On a Facebook page titled "Indy Car Serious" the question keeps popping up "What's wrong with Indy Cars?" In this edition he claims that since there were 117 entries and 84 actual cars in attendance, the race was somehow better than in 2013.
Well, you know me by now. I wasn't going to let that get by without another dose of reality, was I?
I provided a factual comparison between the two races. After reading the comparison, ask yourself which race was "better?"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So
there were 84 cars at the Speedway in 1984. That's irrelevant because
no matter how many cars show up only 33 start. Lots of cars in the
garage only increases the drama of time trials, not the race itself.
The most accurate indicator of a race's excitement
level is lead changes. So let's compare the 1984 race to the 2013 race.
The 1984 500 was won by Rick Mears in a Penske March/Cosworth. There
were 16 lead changes between 6 drivers.
2013 had SIXTY-EIGHT between FOURTEEN drivers!
Which race was more exciting to watch?
For
the idea of the "spec" car being a huge difference maker - in 1984,
twenty-nine of the 33 cars in the field were March chassis, 27 of which
had Cosworth engines.
All
of the 13 cars still running at the time Mears took the Checkered Flag
were March/Cosworth. The first non March/Cosworth in the finishing order
was the Primus/Cosworth of Chris Kneifel in 15th. The first non
Cosworth was Scott Brayton in 18th but he was driving a March/Buick
Chassis. None of the non March/Cosworth cars had any impact on the
outcome of the race. So much for the the idea that "spec" cars suck.
The final lead change took place on lap 144 when Mears passed Tom Sneva. Mears led four times for 119 laps.
Kanaan
led 15 times for 34 laps.The last lead change in 2013 lap 197 when
Kanaan and Carlos Munoz both passed passed Ryan Hunter-Reay going into
turn one. There were 16 lead changes in just the last 30 laps in 2013.
In 2013 a record 133 consecutive green flag laps were completed from lap
60 to 194.
At the conclusion of the 1984 race there were 13 running. In 2013 there were 26!
In 1984, there were ZERO cars on the lead lap. In 2013 there were NINETEEN!
Most laps completed, entire field: 5,863 - 2013
Pole Position 1984: Tom Sneva 210.029 -- 2013 Ed Carpenter 228.762
Average Speed: 1984 163.612 - 2013 187.433, fastest in history, breaking the record by Arie Luyendyk in 1990 of 185.981.
Here's the lead changes for 1984:
Lap
Leaders: Mears 1-24, Sneva 25-25, Ma. Andretti 26-47, Sneva 48-49, Ma.
Andretti 50-53, Mears 54-59, Sneva 60-60, Ma. Andretti 61-63, Fabi
64-70, Ongais 71-73, Fabi 74-80, Sneva 81-82, Unser, Jr. 83-86, Sneva
87-109, Mears 110-141, Sneva 142-143, Mears 144-200
Here's the lap leaders for 2013:
Lap
Leaders: Carpenter 1-8, Kanaan 9-9, Carpenter 10-12, Kanaan 13-14,
Andretti 15-16, Kanaan 17-20, Andretti 21-22, Kanaan 23-23, Andretti
24-26, Kanaan 27-28, Andretti 29-29, Hunter-Reay 30-30, Power 31-32,
Jakes 33-37, Carpenter 38-42, Andretti 43-43, Carpenter 44-50, Andretti
51-53, Carpenter 54-58, Hunter-Reay 59-60, Andretti 61-61, Hunter-Reay
62-63, Carpenter 64-72, Kanaan 73-74, Power 75-88, Kanaan 89-89, Viso
90-90, Munoz 91-92, Kanaan 93-97, Allmendinger 98-111, Kanaan 112-112,
Andretti 113-114, Kanaan 115-120, Hunter-Reay 121-121, Munoz 122-122,
Tagliani 123-123, Bell 124-124, Hinchcliffe 125-125, Andretti 126-130,
Hunter-Reay 131-131, Viso 132-135, Hunter-Reay 136-136, Allmendinger
137-142, Hunter-Reay 143-144, Castroneves 145-145, Andretti 146-150,
Hunter-Reay 151-151, Munoz 152-154, Dixon 155-155, Hinchcliffe 156-157,
Hunter-Reay 158-164, Allmendinger 165-167, Andretti 168-168, Hunter-Reay
169-169, Andretti 170-170, Hunter-Reay 171-171, Andretti 172-173,
Kanaan 174-174, Andretti 175-175, Kanaan 176-177, Munoz 178-178,
Andretti 179-179, Munoz 180-184, Hinchcliffe 185-188, Kanaan 189-189,
Hunter-Reay 190-190, Kanaan 191-192, Hunter-Reay 193-197, Kanaan
198-200.
Do you notice any difference there? - I sure do!
Finally,
Mears took the lead on lap 144, that's 56 laps from the checkered flag.
Can any of you guess what his margin of victory was? TWO LAPS!
So
I will reiterate my point, why do you think the 1984 Indy 500 was so
great and seem to ignore the facts about the competitiveness of this
year's race being so outstanding? two words RICK MEARS!
Looking
at those stats, a blind man can see there is really NOTHING wrong with
Indy Car racing today. The problem is too many people THINK there is
something that needs to be fixed.
Pull you heads out of the sand and look at the sunshine!
Sure 84 car showed up in 1984, but the 33 that came to race in 2013 sure put on a better show, didn't they?
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Monday, July 1, 2013
Here we go again - You really should change your perception about Indy Cars
I
still maintain my position I stated on another post. It is a matter of
perception as to what is and isn't important to race fans and the
misguided ideas that need changing.
The biggest blow to IndyCar racing's popularity is two-fold in my estimation.
First: When the Speedway opened its doors to allow other cars onto the Speedway to race. That came at the height of "NASCAR is the greatest form of racing there is" and the Speedway is just a second-rate dump unless the glorious Winston Cup cars are allowed to race there. That move diminished the Indianapolis 500's stature in the eyes of the casual, even some not so casual racing fans. One of the most unique aspects of the history of the Indianapolis 500 was it was the ONLY race at the track each year. Its non-conformity was one of the best things about the Speedway - it separated it from all other tracks. The more races they add to try and attract more people in August, the less significant the 500 becomes.
Second: With the split in open wheel racing a more devastating blow came to IndyCar racing and it remains to this day. At the time of the split, the perception was (at the time it was correct but no more) the "best" drivers no longer come to the Speedway. Meanwhile the RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company was marketing the taxi cab drivers as the best since biblical times. The money flowed so freely out of Winston-Salem, NC that kids who dreamed their entire life of winning Indy became Cup drivers - can you say Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne! Worse yet, the 500 even became viewed as merely a stepping stone - "now that you have won Indy Sam Hornish, are you going to MOVE UP to NASCAR? What a slap in the face to the Indy 500 that was/is! What a mistake that was for Sam, but he's in NASCAR so he's great, right?
If you want to blame Tony George for creating the problems, go ahead, however, what is done is done. The only people we can blame for not making it better today is ourselves for not supporting IndyCar. So-called IndyCar fans are the biggest bunch of cry babies in the racing world.
Here's what I am saying, the 2013 edition of the Indianapolis 500 was one of the most exciting races of the last decade, perhaps in the history of the 500 itself. More different records were broken this year than in Speedway history, including the 187.433 mph average, which was 23-years old! Did you hear fans lining up to tell NASCAR or the media that this is what racing is supposed to look like - NO! All I heard was people whining that it ended under a yellow flag! So what impression does that leave of the folks at Sports Illustrated and ESPN - it must have been a stinker if the loyal fans are all bitching about the finish, they ought to be doing it like NASCAR.
Let's check out the other guys & girl. Man that race in Charlotte was GREAT because a cable holding up a TV camera snapped and hit Kyle Busch's car delaying the race for almost an hour so we could watch the drivers use their Sprint Cell Phones to send pictures of their damaged cars over "the fastest 4G Network." Then, Danica Patrick's boyfriend tries to pass a car on the race track, suffers aero-push and starts a 14-car crash that took her out after she charged all the way from 31st starting spot to 29th in 100 laps after a great pit call where she only took two tires to improve track position - which to any enlightened/bamboozled NASCAR fan is a GREAT run! What's the reaction from your typical NASCAR fan after six hours, four lead changes among three drivers with virtually no passing among the 43 cars who started - That race was GREAT!!!!! And will Ricky Stenhouse , Jr. get "any" tonight?
Ana Beatriz passes 15 cars in the 500 without the help of a yellow flag over 133 consecutive laps and all you hear from IndyCar fans is that she is from Brazil and never drove a sprint car at Knoxville! Come on IndyCar fans?
Another misconception that is perpetuated but not true is fans watch the races to see the cars. Really, that is a load of horse dump! The cars are really an after thought. Old timers, ask yourself, and be honest, were you really attracted to the Indianapolis 500 because of a Kurtis or Watson Offy Roadster? You're lying if you say you did. You went to watch Bill Vukovich, Jimmy Bryan, A.J. Foyt, and Parnelli Jones drive them.
You're also full of crap if you say, "bring back the roadsters" and then say "it's innovation that makes Indy special." During the heyday of the roadsters they all looked like A.J. Watson built them. You say you want innovation, but complain about the Dallara DW012. That's that most innovative Indy car in the 21st century and all I hear out of the non-believers is that "it's ugly." You want to know the truth - so was the 1977 STP turbine! You loved that car didn't you? I'll be happy to tell you why - PARNELLI JONES! If Andy had hired Bobby Grimm to drive the car it wouldn't be in the museum. I don't hear any of you chirping about the innovative Jack Adams Turbine. Then again, Bill Cheesbourg drove it and missed the show.
Let's look at some facts - that ugly car you guys are bitching about produced 34 lead changes in 2012 and 68 lead changes between 14 drivers this year, that's 102 lead changes in two races. There weren't that many lead changes in the Fifties! From 1950 until 1959 there were 90 lead changes. More different drivers and teams have won races with that "ugly" car. You want to know how many lead changes their were in 1963 - four - Parnelli led 171 laps, Jim Clark 27, Roger McCluskey 1 and Jim Hurtubise 1. The only real drama was if Aggie could talk Harlan Fengler out of black flagging Jones - which he did - otherwise Jim Clark would have won in his rookie year!
Until IndyCar management realizes a few realities they're gonna keep scratching their collective heads and getting nowhere.
1. Only one race a year at the Indianapolis 500! No support races (Indy Lights), no stock cars of any kind - including trucks, no Formula 1, no MotoGp, no infield road course. Nothing is going to bring in 150,000 fans for qualifying ever again. But if you want the fans to come to see a race, give them only ONE option, as Carl Fisher figured out in 1910 and Wilbur Shaw and Tony Hulman kept that tradition going.
2. The popularity of any form of racing starts with the DRIVERS. Without star drivers people won't come. If you don't believe me, how many times have you heard this statement, "the only reason why I even watch NASCAR is to see how Tony Stewart is doing." Oh really, you don't watch to see the stunning difference in the Gen 6 COT, tub of shit, from last year's unrecognizable Gen 5 tub of shit. I thought it was about the cars?
Increased speed is also a misconception. If more speed is what the fans want, why do the keep coming back even though it's been 17 years since Arie Luyendyk went 237 MPH. Fans have kept coming. Why? It can't be an increase in speed. The Daytona track speed records are ancient. Bill Elliott's one-lap at 210.364 was 1987 and Buddy Baker's remarkable 177.602 was set 33-years ago in 1980. If IndyCar changes the car so it can break Luyendyk's record can you guess what will happen? The two teams with the most money will once again dominate the races - one step backwards! There was even more crying back then.
For IndyCar to attract more fans they need to change is this: No one thinks there are any "stars" driving any more. I say if marketed correctly, folks might find out there are many drivers currently involved in IndyCar that are star quality, we've just been conditioned over the years to find other things to complain about, while all the time we've been watching some very good racing in spite of what we tell others is wrong with our sport. Yeah, the boring Texas race won't go down in history as "great" but it also wasn't the end of the world as a lot of folks were more than happy to tell the world. There is nothing wrong with the cars or the overall quality of the races. Not every races is going to produce 68 lead changes, but I would rather watch IndyCars than that WWE Tag-Team match the Daytona 500 has become or any of the boring races at any of the tracks the cabs are running on these days.
Let's start telling the racing world that there is a lot of GREAT stuff really going on at an IndyCar race near you!
The biggest blow to IndyCar racing's popularity is two-fold in my estimation.
First: When the Speedway opened its doors to allow other cars onto the Speedway to race. That came at the height of "NASCAR is the greatest form of racing there is" and the Speedway is just a second-rate dump unless the glorious Winston Cup cars are allowed to race there. That move diminished the Indianapolis 500's stature in the eyes of the casual, even some not so casual racing fans. One of the most unique aspects of the history of the Indianapolis 500 was it was the ONLY race at the track each year. Its non-conformity was one of the best things about the Speedway - it separated it from all other tracks. The more races they add to try and attract more people in August, the less significant the 500 becomes.
Second: With the split in open wheel racing a more devastating blow came to IndyCar racing and it remains to this day. At the time of the split, the perception was (at the time it was correct but no more) the "best" drivers no longer come to the Speedway. Meanwhile the RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company was marketing the taxi cab drivers as the best since biblical times. The money flowed so freely out of Winston-Salem, NC that kids who dreamed their entire life of winning Indy became Cup drivers - can you say Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne! Worse yet, the 500 even became viewed as merely a stepping stone - "now that you have won Indy Sam Hornish, are you going to MOVE UP to NASCAR? What a slap in the face to the Indy 500 that was/is! What a mistake that was for Sam, but he's in NASCAR so he's great, right?
If you want to blame Tony George for creating the problems, go ahead, however, what is done is done. The only people we can blame for not making it better today is ourselves for not supporting IndyCar. So-called IndyCar fans are the biggest bunch of cry babies in the racing world.
Here's what I am saying, the 2013 edition of the Indianapolis 500 was one of the most exciting races of the last decade, perhaps in the history of the 500 itself. More different records were broken this year than in Speedway history, including the 187.433 mph average, which was 23-years old! Did you hear fans lining up to tell NASCAR or the media that this is what racing is supposed to look like - NO! All I heard was people whining that it ended under a yellow flag! So what impression does that leave of the folks at Sports Illustrated and ESPN - it must have been a stinker if the loyal fans are all bitching about the finish, they ought to be doing it like NASCAR.
Let's check out the other guys & girl. Man that race in Charlotte was GREAT because a cable holding up a TV camera snapped and hit Kyle Busch's car delaying the race for almost an hour so we could watch the drivers use their Sprint Cell Phones to send pictures of their damaged cars over "the fastest 4G Network." Then, Danica Patrick's boyfriend tries to pass a car on the race track, suffers aero-push and starts a 14-car crash that took her out after she charged all the way from 31st starting spot to 29th in 100 laps after a great pit call where she only took two tires to improve track position - which to any enlightened/bamboozled NASCAR fan is a GREAT run! What's the reaction from your typical NASCAR fan after six hours, four lead changes among three drivers with virtually no passing among the 43 cars who started - That race was GREAT!!!!! And will Ricky Stenhouse , Jr. get "any" tonight?
Ana Beatriz passes 15 cars in the 500 without the help of a yellow flag over 133 consecutive laps and all you hear from IndyCar fans is that she is from Brazil and never drove a sprint car at Knoxville! Come on IndyCar fans?
Another misconception that is perpetuated but not true is fans watch the races to see the cars. Really, that is a load of horse dump! The cars are really an after thought. Old timers, ask yourself, and be honest, were you really attracted to the Indianapolis 500 because of a Kurtis or Watson Offy Roadster? You're lying if you say you did. You went to watch Bill Vukovich, Jimmy Bryan, A.J. Foyt, and Parnelli Jones drive them.
You're also full of crap if you say, "bring back the roadsters" and then say "it's innovation that makes Indy special." During the heyday of the roadsters they all looked like A.J. Watson built them. You say you want innovation, but complain about the Dallara DW012. That's that most innovative Indy car in the 21st century and all I hear out of the non-believers is that "it's ugly." You want to know the truth - so was the 1977 STP turbine! You loved that car didn't you? I'll be happy to tell you why - PARNELLI JONES! If Andy had hired Bobby Grimm to drive the car it wouldn't be in the museum. I don't hear any of you chirping about the innovative Jack Adams Turbine. Then again, Bill Cheesbourg drove it and missed the show.
Let's look at some facts - that ugly car you guys are bitching about produced 34 lead changes in 2012 and 68 lead changes between 14 drivers this year, that's 102 lead changes in two races. There weren't that many lead changes in the Fifties! From 1950 until 1959 there were 90 lead changes. More different drivers and teams have won races with that "ugly" car. You want to know how many lead changes their were in 1963 - four - Parnelli led 171 laps, Jim Clark 27, Roger McCluskey 1 and Jim Hurtubise 1. The only real drama was if Aggie could talk Harlan Fengler out of black flagging Jones - which he did - otherwise Jim Clark would have won in his rookie year!
Until IndyCar management realizes a few realities they're gonna keep scratching their collective heads and getting nowhere.
1. Only one race a year at the Indianapolis 500! No support races (Indy Lights), no stock cars of any kind - including trucks, no Formula 1, no MotoGp, no infield road course. Nothing is going to bring in 150,000 fans for qualifying ever again. But if you want the fans to come to see a race, give them only ONE option, as Carl Fisher figured out in 1910 and Wilbur Shaw and Tony Hulman kept that tradition going.
2. The popularity of any form of racing starts with the DRIVERS. Without star drivers people won't come. If you don't believe me, how many times have you heard this statement, "the only reason why I even watch NASCAR is to see how Tony Stewart is doing." Oh really, you don't watch to see the stunning difference in the Gen 6 COT, tub of shit, from last year's unrecognizable Gen 5 tub of shit. I thought it was about the cars?
Increased speed is also a misconception. If more speed is what the fans want, why do the keep coming back even though it's been 17 years since Arie Luyendyk went 237 MPH. Fans have kept coming. Why? It can't be an increase in speed. The Daytona track speed records are ancient. Bill Elliott's one-lap at 210.364 was 1987 and Buddy Baker's remarkable 177.602 was set 33-years ago in 1980. If IndyCar changes the car so it can break Luyendyk's record can you guess what will happen? The two teams with the most money will once again dominate the races - one step backwards! There was even more crying back then.
For IndyCar to attract more fans they need to change is this: No one thinks there are any "stars" driving any more. I say if marketed correctly, folks might find out there are many drivers currently involved in IndyCar that are star quality, we've just been conditioned over the years to find other things to complain about, while all the time we've been watching some very good racing in spite of what we tell others is wrong with our sport. Yeah, the boring Texas race won't go down in history as "great" but it also wasn't the end of the world as a lot of folks were more than happy to tell the world. There is nothing wrong with the cars or the overall quality of the races. Not every races is going to produce 68 lead changes, but I would rather watch IndyCars than that WWE Tag-Team match the Daytona 500 has become or any of the boring races at any of the tracks the cabs are running on these days.
Let's start telling the racing world that there is a lot of GREAT stuff really going on at an IndyCar race near you!
Saturday, June 29, 2013
Was Jim Clark the best ever? Maybe
 |
| Jim Clark, 26, after his 1sr GP win at Spa, Belgium |
1960: (Partial season) 5-5-16-3-16
1961: 10-3-12-3-DNF-4-DNF-7
1962: 9-DNF-1-DNF-1-4-DNF-7
1963: 8-1-1-1-1-2-1-3-1-1
1964: 4-1-1-DNF-1-DNF-DNF-DNF-7-5
1965: 1-DNS*-1-1-1-1-1-1-DNF-DNF-DNF * Skipped Monaco to win the Indy 500.
1966: DNF-DNF-DNF-4-3-DNF-DNF-1-DNF
1967: DNF-1-6-DNF-DNF-1-DNF-3-1-1
1968: 1 - (died April, 7, 1968 at Hockenheim, Germany on the fifth lap of an F2 race when his Lotus veered off the track and hit a tree. Clark was thrown from the car and died of a broken neck. Tire failure is the suspected cause of the crash. There were no witnesses.)
Go back and look at 1965, the greatest single season for a driver in Grand Prix history when he won the first seven GPs and took off the 2nd race of the GP season to crush the field at Indy. That's eight straight and undefeated until Sept. 12. Clark was leading the Italian Grand Prix after starting from the pole and having the fastest lap in the race when the winning streak ended after the fuel pump failed and he was a DNF. Clark was just 13 laps from the finish. He was leading the US GP when his engine quit. He did start from the pole in the final race of the year in Mexico, but this was the only race he did not lead a lap and the Lotus only lasted 11 laps of the race won by Ritchie Ginther of the US in a Honda, their first win.
25 wins in 75 races in eight seasons. Two World driving titles. In five starts at Indy he was 2-DNF-1-2-DNF, with one Pole. There is an argument to be made he won in 1966 but lost because of a USAC scoring error. If indeed Clark had actually run 201 laps as alleged, he was still less the 1-mph slower than winner Graham Hill, who he out-qualified by more than 8-mph. It also must be noted that Clark spun TWICE and never made contact with anything or lost a lap.
I am going to add a few more "what if?" questions to his Indy record:
1. What if ... in 1963 Parnelli Jones get black flagged for leaking oil? Clark was in 2nd place at the time and had led 28 laps of the race? Win #1 at Indy
2. What if ... instead of using Dunlop Tyres the Lotus team had mounted Goodyear or Firestone TIRES the suspension might not have collapsed. He was leading after Bobby Marshman retired while leading. Win #2.
3. What if ... in 1965 he had led every lap instead of just 190. He would have been the first driver to do that. Regardless. He did get win #1, but could have been third straight, 1st driver to do that!
4. What if ... USAC had not botched the scoring and made Clark drive an extra lap because they missed him after a crash on the backstraight involving Al Unser in Team Lotus #18 was confused with Jim's #19 and they inadvertently missed Clark's lap. Or they missed him after one of his two spins in turn 4 where he drove directly to the pits for fresh tires and never lost a lap (choose either scenario). He would have beaten Grham Hill, who everyone says never passed a car on the track all day and qualified 8 mph slower than Jimmy. Win #4.
Yes, it is pure conjecture, but it is not totally nuts to think Clark could have won Indy four years in a row.
Although there is no records like this kept, it is said that Clark was leading in virtually every race he did not finish when he retired from the race. Had the Lotus cars not been so flimsy who knows how many of those DNFs would have been wins?
Starting in 1960, until his last full season in 1967 his record championship record was:
10th (1960, 8 pts. 0 wins, 0 poles)
7th (1961, 11 pts. 0 wins, 0 poles)
2nd (1962, 30 pts 3 wins, 4 poles)
1st (1963, 54 pts. 7 wins, 7 poles)
3rd (1964, 32 pts. 3 wins, 7 poles)
1st (1965, 54 pts. 6 wins, 5 poles. Also won Indy leading 190 of 200 laps)
6th (1966, 16 pts. 1 win, 2 poles (finishing only 3 of the races that year))
3rd (1967, 41 pts. 4 wins, 5 poles)
11th, (1968, 9 pts, 1 pole Only start before fatal accident)
He had the fastest lap of the race 21 times in his 75 starts.
He ran one F1 race in 1968 at South Africa before he died - he won the race pole and had the fastest lap!
At the time of his death in 1968 he had 25 wins (33%) and 33 GP Poles (44%) in 75 races and was the all-time leader in both categories.
Colin Chapman said that no one will ever know how fast he could have driven because he only saw Clark drive full out was once in his career, that was the 1967 Monza Grand Prix. Clark started on the pole but suffered a tire puncture and had to pit, dropping to 16th place. He charged back through the field to regain the lead but ran out of fuel because of the unexpectedly fast pace he had to drive. He finished third behind Jack Brabham and John Surtees.
Chapman said, "He never had to push his limits because he was beating everyone at 7-tenths."
Early in his racing career, he asked a teammate, "Why is everyone going so slow?" The teammate answered, "No Jim, it's because you're so bloody fast."
In 1963 he LED 71.4% of all the laps of the races that year.
He also holds the record for most Grand Slams, taking pole, fastest lap, race win and leading every lap of the race in 8 races (1962 British Grand Prix, 1963 Dutch Grand Prix, 1963 French Grand Prix, 1963 Mexican Grand Prix, 1964 British Grand Prix, 1965 South African Grand Prix, 1965 French Grand Prix, 1965 German Grand Prix).
Of all of the 75 races he competed in, he only lost on the track (meaning still running at the end) 24 times in seven years. Twelve of those came before his 1st win in 1962. That means that in five years of F1 races he only got beaten on the track 12 more times!
In 1963, for his career 1st F1 win at Spa, in a downpour, started 8th, took the lead lapped all but Bruce McLaren and won by FIVE MINUTES. At the time, one lap at Spa was 8.761 MILES!
The only F1 track he never won at was Monaco.
He won 19 non-sanctioned Grand Prix. And had one USAC win at Milwaukee.
Mind you, he also raced Saloon cars, too. He once drove a Ford Cortina down the bobsled course in Cortina, Italy as a promotion for Ford.
 |
| Negotiating his way down the bobsled track in Cortina, Italy in a Ford Cortina |
He was just 32-years old at the times of his death.
That is just a sampling of the accomplishments of perhaps the GREATEST driver of All-Time, anywhere - any car!
Thursday, June 13, 2013
It's all about the drivers!
On a Facebook page the question was raised "If you had Carte Blance, what 4 things would you change to make IndyCar better?"
I get 4 changes, right?
1. Market the drivers as the best in the World.
2. Market the series as the most competitive in the World.
3. Market the Indianapolis 500 as it is said to be - The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.
4. Convince everyone you know that there is no more exciting form of auto racing on the planet!
There is nothing wrong with the cars, there is nothing wrong with the tracks, there is no need to incorporate any rule changes regarding how the races finish, they don't need to go any faster.
The worst thing that came out of the split in open wheel racing in the mid-nineties was the perception that the greatest drivers in the world did not race at the Indianapolis 500 any longer. At that juncture, that was true. Not any more!
Since then, the series has never shaken that perception, particularly when the majority of fans still promote that view of the drivers currently racing at Indy are somehow inferior by whining that their favorite driver races elsewhere and few in the field ever drove a sprint car at Terre Haute. Ask anyone why they watch NASCAR and they nearly always say "to see how Tony Stewart (insert any other name) does."
The first step in reviving IndyCar to become the predominate racing series on the planet all starts with driver recognition. People come to see DRIVERS! not the type of cars, tracks or any other gimmick you can come up with.
We as IndyCar fans have to buy into that way of thinking - it's very important.
No one cares what kind of golf clubs Phil Mickelson is using in the US Open this weekend - they only care that Phil Mickelson is playing in the tournament! Car racing is no different than golf when it comes to what attracts the casual sports fan. It's the players not their tools! Those are the people IndyCar needs to focus on and go after.
If you think I'm nuts, consider this question - Why does NASCAR spend so much time and money on Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Danica Patrick? Because they have found that the paying customer shows up to see if one of these two is everything they have heard from the marketing barrage. Neither of them have ever measured up to the hype, but the hype has not subsided. Even when you watch drag racing on ESPN2, the ticker across the bottom recounts who won, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th...Earnhardt Jr. 24th, Patrick, 33rd. Who cares? A lot of people who still buy the marketing dept. hype of NASCAR, GoDaddy, and Diet Mountain Dew. When you think about it, even the folks in Bristol, CT have bought into the hype by always including their names in the rundown no matter how poorly they finished.
and the folks at the RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company had to come up with a way to sell cigarettes by using subliminal advertising. Even tough you never saw Cale Yarborough puffing on a Winston 100 in victory lane or Buddy Baker with a pack of menthols rolled up in the sleeve of his T-Shirt, Seagraves and those hillbillies in Winston-Salem, NC found a way to sell smokes through stock car racing. That is what started and fueled NASCAR's rise. It's still using those same techniques today because it worked. Geez, they even convinced Tony George that the Indianapolis Motor Speedway didn't measure up without a WINSTON Cup race - how many more cartons of Winstons flew off the racks after that announcement? Anton's Grampa Hulman and Wilbur Shaw both died a second time after that deal was done. A Faustian Bargain if ever there was one. We'll make Indy look better by bringing in enemy forces! That has evolved into something great, hasn't it?
Have you ever seen an advertisement for a NASCAR race where they have promoted coming out to watch the Gen 6 cars take on the world? They even have folks believing they're watching Chevys, Fords and Toyotas in spite of the fact they are all the same body/chassis, except for paint and the nose. NASCAR fans don't really care, they just want to see Kyle Busch loose and then get thumped by teammate Denny Hamlin during the brawl in the pits. Even when you see an ad it starts with Jimmie Johnson drives a Chevrolet...Jeff Gordon drinks Pepsi...Matt Kenseth wears a Rolex watch.
Think about how many advertisements for IndyCar, when you can find one, that mentions the driver at all. ZERO. No amount of marketing about how diverse the Indy car chassis or aero packages are will not attract new fans. Marketing that depicts a driver like Ed Carpenter
as the great "giant killer" because he qualified for the pole 2013 Indy 500 will raise the curiosity of casual fans faster than any tech change will. It would have far more impact if an ad ran something like this: "Ed Carpenter used Firestone Tires to become the fastest qualifier in a field of the best drivers in the world competing at the Indianapolis 500." Curiosity about how good this Carpenter guy is will start and fans will tune to an IndyCar race and find out he's pretty good at what he does. Cars actually pass each other during the race, too. Zoeller sells more booze, makes more money and extends a contract extension worth more money to ECR! That was Seagraves' secret strategy. It's a win situation for Ed, a win for Fuzzy's Vodka and most importantly a win for Indy car racing. But it all starts with Ed Carpenter - not his car, not his engine and not his tires!
Carpenter is walking proof that a former midget/sprint/Silver Crown dirt racer can be successful at Indy if he chooses to race there. All it takes is talent, which Carpenter has plenty of. The only thing holding back rising talent from coming to Indy is the size of the purses. Making money, not bringing money is the current deterrent to getting new young drivers into the 500.
Announcing that Tony Kanaan has just triumphed over the most incredible field of the finest drivers in the World in the most exciting and fastest Indy 500 in history will do the same thing. The more the drivers are touted, the more everyone in the series benefits.
After watching the 2013 IndyCar season so far I would say that there is nothing wrong with the racing product itself that needs a major overhaul. Yeah, Texas was a yawner, but that was only one race not the only race. NASCAR fans continue to view races week in and week out that are way more boring than Texas was. Why? Because they have been convinced by a massive marketing machine that there are no better drivers than those who drive stocks cars, who the hell cares if the races stink, theses guys can DRIVE!
Until IndyCar fans start to tout guys like Kanaan, Dario Franchitti, Helio Castoneves, Scott Dixon, Carpenter, Marco Andretti, Ryan Hunter-Reay, James Hinchcliffe, Justin Wilson, Simon Pagenaud, Sebastian Bourdais, Takuma Sato, Mike Conway, Josef Newgarden, etc. as the best in the world and the guys in NASCAR are just pretenders to the throne, IndyCar will always forever be looked upon as a second-rate series no matter what changes the series makes to the cars.
Making the cars faster will bring in new fans is also a fallacy. There has not been a significant increase in speed at any of the major race tracks, including Indy or Daytona, since the early nineties but the fans keep coming. Speed increases require design changes, which require an investment of a lot of money, which in turn squeezes the small budget teams out of the sport. How many races do you think Dale Coyne Racing will win if you change specs to an all new chassis in 2014 = NONE. He proved he is a competitive team owner as of today by WINNING Detroit a few weeks ago! More different teams are capable of winning now than in any period in the past. Winning is also not merely based on that team's budget any longer either, either. Team Penske has won once in what turned out to be an illegal car, Target/Ganassi is struggling like they have never before. Huge budgets are not winning races these days - why change that?
My suggestion on car design - freeze the current design for another three years until the quality of today's competition attracts enough new fans that teams like Dale's can attract a lucrative sponsor to stay competitive when the formula changes.
The other upside of freezing the chassis formula is that as high-budget teams "freshen" their car inventory with news cars, the older cars can be purchased at a reduced cost by someone, say, like Bryan Clauson's family. The car would still be competitive even though it's only a year older, but still exactly like the newer car, and like Carpenter, with the ability to race competitively the entire season on a limited budget and talent in abundance Bryan Clauson could very well contend for the Indy pole and win a race or two in the future! Land a ride in a better car. Maybe even the 500! Imagine that? Guys running in USAC today racing at Indy tomorrow because they can afford to do it, advancing to the pinnacle of the series! What a concept, huh?
When Indianapolis ruled, it wasn't because everyone thought the Watson Roadsters were cool race cars - it was because guys like
A.J. Foyt, Parnelli Jones, Mario Andretti, Bobby Unser, Al Unser and Johnny Rutherford drove them. Sure, today's Indy drivers come from different roots, that doesn't mean they aren't damned good race car drivers, because they are!
I have been attracted to car racing for more than 50 years now and I can't remember going to a race to see a car. I have gone to see the drivers race - regardless of the car. I never went to Manzanita Speedway to see the new Stanton Chassis - I went to see Lealand McSpadden drive it. In fact I went to Manzanita to see Lealand McSpadden drive midgets, sprint buggies, modified stocks, and almost anything else and it didn't matter a hill of beans to me what kind of cars it was - it was essential that Lealand was driving! Did you really give a damn about seeing what car Jan Opperman was driving? I saw Ayrton Senna race F1 in Phoenix, but I don't remember for what team. Eddie Sachs remained my hero, even when he changed into the American Red Ball Movers yellow #9. Was that a Watson, Kuzma or Meskowski - I don't remember or care. He was still Eddie Sachs and still my hero!
Between 1961 and 1999, I can say that I saw virtually every great driver race in that time span. I didn't give a damn what kind of car they were driving. I'm lying just a little - Jim Clark in the Lotus at Trenton in Sept. 1963 and Parnelli in the Turbine. However, those drivers made those cars great, not the other way around. Remember when Bill Cheesbourg drove a turbine at Indy? I didn't think so. "Chees" was not the greatest of drivers and the turbine he drove was an innovative TOS! The TV rating didn't drop because that car missed the show. Do you really think the STP Turbine would have been as popular/hated if Andy Granatelli had hired Bob Harkey to drive it?
The downfall of the Indianapolis 500 had nothing to do with the technical specifications of the cars raced at the track. It came about when race fans began to believe the best drivers had abandoned the race for greener pastures and virtually every driver since is just a replacement while the perceived "best" race elsewhere. That's just not true anymore!
The only thing that will reverse that perception is when fans devote themselves to the concept nothing is better than the Indy 500. This year we saw the most competitive Indy 500 EVER and some people still complain about something instead of jumping out of seats at witnessing it! Let's see NASCAR match that race - they can't, even with a green-white-checker finishing crash fest. We will never be successful if you continue to say, "I really love IndyCar racing, but..." If you want IndyCar to succeed, quit being a cry-baby and just say "I LOVE INDY CAR RACING!!!!"
I get 4 changes, right?
1. Market the drivers as the best in the World.
2. Market the series as the most competitive in the World.
3. Market the Indianapolis 500 as it is said to be - The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.
4. Convince everyone you know that there is no more exciting form of auto racing on the planet!
There is nothing wrong with the cars, there is nothing wrong with the tracks, there is no need to incorporate any rule changes regarding how the races finish, they don't need to go any faster.
The worst thing that came out of the split in open wheel racing in the mid-nineties was the perception that the greatest drivers in the world did not race at the Indianapolis 500 any longer. At that juncture, that was true. Not any more!
Since then, the series has never shaken that perception, particularly when the majority of fans still promote that view of the drivers currently racing at Indy are somehow inferior by whining that their favorite driver races elsewhere and few in the field ever drove a sprint car at Terre Haute. Ask anyone why they watch NASCAR and they nearly always say "to see how Tony Stewart (insert any other name) does."
The first step in reviving IndyCar to become the predominate racing series on the planet all starts with driver recognition. People come to see DRIVERS! not the type of cars, tracks or any other gimmick you can come up with.
We as IndyCar fans have to buy into that way of thinking - it's very important.
No one cares what kind of golf clubs Phil Mickelson is using in the US Open this weekend - they only care that Phil Mickelson is playing in the tournament! Car racing is no different than golf when it comes to what attracts the casual sports fan. It's the players not their tools! Those are the people IndyCar needs to focus on and go after.
If you think I'm nuts, consider this question - Why does NASCAR spend so much time and money on Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Danica Patrick? Because they have found that the paying customer shows up to see if one of these two is everything they have heard from the marketing barrage. Neither of them have ever measured up to the hype, but the hype has not subsided. Even when you watch drag racing on ESPN2, the ticker across the bottom recounts who won, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th...Earnhardt Jr. 24th, Patrick, 33rd. Who cares? A lot of people who still buy the marketing dept. hype of NASCAR, GoDaddy, and Diet Mountain Dew. When you think about it, even the folks in Bristol, CT have bought into the hype by always including their names in the rundown no matter how poorly they finished.
To this day NASCAR is riding on the coattails of one of the most successful marketing campaigns ever devised when CEO Ralph Seagraves
Have you ever seen an advertisement for a NASCAR race where they have promoted coming out to watch the Gen 6 cars take on the world? They even have folks believing they're watching Chevys, Fords and Toyotas in spite of the fact they are all the same body/chassis, except for paint and the nose. NASCAR fans don't really care, they just want to see Kyle Busch loose and then get thumped by teammate Denny Hamlin during the brawl in the pits. Even when you see an ad it starts with Jimmie Johnson drives a Chevrolet...Jeff Gordon drinks Pepsi...Matt Kenseth wears a Rolex watch.
Think about how many advertisements for IndyCar, when you can find one, that mentions the driver at all. ZERO. No amount of marketing about how diverse the Indy car chassis or aero packages are will not attract new fans. Marketing that depicts a driver like Ed Carpenter
Carpenter is walking proof that a former midget/sprint/Silver Crown dirt racer can be successful at Indy if he chooses to race there. All it takes is talent, which Carpenter has plenty of. The only thing holding back rising talent from coming to Indy is the size of the purses. Making money, not bringing money is the current deterrent to getting new young drivers into the 500.
Announcing that Tony Kanaan has just triumphed over the most incredible field of the finest drivers in the World in the most exciting and fastest Indy 500 in history will do the same thing. The more the drivers are touted, the more everyone in the series benefits.
After watching the 2013 IndyCar season so far I would say that there is nothing wrong with the racing product itself that needs a major overhaul. Yeah, Texas was a yawner, but that was only one race not the only race. NASCAR fans continue to view races week in and week out that are way more boring than Texas was. Why? Because they have been convinced by a massive marketing machine that there are no better drivers than those who drive stocks cars, who the hell cares if the races stink, theses guys can DRIVE!
Until IndyCar fans start to tout guys like Kanaan, Dario Franchitti, Helio Castoneves, Scott Dixon, Carpenter, Marco Andretti, Ryan Hunter-Reay, James Hinchcliffe, Justin Wilson, Simon Pagenaud, Sebastian Bourdais, Takuma Sato, Mike Conway, Josef Newgarden, etc. as the best in the world and the guys in NASCAR are just pretenders to the throne, IndyCar will always forever be looked upon as a second-rate series no matter what changes the series makes to the cars.
Making the cars faster will bring in new fans is also a fallacy. There has not been a significant increase in speed at any of the major race tracks, including Indy or Daytona, since the early nineties but the fans keep coming. Speed increases require design changes, which require an investment of a lot of money, which in turn squeezes the small budget teams out of the sport. How many races do you think Dale Coyne Racing will win if you change specs to an all new chassis in 2014 = NONE. He proved he is a competitive team owner as of today by WINNING Detroit a few weeks ago! More different teams are capable of winning now than in any period in the past. Winning is also not merely based on that team's budget any longer either, either. Team Penske has won once in what turned out to be an illegal car, Target/Ganassi is struggling like they have never before. Huge budgets are not winning races these days - why change that?
My suggestion on car design - freeze the current design for another three years until the quality of today's competition attracts enough new fans that teams like Dale's can attract a lucrative sponsor to stay competitive when the formula changes.
The other upside of freezing the chassis formula is that as high-budget teams "freshen" their car inventory with news cars, the older cars can be purchased at a reduced cost by someone, say, like Bryan Clauson's family. The car would still be competitive even though it's only a year older, but still exactly like the newer car, and like Carpenter, with the ability to race competitively the entire season on a limited budget and talent in abundance Bryan Clauson could very well contend for the Indy pole and win a race or two in the future! Land a ride in a better car. Maybe even the 500! Imagine that? Guys running in USAC today racing at Indy tomorrow because they can afford to do it, advancing to the pinnacle of the series! What a concept, huh?
When Indianapolis ruled, it wasn't because everyone thought the Watson Roadsters were cool race cars - it was because guys like
I have been attracted to car racing for more than 50 years now and I can't remember going to a race to see a car. I have gone to see the drivers race - regardless of the car. I never went to Manzanita Speedway to see the new Stanton Chassis - I went to see Lealand McSpadden drive it. In fact I went to Manzanita to see Lealand McSpadden drive midgets, sprint buggies, modified stocks, and almost anything else and it didn't matter a hill of beans to me what kind of cars it was - it was essential that Lealand was driving! Did you really give a damn about seeing what car Jan Opperman was driving? I saw Ayrton Senna race F1 in Phoenix, but I don't remember for what team. Eddie Sachs remained my hero, even when he changed into the American Red Ball Movers yellow #9. Was that a Watson, Kuzma or Meskowski - I don't remember or care. He was still Eddie Sachs and still my hero!
Between 1961 and 1999, I can say that I saw virtually every great driver race in that time span. I didn't give a damn what kind of car they were driving. I'm lying just a little - Jim Clark in the Lotus at Trenton in Sept. 1963 and Parnelli in the Turbine. However, those drivers made those cars great, not the other way around. Remember when Bill Cheesbourg drove a turbine at Indy? I didn't think so. "Chees" was not the greatest of drivers and the turbine he drove was an innovative TOS! The TV rating didn't drop because that car missed the show. Do you really think the STP Turbine would have been as popular/hated if Andy Granatelli had hired Bob Harkey to drive it?
The downfall of the Indianapolis 500 had nothing to do with the technical specifications of the cars raced at the track. It came about when race fans began to believe the best drivers had abandoned the race for greener pastures and virtually every driver since is just a replacement while the perceived "best" race elsewhere. That's just not true anymore!
The only thing that will reverse that perception is when fans devote themselves to the concept nothing is better than the Indy 500. This year we saw the most competitive Indy 500 EVER and some people still complain about something instead of jumping out of seats at witnessing it! Let's see NASCAR match that race - they can't, even with a green-white-checker finishing crash fest. We will never be successful if you continue to say, "I really love IndyCar racing, but..." If you want IndyCar to succeed, quit being a cry-baby and just say "I LOVE INDY CAR RACING!!!!"
Friday, May 31, 2013
So, what happens now?
On my other blog, I talked about last Sunday's running of the Indy 500 being one of the best ever.
The question is how does IndyCar make the most of it?
As I focused on in the previous blog, it's all about perception. Even among some who say they love Indy Cars, most of what you hear from them is what is supposedly wrong with Indy Cars, not what's good. Let's get started on changing that perception.
There is nothing wrong with the car currently being used in the series. Spec cars are a fact-of-life in 21st Century auto racing. After watching Sunday's race and witnessing how much passing was going on all over the race track, not just for the lead, I would say the current car is a pretty "racey" car, meaning you can pass other cars with it. Drivers were passing all over the place last Sunday.
Here's Dario leading a bunch of cars into turn one. This may have been taken on the restart after Hildebrand's lap 3 crash, since #4 is at the bottom of the tower. There's a whole lot of passing going on! Dario has passed Oriel Servia (#22), can't tell who is looking inside of Scott Dixon AND Takuma Sato, might be Almendinger. That yellow car with the blue nose a ways back is Katherine Legge, who started last and as you can see, she has passed a whole bunch of cars.
Oh, but they don't go faster every year in qualifying - SO WHAT! Indy does not need 240 MPH time trial averages! The faster you go, the more money you need to spend to do it and the more teams like Dreyer & Reinbold will have to throw in the towel. The current balance among the teams has never been more competitive, don't change that. Faster also narrows the racing groove. Narrow equals less passing - simple as that, no exceptions. 228 MPH was just right!
Indy got just what it needed Sunday - 68 lead changes between 14 drivers, 19 cars on the lead lap separated by less than 10 seconds while running under the green flag, one engine failure, only 21 laps of caution, 133 consecutive laps of green flag racing, one-car, limited-budget racing teams competitive with the giants of the sport and a track record race average of over 187 MPH! A 500-mile race that lasted less than 3 hours! That's what will bring the fans back! Thank you, Randy Bernard!
What Derrick Walker needs to focus on is not how to change this car, but far more importantly, how can we build more of them cheaper! Mass produce that damn car.
I think he should begin to work with Dallara on ways to crank out more of these chassis at a lower cost.
They should be following the model of the electronics industry.
Remember when flat screen HDTVs hit the market. Cutting edge technology - a 42-inch Pioneer Elite was $15-GRAND! Few people could afford one. Here we are just a few years later and you can buy a 60-inch 1080P LCD 3D Vizio for under $1,000. Once you master the technology, then flood the market with it.
Look at the I-Phone - it's $600 - why - they keep making changes to the design and can't produce enough of them. Yeah, there's lots of really cool stuff the I-Phone can do, but outside of Facebook, Twitter, messaging and very little talking, (I paid $35 for my "3G smartphone" and it does everything I need - talk, FB, Twitter, message, I can even deposit checks to my bank with it) how many of those other apps do you really use or need? If Samuel L. Jackson can't figure out where to buy mushrooms for his Greek cuisine dinner the phone is already cooking for him, what has this world come to?
Make it so anyone who could afford a top-dollar sprint car can now afford to go IndyCar racing and watch how fast guys like Bryan Clauson is running competitively at the Speedway. There would be 150 entries for the 500.
We would need to bring back Harlan Fengler to tell novice drivers to come back when they get more experience. I'd bet it would take a month just to figure out which 33 cars would qualify for the race - Deja Vu!
I know this is going to rub some folks the wrong way, but this is my perception of the reality of Indy in the 21st Century. A driver doesn't have to race at Eldora to earn the right to be called the best driver in the World. That was then, this is now. The sooner the traditional IndyCar crowd who haven't already come to the conclusion that the BEST drivers in the World ARE at Indy now regardless of birthplace, the faster we can push the bar higher at the Speedway as far as fan popularity is concerned.
We need to start promoting drivers like Kanaan, Andretti, Franchitti, Hinchcliffe, Dixon, Castroneves, Power, Carpenter, Briscoe, Wilson, Pagenaud, Bourdais, DeSilvestro, Newgarden, Legge, Munoz, Sato and the rest as the the best qualified drivers in the world instead of calling them a bunch of rich crybabies who bought their way in (which they DID NOT). Then the quicker Steve Levy and the rest of the stick & ball guys at ESPN will start paying more attention to IndyCar. The days of buying your way into Indy have been over for some time now - get over it! These drivers are good racers. If the fans who say they support Indy depict their drivers as unqualified, how do you expect those who don't know to think anything else?
Let me give your brain something to gnaw on and might make you change your perspective if you haven't already.
Who is the most traditionally-rooted IndyCar owner involved right now - I say it is four-time winner and Indy Legend, A.J. Foyt. Who is Foyt's driver this year - a Japanese former F1 driver named Takuma Sato! Why did Foyt hire him? Sato did not come with a giant sponsorship package to support A.J.'s wallet. In fact Foyt is still working with his many-year sponsor ABC Supply again this year. He hired him because A.J. thinks Sato is one damn fine, hard-charging race car driver! A.J. loves this guy! Why, that last lap balls out, passing attempt on Dario Franchitti in 2012 is right out of Foyt's own playbook. He won at Long Beach charging hard, drove so deep into the final turn at Sao Paolo that Hinchcliffe pulled a sprint car slide job on him to get the win. Good for Hinchcliffe, too. Sonofabitch, that guy's a Canadian.
So if A.J. Foyt thinks the guy is that good, shouldn't we join him? I have!
If there is any driver out there in any other form of racing - including NASCAR Sprint Cup - bring it on baby. I think you might just get your ass kicked! Unless you are Kyle Larson!
For the majority of it's history, Indy has been an International event. In the early years Frenchmen, and even an Italian/Englishman (Dario Resta) dominated the scene. Two of Wilbur Shaw's victories came in a Grand Prix Maserati built in Italy! Scotsman Jim Clark passed on Monaco GP in 1965 to come and win Indy, and quite frankly, that quiet F1 champion kicked those sprint car-racing American's asses so soundly enough, that even they admitted he was one of the best ever. Ralph DePalma and Mario Andretti were born in Italy.
As for the track. There's a lot of renovation needed for the old gal. I have been pounding on this drum for a long time but I really and truly believe this may be the most important change that needs to be made at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway - go back to the way Carl G. Fisher started running the place in 1911 after he discovered many races were not as good as one GIANT of a race is!
That philosophy made Indy what it was and again should be! The experiment of having other classes of cars at the Speedway, adopted in 1992, is turning out to be a dismal failure. Go back to one race, one month (or even just one week) and that's it.
By introducing other types of cars, the image of an Indy Car has changed over the past 25 years. We need to get that identity back. The only way I see that happening is by racing only INDY CARS at INDY - period.
NASCAR, F1, MotoGP motorcycles, Grand Am, Nationwide have all been dismal failures. Sure, the first couple of years that NASCAR was allowed to race on the track, there was a lot of interest, but really, was the racing (cars passing other cars on the race track, not in the pits) any good? NO!
There were many errors in judgement made by those in charge back then regarding a lot of things. Since then a lot of those mis-judgements have been repaired and in some cases have strengtened open-wheel racing for the better. Now is the time for IndyCar to stand up for itself, take back the place that is rightfully theirs - The Indianapolis Motor Speedway! A new sign posted at the entrance of Gasoline Alley!
The question is how does IndyCar make the most of it?
As I focused on in the previous blog, it's all about perception. Even among some who say they love Indy Cars, most of what you hear from them is what is supposedly wrong with Indy Cars, not what's good. Let's get started on changing that perception.
The Cars
There is nothing wrong with the car currently being used in the series. Spec cars are a fact-of-life in 21st Century auto racing. After watching Sunday's race and witnessing how much passing was going on all over the race track, not just for the lead, I would say the current car is a pretty "racey" car, meaning you can pass other cars with it. Drivers were passing all over the place last Sunday.
Oh, but they don't go faster every year in qualifying - SO WHAT! Indy does not need 240 MPH time trial averages! The faster you go, the more money you need to spend to do it and the more teams like Dreyer & Reinbold will have to throw in the towel. The current balance among the teams has never been more competitive, don't change that. Faster also narrows the racing groove. Narrow equals less passing - simple as that, no exceptions. 228 MPH was just right!
Indy got just what it needed Sunday - 68 lead changes between 14 drivers, 19 cars on the lead lap separated by less than 10 seconds while running under the green flag, one engine failure, only 21 laps of caution, 133 consecutive laps of green flag racing, one-car, limited-budget racing teams competitive with the giants of the sport and a track record race average of over 187 MPH! A 500-mile race that lasted less than 3 hours! That's what will bring the fans back! Thank you, Randy Bernard!
What Derrick Walker needs to focus on is not how to change this car, but far more importantly, how can we build more of them cheaper! Mass produce that damn car.
I think he should begin to work with Dallara on ways to crank out more of these chassis at a lower cost.
They should be following the model of the electronics industry.
Remember when flat screen HDTVs hit the market. Cutting edge technology - a 42-inch Pioneer Elite was $15-GRAND! Few people could afford one. Here we are just a few years later and you can buy a 60-inch 1080P LCD 3D Vizio for under $1,000. Once you master the technology, then flood the market with it.
Look at the I-Phone - it's $600 - why - they keep making changes to the design and can't produce enough of them. Yeah, there's lots of really cool stuff the I-Phone can do, but outside of Facebook, Twitter, messaging and very little talking, (I paid $35 for my "3G smartphone" and it does everything I need - talk, FB, Twitter, message, I can even deposit checks to my bank with it) how many of those other apps do you really use or need? If Samuel L. Jackson can't figure out where to buy mushrooms for his Greek cuisine dinner the phone is already cooking for him, what has this world come to?
Make it so anyone who could afford a top-dollar sprint car can now afford to go IndyCar racing and watch how fast guys like Bryan Clauson is running competitively at the Speedway. There would be 150 entries for the 500.
We would need to bring back Harlan Fengler to tell novice drivers to come back when they get more experience. I'd bet it would take a month just to figure out which 33 cars would qualify for the race - Deja Vu!
The Drivers!
I know this is going to rub some folks the wrong way, but this is my perception of the reality of Indy in the 21st Century. A driver doesn't have to race at Eldora to earn the right to be called the best driver in the World. That was then, this is now. The sooner the traditional IndyCar crowd who haven't already come to the conclusion that the BEST drivers in the World ARE at Indy now regardless of birthplace, the faster we can push the bar higher at the Speedway as far as fan popularity is concerned.
We need to start promoting drivers like Kanaan, Andretti, Franchitti, Hinchcliffe, Dixon, Castroneves, Power, Carpenter, Briscoe, Wilson, Pagenaud, Bourdais, DeSilvestro, Newgarden, Legge, Munoz, Sato and the rest as the the best qualified drivers in the world instead of calling them a bunch of rich crybabies who bought their way in (which they DID NOT). Then the quicker Steve Levy and the rest of the stick & ball guys at ESPN will start paying more attention to IndyCar. The days of buying your way into Indy have been over for some time now - get over it! These drivers are good racers. If the fans who say they support Indy depict their drivers as unqualified, how do you expect those who don't know to think anything else?
Let me give your brain something to gnaw on and might make you change your perspective if you haven't already.
Who is the most traditionally-rooted IndyCar owner involved right now - I say it is four-time winner and Indy Legend, A.J. Foyt. Who is Foyt's driver this year - a Japanese former F1 driver named Takuma Sato! Why did Foyt hire him? Sato did not come with a giant sponsorship package to support A.J.'s wallet. In fact Foyt is still working with his many-year sponsor ABC Supply again this year. He hired him because A.J. thinks Sato is one damn fine, hard-charging race car driver! A.J. loves this guy! Why, that last lap balls out, passing attempt on Dario Franchitti in 2012 is right out of Foyt's own playbook. He won at Long Beach charging hard, drove so deep into the final turn at Sao Paolo that Hinchcliffe pulled a sprint car slide job on him to get the win. Good for Hinchcliffe, too. Sonofabitch, that guy's a Canadian.
So if A.J. Foyt thinks the guy is that good, shouldn't we join him? I have!
If there is any driver out there in any other form of racing - including NASCAR Sprint Cup - bring it on baby. I think you might just get your ass kicked! Unless you are Kyle Larson!
For the majority of it's history, Indy has been an International event. In the early years Frenchmen, and even an Italian/Englishman (Dario Resta) dominated the scene. Two of Wilbur Shaw's victories came in a Grand Prix Maserati built in Italy! Scotsman Jim Clark passed on Monaco GP in 1965 to come and win Indy, and quite frankly, that quiet F1 champion kicked those sprint car-racing American's asses so soundly enough, that even they admitted he was one of the best ever. Ralph DePalma and Mario Andretti were born in Italy.
The Track
As for the track. There's a lot of renovation needed for the old gal. I have been pounding on this drum for a long time but I really and truly believe this may be the most important change that needs to be made at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway - go back to the way Carl G. Fisher started running the place in 1911 after he discovered many races were not as good as one GIANT of a race is!
That philosophy made Indy what it was and again should be! The experiment of having other classes of cars at the Speedway, adopted in 1992, is turning out to be a dismal failure. Go back to one race, one month (or even just one week) and that's it.
By introducing other types of cars, the image of an Indy Car has changed over the past 25 years. We need to get that identity back. The only way I see that happening is by racing only INDY CARS at INDY - period.
NASCAR, F1, MotoGP motorcycles, Grand Am, Nationwide have all been dismal failures. Sure, the first couple of years that NASCAR was allowed to race on the track, there was a lot of interest, but really, was the racing (cars passing other cars on the race track, not in the pits) any good? NO!
There were many errors in judgement made by those in charge back then regarding a lot of things. Since then a lot of those mis-judgements have been repaired and in some cases have strengtened open-wheel racing for the better. Now is the time for IndyCar to stand up for itself, take back the place that is rightfully theirs - The Indianapolis Motor Speedway! A new sign posted at the entrance of Gasoline Alley!
ONLY INDY CARS ALLOWED
NO TRESPASSING!
Saturday, November 19, 2011
NASCAR American - No Way!
I had originally posted this on Facebook back in February but wanted to include it here on the blog also.
Just when you thought I had come to my senses - I go and make a statement like that! If you think that's crazy let me take it one step farther! There is nothing American about the way NASCAR goes about its business! Now you think that I have completely gone over the edge, don't you?
Let's engage in some comparative history. I am making this next statement from the bottom of my heart and believe this to my core! We live in the greatest country that has ever been conceived on the face of the Earth - period. We have freedoms that no other country has enjoyed. One of those is the freedom of speech where a radical thinker like myself can express my opinion! How did this country get to where it is today as the standard bearer of those most basic of freedoms of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness?
I'll give you the thumbnail version:
In 1492 an Italian guy in three Spanish-owned ships found out that there was this continent between Europe and the Spice Islands. That inept navigator was Columbus and he went back to tell Ferdie and Issy that the the short cut to the Philippines by going West instead of East isn't going to work because there is a continent in the way. Columbus is pretty bummed his original plan didn't work, but Ferdie had a second option. "Why don't you go back and we'll see if we can make some money off them folks instead." Plan B worked and pretty soon money is flowing back to Spain. What did the natives of the New World get? An influenza epidemic that killed off a large majority of the population.
More people started coming over here to see what it was all about.
Over in Jolly Old England QE 1, not the ship but the hag, and King James, this guy's ego is so big he re-writes the Bible, were running the show and they start telling the people there that they must believe in the Anglican Church and you don't have a choice in the matter. So some folks like the Pilgrims and Quakers decided that maybe that isn't such a great idea and they leave and come to the New World to get away from that kind of oppression. Ah! but King Jimmy still has some strings tied to them because he rules over the Colonies.
So these fine people arrive and set up shop. They make friends with the Indians and create a tradition called Thanksgiving, which eventually leads to a USAC Midget race at JC Agajanian's Ascot Park on that day each year! Everything seems wonderful. As time passes these resourceful people start to build a pretty good enterprise over here clearing the land of every tree in sight, and in about 150 years or so this place is cooking! Well, then King George III, who inherited the keys to the shed by then, decides that he wants to squeeze some of that wealth into his pockets so he begins taxing everything in sight including beverages.
So, Sam Adams, who now has a beer named in his honor, gets together with his cousin John, who doesn't have any beverages with his name on them, and his pal John Hancock, no drinks but an Insurance Company that bears his name, decide that what the King is doing is just plain wrong! Shouldn't we have something to say in these matters? You can't make all of these rules without the people who are affected by them, if they don't have some input - you remember the battle call of the time "Taxation without Representation!"
So one night in a fit of rage, these guys get a bunch of their buddies to dress up like Indians, board some ships in Boston Harbor and start chucking creates of tea into the water - take that Georgie-Porgie-puddin' N' Pie this will make you cry - if we have to pay out the kazoo to drink this stuff you can't have it either and we'll start drinking coffee instead.
Well, as you can imagine, George-3 isn't real happy that these radical punks in the Colonies won't follow his every command and he sends in the British Army to put things right, at least the way KG3 thinks it should be. How dare they oppose the rule of an inbred idiot who has been given total control of England because his mom and dad had it given to him and so on through the history of the country - well maybe not forever, but for long enough!
Sam, John and John sense trouble when there are more Red Coats than Colonists in Boston, so they start off to Philadelphia to meet up with some other trouble makers. Ben Franklin is there and a bunch of rabble-rousers from Virginia, Tom Jefferson, Jimmy Madison, Pat Henry and some tobacco farmer and whiskey distiller named George Washington, who is famous for throwing his money into the Potomac River. They get a bunch of their other buddies together they form a gang called the Continental Congress. "What are we going to do now?" one of the guys asks. John Adams proposes that we tell the King just what we think of him and tell him to take his crown and put it where the sun doesn't shine! Which is gonna be really hard when you see how this guy dresses!
Check out the threads on this dude! King George III
It's a good idea but not everyone is on board with it, so Adams and the gang start to hash it out. They debate, they argue, they negotiate and eventually they compromise and decide that maybe that curmudgeon from Boston is right!
So they have someone go slaughter a sheep, skin it, treat that skin into something called parchment. They then decided that Jefferson is someone who is "good with words" and after a few tries with pencil and paper, B-Frank and J-Ads want to make sure their two cents worth is in it, he cranks out this piece called "The Declaration of Independence!"
The first thing T-Jeff did was to remind the King that even though he is spoiled rotten, all other men have the rights to life, liberty and happiness, which is something that G-Man-3 had apparently forgotten along the way. If you're not going to let us have these, then we're just going to do it ourselves so see ya' later pal!
TJ then adds a whole list of other things that the King had lost track of, called grievances, and the finished parchment is put in front of John Hancock who puts his "John Hancock" on it on July 4, 1776 and here we are today!
So what does that have to do with NASCAR? Let's tell their story and see how it compares to that of our country.
Starting back in the twenties, some guy figured out that it might be fun and that he might even make some dough if some thrill-billies got together and drove the family buggies up the beach and then down the road and called it stock car racing.
One of those hicks that thought it might be a hoot to drive up and down the sand was William G. France - Big Bill! After a couple of years of driving in this circus and not making any money at it, Big Bill thought he knew how to do it better, so he started organizing this jamboree every year.
There were the accusations that the drivers were crazy and they said, "Yeah, but your paying money to watch this!" In the end Big Bill was going to the bank with more money than all of them.
Everything is rolling along quite nicely until something happened in another garden spot with a lot of sand. The Japanese decided to surprise the United States by picking a fight with us, so they drop a bunch of bombs on the US Pacific Naval Fleet in Pearl Harbor. Bad move on their part. This makes President Franklin Roosevelt angry enough to call "Dec 7, 1941 a day that will live in infamy" and starts a war with them to show them the error of their ways. Four years and two atomic bombs later, the Japanese came back to their senses, called it quits and said that the US had won! Doug MacArthur even got the Emperor's autograph to prove it.
Once that problem was taken care of we could get back to more important stuff like racing in Daytona again. Big Bill decides that in order for him to profit from all of these shenanigans he needs to organize the bootleggers so that he can set the rules. Bill gets some of these guys together in a flop house in Daytona, liquors the good ol' boys up, he lays out his plan and everybody thinks its great. In the last democratic move in this organization's history they collectively agree to call it the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing - NASCAR for short and put Big Bill in charge.
What those hillbillies didn't know at the time that was the last time that they would have any input as to how stock car racing was going to be conducted - William G. France had crowned himself as the "King" of NASCAR. From that point forward the only voice that counted was his! The competitors, promoters and fans had no input as to how things would be done in NASCAR. France said once that he held his board meetings in a telephone booth - actually he didn't even bother with the booth!
I will not argue that NASCAR grew under the leadership of Big Bill, but it has also been stifled by his total command. That command was passed on to his son Bill France Jr and now to his grandson Brian France. None of these individuals were given the power they have by "the people." It was handed to them by their forefather - kind of sounds like the King of England doesn't it? OK, let's take a vote to see who wants Brian France to be the head of NASCAR- anyone, Bueller - Bueller - no one!
No one is allowed to question his authority, no one can criticize any of his decisions - he makes the rules and if you don't like them you can go play somewhere else!
Many of us admire Tony Stewart - first and most importantly for his amazing talent behind the wheel of just about any car that has a seat in it and win! The other aspect of his personality was that Tony said what was on his mind, which in America has has the right to. Over the years Tony's candor has turned into "NASCAR speak" where he doesn't criticize the words of the King (B-France) and his Court (Mike Helton). Tony's been called into the "trailer" too many times and threatened with fines and or suspension for his remarks. Tony has been stripped of his 1st Amendment Right of Freedom of Speech because NASCAR doesn't want him to say anything that would make them look like they were anything less than perfect - isn't that called censorship?
Jeff Spicoli from Fast Times at Ridgement High summed it up very well: "What Jefferson was saying is Hey! we left this England place 'cause it was bogus - and if we don't get some cool rules ourselves - pronto - we'll just be bogus too - Okay!"
NASCAR is not a democracy it is an Autocratic Monarchy where the power is transferred from one family member to the next - kind of sounds like England on July 3, 1776 doesn't it?
OK - so you still think that I am absolutely nuts!
If I were a member of NASCAR you wouldn't be reading this. But Because Jefferson came up with some pretty cool rules, I have the right to say it! That is one of the most valued gifts the Constitution gives us is the freedom to think and say and worship without fear of intervention from the Government they created - God Bless the United States of America - and thank you to everyone who has ever served in the military to protect those rights! You, ladies and gentlemen, are my heroes!
Just when you thought I had come to my senses - I go and make a statement like that! If you think that's crazy let me take it one step farther! There is nothing American about the way NASCAR goes about its business! Now you think that I have completely gone over the edge, don't you?
Let's engage in some comparative history. I am making this next statement from the bottom of my heart and believe this to my core! We live in the greatest country that has ever been conceived on the face of the Earth - period. We have freedoms that no other country has enjoyed. One of those is the freedom of speech where a radical thinker like myself can express my opinion! How did this country get to where it is today as the standard bearer of those most basic of freedoms of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness?
I'll give you the thumbnail version:
In 1492 an Italian guy in three Spanish-owned ships found out that there was this continent between Europe and the Spice Islands. That inept navigator was Columbus and he went back to tell Ferdie and Issy that the the short cut to the Philippines by going West instead of East isn't going to work because there is a continent in the way. Columbus is pretty bummed his original plan didn't work, but Ferdie had a second option. "Why don't you go back and we'll see if we can make some money off them folks instead." Plan B worked and pretty soon money is flowing back to Spain. What did the natives of the New World get? An influenza epidemic that killed off a large majority of the population.
More people started coming over here to see what it was all about.
Over in Jolly Old England QE 1, not the ship but the hag, and King James, this guy's ego is so big he re-writes the Bible, were running the show and they start telling the people there that they must believe in the Anglican Church and you don't have a choice in the matter. So some folks like the Pilgrims and Quakers decided that maybe that isn't such a great idea and they leave and come to the New World to get away from that kind of oppression. Ah! but King Jimmy still has some strings tied to them because he rules over the Colonies.
So these fine people arrive and set up shop. They make friends with the Indians and create a tradition called Thanksgiving, which eventually leads to a USAC Midget race at JC Agajanian's Ascot Park on that day each year! Everything seems wonderful. As time passes these resourceful people start to build a pretty good enterprise over here clearing the land of every tree in sight, and in about 150 years or so this place is cooking! Well, then King George III, who inherited the keys to the shed by then, decides that he wants to squeeze some of that wealth into his pockets so he begins taxing everything in sight including beverages.
So, Sam Adams, who now has a beer named in his honor, gets together with his cousin John, who doesn't have any beverages with his name on them, and his pal John Hancock, no drinks but an Insurance Company that bears his name, decide that what the King is doing is just plain wrong! Shouldn't we have something to say in these matters? You can't make all of these rules without the people who are affected by them, if they don't have some input - you remember the battle call of the time "Taxation without Representation!"
So one night in a fit of rage, these guys get a bunch of their buddies to dress up like Indians, board some ships in Boston Harbor and start chucking creates of tea into the water - take that Georgie-Porgie-puddin' N' Pie this will make you cry - if we have to pay out the kazoo to drink this stuff you can't have it either and we'll start drinking coffee instead.
Well, as you can imagine, George-3 isn't real happy that these radical punks in the Colonies won't follow his every command and he sends in the British Army to put things right, at least the way KG3 thinks it should be. How dare they oppose the rule of an inbred idiot who has been given total control of England because his mom and dad had it given to him and so on through the history of the country - well maybe not forever, but for long enough!
Sam, John and John sense trouble when there are more Red Coats than Colonists in Boston, so they start off to Philadelphia to meet up with some other trouble makers. Ben Franklin is there and a bunch of rabble-rousers from Virginia, Tom Jefferson, Jimmy Madison, Pat Henry and some tobacco farmer and whiskey distiller named George Washington, who is famous for throwing his money into the Potomac River. They get a bunch of their other buddies together they form a gang called the Continental Congress. "What are we going to do now?" one of the guys asks. John Adams proposes that we tell the King just what we think of him and tell him to take his crown and put it where the sun doesn't shine! Which is gonna be really hard when you see how this guy dresses!
Check out the threads on this dude! King George III
It's a good idea but not everyone is on board with it, so Adams and the gang start to hash it out. They debate, they argue, they negotiate and eventually they compromise and decide that maybe that curmudgeon from Boston is right!
So they have someone go slaughter a sheep, skin it, treat that skin into something called parchment. They then decided that Jefferson is someone who is "good with words" and after a few tries with pencil and paper, B-Frank and J-Ads want to make sure their two cents worth is in it, he cranks out this piece called "The Declaration of Independence!"
The first thing T-Jeff did was to remind the King that even though he is spoiled rotten, all other men have the rights to life, liberty and happiness, which is something that G-Man-3 had apparently forgotten along the way. If you're not going to let us have these, then we're just going to do it ourselves so see ya' later pal!
TJ then adds a whole list of other things that the King had lost track of, called grievances, and the finished parchment is put in front of John Hancock who puts his "John Hancock" on it on July 4, 1776 and here we are today!
So what does that have to do with NASCAR? Let's tell their story and see how it compares to that of our country.
Starting back in the twenties, some guy figured out that it might be fun and that he might even make some dough if some thrill-billies got together and drove the family buggies up the beach and then down the road and called it stock car racing.
One of those hicks that thought it might be a hoot to drive up and down the sand was William G. France - Big Bill! After a couple of years of driving in this circus and not making any money at it, Big Bill thought he knew how to do it better, so he started organizing this jamboree every year.
There were the accusations that the drivers were crazy and they said, "Yeah, but your paying money to watch this!" In the end Big Bill was going to the bank with more money than all of them.
Everything is rolling along quite nicely until something happened in another garden spot with a lot of sand. The Japanese decided to surprise the United States by picking a fight with us, so they drop a bunch of bombs on the US Pacific Naval Fleet in Pearl Harbor. Bad move on their part. This makes President Franklin Roosevelt angry enough to call "Dec 7, 1941 a day that will live in infamy" and starts a war with them to show them the error of their ways. Four years and two atomic bombs later, the Japanese came back to their senses, called it quits and said that the US had won! Doug MacArthur even got the Emperor's autograph to prove it.
Once that problem was taken care of we could get back to more important stuff like racing in Daytona again. Big Bill decides that in order for him to profit from all of these shenanigans he needs to organize the bootleggers so that he can set the rules. Bill gets some of these guys together in a flop house in Daytona, liquors the good ol' boys up, he lays out his plan and everybody thinks its great. In the last democratic move in this organization's history they collectively agree to call it the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing - NASCAR for short and put Big Bill in charge.
What those hillbillies didn't know at the time that was the last time that they would have any input as to how stock car racing was going to be conducted - William G. France had crowned himself as the "King" of NASCAR. From that point forward the only voice that counted was his! The competitors, promoters and fans had no input as to how things would be done in NASCAR. France said once that he held his board meetings in a telephone booth - actually he didn't even bother with the booth!
I will not argue that NASCAR grew under the leadership of Big Bill, but it has also been stifled by his total command. That command was passed on to his son Bill France Jr and now to his grandson Brian France. None of these individuals were given the power they have by "the people." It was handed to them by their forefather - kind of sounds like the King of England doesn't it? OK, let's take a vote to see who wants Brian France to be the head of NASCAR- anyone, Bueller - Bueller - no one!
No one is allowed to question his authority, no one can criticize any of his decisions - he makes the rules and if you don't like them you can go play somewhere else!
Many of us admire Tony Stewart - first and most importantly for his amazing talent behind the wheel of just about any car that has a seat in it and win! The other aspect of his personality was that Tony said what was on his mind, which in America has has the right to. Over the years Tony's candor has turned into "NASCAR speak" where he doesn't criticize the words of the King (B-France) and his Court (Mike Helton). Tony's been called into the "trailer" too many times and threatened with fines and or suspension for his remarks. Tony has been stripped of his 1st Amendment Right of Freedom of Speech because NASCAR doesn't want him to say anything that would make them look like they were anything less than perfect - isn't that called censorship?
Jeff Spicoli from Fast Times at Ridgement High summed it up very well: "What Jefferson was saying is Hey! we left this England place 'cause it was bogus - and if we don't get some cool rules ourselves - pronto - we'll just be bogus too - Okay!"
NASCAR is not a democracy it is an Autocratic Monarchy where the power is transferred from one family member to the next - kind of sounds like England on July 3, 1776 doesn't it?
OK - so you still think that I am absolutely nuts!
If I were a member of NASCAR you wouldn't be reading this. But Because Jefferson came up with some pretty cool rules, I have the right to say it! That is one of the most valued gifts the Constitution gives us is the freedom to think and say and worship without fear of intervention from the Government they created - God Bless the United States of America - and thank you to everyone who has ever served in the military to protect those rights! You, ladies and gentlemen, are my heroes!
Friday, November 18, 2011
Well, I think it is finally about time that I got off the schnied and started popping off about things again!
The first thing I want to rant about is NASCAR (go figure this is Rose talking here) destroying yet another icon of racing when they reconfigured Phoenix International Raceway. Ever since it was built in 1964, the track was unique because of layout. Many a legend had been promoted that when they started building the track the engineers started building in turn one and then realized that it was not going to work and bent the turn and created the famous "dog leg" where the back straight was supposed to be. That is a myth. The track's layout was intended to be that way because the original design included a 2.5-mile road course that ran clockwise on the oval, exited at the "dog leg" and re-entered at what later became known as the "cross-over" where you had to sit and wait until a practice session was over before you could get into the infield. An unforgettable experience was standing next to the end of the wall during practice and seeing the cars blast past the end of the wall and make that high speed run to the "dog leg." Only lap one, turn one at Indy was more thrilling to me. That wide, long piece of asphalt was an ill-fated drag strip and part of the road course.
It turned out that the road course did not generate much interest in the racing world and the drag strip turned out to be tragically too short when, in the first event, a Top Fuel dragster did not deploy its parachutes and the driver was killed when the car went up the side of the mountain at the end of the strip.
So that left us with the most intriguing one-mile track in the nation. It was the scene of some of the best Championship car races ever contested: Mario Andretti showed the world what it was in for with a thrilling drive in the Dean Van Lines Roadster in November of 1964; Don Branson was the last driver to win in a Roadster at the track in 1965; Bobby Unser crashed under the turn 3 guard rail and walked away; Lloyd Ruby won here three times; Swede Savage's only Championship car win came when he passed Roger McCluskey on the last lap when McCluskey ran out of fuel; Mike Mosley and Roberto Guerrero both won from last position in 24-car fields; Andretti's last win in CART was here and the 1st CART Indy Car race was contested here on the track in 1986 and the list goes on. Even NASCAR history was made here when in 1988 Alan Kulwicki took his 1st career win and established the "Polish Victory Lap" by driving in the wrong direction around the track to pay tribute to his fans! NASCAR also ran its 1st Truck race at PIR, won by Mike Skinner.
It fell into dis-repair for a while when the original owners Dick and Nancy Hogue fell on hard times and couldn't maintain the facility. JC Agajanian stepped in to keep the track going, promoting a race before Malclom Bricklin purchased the place to be a test facility. The Bricklin SV-1 was the forerunner of the DeLorean car.
The Bricklin SV-1
He was Canadian and had worked with AMC (Rambler) to develop a gull-winged door sports type car. Very few of them ever made it to the road, but they were probably ahead of their time. Aligning with Rambler was not necessarily a plus-factor either. In fact he re-named the track Fastrack. They continued to run two Championship car races a year there, but eventually Bricklin's attempt at building cars went bust and again the track was in limbo.
So, another group of racing enthusiasts saw a chance to revive the track. Led by Dr. Tom Taber, whose son was racing at Manzanita at the time, pulled together a group of investors to buy the place.
One of those investors was Bob Fletcher, who was also in the process of piecing together an Indy Car team with Clint Brawner as crew chief and Jimmy Caruthers as his driver.
Over the course of time, Fletcher gained controlling interest in the track and named Dennis Wood as the general manager. As time passed on, Fletcher's interest in the track waned and Wood took control of the track.
Any of you who know Denny Wood know that he has one of the most active and creative minds in racing. He began adding events to the schedule, including NASCAR Winston West races and inviting the top names of the day, Petty, Pearson, Bonnett and Allison to run on a race in late November after the Championship car finale.
Wood's coup de' gras was the Copper World Classic! Although to be perfectly honest the original seed was planted by Bill Culp, Manzy racer Dave Culp's father, when he promoted a race called the Copper State Classic race for sprint cars (won by Chuck Gurney and a controversial finish that named Jerry Miller of Indy the winner although there are several who could easily claim the victory) for two years before Denny assumed control of the track.
That's Billy Shuman in the Gibson #10, who led every lap until a series of incredibly stupid decisions by race officials robbed him of certain victory. Car owner Billy Gibson makes a valid argument that Shuman actually won the race. There is also some who think that Rick Ferkel could have been named the winner - no one I know who was there actually thought that Jerry Miller (of Indianapolis, not the popular Jerry Miller of Glendale, AZ) won this race.
Having said that, it was Wood who elevated the Copper World Classic to become the "must" race at the beginning of the season. Wood added midgets and stock cars before also bringing in Super Modifieds and eventually Silver Crown cars. For my money it was the best weekend in racing!
So now there were four races on the PIR annual schedule - two USAC Championship car races (aptly named the Jimmy Bryan Memorial and Bobby Ball Memorial, traditional races), the Copper World and the Winston West race.
As I said, Denny was pretty creative. He had to be. Unlike many track owners Wood was not blessed with a huge bank account so he had to use the success of each event to begat the next race. Each time along the way Denny would re-invest into another track improvement until fate dealt him a blow from which he could not recover.
In 1983 Arizona had record rainfall - good for the state - terrible for PIR and Denny Wood. Since the track is located at the confluence of the Salt and Gila Rivers and a 100 years flood was taking place, access to PIR was cut off from the rest of the world. There was no bridge over the river until much later. The tragic end result was that the Copper World Classic and the Jimmy Bryan Memorial had to be cancelled. Without the necessary revenue to make improvements, Wood got backed against the wall. During some testing the asphalt in turn 3 began ripping up exposing the dirt foundation and CART's John Frasco (USAC was long gone from Indy Cars by now) said they would not race on the track unless it was totally repaved. The money just wasn't there and the Bobby Ball Memorial was not run either. Denny put the joint up for sale.
Enter a local cotton farmer named Emmett Jobe, Buddy to his friends.
Emmett "Buddy" Jobe.
His CPA, a guy named Pat Johnson, had seen that there was a large parcel of land located in SW Phoenix area for sale at what turned out to be a pretty good price. Johnson pitched the idea of the real estate investment to Jobe, who at the time had only a passing interest in racing. Johnson talked Jobe into buying the land on speculation and letting Johnson run the place as a race track for one year to see how things turned out.
Since Johnson did not have the background necessary to run the track he did the next best thing. He retained Denny and his staff to run it for him. Good move! Now the track could be repaved with Jobe's deeper pockets and racing returned big time to PIR in 1983!
Jobe was paraded around as the owner and his ego was rubbed sufficiently that he began to like the idea of being a track owner, especially when the track had the history and distinction of Phoenix International Raceway.
For the next five years the track's reputation expanded with more events added to an already busy slate. But there was one thing missing - Winston Cup.
By now the cancer that was to become what NASCAR is today was metastasizing into the malignant tumor NASCAR is today. Bad luck for one is good luck for another and the urban sprawl of the city of Riverside, CA encroached upon the territory of the fabled road course and it was doomed to become an industrial complex. That opened a date on the NASCAR calendar in 1988 and what a better place than Phoenix. A new dawn was on the horizon as the new stars of American car racing were coming to Phoenix - we could actually see Dale Earnhardt race at PIR! Sounded great then, didn't it?
In fact, life was good for the next 10 years or so - two Indy car dates, one NASCAR and the Copper World was just getting bigger and better every year. Even a young kid just 16-years old out of Indiana competed in the midget race and finished 2nd to Stan Fox, his name was Jeff Gordon. Tony Stewart raced in all four open-wheel divisions one year, won three of them and finished 2nd in the other; Rich Vogler showcased his amazing talents in being able to race and win in any car any time; Kenny Irwin Jr won the Silver Crown race one year; Kenny Schrader had the most wins at the track, mostly in Copper World events. Do you want me to go on, I will: Ryan Newman and Kasey Kahne both showed what talent they had at the Copper World; a guy named Jimmy Kite won the Silver Crown race from the back row and was immediately handed an Indy Car ride (didn't work out too well - one shot wonder): JJ Yeley showed his talents on the Copper World stage that propelled him to winning the USAC Triple Crown and eventually getting to Cup as a result. It was American Idol for racing!
Things were so good at the track that NASCAR's messiah sent his only begotten son to learn the trade at PIR's front office - Bill France Jr had Jobe hire Brian France as an intern for a year in the early nineties.
Brian France. Does this guy always look this clueless? Yeah!
Politics makes for strange bedfellows as the saying goes and one day Jobe gets a phone call from a guy named Bruton Smith, President of Speedway Motorsports Inc and owner of among other tracks Charlotte Motor Speedway to see if he wanted to sell PIR to him. It was part of the attempt by Smith to leverage some of the power away from Daytona to Charlotte.
Bruton Smith of Speedway Motorsports, Inc
Since Jobe was beholden to NASCAR, he informed the International Speedway Corporation (read that NASCAR and Bill France Jr) that Smith had made an offer.
The monarchs in Daytona weren't going to allow some upstart car salesman from Charlotte take control of their mighty empire, counter offers and Jobe accepts.
Still, the world hasn't gone completely off its orbit because Jobe and company still operate the track. But then the virus begins to take hold and ISC starts to replace those on staff at PIR with their "own" cronies.
Pretty soon people who had made their way in business selling beer and not in the realm of racing were in control and the first victim was the unique and traditional Copper World Classic! They cut it from the schedule because, according to the new PIR front office and new GM Robin Braig, "it didn't have enough potential for growth." Go figure! The race with the lowest overhead and was traditionally the most profitable at the track "didn't have enough potential for growth!" Screw grass roots racing would be a more appropriate reason!
Robin Braig made the decision to eliminate the Copper World Classic from PIR's schedule
NASCAR doesn't want to be upstaged by a bunch of rag-tag insanely creative and rogue garage mechanics who race by the seat of their pants in non-sanctioned Open Competition races do they? Apparently they didn't. There was one feeble attempt to revive it with NASCAR Southwest Series and the NASCAR inspired and ridiculous "new" USAC Silver Crown cars that raced once - at PIR, won by David Steele - kiss the Copper World goodbye.
That was the 1st of many moves that has brought us to what is today's PIR. After NASCAR so generously added another Cup race to the PIR schedule after losing a court case to some guy named Francis Ferko who sued on behalf of Texas Motor Speedway shareholders, the schedule was reconfigured. If Bruton was gonna get a 2nd race at one of his palaces we need to add another to one of our dumps to keep up - right!
IndyCars were the next to get axed. This is the division of cars that put PIR on the map in 1964 and had been a bastion of IndyCar racing ever since. In the history of Indy car racing three tracks stand above all others - The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Milwaukee Mile and Phoenix International Raceway. Only one remains although it has been poisoned by the malady of NASCAR.
All other events, including AMA Super Bikes and Proto-type sports cars were cancelled in favor of just two incredibly boring Cup races.
I'll face the truth - it was all about the money - Cup races do provide huge profit margins but in the end the racing has been so compromised because of it that it is hardly recognizable. The spring Cup race was so boring NASCAR decided to add another 72 laps to it so that it would try even the most strident of fans into submission.
Still, we had a wonderfully unique one-mile track that drew the best from a driver because it was a track that baffled most crew chiefs to get a good balance on because turns one-two were banked at 11-degrees and turns three-four were at 6-degrees - and that damned "dog leg."
Even though, to a man, every driver loved the place just the way it was. ISC (again read this as NASCAR) decided to reconfigure the track after the spring 2011 race. What was it that they intended to accomplish? The racing at PIR on the original configuration was, in my humble opinion (BTW shared by many) was the best on the Cup schedule. Then again, what was taking place at Daytona this year embarrassed even King Richard Petty. The advertised distance was 500 miles but the only real racing lasted about 100 yards at the finish when Trevor Bayne wouldn't let his partner by at the end! Off the record, ask Buddy Baker or Cale Yarborough who "won" the 2011 Daytona 500 and I think they will laugh hysterically.
Bryan Sperber, the genius who decided that PIR was not good enough as it was and set in motion the reconfiguration of PIR. I think if he had a chance he would put a Speedo on Michelangelo's David in Rome and Oakley's on DaVinci's Mona Lisa in the Louvre.
Here's the list of improvements: They widened the front straight; added progressive banking in the turns (just a cheap way to try and make it easier to allow pansy-ass drivers to pass in the corners because the don't have the balls to take a chance on the outside) and changed the exit of turn 2 into a sweeper to the "dog leg." All of this totally ruined this once majestic track.
Part of the driver's challenge was that turn 2 pinched you down making exit very tricky and the "dog leg' was a great place to pass if you had the courage and skill to run on the outside (BTW, A.J. Foyt was the 1st guy to run through the "dog leg" flat out). The track exposed any weakness a driver might have and highlighted their talents like no other track, but that's all gone now!
I watched one lap of the Nationwide race (it was on after I watched NHRA qualifying that I had recorded and of course I was curious) and when Elliott Sadler decided that it would be easier to avoid the new "dog leg" altogether, cut through on the new infield pavement 100 yards inside of the "yellow line" (which NASCAR said would be OK before the race started), slid in front of Jason Leffler, who had used the more traditional technique of staying on the track and had nowhere to go entering turn 3 when Elliott came roaring up out of nowhere and bumped Sadler, triggering a multi-car crash that ended Sadler's chance at the Nationwide title and sidelining NASCAR starlet Danica Patrick in the process. Danica had qualifying 27th and was poised to make a run to the front I'm sure! Sadler's tactics deprived us of that glorious moment, too.
I didn't bother to watch any of the Cup race. The last one I watched was PIR in the spring on the former configuration with the additional 72 laps, which was won by the fastest guy on the track that day. Oh it was the 16-year old prodigy who sprung to prominence in the Copper World Classic - Jeff Gordon! BTW, Gordon led all of the 72 additional laps of the race.
I can only assume that NASCAR's goal is to totally screw up racing beyond any recognition of what it once was - one man, one car and a demanding test of driver skill to see who could cover the allotted distance before anyone else. No pit calls - no grip decisions - no radios or spotters - just flat-out racing to see who is the best!
THANK YOU NASCAR! Ummm! on second thought!
The first thing I want to rant about is NASCAR (go figure this is Rose talking here) destroying yet another icon of racing when they reconfigured Phoenix International Raceway. Ever since it was built in 1964, the track was unique because of layout. Many a legend had been promoted that when they started building the track the engineers started building in turn one and then realized that it was not going to work and bent the turn and created the famous "dog leg" where the back straight was supposed to be. That is a myth. The track's layout was intended to be that way because the original design included a 2.5-mile road course that ran clockwise on the oval, exited at the "dog leg" and re-entered at what later became known as the "cross-over" where you had to sit and wait until a practice session was over before you could get into the infield. An unforgettable experience was standing next to the end of the wall during practice and seeing the cars blast past the end of the wall and make that high speed run to the "dog leg." Only lap one, turn one at Indy was more thrilling to me. That wide, long piece of asphalt was an ill-fated drag strip and part of the road course.
It turned out that the road course did not generate much interest in the racing world and the drag strip turned out to be tragically too short when, in the first event, a Top Fuel dragster did not deploy its parachutes and the driver was killed when the car went up the side of the mountain at the end of the strip.
So that left us with the most intriguing one-mile track in the nation. It was the scene of some of the best Championship car races ever contested: Mario Andretti showed the world what it was in for with a thrilling drive in the Dean Van Lines Roadster in November of 1964; Don Branson was the last driver to win in a Roadster at the track in 1965; Bobby Unser crashed under the turn 3 guard rail and walked away; Lloyd Ruby won here three times; Swede Savage's only Championship car win came when he passed Roger McCluskey on the last lap when McCluskey ran out of fuel; Mike Mosley and Roberto Guerrero both won from last position in 24-car fields; Andretti's last win in CART was here and the 1st CART Indy Car race was contested here on the track in 1986 and the list goes on. Even NASCAR history was made here when in 1988 Alan Kulwicki took his 1st career win and established the "Polish Victory Lap" by driving in the wrong direction around the track to pay tribute to his fans! NASCAR also ran its 1st Truck race at PIR, won by Mike Skinner.
It fell into dis-repair for a while when the original owners Dick and Nancy Hogue fell on hard times and couldn't maintain the facility. JC Agajanian stepped in to keep the track going, promoting a race before Malclom Bricklin purchased the place to be a test facility. The Bricklin SV-1 was the forerunner of the DeLorean car.
The Bricklin SV-1
He was Canadian and had worked with AMC (Rambler) to develop a gull-winged door sports type car. Very few of them ever made it to the road, but they were probably ahead of their time. Aligning with Rambler was not necessarily a plus-factor either. In fact he re-named the track Fastrack. They continued to run two Championship car races a year there, but eventually Bricklin's attempt at building cars went bust and again the track was in limbo.
So, another group of racing enthusiasts saw a chance to revive the track. Led by Dr. Tom Taber, whose son was racing at Manzanita at the time, pulled together a group of investors to buy the place.
One of those investors was Bob Fletcher, who was also in the process of piecing together an Indy Car team with Clint Brawner as crew chief and Jimmy Caruthers as his driver.
Over the course of time, Fletcher gained controlling interest in the track and named Dennis Wood as the general manager. As time passed on, Fletcher's interest in the track waned and Wood took control of the track.
Any of you who know Denny Wood know that he has one of the most active and creative minds in racing. He began adding events to the schedule, including NASCAR Winston West races and inviting the top names of the day, Petty, Pearson, Bonnett and Allison to run on a race in late November after the Championship car finale.
Wood's coup de' gras was the Copper World Classic! Although to be perfectly honest the original seed was planted by Bill Culp, Manzy racer Dave Culp's father, when he promoted a race called the Copper State Classic race for sprint cars (won by Chuck Gurney and a controversial finish that named Jerry Miller of Indy the winner although there are several who could easily claim the victory) for two years before Denny assumed control of the track.
That's Billy Shuman in the Gibson #10, who led every lap until a series of incredibly stupid decisions by race officials robbed him of certain victory. Car owner Billy Gibson makes a valid argument that Shuman actually won the race. There is also some who think that Rick Ferkel could have been named the winner - no one I know who was there actually thought that Jerry Miller (of Indianapolis, not the popular Jerry Miller of Glendale, AZ) won this race.
Having said that, it was Wood who elevated the Copper World Classic to become the "must" race at the beginning of the season. Wood added midgets and stock cars before also bringing in Super Modifieds and eventually Silver Crown cars. For my money it was the best weekend in racing!
So now there were four races on the PIR annual schedule - two USAC Championship car races (aptly named the Jimmy Bryan Memorial and Bobby Ball Memorial, traditional races), the Copper World and the Winston West race.
As I said, Denny was pretty creative. He had to be. Unlike many track owners Wood was not blessed with a huge bank account so he had to use the success of each event to begat the next race. Each time along the way Denny would re-invest into another track improvement until fate dealt him a blow from which he could not recover.
In 1983 Arizona had record rainfall - good for the state - terrible for PIR and Denny Wood. Since the track is located at the confluence of the Salt and Gila Rivers and a 100 years flood was taking place, access to PIR was cut off from the rest of the world. There was no bridge over the river until much later. The tragic end result was that the Copper World Classic and the Jimmy Bryan Memorial had to be cancelled. Without the necessary revenue to make improvements, Wood got backed against the wall. During some testing the asphalt in turn 3 began ripping up exposing the dirt foundation and CART's John Frasco (USAC was long gone from Indy Cars by now) said they would not race on the track unless it was totally repaved. The money just wasn't there and the Bobby Ball Memorial was not run either. Denny put the joint up for sale.
Enter a local cotton farmer named Emmett Jobe, Buddy to his friends.
Emmett "Buddy" Jobe.
His CPA, a guy named Pat Johnson, had seen that there was a large parcel of land located in SW Phoenix area for sale at what turned out to be a pretty good price. Johnson pitched the idea of the real estate investment to Jobe, who at the time had only a passing interest in racing. Johnson talked Jobe into buying the land on speculation and letting Johnson run the place as a race track for one year to see how things turned out.
Since Johnson did not have the background necessary to run the track he did the next best thing. He retained Denny and his staff to run it for him. Good move! Now the track could be repaved with Jobe's deeper pockets and racing returned big time to PIR in 1983!
Jobe was paraded around as the owner and his ego was rubbed sufficiently that he began to like the idea of being a track owner, especially when the track had the history and distinction of Phoenix International Raceway.
For the next five years the track's reputation expanded with more events added to an already busy slate. But there was one thing missing - Winston Cup.
By now the cancer that was to become what NASCAR is today was metastasizing into the malignant tumor NASCAR is today. Bad luck for one is good luck for another and the urban sprawl of the city of Riverside, CA encroached upon the territory of the fabled road course and it was doomed to become an industrial complex. That opened a date on the NASCAR calendar in 1988 and what a better place than Phoenix. A new dawn was on the horizon as the new stars of American car racing were coming to Phoenix - we could actually see Dale Earnhardt race at PIR! Sounded great then, didn't it?
In fact, life was good for the next 10 years or so - two Indy car dates, one NASCAR and the Copper World was just getting bigger and better every year. Even a young kid just 16-years old out of Indiana competed in the midget race and finished 2nd to Stan Fox, his name was Jeff Gordon. Tony Stewart raced in all four open-wheel divisions one year, won three of them and finished 2nd in the other; Rich Vogler showcased his amazing talents in being able to race and win in any car any time; Kenny Irwin Jr won the Silver Crown race one year; Kenny Schrader had the most wins at the track, mostly in Copper World events. Do you want me to go on, I will: Ryan Newman and Kasey Kahne both showed what talent they had at the Copper World; a guy named Jimmy Kite won the Silver Crown race from the back row and was immediately handed an Indy Car ride (didn't work out too well - one shot wonder): JJ Yeley showed his talents on the Copper World stage that propelled him to winning the USAC Triple Crown and eventually getting to Cup as a result. It was American Idol for racing!
Things were so good at the track that NASCAR's messiah sent his only begotten son to learn the trade at PIR's front office - Bill France Jr had Jobe hire Brian France as an intern for a year in the early nineties.
Brian France. Does this guy always look this clueless? Yeah!
Politics makes for strange bedfellows as the saying goes and one day Jobe gets a phone call from a guy named Bruton Smith, President of Speedway Motorsports Inc and owner of among other tracks Charlotte Motor Speedway to see if he wanted to sell PIR to him. It was part of the attempt by Smith to leverage some of the power away from Daytona to Charlotte.
Bruton Smith of Speedway Motorsports, Inc
Since Jobe was beholden to NASCAR, he informed the International Speedway Corporation (read that NASCAR and Bill France Jr) that Smith had made an offer.
The monarchs in Daytona weren't going to allow some upstart car salesman from Charlotte take control of their mighty empire, counter offers and Jobe accepts.
Still, the world hasn't gone completely off its orbit because Jobe and company still operate the track. But then the virus begins to take hold and ISC starts to replace those on staff at PIR with their "own" cronies.
Pretty soon people who had made their way in business selling beer and not in the realm of racing were in control and the first victim was the unique and traditional Copper World Classic! They cut it from the schedule because, according to the new PIR front office and new GM Robin Braig, "it didn't have enough potential for growth." Go figure! The race with the lowest overhead and was traditionally the most profitable at the track "didn't have enough potential for growth!" Screw grass roots racing would be a more appropriate reason!
Robin Braig made the decision to eliminate the Copper World Classic from PIR's schedule
NASCAR doesn't want to be upstaged by a bunch of rag-tag insanely creative and rogue garage mechanics who race by the seat of their pants in non-sanctioned Open Competition races do they? Apparently they didn't. There was one feeble attempt to revive it with NASCAR Southwest Series and the NASCAR inspired and ridiculous "new" USAC Silver Crown cars that raced once - at PIR, won by David Steele - kiss the Copper World goodbye.
That was the 1st of many moves that has brought us to what is today's PIR. After NASCAR so generously added another Cup race to the PIR schedule after losing a court case to some guy named Francis Ferko who sued on behalf of Texas Motor Speedway shareholders, the schedule was reconfigured. If Bruton was gonna get a 2nd race at one of his palaces we need to add another to one of our dumps to keep up - right!
IndyCars were the next to get axed. This is the division of cars that put PIR on the map in 1964 and had been a bastion of IndyCar racing ever since. In the history of Indy car racing three tracks stand above all others - The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Milwaukee Mile and Phoenix International Raceway. Only one remains although it has been poisoned by the malady of NASCAR.
All other events, including AMA Super Bikes and Proto-type sports cars were cancelled in favor of just two incredibly boring Cup races.
I'll face the truth - it was all about the money - Cup races do provide huge profit margins but in the end the racing has been so compromised because of it that it is hardly recognizable. The spring Cup race was so boring NASCAR decided to add another 72 laps to it so that it would try even the most strident of fans into submission.
Still, we had a wonderfully unique one-mile track that drew the best from a driver because it was a track that baffled most crew chiefs to get a good balance on because turns one-two were banked at 11-degrees and turns three-four were at 6-degrees - and that damned "dog leg."
Even though, to a man, every driver loved the place just the way it was. ISC (again read this as NASCAR) decided to reconfigure the track after the spring 2011 race. What was it that they intended to accomplish? The racing at PIR on the original configuration was, in my humble opinion (BTW shared by many) was the best on the Cup schedule. Then again, what was taking place at Daytona this year embarrassed even King Richard Petty. The advertised distance was 500 miles but the only real racing lasted about 100 yards at the finish when Trevor Bayne wouldn't let his partner by at the end! Off the record, ask Buddy Baker or Cale Yarborough who "won" the 2011 Daytona 500 and I think they will laugh hysterically.
Bryan Sperber, the genius who decided that PIR was not good enough as it was and set in motion the reconfiguration of PIR. I think if he had a chance he would put a Speedo on Michelangelo's David in Rome and Oakley's on DaVinci's Mona Lisa in the Louvre.
Here's the list of improvements: They widened the front straight; added progressive banking in the turns (just a cheap way to try and make it easier to allow pansy-ass drivers to pass in the corners because the don't have the balls to take a chance on the outside) and changed the exit of turn 2 into a sweeper to the "dog leg." All of this totally ruined this once majestic track.
Part of the driver's challenge was that turn 2 pinched you down making exit very tricky and the "dog leg' was a great place to pass if you had the courage and skill to run on the outside (BTW, A.J. Foyt was the 1st guy to run through the "dog leg" flat out). The track exposed any weakness a driver might have and highlighted their talents like no other track, but that's all gone now!
I watched one lap of the Nationwide race (it was on after I watched NHRA qualifying that I had recorded and of course I was curious) and when Elliott Sadler decided that it would be easier to avoid the new "dog leg" altogether, cut through on the new infield pavement 100 yards inside of the "yellow line" (which NASCAR said would be OK before the race started), slid in front of Jason Leffler, who had used the more traditional technique of staying on the track and had nowhere to go entering turn 3 when Elliott came roaring up out of nowhere and bumped Sadler, triggering a multi-car crash that ended Sadler's chance at the Nationwide title and sidelining NASCAR starlet Danica Patrick in the process. Danica had qualifying 27th and was poised to make a run to the front I'm sure! Sadler's tactics deprived us of that glorious moment, too.
I didn't bother to watch any of the Cup race. The last one I watched was PIR in the spring on the former configuration with the additional 72 laps, which was won by the fastest guy on the track that day. Oh it was the 16-year old prodigy who sprung to prominence in the Copper World Classic - Jeff Gordon! BTW, Gordon led all of the 72 additional laps of the race.
I can only assume that NASCAR's goal is to totally screw up racing beyond any recognition of what it once was - one man, one car and a demanding test of driver skill to see who could cover the allotted distance before anyone else. No pit calls - no grip decisions - no radios or spotters - just flat-out racing to see who is the best!
THANK YOU NASCAR! Ummm! on second thought!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)