Another race is in the can.
So I sat down to watch a stock car race and an F1 race broke out. Thanks to the mercy of Nascar, eventually a yellow flag appeared. Does Nascar have a death wish? Staging 30-40% of the “playoffs” at tracks such as New Hampshire that not only have less than average racing, but also tend to add fuel strategy to the picture, surely can decimate the sport.
When the 5 can run away with the lead on older tires for dozens of laps, you know there’s a problem.
When green flag pit stops are the most interesting part of the race, you know there’s a problem.
When Dr. Jerry Punch comes up with the line “(78) worked really hard on their 1 mile flat track program”, you know there’s a problem.
It’s really easy to criticize Nascar for changing the rules in the middle of the playoffs (Talladega) – which I’ve already done – but, to their credit, they are not averse to trying to make things better. Nascar has never let the threat of negative publicity stop them from trying to improve the sport. That said, they’ve been messing with Dega for over 40 years, and it’s still the elephant in the room.
I’m sure we all appreciate ESPN’s “Nonstop” coverage, but it does present some challenges. Like kitchen, bathroom and checking out the other game maneuvers. Now I see why we need tvs in every room and picture-in-picture-in-picture.
Thanks to “ajcrdstr24” of racing-reference.info, I was reminded of what was up with Tommy Ellis from last week’s “Ned” reference. For the rest of the story, visit wikipedia.
9.25.66: Martinsville. Fred Lorenzen took the checkers but was disqualified for an enlarged fuel tank. 3 days later he was reinstated as the winner.
9.26.54: 63 cars started on the 1 mile dirt track at Langhorne, PA. Lee Petty finished second to Herb Thomas.
If Ned was in the booth we’d know what’s up with Tommy Houston.
By Gary Erdakos
Ref: racing-reference.info, Greg Fielden’s “Forty Years of Stock Car Racing”, Richard Sowers’ “The Complete Statistical History of Stock-Car Racing”.
