Powered by Twitter Tools

Powered by Twitter Tools

Powered by Twitter Tools

On reflection, it’s a wonder that any racing reporting is “balanced”. Winston provided free cigarettes in the press box and they routinely gave away other items. When they announced the No Bull 5 events, each reporter got a nice cap. I have a long sleeve Winston sweatshirt, and a very nice Winston Gore-Tex rain jacket. Slim Jims were freely available in the media center as were other sponsors’ products. You could walk to any transporter and they generally had some of their sponsor’s products available.

And while the reporters were sitting in the infield media center before race day eating and smoking, each drivers PR person was delivering press releases so the reporters wouldn’t actually have to, you know, go out and talk to the drivers. A few of the old school reporters would go in search of stories, but most of those post-race and post-qualifying driver quotes you read come from those press releases.  The drivers are taken to the infield media center after qualifying and to the press box after winning a race for a question and answer session, and those answers are typed up by the track’s PR person for use by all reporters.

I guess what I’m saying is that reporters covering racing are not quite like reporters covering news events. Maybe they were in the old days, but the modern day race reporter can barely be bothered to get off his butt and go seek out a story. Of course, there are exceptions, but I think for the most part race reporters could probably do their jobs from their own home.

YOU GOT TO KNOW WHEN TO HOLD ‘EM: If I hear one more gambling cliche from the broadcast booth, I’m going to explode. It’s just as bad when they come to Nashville with the music cliches (actually, NASCAR hasn’t had a race in Nashville in over 10 years; they call the super speedway located in Gladeville “Nashville Superspeedway”; I just hope the city is getting some licensing fees for that).

THE ANTHEM, AGAIN: I guess the singer of the National Anthem before the Cup race did a good job, but if I didn’t know the words already, I’m not sure I would have understood her. Again, the Anthem is not a “showcase” song. Just sing it like it was written.

WINNING ISN’T EVERYTHING: The Cup Series has a tie for first between Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch. Neither driver has won a race. Of the three drivers who have won Cup races, only one is in the top 12 in points. A Grand National regular has yet to win a race in that series so no one with points in that series has a win. The same is true for the Truck Series.

DOUBLE SECRET PROBATION: Robbie Gordon is on “probation”, supposedly for an altercation he had in the garage area with Kevin Conway. Seems that Gordon provided Conway (and his sponsor) with a car to drive last year, and has the gall to expect them to pay for it. And Conway has the gall to expect to be paid for winning “rookie of the year” while he was driving for Gordon. Lawsuits abound. I’m not sure what the deal is with Conway; he seems to have a sponsor in his pocket and can buy rides coming and going, but not enough talent to get the job done.

TV RATINGS: So the TV ratings for the Cup races this year are up over last year. Not sure why that is, unless it’s the “Bayne Effect”. Ratings rose after Dale Earnhardt’s death, probably because people wanted to see who would get killed next. Maybe the “Bayne Effect” is people tuning in to see what unknown driver will win next. I suspect that once they see that racing at the other tracks is not like racing at Daytona, the interest will fade. If they were putting on good races, the grandstands would be fuller.

BEST FINISH BY A WOMAN: So, I completely missed the Las Vegas Grand National race, so I missed Danica!’s 4th place finish. I guess some people are saying she got the finish based on better gas mileage.  I have mixed feelings about “gas mileage” races, but I guess since everyone has to go by the same rules, it doesn’t matter if you get the finish by passing a ton of cars on the track or passing them while they’re in the pits.

START AND PARK: There was apparently some controversy over one Cup team not just starting and parking, but announcing their decision to do so. Dave Blaney crashed his Baldwin Racing car in practice and the only car the team had left was their Las Vegas car. So rather than risk that car in the race, they decided to start and park. But what NASCAR seemed to have a problem with was the fact that the team issued a press release stating their intentions. I personally don’t see what the big deal is. If they’d have done it without the press release, why would that have been different? I think what NASCAR didn’t like is having their nose rubbed in the start-and-park problem directly. Not sure what the solution is, or if there really is a solution. As long as a car is fast enough to qualify for a race, there’s really not much else that can be done once the race starts. Perhaps if they only awarded points to the top 35 finishers that might stop it.

A SELLOUT: They announced that the grandstands at Phoenix were sold out for the Cup race. I didn’t really pay attention to the stands, but I did notice there were quite a few people on the hill. And while I completely forgot to watch the Grand National and Truck races, I hear there were a ton of empty seats for those races. Someone needs to learn about supply and demand.

REPAVING: Phoenix is repaving their track, and not just repaving it, but doing a slight reconfiguration. The reconfiguration is designed to facilitate more entertaining racing. Well as I’ve said before, the first step in solving a problem is admitting you have one.

E15: I hate to see NASCAR giving in to the green folks. But they’re slowly doing it. This year, they’ve mandated that the fuel be E15; that is, 15% ethanol. It’s bad enough that consumers are forced to buy E10 (in most cases; there are a few places where you can still purchase gasoline without ethanol), but I don’t understand why NASCAR felt it necessary. Well, actually, maybe I do.  As in most things, follow the money. The National Corn Growers Association has paid NASCAR to be an official “partner”. So, thanks, NASCAR. You’re not only pushing an inefficient fuel (gas with ethanol results in lower gas mileage), but you’re contributing to higher food costs (you want to eat that corn or drive on it?).

WHAT’S THE POINT?: So, after six races in NASCAR’s top three divisions, only one race winner has earned points.  Another win in the Cup series by a driver not running for the championship probably won’t happen again this season, but I daresay in the Grand National division, it’ll be the norm. I predict that the 2011 Grand National champion will be someone who will not have one any races in that series.

LOST VEGAS: The next race in the Cup series is at Las Vegas. Other than the first Grand National race held there, I’m not sure any of the races have been nail-biters; they’ve mostly been snooze fests. Who knows? Maybe the new cars will help that. I firmly believe that NASCAR should choose racing venues based not on some “market” but on the excitement that the venue provides. One driver leading 200 laps in a Grand National race is boring, and that’s one reason fans are staying away in droves.

CELEBRATING DEATH: I’ve always been uncomfortable observing the day that someone died, and that was true for the 500.  That silent lap three nonsense was just that, nonsense. You want to pay tribute to Dale Earnhardt, do it at the race closest to his birthday at the end of April. Celebrate his life, not his death.

DANICA!: I’m still a Danica fan, but after Saturday’s performance, I have to wonder about her dedication to stock car racing. It seemed like during one of her radio transmissions, she was wondering why the car that had been pushing her suddenly wanted her to be the pusher. Hello? Danica, where were you all week? Did you just show up during practice and then leave? Why in the world did you not know (or did someone not tell you) about the two-car draft?

ANTHEMS AND FLYOVERS AND FIREWORKS, OH MY!: If you have a recording contract, does that exempt you from having to audition to sing the National Anthem? Apparently it does. Saturday’s anthem was performed by a pretty well established country artist, and she got some words wrong and just went too crazy with the melody. And Sunday’s was only marginally better. I’ve said it over and over: the National Anthem is not a song you “jazz” up with your improvisations or use to show your vocal range. You sing it note for note, word for word. I’m beginning to believe that tracks should just get the closest military band to come and play the anthem; they never screw it up. Regarding the flyovers, those were pretty impressive. I don’t recall seeing fireworks go off at the point of the anthem where it refers to it, so maybe people have finally stopped doing that.

THE GRAND NATIONAL SERIES: With NASCAR’s mandate of having to choose the series in which you’re awarded points, we the Grand National series will have a series regular who’s the champion for the first time in I don’t know how long. I daresay that we’ll also have a champion who hasn’t won a Grand National race. NASCAR should limit the number of Cup drivers in the lower series. Not awarding them points is just stupid, especially since they have “holes” in the points awarded (e.g. no one was awarded first place points in Saturday’s race).

THE TRUCK SERIES: It was good to see Michael Waltrip win the Truck Series race Friday night and for him, very emotional.

COLLUSION: One thing that I absolutely did not  like about the Daytona 500 was the collusion among drivers. And that’s just what it is: collusion. It’s bad enough when two or three drivers who drive for the same owner talk to each other during the race, but there were reports that some drivers were able to talk to 10 or 15 other drivers. NASCAR needs to put a stop to this right now, before it gets more out of hand.

PHOENIX, EUROPE: Next week’s race is at Phoenix, where they apparently use the metric system. The race is the Subway Fresh Fit 500 which sounds more impressive than the Subway Fresh Fit 300. Hey, ISC, this is the United States of America! We don’t use the metric system here. Just how stupid do you think we are?

•  At first I thought the two-by-two racing was going to be exciting. And parts of it were. But after having a few hours to think about it, I miss the three-wide, ten-deep racing that we used to have.

• NASCAR has made more rule changes to limit this two-by-two racing. Of course, they did that before the Shootout too.  Supposedly the cars won’t be able to stay behind one another for long due to cooling issues. I guess we’ll see what happens Thursday.

• With the new package, it looks like you don’t want to be first or second. Being in third or fifth place seems to be the place to be.

• Hey, Danica? Why don’t you like Nashville? (Actually, to be accurate, why don’t you like Gladeville?)

• I think it’s going to be funny seeing all those Jeff Gordon fans wearing AARP shirts and caps.

• It’s time for a Cup car running #3 to be on the track. Don’t really care if it’s a Childress car or a EGR car or a Front Row car. Ten years is long enough for a number to be “retired.” I see Daytona wants a silent lap 3 during the 500 to honor Dale Earnhardt, Sr. Why not a silent lap 7 since he won 7 championships? Or a silent lap 76 since he won 76 races? I’m sorry, but this deification of Earnhardt is a little tough to swallow. I’ve always questioned the taste of commemorating the death of someone instead of their life,  like on their birthday.

• Hey, Charlotte? How’s that NASCAR Hall of Fame working out for the taxpayers? If NASCAR wanted a hall of fame, they should have built it using their own money.

• How about that all Hendrick front row? Can Little Earnhardt back it up with a good run on Thursday and Sunday?

• Why does determining the starting lineup for the 500 have to be so complicated? Before NASCAR enacted the “35 cars get a provisional” rule, it was relatively simple: you had to finish in the top 15 (or 14 if the pole sitter was outside that number). Then they went on speed for the next six, then the seven provisionals. I still don’t like this whole deal where 35 teams get a guaranteed starting spot. You want to mix up the championship, how about a race where Jimmie Johnson doesn’t qualify?

The Twin 150′s should give us a better idea of what to expect during the 500. Despite the Shootout, I’m still looking forward to the 500. After that, not so much.

Powered by Twitter Tools

NASCAR seems to have figured out that they have a few problems. News this week is that they’re thinking of changing the points system, qualifying procedure, and having drivers declare in which series they’re running for a championship.

I guess NASCAR doesn’t want to change things too drastically. For example, they’re not limiting the number of Cup drivers in the lower series. But preventing a Cup driver from running for a Truck or Grand National Series championship is a start.

It seems they’re also going to change the points system, while still keeping the goofy race for the chase. The winner will get 43 points and each position on down gets one less. No mention of how bonus points will be awarded. I think this is a mistake; the Latford system works fine. The new points system is apparently designed to keep consistency from being a big factor in the championship. But as I’ve asked before, who would be more deserving of a championship: a driver who wins 5 races and has 35 top fives, or a driver who wins 5 races and has 5 top fives? Any scenario that gives the driver with no top fives the championship is, in my mind, not a legitimate way to award the championship.

Not sure why they’re messing with the qualifying procedure. Apparently they’re going to let cars go out in the order of their times during practice. Not sure if they’re still going to let the ones who actually have to qualify to make the race (those outside the top 35) qualify together.

Last year, NASCAR standardized the start times for the races. This year, there’s word that they’re going to abandon that. Not sure whose bright idea that is, but they need to work on solving actual problems, not ones that don’t exist.

NASCAR has downsized the plate at Daytona. With drafting speeds during testing nearing 200 mph, my prediction is that they’ll make it even smaller. They just seem to have this thing about 200 mph as being an upper limit for some reason.

The races I’m going to watch for sure this year are the restrictor plate races at Daytona and Talladega, and maybe one or two others. I guess it depends on who’s running well.

I watched the Homestead race today (actually, these days “watching” a race consists of setting it to record on the DVR and a couple hours after the start time put it in play and fast forward through the commercials and the boring parts of the race). I think the last race I watched was Talladega. The only reason I watched this one was because of the championship question.

You have to hand it to Jimmie Johnson; he’s got this Chase format figured out. Notice I didn’t say he necessarily deserved to be champion. And that gets me to the first of NASCAR’s problems.

• No suspense. Oh sure, there was a little suspense before the Homestead race. But the race wasn’t 30 laps old before the suspense became “how much will Johnson win by?”. You also had two drivers lead all the laps. BORING. No wonder the stands had empty seats.

• Too many races. NASCAR needs to learn about supply and demand. When even Bristol has empty seats, you know something is wrong. There are just too many races in the Cup series. Pare it down to 30 and if you must have the Chase gimmick, then let it be the last 5 or 6 races. Cutting back on the number of races will help the teams save money, and by lessening supply, the tracks will be full of people who want to see the races.

• Too few owners. By allowing an owner to have up to four cars in the field, NASCAR is potentially limiting a Cup field to just 11 owners. When they reduce the number of races and make it less expensive to run, then more owners can come in.

• Too much collusion. I find it extremely incredible that NASCAR allows drivers on the track to collude with one another. Racing should be an individual driver sport, not a team sport. I want to see my driver win on his own, not get a free pass to lead a lap by his teammate.

• Too much “Official this” and “Official that”. NASCAR takes money from the race teams by stealing sponsorship dollars from them. NASCAR should return to being a sanctioning body, not a marketing body.
Too many Saturday night races. I’ve said this for years. NASCAR is killing local racing when they go up against it on Saturday night with Cup races. But they don’t seem to really care, as long as they’re getting their money from the big races.

• Too many big name drivers stealing the money in Grand National and Truck series. Back in the ’80s and ’90s, there were only a few Cup drivers who raced in the lower divisions. The ones that did were not what you would call successful Cup drivers (e.g. Michael Waltrip). You had the occasional run by someone like Dale Earnhardt, but for the most part the Grand National Series had its own drivers running for their own championship. But some time in the last 10 years, some Cup drivers decided it was a good idea to take candy from a baby, and now it’s been quite a while since a non-Cup driver has won a Grand National championship. While it’s not as bad in the Truck series, there are a few Cup drivers who, when they run, dominate the race to the extent that it’s boring.

• The points system is just out of whack. I realize the Chase system was put in place to add “excitement” to the championship, and that going into the last race, this year’s championship was the closest it’s been in a few years. But yet again, the driver who won the most races didn’t win, and a driver who won as many races as the third place finisher didn’t even qualify for the Chase. I think the points system needs to go back to being based on a full season. The Chase format pretty much erases any points advantage a driver might have during the season. I understand that NASCAR has to straddle the line between pure competition and pure entertainment, and I think the reason ticket sales and ratings are down is that they’ve tilted a little too much towards pure competition.