Wow. It's hard to believe that I haven't posted here since last November. To tell the truth, I've been busy with work, music, watching Star Trek reruns, and so forth. Yesterday something happened that made me think about dirt-track racing, and longing for spring and the sound of V8 iron; the Daytona 500.
Now, don't get me wrong. I'm a long-time NASCAR fan. In fact, I like just about all kinds of racing. I particularly like Formula One, and will watch just about anything this side of shopping carts. I'm really getting sick of NASCAR, though, and The Chase in particular.
The start of this season had a lot of potential, too. For once, Fox got to cover the 500. I'm so-o-o-o glad that NBC isn't doing it any more. I like BP, may he rest in peace, but if I never get to hear Mike Joy announcing a race again it will be too soon. Give me more DW! Boogity, boogity, boogity!!
Ah, but we're in the New NASCAR era. It's not about the race, it's about the chase. And, about making every single second as exciting as . . . well . . . a WWF wrestling match, actually. I think that's the audience they're after now. More and more I'm hearing long-time race fans that are more and more tired of the New NASCAR.
Think about your favorite sport for a minute. What's it really about? Where did it come from? Besides auto racing (and baseball, of course) I was always a boxing fan. It's easy to figure out what the beginnings of boxing were; two guys having a fistfight. The basic fistfight has nothing to do with excitement, crowd-pleasing, money-making, or any of that. It was about two guys with a disagreement, and honor being served (somewhat perversely, I'll grant you) by one knocking the other one down and making him stay there. It's awfully exciting to watch a good fistfight, though. Once you set up rules, mark a square, pad their fists, and take the anger out of the equation, you have a sport. The more barbarism you remove, the bigger your audience, but it's still just a fistfight.
Racing is just as simple. Pick a start point and an end point, and the first to traverse the distance in between is the winner. It wasn't long before two different places were replaced by an agreed-upon distance. 500 Miles, for instance. There was a time that travelling 500 miles in one shot was quite an accomplishment for any automobile. Now, they do it in about three hours, and you'd better have faster pit stops than everybody else, or you'll finish off the lead lap. Yesterday, there were (I think) 28 cars on the same lap. If not for the finish-line pile-up, the 20th place car would have finished about five seconds behind the winner.
As racing has become refined over the last century, the rules have gotten tighter and tighter. There are now more different kinds of race car than Carter's has got little liver pills. Stock cars, Champ cars, Formula One, Prototypes, Outlaws, Sprints, you know the drill. That's all just to decide who gets to start the race; what the layout will be, how much power they're allowed, how heavy, how safe, etc. etc. etc. Once the green flag drops, it's back to basics. There's the finish line, first one there wins.
But NOT in the New NASCAR. 500 Miles isn't enough if there's a caution period during the last ten laps. Then, we stick a green-white-checker onto the end. Or, red-flag the race and begin again with a whole new two-lap race. Seven times during the 2006 season races were finished with the green-white-checker. The first year of The Chase, the whole season championship was decided by one. A three-lap mini-race tacked onto the end of the last race of the season decided the championship by Kurt Busch over Jeff Gordon and Jimmy Johnson, AFTER the regulation 500 miles were already finished. And none of those three even won the race!
And don't get me started about the chase. Nobody is allowed to dominate a season. If you have a really outstanding season, you find yourself five points in front of your nearest competitor, and a flat tire or bad pit stop can ruin what should have been a championship.
As far as I'm concerned, they can make the rules as convoluted as they want before the race. Once the green flag drops, let who's best decide who wins, even if they win by a mile.
There. Enough ranting. Back to REAL racing, please. Don't forget the Legion Speedway's 100-lap enduro on March 3.
