My concern is that it's become acceptable for the second-best car to wreck the best one, and that's not why I watch. I want to see the best car win, not the car with the ability to get its bumper under the leader for a split second. Unfortunately, it seems increasingly likely that NASCAR's refusal to penalize any driver for this sort of "win" is going to result in serious injury or death.
Yes, it is possible to get close enough to a car to take away its "air" (to break the slipstream of air over the car) just see a film of what happened to Davey Allison at Pocono in "92. Darell Waltrip came up on his left rear corner, did NOT hit him, and you can just watch that corner lift and Davey went end or end, side over side for a really horrifying crash. And no, he didn't "walk away." Did E and Gordon plan this, who knows? But teams do work together, so it is possible. I agree with you, Jon, Flip and ImissDAVEYnalan, (great name BTW!) cb900, you are correct, if daddy had been in E's position, the same thing would have happened. They have watered down NASCAR to the point of mediocrety(sp) and it has gotten much worse since Nextel took over. mjkredliner, I agree with you for once, E needs to kick out the jams and drive like I know he can. BTW, none of the Earnhardt childern had anything "handed to them." If his kids wanted to race, Dale made them get their own car, do their own upkeep, and earn the money to do all of the above. When he saw that they could do it on their own, then he did help them. But he made sure they knew what hard work was. You can read about this in any indepth article about him or his biography. And what Carl Edwards did was just wrong! Doesn't matter who the other driver was or what they did.
Crash, you're making the mistake of linking "leader" and "best car". As often as not, that's not the case, especially late in races. Guys end up in the lead for any number of reasons. They stay out when others pit, or change two tires when everyone else changes four, etc., which gets them up front, but not because they have the best car. A lot of these instances occur when the better car is repeatedly cut off by a slower leader. Eventually, the trailing driver decides the only way around is to get the leader loose. The leader ends up fishtailing and drops back in the pack, or hits the wall or other cars. Regardless, the guy who started it all ends up out front. That's why I said earlier that NASCAR needs to set a black and white policy that either says that a slower car cannot continually cut in front of a faster one to avoid a pass, or that a faster challenger must find a way to get around a slower car cleanly. Any gray area, like there is now, and we'll continue to see these "bumps" with each team blaming the other.
You had a great response CB900 and I cannot argue any point of it. I do, however, need to allow you to understand that a couple of laps under caution is not done in a nano-second. Furthermore, the two Earnhardt cars were not faster than Edwards but could "take him out" on a restart if and only if they could do what they did when they did it. And, yes to the rest of you, Stewart, Gordon, et al, have done the same and have suffered the same result and the same lack of punishment. That does not make it either good or fair. It does not make it right. And, drivers have been punished for the takeout on the last lap or two; Ricky Rudd. He should not be the last one. Also, ctal1999, Edwards did not just "get loose" and was the fastest car, and it was a planned and well executed take-out instead of a "bump." In the scenario that you presented, even Dale Sr. would take out another car. This is not an issue but is a fact, but Sr. would never do what his son did. "It ain't racin'," and I wish he were here to tell us that. By the way, those of you who think I am full of shit may be close to correct, but I have bumped and been bumped more than enough times to know how it is done regardless of who does it. Oh yeah, the last car that I hauled to Bristol Speedway was built by me, owned by me, driven by me and brought home by me and sold to some guy named Allison from Hueytown, Alabama.
It used to be a sport where the weak had no chance. Seems to me in the old days, any car had a chance to win on any given weekend. Even the independents with little or no sponsorship. Even guys like Dave Marcus had a chance in the old days. Today, what chance do independents have of winning? Basically, none. Favoritism has taken over NASCAR. Guys like Jeffy, Dale, & Jimmy can get away with quite a bit more than the Michael Waltrips, Robby Gordons, Scott Wimmers, etc. Mike Helton came out a few years back and said NASCAR is about "Entertainment". Gee, what happened to Racing? Does that happen any more? Looks to me like it's become one big IROC (due to one common template) follow-the-leader roundy round.
Mike Helton came out a few years back and said NASCAR is about "Entertainment". Ge, what happened to Racing? Racing IS about entertainment. The guys who do it, do it because they love it, and before they made it to the big time most did it out of their own pockets as their form of entertainment. The people who go to the races are spending their entertainment dollars to see a race, and there by be entertained. I have over the last few years met a lot of people who are very knowledgeable about NASCAR, but know very little about racing. NASCAR has done a masterful job of marketing their product and have expanded their fan base ten fold. However there is alot more racing then just NASCAR. And that is where the fun starts. A lot of people who drive to Daytona or INDY for a race, don't know there is great racing every weekend in their own back yard. While this may be new to some of you, it goes on at every dirt track and dust bowl every weekend all race season.
Bud Lang, you're right. I wasn't clear enough. I wasn't referring to this incident, but to mr_crash_davis' comment about this type of incident in general. The scenario I laid out isn't always the case, but it is very often. His comment made it sound like it's always slower guys getting an opportunity to wreck a faster car, and that's just not the case. I still say that they need a much clearer rule for these situations.
"His comment made it sound like it's always slower guys getting an opportunity to wreck a faster car, and that's just not the case. " My intent was to say this: If the car running in second is faster, then he needs to pass, not wreck the first-place car. NASCAR's indifference to guys wrecking the leader instead of trying to pass is creating an ugly situation.
My intent was to say this: If the car in second is faster, then he needs to pass, not wreck the first place car. Just how would you go about doing this? You have three or four cars running nose to tail and side by side, how do you stop one car from taking the air off another. NASCAR is not willing to take the steps that would solve the real problem. Insted they are going to come out with a kit car and make everyone drive it. If NASCAR would just mandate a smaller motor with bigger carburetors, the cars would regain throttle response while still running at a slower speeds. Then some of the spoiler and other down force rules could be changed so the cars are more stable in traffic. If the cars still ran to fast, all that they would have to do lower the compression. The main reason for not doing this? Sound, the cars would not sound the same. A small block motor turned at the same rpm's would have a higher pitch and not the rumble they have now.
I'm a huge race fan. But one thing I do Hate about NASCAR is the blind loyalty that fans of certain teams aspire to. Face it Johnson's team cheats, Gordon, Stewart, Dale Jr, Busch, and damn near every other driver will spin someone with victory in sight. Every driver gets pissed at times and all/most retailiate when the opportunity arises. Who should be fined? All of those who do stupid moves and endanger the lives of others. Anyone who sits back and blames "everyone but mine", is a lemming that only see's things from one perspective. Grow up and watch the race. It's great to be a fan.... but at least be honest with yourself.
While this may be new to some of you, it goes on at every dirt track and dust bowl every weekend all race season. I agree there. If I want to see real racing, I'll head to the local track.
mr_crash_davis: If the car running in second is faster, then he needs to pass, not wreck the first place car. I see where you're coming from, and I'm tempted to agree, but I don't see it as realistic. One option I proposed earlier was to mandate exactly that. The rule would state that the trailing driver MUST pass cleanly. Only problem is that it's damned near impossible to pull off a pass on a car that's 95% as good as yours (even if you're not in traffic), if the other driver is allowed to continually cut you off. That means the leader can't run quite as fast or on quite as tight a line, but he's close enough to be able to slide in front of the challenger every time he makes a run. The challenger ends up frustrated, and his spotter is telling him that the rest of the pack is catching up while he's busy dueling with the leader. He eventually gets to the point where it's either get around right now or end up surrounded by slower cars. Right now, the most common response is to get the leader loose enough to get by him (which may wreck him or just spin or fishtail him). If you want to make that illegal, which NASCAR could do, you'll have two problems. One, where do you draw the line? Does the trailing driver actually have to bump the leader, or just get into position to change air flow enough to loosen up the leader's back end? Two, you'll see a lot more cars blocking aggressively if they know they're allowed to weave in front of the challengers continuously with impunity. It would be easier to tell the drivers that they aren't allowed to block a faster car. Either outrun them, or get out of the way. Of course, there're downsides to that approach, too.
As I said before, the answer is to change the motor specs. to to give the cars more throttle response. Had Edwards been able to put his foot down and power out of the slide he would not have gotten hit by Jr.. The problem is people want to see these big packs of twenty or thirty cars running inchs apart. NASCAR gives this to there fans by making sure no one car can pull away from the rest of the pack. Days gone by it was not unusual for ten or less cars to finish on the lead lap.Now unless a car has a problem or a penalty, all the cars finish on the lead lap. The only thing left for drivers to do when they get loose is to lift off the gas and hope to catch the car with steering. As soon as the driver lifts, the car that is just five inches behind him is going to catch up real quick. Yea the drivers get pissed about it, but who is really to blame. Three cars running that close, a lap or two to go, how long do you think the driver that lifts is going to kep his job?
Lots of valid points CB. I think it's safe to say that you have more set up knowledge than I do. If there's a mechanical fix to this problem, I'd be all for it (even if the cars did end up sounding more like open wheelers).
NASCAR has turned into a more grand version of IROC. In their attempt to make all cars "suppossedly equal", NASCAR has become more interested in the fans and the bottom line and somehow has forgotten the driver and crew.
