Most fans think the green-white-checkers finish procedure previously instituted by NASCAR and recently modified is a great thing. I do not. I know it is here to stay and that I’m out voted, but here are my reasons:
1 – Races are advertised for a certain distance – 500 miles, 400 laps, whatever. The race should last only that distance. Teams set up the car and figure fuel requirements for that distance. Fans may think that adding that element of mystery or confusion at the end of the race is a good thing, but the teams don’t.
2 – As we saw at the Daytona 500, those end of race restarts turn into a demolition derby. Teams that had a great day going end up in the middle of someone else’s overly aggressive attempt to gain a position. Luck becomes even more a determiner of success.
The pothole that delayed the race by well over two hours should never have happened. Track officials claim the track was examined before the race. It’s extremely difficult to believe that evidence of the problem was not apparent prior to the race. The problem gave a black eye to what was, otherwise, a very good race.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
The New Season
The new season is suddenly upon us. I hold out a small amount of hope that the series will be improved over recent years. But, it certainly has a long way to go.
Improvements:
1 – The attempt to standardize race start times to be, mostly, 1 PM in the east. West coast races and night races will, obviously, be different as will the 600 mile race in Charlotte. Texas has already been granted a move to 3 PM in the east. Even so, this is a good change as long as 1 PM doesn’t become 1:40 PM as the networks are prone to do.
2 – The wing will be replaced by a spoiler early in the year. The wing is ugly. It makes the cars look anything but “stock”. The drivers seem to feel that the cars will race better with a spoiler rather than the wing. Now, let’s hope they do something about the splitter.
3 – The restrictions on bump drafting at Daytona and Talladega have been lifted. This will make for better racing, but also for more accidents. Call this an improvement, but those tracks will continue to be overly dangerous until they modify the tracks so they can race without the restrictor plates.
4 – Some tracks, notably Richmond, are reducing their number of seats by making the existing seats wider. This is long overdue and needs to be considered by most other tracks. It’s hard to enjoy a race when packed in like sardines.
NASCAR is saying “see, we listen to the fans”. To some extent that is true. But, they take too long to make a change and need to address more of the fans complaints:
1 – Most fans want to scrap the Chase. The championship is a season long process. The ratings show no bump during the 10 race Chase. Scrap it.
2 – There are too many races. Fans cannot maintain interest at the required level for 36 races. This is probably the thing that NASCAR has done the most wrong, yet has the least chance of being corrected. It’s much like “killing the goose that laid the golden egg”. Any good entertainment leaves the fans wanting more, but not in this case.
3 – Much like there are too many races, there is over-saturation by the networks. Too many on-air personalities are spending too much time filling up pre-race shows with nothing but blather. Even during the race it is sometimes more fun to turn the sound off.
4 – Fans began to realize last year just how unfair the “lucky dog” and “wave around” rules are. Fans are becoming less inclined to have real competition replaced by artificial attempts to keep all the cars on the lead lap. If you lose a lap apparently you aren’t that good today.
2010 will be a year of better racing and more fan interest. The little things they’ve done are steps in the right direction. Increased fan interest will lead NASCAR to, once again, think everything is fine. But, there are still many more improvements to be made before the series will get back to where it was ten years ago.
Improvements:
1 – The attempt to standardize race start times to be, mostly, 1 PM in the east. West coast races and night races will, obviously, be different as will the 600 mile race in Charlotte. Texas has already been granted a move to 3 PM in the east. Even so, this is a good change as long as 1 PM doesn’t become 1:40 PM as the networks are prone to do.
2 – The wing will be replaced by a spoiler early in the year. The wing is ugly. It makes the cars look anything but “stock”. The drivers seem to feel that the cars will race better with a spoiler rather than the wing. Now, let’s hope they do something about the splitter.
3 – The restrictions on bump drafting at Daytona and Talladega have been lifted. This will make for better racing, but also for more accidents. Call this an improvement, but those tracks will continue to be overly dangerous until they modify the tracks so they can race without the restrictor plates.
4 – Some tracks, notably Richmond, are reducing their number of seats by making the existing seats wider. This is long overdue and needs to be considered by most other tracks. It’s hard to enjoy a race when packed in like sardines.
NASCAR is saying “see, we listen to the fans”. To some extent that is true. But, they take too long to make a change and need to address more of the fans complaints:
1 – Most fans want to scrap the Chase. The championship is a season long process. The ratings show no bump during the 10 race Chase. Scrap it.
2 – There are too many races. Fans cannot maintain interest at the required level for 36 races. This is probably the thing that NASCAR has done the most wrong, yet has the least chance of being corrected. It’s much like “killing the goose that laid the golden egg”. Any good entertainment leaves the fans wanting more, but not in this case.
3 – Much like there are too many races, there is over-saturation by the networks. Too many on-air personalities are spending too much time filling up pre-race shows with nothing but blather. Even during the race it is sometimes more fun to turn the sound off.
4 – Fans began to realize last year just how unfair the “lucky dog” and “wave around” rules are. Fans are becoming less inclined to have real competition replaced by artificial attempts to keep all the cars on the lead lap. If you lose a lap apparently you aren’t that good today.
2010 will be a year of better racing and more fan interest. The little things they’ve done are steps in the right direction. Increased fan interest will lead NASCAR to, once again, think everything is fine. But, there are still many more improvements to be made before the series will get back to where it was ten years ago.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
The Year is Over
With last night’s banquet the year is finally over. I hesitate to re-hash my already stated complaints:
- Television ratings are down.
- Fans are conspicuously absent from the tracks (and it’s not the recession).
- Jimmie Johnson won the championship again and many of us (including me) question its legitimacy.
Despite all my complaints I continue to watch every race. Although I enjoy them, the races many times are not what they used to be. NASCAR can do much to make the whole series and each race better:
- Modify the points system and eliminate the Chase. The best idea I’ve heard is to heavily weight podium (top three) finishes. Also, eliminate points for, say, 31st on back.
- Influence the television networks to focus on racing rather than blather. Do we really need 11 (count them) on-air personalities vying for the microphone?
- Make the cars look like race cars with more manufacturer identity.
- Eliminate the “Lucky Dog” and the “wave around”. It’s a race – not a show.
- Find a way to get rid of the restrictor plates at Daytona and Talladega. What we saw at Talladega is not racing and is very dangerous.
- Try a little harder to hold qualifying rather than setting the field by points.
I will credit NASCAR with one change this year and one change planned for 2010:
- The double file restarts are a good thing. I had my doubts, but other than the “wave around”, they added something.
- The plan to have more races start at the same time (early afternoon) next year is a good one.
Let’s hope that 2010 is a good season.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Talladega Race
The Talladega NASCAR Cup race of November 1st was the beginning of the end for both restrictor plate racing and the current configuration of the Talladega and Daytona tracks. NASCAR, of course, doesn’t know this yet. They will figure it out eventually. I predict that in about five years you will hear NASCAR come up with a plan to do it. They just have to figure out a way to make it sound like it is their idea. That’s just the way they are.
The problem NASCAR has with Talladega and Daytona is twofold: boring and dangerous. During the Talladega race ABC/ESPN made it out to be the bore it was. Single file, stay in line, be careful not to bump the car in front of you in the turns or big, bad Mike Helton will get after you. Now NASCAR is deriding the ABC/ESPN announcing team for daring to say that the race was dull and hinting that the dullness was NASCAR induced. ABC/ESPN usually is very careful not to offend the NASCAR powers to be, but this time they had no choice but to ridicule what they were seeing.
The increased danger in the racing at Talladega and Daytona has been there ever since they went to the restrictor plates. The cars just cannot separate themselves from each other. No matter how hard NASCAR dictates that it not happen, wrecks will occur. Ryan Newman was blunt in his criticism after the wild ride he took. After his wreck at the finish, Mark Martin nearly bit his tongue off to prevent expressing his displeasure with the safety of restrictor plate racing. No matter how safe NASCAR makes these cars (and they have made them much safer) it is only a matter of time racing in these conditions that someone gets seriously hurt or killed.
So, five years from now NASCAR will find a way to remove the restrictor plates and knock down the banking at one end of Talladega and Daytona. They will come up with reasoning that will save face. NASCAR will deem that some kind of technological breakthrough or improvement has made the removal of the plates and the changing of the track configurations a major improvement to the racing at those two facilities. As they are patting themselves on the back I hope we aren’t mourning the loss of a driver.
The problem NASCAR has with Talladega and Daytona is twofold: boring and dangerous. During the Talladega race ABC/ESPN made it out to be the bore it was. Single file, stay in line, be careful not to bump the car in front of you in the turns or big, bad Mike Helton will get after you. Now NASCAR is deriding the ABC/ESPN announcing team for daring to say that the race was dull and hinting that the dullness was NASCAR induced. ABC/ESPN usually is very careful not to offend the NASCAR powers to be, but this time they had no choice but to ridicule what they were seeing.
The increased danger in the racing at Talladega and Daytona has been there ever since they went to the restrictor plates. The cars just cannot separate themselves from each other. No matter how hard NASCAR dictates that it not happen, wrecks will occur. Ryan Newman was blunt in his criticism after the wild ride he took. After his wreck at the finish, Mark Martin nearly bit his tongue off to prevent expressing his displeasure with the safety of restrictor plate racing. No matter how safe NASCAR makes these cars (and they have made them much safer) it is only a matter of time racing in these conditions that someone gets seriously hurt or killed.
So, five years from now NASCAR will find a way to remove the restrictor plates and knock down the banking at one end of Talladega and Daytona. They will come up with reasoning that will save face. NASCAR will deem that some kind of technological breakthrough or improvement has made the removal of the plates and the changing of the track configurations a major improvement to the racing at those two facilities. As they are patting themselves on the back I hope we aren’t mourning the loss of a driver.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Hendrick Body-gate
I suspect many fans are confused and disturbed by what happened when NASCAR took the 5 (Mark Martin) and the 48 (Jimmy Johnson) cars back to Charlotte for more inspection following the Dover race. At first we heard that the bodies were illegal by a few thousandths of an inch. Then we were told that they were, after all, legal. Then John Darby shrewdly stated that he told those teams that the cars were legal, but had nearly failed, so don’t bring them back.
Huh? Is he saying that they are legal, but you can’t race them? He then tried to backtrack and say that what he meant was they are so close to being illegal that you better not use them. Huh? Darby then used a weight limit analogy to describe what he meant, thinking that if he brought it down to our level we’d understand it. Is he saying that a car right at the weight limit cannot come back? His explanations are tortured to say the least.
Many fans and competitors (Jack Roush for example) have often felt that NASCAR shows some level of favoritism toward Hendrick Motorsports. It’s hard to say if it is true, but NASCAR seems to have a penchant of making decisions that can be viewed that way. Others will point to how many times Hendrick’s crew chiefs have been suspended as proof that there is no favoritism. Regardless, penalizing the 5 team after the race is something that fans might not smile upon. Mark Martin has, in his post-retirement era, become a real fan favorite.
But, every time NASCAR does something like this they lose a little bit of credibility. I think what happened here is that these two teams found a little way around some measurements that NASCAR had never imagined. Since NASCAR has an incredibly difficult time admitting to an error or an omission, and since they were deathly afraid of taking points away from Mark Martin, NASCAR had no choice but to give these two teams a free pass.
Fans are treated with disdain and sometimes, outright contempt by NASCAR when it comes to issues like this. Otherwise, we would have been given a complete and exact description of what was found and why it was deemed to be legal.
Huh? Is he saying that they are legal, but you can’t race them? He then tried to backtrack and say that what he meant was they are so close to being illegal that you better not use them. Huh? Darby then used a weight limit analogy to describe what he meant, thinking that if he brought it down to our level we’d understand it. Is he saying that a car right at the weight limit cannot come back? His explanations are tortured to say the least.
Many fans and competitors (Jack Roush for example) have often felt that NASCAR shows some level of favoritism toward Hendrick Motorsports. It’s hard to say if it is true, but NASCAR seems to have a penchant of making decisions that can be viewed that way. Others will point to how many times Hendrick’s crew chiefs have been suspended as proof that there is no favoritism. Regardless, penalizing the 5 team after the race is something that fans might not smile upon. Mark Martin has, in his post-retirement era, become a real fan favorite.
But, every time NASCAR does something like this they lose a little bit of credibility. I think what happened here is that these two teams found a little way around some measurements that NASCAR had never imagined. Since NASCAR has an incredibly difficult time admitting to an error or an omission, and since they were deathly afraid of taking points away from Mark Martin, NASCAR had no choice but to give these two teams a free pass.
Fans are treated with disdain and sometimes, outright contempt by NASCAR when it comes to issues like this. Otherwise, we would have been given a complete and exact description of what was found and why it was deemed to be legal.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Change the Points System
I have been contemplating possible ways that NASCAR can improve the Cup points system. Let’s face it - the current approach using the Chase has resulted in lower ratings rather than the intended higher ratings. No matter how much Brian France and his posse pretend otherwise, ratings are sacred. Sports are just another television show. All television shows live and die by their television ratings. It’s not just the money that NASCAR and the tracks make off television rights - those ratings are looked at very closely by team sponsors.
There are two approaches that NASCAR can take. One involves a major tweaking of the Chase as it is today. The other throws the Chase out and institutes a complete new (to NASCAR) points system.
1 – The fatal flaw in the Chase is that teams compete who do not have a chance of winning the championship. No other professional sport includes teams in their play offs that are not eligible to win it all.
The solution to this is to, at the start of the Chase, change the point structure to let the top 35 teams be able to win it all. How? Look at the PGA and the FedEx Cup. They start their 4 tournament playoff with a fixed number of players, all who have a theoretical chance of winning the championship. Then, after each tournament, some players at the bottom are dropped off – but those remaining are still, in theory, able to win it all.
Apply this to NASCAR. Start the Chase with the top 35 teams. After each race, drop off the team with the least points. When the series arrives in Homestead there are 26 teams left. But, restructure the points so that all teams can still win the championship.
This approach will make for some interesting racing. The only downside is that sponsorship contracts have to be designed to allow the possibility of not competing in all 36 races. But, it does eliminate the fatal flaw in the current Chase system by allowing all teams in the races to be competing for the championship.
2 – The other approach NASCAR can consider to boost ratings is to eliminate the Chase and adopt a Formula 1 type point system. Formula 1 awards points to only the first 8 finishers. Since their typical starting field is about 20 cars that is usually 40% of the field.
Apply that to NASCAR and award points to only the top 15 finishers. Weigh it heavily toward the top 3 finishers so that there is a reward to not go into “points racing” mode. Something like:
1 - 30
2 - 26
3 - 22
4 - 18
5 - 15
6 - 12
7 - 10
8 - 8
9 - 7
10 - 6
11 - 5
12 - 4
13 - 3
14 - 2
15 - 1
Using this method thru this year’s 29 races so far (three Chase races) the top five is:
Stewart - 395
Gordon - 371
Johnson - 343
Martin - 338
Hamlin - 308
With seven races to go at least the top four have a legitimate shot at winning the championship. The key concept is that a team receives no reward for a less than fifteenth place finish. The top teams have to continue to race hard or they can be caught.
NASCAR has always maintained that their points system rewards consistency. That’s a nice idea, but wasn’t the Chase instituted after Matt Kenseth put us to sleep with his consistency in 2003 when he won the championship? Fans will love it when teams gamble and go for a win rather than being content with a top ten finish.
There are two approaches that NASCAR can take. One involves a major tweaking of the Chase as it is today. The other throws the Chase out and institutes a complete new (to NASCAR) points system.
1 – The fatal flaw in the Chase is that teams compete who do not have a chance of winning the championship. No other professional sport includes teams in their play offs that are not eligible to win it all.
The solution to this is to, at the start of the Chase, change the point structure to let the top 35 teams be able to win it all. How? Look at the PGA and the FedEx Cup. They start their 4 tournament playoff with a fixed number of players, all who have a theoretical chance of winning the championship. Then, after each tournament, some players at the bottom are dropped off – but those remaining are still, in theory, able to win it all.
Apply this to NASCAR. Start the Chase with the top 35 teams. After each race, drop off the team with the least points. When the series arrives in Homestead there are 26 teams left. But, restructure the points so that all teams can still win the championship.
This approach will make for some interesting racing. The only downside is that sponsorship contracts have to be designed to allow the possibility of not competing in all 36 races. But, it does eliminate the fatal flaw in the current Chase system by allowing all teams in the races to be competing for the championship.
2 – The other approach NASCAR can consider to boost ratings is to eliminate the Chase and adopt a Formula 1 type point system. Formula 1 awards points to only the first 8 finishers. Since their typical starting field is about 20 cars that is usually 40% of the field.
Apply that to NASCAR and award points to only the top 15 finishers. Weigh it heavily toward the top 3 finishers so that there is a reward to not go into “points racing” mode. Something like:
1 - 30
2 - 26
3 - 22
4 - 18
5 - 15
6 - 12
7 - 10
8 - 8
9 - 7
10 - 6
11 - 5
12 - 4
13 - 3
14 - 2
15 - 1
Using this method thru this year’s 29 races so far (three Chase races) the top five is:
Stewart - 395
Gordon - 371
Johnson - 343
Martin - 338
Hamlin - 308
With seven races to go at least the top four have a legitimate shot at winning the championship. The key concept is that a team receives no reward for a less than fifteenth place finish. The top teams have to continue to race hard or they can be caught.
NASCAR has always maintained that their points system rewards consistency. That’s a nice idea, but wasn’t the Chase instituted after Matt Kenseth put us to sleep with his consistency in 2003 when he won the championship? Fans will love it when teams gamble and go for a win rather than being content with a top ten finish.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Richmond
I attended the Nationwide race at Richmond and was a bit surprised by what I saw.
I have attended 9 of the last 10 Nationwide (or Busch) Friday night September races there. Attendance is off at least 20% from what it used to be as recently as 2 years ago. There are fewer vendors on the “midway” and even the Chevrolet pavilion has lost something.
I still had a great time. The race was excellent. The areas accessible to spectators are well maintained. Food prices seem to generally be steady.
Saturday night I watched the Cup race on television. It was painfully obvious that, not only is the race no longer a sell-out, but it appeared that 10% of the seats were not filled. It was only a couple of years ago that it was difficult to get a ticket for that race. No more.
So, what is the problem? I don’t believe that it is all about the recession. That is what NASCAR and the media want you to believe. It seems we have crested the hill in fan interest and have started on the downhill side. True, ESPN has managed to hold or even slightly improve their ratings over last year. But, not enough to make up what they lost previously.
There must be something going away either in the product or its presentation, or both. In most companies when this happens a change in management is used to get things going again. I suggest that is what NASCAR needs to do. Mike Helton, John Darby, and others may need to be pushed into other positions and be replaced by some fresh thinking new people. I hate to see the product continue to go downhill.
I have attended 9 of the last 10 Nationwide (or Busch) Friday night September races there. Attendance is off at least 20% from what it used to be as recently as 2 years ago. There are fewer vendors on the “midway” and even the Chevrolet pavilion has lost something.
I still had a great time. The race was excellent. The areas accessible to spectators are well maintained. Food prices seem to generally be steady.
Saturday night I watched the Cup race on television. It was painfully obvious that, not only is the race no longer a sell-out, but it appeared that 10% of the seats were not filled. It was only a couple of years ago that it was difficult to get a ticket for that race. No more.
So, what is the problem? I don’t believe that it is all about the recession. That is what NASCAR and the media want you to believe. It seems we have crested the hill in fan interest and have started on the downhill side. True, ESPN has managed to hold or even slightly improve their ratings over last year. But, not enough to make up what they lost previously.
There must be something going away either in the product or its presentation, or both. In most companies when this happens a change in management is used to get things going again. I suggest that is what NASCAR needs to do. Mike Helton, John Darby, and others may need to be pushed into other positions and be replaced by some fresh thinking new people. I hate to see the product continue to go downhill.
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