Rain on the Firecracker 400 ~ No Surprise
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I bid
you welcome gentle readers and our usual warm greeting goes out to our assigned
reader of all things NASCAR on this warm but iffy day in the hills of North
Georgia. For the few that live under rocks somewhere, the last race was sort of
just that… the last Firecracker 400 at Daytona International Speedway.
Tradition? We don’t need no steenkin’ tradition! I do
believe that’s pretty much what they told us when ripping the Southern 500 out
of Darlington and following the direction of “Go West!” It took them YEARS to
figure out that it belonged right where it started… and that the track in
Fontana never needed a second race, and a good case could be made for the first
one as well.
Apparently
this is more about the track in Indy… the big one, not the Lucas Oil short
track across town. Racing on that track has become the biggest Riches to Rags
story in the history of stock car racing. Sure, there was a lot of hype
surrounding the track, which dates back to 1909. We’ve seen and read all about
the racing history in which the track is steeped. Thousands of books have been
written about the Indianapolis 500 and the pomp and circumstance that accompany
it yearly. It only took us about half of the 25 years we’ve gone there to
figure out that none of that is OUR history! It’s all about Open Wheel racing,
and the truth, cold and hard as it might be, is that the huge platter-flat
track produces horrible results when confronted by cars that weigh better than
a ton-and-a-half.
Anyway,
that’s where our noble warriors will race come next 4th of July,
while Daytona moves to late August and becomes the final race of the “Regular
season.” (You all know I hate that term. A season, to me, is 36 races, and he
who gets the most points wins!) It’s scorching hot in both places and on both
dates. I seriously doubt holding the Indy race on the Independence Day holiday…
or closest weekend to it, will encourage any noticeable swell in track
attendance, and will do nothing to entice folks at home to tune in for some of
the worst racing on any circuit. It’s no one’s fault. The track is just too
dang flat for the behemoths we race to corner well… or at all in some cases.
It’s
only Tuesday as I begin to set thoughts on the computer screen, and already the
racing news has presented untold articles and mentions of the ending… or lack
of one in the last Daytona Firecracker. We have a new winner in the Cup Series
and he drives for a first-year team. According to too many of you, that isn’t
supposed to happen. Well, it did and I thought it was very special. I’ve
watched Justin Haley race in the lesser series, and at a couple of road
courses. He’s a dedicated youngster and a darn good driver. If indeed someone
must shoulder blame for the strange ending to the race, pile it all on NASCAR. They
have broad shoulders and can handle all you bring. Weather had been iffy at
best, the entire race. NASCAR should have considered the summer weather
patterns on the Florida Peninsula before moving the Firecracker from a
reasonable morning start at 10:00 or 11:00 AM to a night race.
Big
Bill knew what he was doing. His descendants, not so much.
The
Firecracker started life as a 250-mile race in 1959, but a few years later, in
1963 it went to 400-miles. It ran on the 4th of July through 1987,
then fell prey to the long-weekend wishes of the spoiled fans. The move to Saturday
night was inspired in 1998, when forest fires precluded anyone going to Florida
in July. The race was postponed and ran on Saturday night, October 17, 1998. It
was the first race under the lights at Daytona. No rain fell… because it was
October! In July, rain is almost a guarantee from mid-afternoon to late
evening.
NASCAR
fans are never at a loss for words, especially when there is anything they
think it’s fair to complain about. Admittedly, the latter part of the race was
strange at best, but it really wasn’t NASCAR’s fault and it certainly wasn’t
Justin Haley’s fault… or his crew chief’s either. Here’s what went down…
Austin
Dillon was in the lead, which was being threatened by Clint Bowyer in a faster
car. We’ve all seen that movie a thousand times or more. Two vehicles cannot
occupy the same space, especially when traveling at speeds of circa 200 miles
per hour. Bowyer moves to pass on the low side. Dillon says he’ll have none of
that; drives directly to the bottom lane and across, through or over Bowyer’s
car in the bargain. Being that it’s Daytona, two cars seldom if ever wreck
alone, so predictably, we had the “Big One.” It took some time to clean up the
mess and remove the carcasses from the track, so after 15 miles of pace-car
speed, at lap 126 NASCAR gave the “One to go” signal.
Leader
Kurt Busch and others hit the pits, but not everyone followed them. The first
in line then became Justin Haley, whose crew chief took a gamble on threatening
weather and won. Well before the next lap, there was a lightning strike that
could be seen from the track and on TV. It was real, and NASCAR has crystal
clear ways to handle lightning in the area… stemming from the death of a fan at
Pocono some years ago. They failed to clear the track and grandstands in a “timely
fashion” and paid mega-bucks to the survivors of the person killed, even though
at the time he was standing right at his car in the parking lot. Most sports
have a policy of stopping play at the appearance of lightning… because people
of sound thinking know that it can and often does kill folks. After a
conversation with someone at the Weather Service, I learned there is no set
time for a sporting event to wait after a strike. Some wait 10, 15 or 30
minutes before returning to play. NASCAR dictates the 30-minute wait, so we at
home were treated to reruns of the pre-race stuff we’d seen earlier. With the
30 minutes almost done, there is another flash of lightning. On the heels
of that most unwelcome sight, the heavens opened and the rain came down. The
2.5-mile track was lost almost at once and the decision was made to call the
race 33 laps short of full distance.
Apparently
many folks weren’t too happy about all that. Certainly Kurt Busch was
understandably upset, having been told the race was restarting, only to emerge
from the pits with a full tank of gas and nowhere to go. It was back to the
pits and there the race ended. Your winner was and is Justin Haley. For anyone worried
about your stupid playoffs, Justin is not eligible for Cup points, so keep
pulling for your guy, but for goodness sake, don’t hold it against the
youngster. The leader at race’s end is the winner. He and his Spire Motorsports
team were legally entered in the race and whatever finishing position they
might attain goes in the record books as official. That position just happened
to be first. I don’t think you can make any sort of convincing argument why
Justin should NOT be the winner… and messing up your Fantasy picks doesn’t
qualify as a reason!
Congratulations
Justin!
Time
now for our Classic Country Closeout and I found another collection of hits
from the 1950s. Someone was nice enough to add the titles and artists, which
didn’t come with it in the beginning. He got most, and I filled in what he
missed. There’s some really good stuff on this one, and a couple of clunkers, I
guess to keep folks on their toes. Please enjoy at your leisure…
Be well gentle readers, and remember to keep smiling.
It looks so good on you!
~PattyKay 