efforts and its
resulting product. After umpteen tweaks
and versions over the last dozen years there is little left to mess with. They have reached the pinnacle and I think
any modifications to the present methodology would be a move down. There, I
said it… and you have no idea how difficult that was for me to do.
But given the fact that as
long as the current regime is in place, this is what we have. We can like it if we want (I don’t and
seriously doubt I ever will) but they really don’t care if we do and make no
bones about it.
To me, the only area you can
realistically monkey with for now is when the Chase is run and what races are
included in it. I believe that once you
get past the contrivance issue, the Competition Caution Championship if you
will, the Chase’s only chance to build interest, excitement and momentum is it
must start earlier in the sports calendar with Bristol, not Richmond being the
cutoff race. Why? The reason is
three-fold.
First, to increase interest,
the Chase has to start before the beginning of the NFL season, NFL fantasy
football draft, and the growing sports force - college football. Race fans, more often than not, are also fans
of these other sports. So it is critical
to get them hooked into the Chase, get them vested in it before these competing
interests come on-line. By moving the
cutoff up earlier in the season, the Chase has a much better chance accomplish
that.
Second, Show of hands
...Which track would you rather see multiple drivers digging to make the cutoff
for the Chase-Bristol or Richmond? ISC
employees and current or former Richmond employees are not allowed to
vote. Good. It's unanimous. Bristol it is.
Third, the lineup for the
three races in the first Chase segment now becomes Michigan, Darlington,
Richmond which I think most fans would agree is a much more attractive lineup
than the current Chase kickoff of Chicagoland (ugh), New Hampshire (double ugh)
and Dover.
Currently, having the first
Chase race in Chicagoland sucks any and all excitement out of racing that may
have been created at the cutoff race at Richmond. It defeats the purpose and talk about a
letdown!
The new lineup of Michigan,
Darlington and Richmond builds on the excitement created at Bristol by offering
an intriguing variety of tracks for the first elimination round (don’t you just
love that term? Every time I hear it I can’t help but think of a laxative
commercial or the aftermath of a hot dog eating competition).
The two miles in the Irish
Hills, the Lady in Black and back to the short track at Richmond for the first
Chase Elimination Race. Diverse. Interesting.
And not a cookie-cutter track among them. Interested? Now comes the tough part.
How to accomplish this? I see three ways – maybe you see more.
1) Shorten the
season three races by removing three Current Chase races.
The only way this is going to
happen in the current environment is it’s going to have to start forming some
very serious ice in very hot places and I’m talking about a place hotter than
Talladega in July. Highly unlikely but
an option all the same.
2) Move three
of the current Chase races out of the Chase into the regular season. Which races
need to come out is open to later discussion.
Or,
3) Expand the Chase by adding an additional round. The Chase now
becomes 20 Chasers - 13 races, which should elate all the Chase fans.
Personally, I like option
1. The season is too long. It has been too long for a long time. Fans, even diehard fans face race fatigue
over the course of a thirty six race season, and once they burn out and stop
viewing, it takes a major change to get them back and rebuild that
momentum. And that’s our long term
fans. We lose the new ones long before
that. That’s why at the end of August
everyone is ready for football instead of the Chase. Shortening the season
would minimize that.
Think about it, if the season
was shortened as described, we would be long since done now. We reach our crescendo, we crown our Cup
Winner and get out before the NFL season heats up, before CFB playoffs shape up
and Major League baseball crowns its champion.
In this scenario, our sport
doesn't get lost in the clutter and noise of competing sports. At one time that wasn't important as we were
big enough to withstand it – but things have changed and unfortunately now we
can’t. Now, the Chase just gets buried
in the shuffle known as sports entertainment.
But with the millions and
millions of dollars involved and contract obligations there is no way such a
choice would be made. And it’s hardly a
baby step. But it’s out there because I
believe it would improve the Chase.
Now Option 2, which involves
moving three current Chase races out of the Chase and into the regular season,
offers all the advantages of Option 1 except it intensifies the burnout
factor.
Once you start at Daytona,
there would be no breaks and that’s definitely a downer. But this option gets us out of the clutter by
shifting the Chase to an earlier and more favorable time on the sports calendar
while maintaining the current incoming money flow to NASCAR, teams and
tracks. I think it would help the Chase,
but the grind created would be hellish.
Option 3 of adding another
round to the Chase would be the path of least resistance and based on recent
decisions, I can see the one most likely adopted by the Sanctioning Body. The expansion changes the Chase dynamics
some, which would likely offend some Chase purist and would no doubt drive even
more of the a’gin it group away from the sport.
But such a move would move
the cutoff race to a more favorable track, would move the Chase start to a less
congested time in the sports calendar as well, without intensifying the
grind. Such a switch would provide a
much more exciting first three races to build interest and momentum for the
Chase and hopefully that could be sustained as we enter the lineup of dregs
found in the new Second Elimination Round.
As a fan who is in the a’gin
it group, it pains me deeply to write such words, because the next to
last thing I want to see is more Chase.
But no matter your feelings on the subject, if you take Frank’s
challenge to improve the Chase, Chase expansion has to be a baby step
consideration.
So there, that’s about the
only baby steps I see available to improve the Chase. If you have other thoughts please share,
because even though I’m a’gin it, I am interested in possibilities to improve
the sport – or see what shade of lipstick might look best on this little
piggy.
As I close, and as I think
about the current state of the sport, I can’t help but go back to that April 8th,
2000 Saturday Night Live sketch with Christopher Walken
as music producer The Bruce
Dickinson, Will Ferrell as cowbell player Gene Frenkle
with group Blue Oyster Cult recording the band’s biggest hit “(Don’t Fear) The
Reaper”.
Known as “More Cowbell”, the
skit features producer The Bruce
Dickinson’s solution to improving the bands “dynamite sound” is to repeatedly
insist on something that is out of place and they already have too much of to
begin with… More Cowbell.
I couldn’t help replay the
skit in my mind and think of how aptly it describes NASCAR today. Instead of Blue Oyster Cult, who are just
trying to record their song in as pure a manner as possible, they were fans who
want their champion determined in a simple, pure way.
Of course, Mike Helton would
have to be the cowbell playing Gene Frenkle. And The
Bruce Dickinson would be none other than our very own The Brian Z. France, and the mantra is no longer “More Cowbell” but
“More Chase, Baby”.
With this in mind, play the
skit in your mind again and see if it’s not applicable to today’s NASCAR. If you don’t remember it, click
here to refresh your memory.
As you cue it up, think a
stick and ball application offensively inserted in a place where it doesn’t
belong, like a cowbell in this rock and roll classic. The man in charge’s idea
of how to make things better is to demand more of what is wrong. And the insistence to push the Chase into
other series, is no different than The
Bruce Dickinson’s charge for Frenkle to “really
explore the studio space this time”.
When Frenkle
made his impassioned speech to the band, I could see Helton addressing the
fans…
Helton: “I’m standing here,
staring at racing legend, Brian Z. France.”
France: “The cock of the
walk, baby!”
Helton: “And if Brian Z. France wants more Chase, we
should probably give him more Chase!”
France: “Say it, baby!”
Helton: “But the last time I
checked we don’t have a whole lot of
series that feature the Chase.”
France: “I gotta have more Chase, baby!”
Helton: “… And I’d be doing myself a disservice and
every member of the NASCAR nation if I didn’t push the Hell out of this!”
France: “Guess what?
I got a fever! And the only prescription… is more Chase, baby!”
And as the band/fans relent
and accept the cowbell/Chase, the fans accept or for the love of their music
accept France’s closing promise -
France: “Babies… before we’re done here… y’all be
wearing gold-plated diapers.”
If you’re confused and ask
what does that mean, you’ll be told…
France: “Never question
Brian Z. France! Roll it!”
One, two, three, four…
The Chase has been in place
now a dozen years or so. The Sanctioning
Body views it as the way to improve racing like a cowbell improves a song. And as the Chase has now moved into other
series, it’s the prescription for our leader’s fever.
Although I thoroughly despise
the way the Sanctioning Body crowns the Cup winner, over the last six weeks
this fan has freely given the Sanctioning Body all the cowbell it might
want.
In this article, I’ve
admitted that the format is probably as good as it gets. But like a colonoscopy, just because the
format for it is good, doesn’t mean that I enjoy it. Even so, this fan has offered alternatives in
scheduling to maximize any positive impacts that it might actually
produce.
In earlier articles, this fan
outlined ways to “Chase-ify” everything about the
sport, from using “20-20” as a “Chase for the Race” to set each race’s starting
grid, to applying the beloved Chase methodology to determine individual race
winners in the “Chase for the Checkers” (which for reasons I have yet to
understand, though it uses nearly identical methodology, Chase for the Cup fans
aren’t so eager to embrace the Chase format for individual races… go figure).
With all this, I think Mike
Helton now has all the cowbell he needs to freely bounce around, with his
cowbell, I mean Chase, exploring the entire studio known as the NASCAR series.
The Sanctioning Body can
“Chase” everything it wants, it’s leader can demand “More Chase” as a way to
improve things but only time will tell if these actions will “Chase” fans back
to seats in the stands and back to their couches in front of their TV sets on
race day.
And that, race fans is the
most important “Chase” of all.
Till then, I’m waiting for my
gold-plated diaper, baby!
Race on!
And “More Cowbell, baby!”
[Editorial comment: If we started the Chase at
Daytona in February, we could have a 36-race Chase. Definitely worth a try!]