[Ed. Note – This column is only partially complete, with the remaining section coming at a later time. In other words, count your blessings that I actually posted this bad boy.]
Steve Price, Inside Pulse Sports
September 14th, 2006
Well, the streak of consecutive weeks posting columns ended at one after a lengthy summer run, so it’s safe to say that I’m back into “lazy ass bastard” territory with the return of Slayer and Pomazak full time. In all fairness, I’ve been battling a lot of unfortunate circumstances over the last two months, from issues on the home front to wrist injuries and PC nightmares. Unfortunately, these aren’t the root causes for my lack of appearances as of late. In what is sure to be the knockout punch to any serious attempts and forging a more serious sports writing career, I’ve simply become burnt out on the sports scene as of late. Baseball has been so painful to follow this year for a noted Sox fan and Braves follower, and football is covered out the wazoo by guys light years better than myself (see: Pomazak, Nick and Slayer, David G.).
I broke onto the site in 2005 by agreeing to cover NASCAR, which was best classified as a “passing interest” as far as I was concerned. While the excitement of getting to write for a website carried me through the first two months or so, it quickly became apparent that NASCAR was too far off my radar to care enough about writing on the subject. After a brief hockey-exclusive column, I moved into the wonderful world of a general columnist, and in no better position can I be right now. So, when there’s nothing in the world of sports or lesbian movie hunts that excites me enough to write, a turn to the tried and true source for redneck humor and boring Sunday afternoons has to suffice. It’s NASCAR time, baby. Boogity!
It’s no secret that I’ve become “disinterested” in the NASCAR scene as of late (there’s that word again). What may be of use to us isn’t to dwell on why NASCAR seems to suck for your former Speed Addict, but rather, to offer up suggestions on how to make the sport better. What a wonderful idea, you say… I just so happen to have five ideas off the top of my ahead for just such an occasion.
Reshaping and “Internationalizing” the Field
Purging Cup Drivers from the Busch Series
Differentiating Between the Nextel Cup and Busch Series
Restructuring the Cup Schedule
Designing a New Championship System (Coming Later)
As you will soon see, Items #1 and 2 will mesh together, as will Items #3 and 4. Item #5 is the meat and potatoes of the column today, and for good reason: anyone that thinks Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch and Jimmie Johnson trading wins makes for exciting television is a moron and/or a fan of those three drivers. Luckily, Busch has been mathematically eliminated from competing for the Cup, but that wont stop him from making life miserable for fans over the next three months.
[Ed. Note: My dislike of Matt Kenseth has little to do with any negative trait of his, but rather his blandness. His victories are seldom exciting, he has no discernable personality to speak of, and his picture on television broadcasts bares a striking resemblance to Ron Howard from his youth. Okay, I’m the only one that sees it apparently, but I still call him Opie so back off.]
We’re going to take this bad boy a step at a time, presenting arguments that are by no means supposed to be representative of the entire NASCAR fan base. Merely one disgruntled fan’s point of view. With that said, the first item on the agenda is to eliminate all traces of the “hick” label that NASCAR has produced over the years (much to my own chagrin).
1. Reshape and “Internationalize” the Field
Currently, the standard starting lineup for a given race will include forty three white males from the United States. We could hop on the racial and gender equality movement that should be taking place right now as we speak, but that topic has been dealt with before here at the site so we won’t travel down that particular path again. We’ve also covered the suggested attempts at landing a big driving star from a rival promotion in the past, namely Dan Wheldon, so what we are going to do here is much less glamorous, yet much more interesting and meaningful at the same time. NASCAR lacks a true presence on the international stage, thanks in part to the (formerly accurate) perception held by international fans that NASCAR is filled with dumb rednecks going in circles for four hours. With its recent nationalization, NASCAR really isn’t all that Southern anymore, but we’ve been down that road in past columns as well. Most international racing fans view NASCAR as a vastly inferior product to the IRL, which is in turn viewed as peanuts compared to Formula 1.
The main problem NASCAR has had with attracting international viewers is that it claims to be shedding its regional roots, yet the cosmetic structure of the sport largely remains white male, which is a neat bit of retroactive stereotyping by outsiders to the sport. If NASCAR would actively seek out drivers from various rival organizations and obtain regular rides for international drivers, the fan base would spread to other parts of the world much faster than they are now. With that in mind, there’s a bit of house cleaning that needs to be taken care of first as far as the schedule goes.
When the Nextel Cup visits places like Daytona, Talladega, Indianapolis and Pocono, fans don’t pay much attention to the three or four drivers that only turn a dozen laps or so before pulling into the garage and calling it a day. But when these same drivers are clogging up the track at places like Martinsville and Bristol, you can have a world of trouble. So the first true order of business is to eliminate “field fillers” from the starting grids of races. Drivers who are unable to maintain a race car that is capable of finishing a race week in and week out need to seek employment elsewhere, because they’re serving no purpose but to waste everyone’s time and resources. One other cosmetic change will be to put a grid cap on certain races. Having forty three drivers running around Charlotte is one thing, but forty three cars taxes all available space at a track like Martinsville. Therefore, all tracks less than one mile in length would be subjected to a thirty-five car maximum starting field. Under this format, there will undoubtedly be a few regular drivers who may fail to make the field based on the decreased field size. Therefore, to counter this action, there would be a banning of all “safeties” for drivers who are qualifying for a given race. To put it bluntly, if you’re racing at a short track, there are no “past champion’s provisionals” or guaranteed spots in the field. You have to actually qualify to race at a track less than one mile in length. Finally, in order to round out the field and give it an even number of starting cars, a thirty-sixth starting spot will be given to a driver the night before a race. All drivers that fail to qualify for a short track race will be given the opportunity to race their way into the field in a “Trial Race” the night before the Nextel Cup Series race. Each trial race will be 1/4th of the Nextel Cup Series race’s advertised distance, so for instance, the Sharpie 500 Trial Run at Bristol would be 125 laps long, a fourth of the 500 total laps that would be run in the actual race. The winner of the trial race, pending post race inspection would be awarded the thirty sixth and final starting spot in the next day’s event.
Returning to the original point of this topic, an additional provision will be placed on starting grids at all racetracks. Every Nextel Cup race at tracks one mile in length and larger will adhere to the “10 Less of 1/3 Rule”: every Nextel Cup race must feature “X” amount of international drivers. For the sake of a starting point, the minimum number of international drivers in the starting field of a race must be set at ten drivers less than 1/3rd of the total number of cars in the race. In this case: 43 cars divided by three gives us 14.3, which then is subtracted by ten and rounded up to the nearest whole to give us five international drivers per race at all tracks equal to or larger than one mile in length. With this rule in place, the field will have a bit more international flavor, which in turn will increase the viewing base to other countries at the same time. And as mentioned, the “10 less than 1/3rd” Rule is only a caveat for the minimum number of foreign-born drivers in a field. Hopefully, this new-look starting grid concept will help to improve the quality and diversity of the field on race days.
2. Purge Nextel Cup Drivers from Busch Series Competition
This one will take a lot less time, effort and energy to explain than the previous topic. There are several influences that created this item on the agenda, some of which were explained just a few seconds ago. The quality of the field will have been improved by new qualifying and field rules by this point, so there is going to be an influx of drivers from the Nextel Cup Series who cannot compete with that level of talent. Therefore, there will be no driver quotas to be filled in the Busch Series. As long as you can observe the first rule presented in this column (be able to compete every week), you can run in the Busch Series. However, there is a stipulation attached to running in the Busch Series: namely, you cannot race in another NASCAR (or rival) series. The Busch Series should be as much about showcasing the next generation of superstars as it is to allow any and every one to race. The bottom line: if you race in the Nextel Cup, you will not be racing in the Busch Series during that year. To help reinforce this idea, we’ll be undertaking Item #3 on the agenda…
3. Differentiate Between the Nextel Cup and Busch Series
This item goes along with both the previous item and the next one that we’ll cover. Basically, the Busch Series Schedule parallels the Nextel Cup Series quite closely. The Nextel Cup Series races at Pocono and Infineon whereas the Busch Series does not. At the same time, the Busch series only runs at certain tracks (like Talladega) once in the calendar year, and largely race at Busch Series Exclusive tracks (like Gateway International, The Milwaukee Mile, Nashville and Mexico City) on weeks that the Nextel Cup series is not running. Otherwise, the Busch Series will be running at the same track as the Nextel Cup series on a given weekend. This is a pretty dumb practice, because you’re inviting Nextel Cup regulars to hog field spots for themselves. What’s more, crowd attendance at Busch Series events at tracks that also host Nextel Cup races are abysmal, largely because the paying customer knows that he’ll get a better show with all his favorite drivers on Sunday as opposed to Saturday. Opposite of these tracks are places like Mexico City, Nashville, St. Louis and Milwaukee, who only get the Busch Series. Since this is the only major Series (barring the Craftsman Truck) to run at these tracks, tickets sell much better at these venues. So right off the bat, you’re opening up a stream of revenue from NASCAR-starved markets that wouldn’t otherwise be getting any racing action. What’s more, racing at places like Rockingham, Pike’s Peak and Nazareth would provide a breath of fresh air for the television viewer, as the Nextel Cup Schedule is basically unchanging from year after year (which will be addressed next, don’t worry). So, to help the sport grow even more, the Nextel Cup Series and Busch Series will not race at the same tracks on any given weekend. The only exceptions to this rule are the Daytona 500 and Pepsi 400 weekends at Daytona, the Bristol race weekends, the weekend of the Brickyard 400 in Indianapolis and the weekend of the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte. Furthermore, with the exceptions of Daytona, Bristol, Indianapolis and Charlotte, the Busch Series will not race at a Nextel Cup circuit during the season, and vice versa. Once we get through Item #4, the list of tracks open to the Busch Series will become clear.
4. Restructure the Nextel Cup Schedule
Speaking of the mundane, NASCAR has gotten far too bland and boring over the past decade, with the invention of what can best be described as NASCAR’s answer to the doughnut stadium: the cookie-cutter race track. All across the country, race tracks have taken to the terribly boring 1.5 mile tri-oval design that now finds itself at Las Vegas, Chicagoland, and Kansas. Texas, Charlotte, and Atlanta are all 1.5 mile “D-Ovals” and are fun to watch by comparison, but the three tracks are essentially the same track. New Hampshire is basically a flatter version of Dover, which makes it incredibly boring. And to my own shock, watching a race at Dover Downs is actually not as fun as you would think, as the race is far too long and the track surface quite tame compared to the mayhem found at Bristol and Darlington. Michigan and California boast high speeds, but very little competitive racing (California is especially prone to producing laughers). As far as exciting races go, that leaves the short tracks (Bristol, Martinsville, Richmond), the big super speedways (Talladega, Daytona, Indianapolis, Pocono), the road courses (Infineon, Watkins Glen), and Phoenix, which is kind of like a faster version of Richmond in and of itself. The main problem with the schedule isn’t the places that they’re going, necessarily, but the apathy generated by sheer repetition.
Just look at this schedule from 2006, as in the schedule that is now being ran on a television set near you:
02/19/06 Daytona 500 Daytona International Speedway
02/26/06 Auto Club 500 California Speedway
03/12/06 UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 Las Vegas Motor Speedway
03/20/06 Golden Corral 500 Atlanta Motor Speedway
03/26/06 Food City 500 Bristol Motor Speedway
04/02/06 DirecTV 500 Martinsville Speedway
04/09/06 Samsung/RadioShack 500 Texas Motor Speedway
04/22/06 Subway Fresh 500 Phoenix International Raceway
05/01/06 Aaron’s 499 Talladega Superspeedway
05/06/06 Crown Royal 400 Richmond International Raceway
05/13/06 Dodge Charger 500 Darlington Raceway
05/20/06 Nextel Open Lowe’s Motor Speedway
05/20/06 NASCAR Nextel All-Star Challenge Lowe’s Motor Speedway
05/28/06 Coca-Cola 600 Lowe’s Motor Speedway
06/04/06 Neighborhood Excellence 400 presented by Bank of America Dover International Speedway
06/11/06 Pocono 500 Pocono Raceway
06/18/06 3M Performance 400 presented by Post-it Picture Paper Michigan International Speedway
06/25/06 Dodge/Save Mart 350 Infineon Raceway
07/01/06 Pepsi 400 Daytona International Speedway
07/09/06 USG Sheetrock 400 Chicagoland Speedway
07/16/06 Lenox Industrial Tools 300 New Hampshire International Speedway
07/23/06 Pennsylvania 500 Pocono Raceway
08/06/06 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard Indianapolis Motor Speedway
08/13/06 AMD at The Glen Watkins Glen International
08/20/06 GFS Marketplace 400 Michigan International Speedway
08/26/06 Sharpie 500 Bristol Motor Speedway
09/03/06 Sony HD 500 California Speedway
09/09/06 Chevy Rock & Roll 400 Richmond International Raceway
09/17/06 Sylvania 300 New Hampshire International Speedway
09/24/06 Dover 400 Dover International Speedway
10/01/06 Banquet 400 presented by ConAgra Foods Kansas Speedway
10/08/06 UAW-Ford 500 Talladega Superspeedway
10/14/06 Bank of America 500 Lowe’s Motor Speedway
10/22/06 Subway 500 Martinsville Speedway
10/29/06 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 Atlanta Motor Speedway
11/05/06 Dickies 500 Texas Motor Speedway
11/12/06 Checker Auto Parts 500 Phoenix International Raceway
11/19/06 Ford 400 Homestead-Miami Speedway
There are thirty six races in a Nextel Cup Season, discounting the various Daytona and Charlotte extracurricular races. However, there are only twenty two race tracks that are raced at during the season. The reason for this is simple: Chicagoland, Kansas, Miami-Homestead, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Infineon, Darlington and Watkins Glen are only raced once during a season. That means only eight races in a given season are taking place at a track that will only be raced once. As you can see, this can easily lead to an over saturation of the racing schedule. And given the state that some of the tracks are in, you can see why this problem needs to be corrected. So, we’re going to correct it, Happy Hour style. Using a basic formula of “taking good tracks and putting them over bad tracks”, we can develop a new and improved schedule.
One of the key areas to address here (which will indirectly affect the final item) is to break up the monotonous schedule. The basic Nextel Cup Schedule hasn’t changed in the past several years, with minor exceptions to the addition of Texas, California and Phoenix races and the subtraction of Rockingham and Darlington races. This has to change, now. So, the first thing we’ll do is implement a rotating schedule, with no one season the same as another. Now, obviously certain issues will have to be taken into consideration, like running a race in the mountains of Tennessee in November or Phoenix in July. All that aside, we can still create a nifty little schedule that will be a breath of fresh air from the same old garbage that we’ve been force fed for years now.
Second, we’ve got to bust up some of these exceedingly boring tracks and replace them with more entertaining venues. With the possible inclusion of a Seattle-based racetrack and a New York City racetrack in the future, there is plenty of room left over for those additions in the future if we cancel some of these tracks’ second race dates. In some cases, we can erase the tracks two race dates from Nextel Cup Consideration, period. Looking at the shape of things, it’s important to realize that a balanced mix of short, intermediate, long tracks and road courses will help keep things fresh for the viewer. So, taking this into account, I’ve come up with a basic 2007 schedule that should raise a few eye brows.
2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Schedule
02/18/07 Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway – Daytona Beach, Florida
02/25/07 Sonoco Grand Prix at Sebring International Raceway – Sebring, Florida
03/04/07 Crown Royal 400 at Richmond International Raceway – Richmond, Virginia
03/11/07 DirecTV 500 at Martinsville Speedway – Martinsville, Virginia
03/18/07 Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway – Hampton, Georgia
03/25/07 Off Week
04/01/07 Telcel Motorola 350 at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez – Mexico City, Mexico
04/08/07 Sony HD 350 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca – Monterey, California
04/15/07 UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway – Las Vegas, Nevada
04/22/07 Subway Fresh 500 at Phoenix International Raceway – Phoenix, Arizona
04/29/07 Samsung/Radio Shack 500 at Texas Motor Speedway – Ft. Worth, Texas
05/06/07 Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway – Talladega, Alabama
05/13/07 Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway – Bristol, Tennessee
05/20/07 Nextel All Star Challenge at Lowe’s Motor Speedway – Charlotte, North Carolina
05/27/07 Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway – Charlotte, North Carolina
06/03/07 Off Week
06/10/07 Auto Club 500 at California Speedway – Fontana, California
06/17/07 Dodge/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway – Sonoma, California
06/24/07 3M Performance 400 at Race City Calgary – Calgary, Alberta, Canada
07/01/07 Bank of America Neighborhood Excellence 350 at Road America – Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
07/08/07 USG Sheetrock 400 at Chicagoland Speedway – Joliet, Illinois
07/15/07 GFS Marketplace 400 at Michigan International Speedway – Brooklyn, Michigan
07/22/07 Dover 400 at Dover International Speedway – Dover, Delaware
07/29/07 Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway – Bristol, Tennessee
08/05/07 Banquet 400 at Martinsville Speedway – Martinsville, Virginia
08/12/07 Off Week
08/19/07 Off Week
08/26/07 Off Week
09/02/07 Mountain Dew Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway – Darlington, South Carolina
09/09/07 Sirius at the Glen – Watkins Glen, New York
09/16/07 Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway – Long Pond, Pennsylvania
09/23/07 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard – Indianapolis, Indiana
09/30/07 Checker Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway – Phoenix, Arizona
10/07/07 UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega Superspeedway – Talladega, Alabama
10/14/07 Thunder Valley 600 at Bristol Motor Speedway – Bristol, Tennessee
10/21/07 Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond International Raceway – Richmond, Virginia
10/28/07 Bank of America 500 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway – Charlotte, North Carolina
11/04/07 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway – Hampton, Georgia
11/11/07 Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway – Homestead, Florida
11/18/07 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway – Daytona Beach, Florida
The first noticeable change is the very first race of the season. It’s long been contended that the most important race of the season should be the final one. Why not make the final race of the season a real monster of an event while we’re at it? The Daytona 500 is by far the most covered NASCAR race of the year, and quite frankly, finishing the season out at Homestead-Miami is something of a let down. So, we will take Daytona’s July race and insert it into the season opening slot, and move the 500 to the season closer role.
Now, a few other changes should become apparent fairly quickly: there are more road courses on the schedule, for one thing. Two road courses a season deprives F1 and CART fans of the ability to watch a NASCAR race more akin to what they’re used to. Besides that, they’re a breath of fresh air from consistent left turns for nine months. Watkins Glen and Infineon have become a part of the NASCAR schedule over the years, and it really wasn’t fair to jettison those two tracks out. I thought temporarily of using a street race, similar to the Grand Prix at Long Beach, California, but it isn’t quite as feasible as running a race on a permanent road course. So, we’ve brought in four new race tracks to go along with Infineon and the Glen: Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez (from the Busch Series), Sebring International Raceway in Florida, Laguna Seca in California, Race City Calgary in Alberta, and Road America in Wisconsin.
Another point that jumps out at you is the ungodly amount of races at Bristol. In my new setup, Bristol is the second most important racetrack on the circuit (behind Daytona), with Charlotte and Indianapolis coming in third and fourth, respectively. Bristol is by far the most popular ticket in auto racing, what with a millennium-long waiting list for the place, so we gave it three races, including a spot in our new championship format (appearing next week, by the way). Otherwise, you’ll notice certain tracks are missing (like New Hampshire and Kansas) while other tracks have unusual dates. This will all make sense once I unveil my plans to…
5. Design a New Championship System
Sorry, folks. You’re going to have to tune in next week to find out what sort of trickery I’ve got up my sleeves. Until then, I bid you all a fond farewell.
