| | | | | | | | |  | | | | Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the United States of America’s original mecca of speed. The place of American racing history, the folkore, the incredible races, the offenhouser, the novi, rear engines, leather helmets and warriors with giant arms and no power steering.
Indy is where legends solidified their place in history and tragedy and survival became commonplace. How dare we taint such an iconic destination with the travesty at The Brickyard 400 this past weekend?
Heading to Pocono, Indianapolis for the stock cars is in the rear view mirror. Problem is, the speaker deck panel under the back window has a tremendous glare that is shining back in everyone’s eyes. This debacle will live to haunt all involved in what was easily the worst race of any kind on this year's schedule in any series -- perhaps of all time -- on the grandest stage. The blogs are everywhere. There is nothing positive coming out of this year’s stock car race at Indy. Well, maybe.
To the paying fans, someone should figure out how to turn each and every one of the tickets sold, into a credit somewhere up the line. If it is truly about the fans, IF IT IS TRULY ABOUT THE FANS, a discount should be offered on something. Not sure what or how, but the fans deserve more. In today’s day and age of four-bucks-a-gallon gas and five-bucks-a-gallon diesel to get there, four and five night minimums in trashy hotels with complimentary cock roaches, the fan limit has been reached. At first one would think this is similar to the Super Bowl hype and then a 49-10 blowout.
Not so, this is far worse.
Changes need to be made. Time alone will tell if anything will actually be done. The time has come my friends to change this car. Period.
Conceptually, the thought process behind the car is phenomenal. Make it safer, make it easier to police and regulate, make the cars the same so everyone is on equal footing. Make it a weekly International Race of Champions with great drivers in equally prepared race cars. It all sounds good.
But, since the beginning of time in auto racing, there have been haves and have nots. From day one in the racing world, the smartest guy with the best engineering minds and best drivers won the races. Not always was it the best financed, but money is no doubt a big help. Can you say “Smokey Yunick” or “Junior Johnson” ... men whose minds crafted great cars that stretched the boundaries of rule books, but put out great race cars?
Raise up the splitter in the front so the car actually has some real shock travel to work with. Take the darn wing off and put a spoiler on it like the Craftsman Trucks have. This isn’t rocket science we are talking about here. Somewhere in between the safety standards of the new car and the competitiveness of its predecessor, there is for surely common ground that needs to be found. Just copy the darn trucks for gosh sakes; it is the best NASCAR racing out there.
This common template thing may be easier to police in the inspection line, but it appears it will have some level of effect on corporate spending from at least one of the big three Detroit car manufacturers. It has to be harder for Detroit to swallow the promotional costs if they continue to have trouble connecting the dots of selling this thing to the public. It isn’t really a Dodge or a Chevy or a Ford or a Camry. It is a spec race car.
While most everyone in the garage and the big office have tried to be diplomatic in not blaming anyone, it is time to stop wasting energy on figuring out who not to blame. Why tell me, can’t someone step up and thump their chest and say OKAY, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. Let’s roll up our sleeves and fix it right now. These teams have funding, they are smart. Give them some room to move.
The tire deal goes without saying. Stop, change the weekend schedule. Extend practices, bring in tire options and try them. Make me believe there isn’t at least one tire in the warehouse that would have worked. Don’t keep putting Band-Aids on the deal. Be proactive and fix it. Don’t hope that it will go away. There have been enough events so far with enough feedback to make quality decisions on where changes need to be made. Take the blinders off, let the horses look around.
The good thing is, the bad publicity raises the awareness level of the most casual of sports fan. All of America knows about this bad race, which can be a good thing. More folks will tune in for the shortest of times to see what is going on. Maybe we keep them and new fans are born. But, maybe we have upset the current fans, the old timers who have still stuck it out, to the point that they go find something else to do.
There are lots of things to be concerned with and the ripple effect is in the midst of happening. People, all people, from the front office at the racing hierarchy to the most casual of fans know there are changes that need to be made. Can we just make them? Can we try making a change for the sake of making a change? Can we deviate from what has been policy and look for an answer?
At this moment in time, the drivers have become so homogenized that there is no real spokesperson. The last guy who had everyone’s attention and the ability to get things done left us in February 2001 at Daytona. Since his passing, there has been not one person to step up and fill his role. Not that they haven’t tried. In today’s big time stock car racing, every time a guy steps up or steps out of line, the penalties border on ridiculous. Wasn’t that going to be left alone?
At one time, we applauded the national TV audience fight at the 1979 Daytona 500. It was the day our sport became front and center on television.
Since that time, we have slowly eroded away our ability to speak up and speak out. No tempers are allowed to flare in a sport where egotistical adrenalin filled warriors are expected to be at the top of their game.
I just don’t get it. We need the feuds, we need the rhetoric, and we need better race cars.
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