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What It Was, Wasn’t Racing

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Way back in the late 1950’s or early 1960’s, comedian Andy Griffith put out a comedy record. On that record was a monologue called, “What It Was, Was Football.” It was a satire on someone attending their first football game and the narrator’s description of the action. It was a funny look at what we considered the norm for the sport. I can only imagine what that routine would be if Griffith described what we saw on April 17, 2011 at Talladega, Alabama.

Steven Iles

What it was wasn’t racing. In racing, every man is for himself. For some reason (safety for the fans being the most quoted reason), the powers that be have created this monster that requires two cars to run in tandem. In tight formation, the car in the back must push the other driver to go fast. Everyone does it because they have to so they can keep up. The driver behind can see nothing ahead of him and must trust the driver in front to let him know what’s going on. They switch—car in back to the front and the front car to the rear—for cooling purposes, but that’s the way the run for 500 miles. It’s madness.

I firmly believe the fastest car probably didn’t win at the end, but we don’t really have enough information to know. No one ran alone all day unless they lost their partner to a wreck, which did happen on Sunday.

I’m sure the fans loved it. If you did a poll, I guess most would say that it was the most exciting race of the season, but I don’t consider that racing. Sure, it was fun to watch and there was an exciting, close finish to boot, but it’s so contrived that doesn’t even resemble what racing is to me. If you happen to be in the front of the two car pack, you win. The only time you can pull out to try to pass is for it to be the last lap. In the tri-oval.

It’s like a lot of things that has bastardized our sport. There is a long list of things that have bothered me for years, and the top of the list is the Lucky Dog. You don’t have to race to make up a lap. I thought this was racing. Sure, it’s done for safety, but what about restrictor-plate racing? Is that safe? Another is the pass around. Sure, it’s less confusing for fans, but is it racing when you get to make up almost a lap because you’re in front of the leader? Isn’t that rewarding mediocrity most of the time? Once upon a time Bill Elliott made up multiple laps at Talladega by being fast. That apparently doesn’t matter anymore in the name of a close finish.

So, as you can now tell, I’m a traditionalist and a grouchy old man. I didn’t see a race on Sunday. I saw an entertaining spectacle. To each his own, I guess, but if I were NASCAR, I’d be looking for solutions like Matt Kenseth and others mentioned today.

Of course, I’m not NASCAR and with the fans cheering wildly, don’t look for any changes.

Questioning the Relevance of NASCAR’s Evolving Form of Plate Racing

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SM Staff
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It’s exciting! It’s thrilling! It’s NASCAR Sprint Cup plate racing!

During the week long build up to a race at Daytona or Talladega, this is undeniably the theme from the majority of writers covering the sport. And who can blame them? Forty-three cars mere inches at each from one another at 200 miles per hour for almost four hours?

[media-credit name=”(c) CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”236″][/media-credit]A man’s heart can start racing merely from the thought of it.

But at what point does the entertainment value of the racing detract from the quality of the product? When do we have to step back and look at things from a much broader perspective, with long term implications?

For the casual or even non-fan, Sunday’s race at Talladega Superspeedway was beyond thrilling. The new tandem style of racing, like it or not, produces spectacular images for television. Paired cars bob and weave through others, often with a noticeable difference in speed. It can seem like a real life game of Mario Kart, minus the banana peels and turtle shells.

This article, however, goes beyond the most recent incarnation of plate racing. In fact, this goes back to one of NASCAR’s most beloved words; parity.

Now let’s look at some of the stats NASCAR and the media like to throw out there to demonstrate how ‘great’ plate racing is for the sport.

  • In the last eight Talladega races there have been eight different winners
  • In the last seven Daytona races, there have been seven different winners
  • Roughly half of those races had a last lap pass for the victory
  • Talladega is averaging over 80 lead changes over the past three races
  • Daytona is averaging over 50 lead changes per race

Spectacular, is it not?

Looking past sexy tidbits of information like this, you have to begin to wonder why this is happening. Are  there simply that many spectacular plate drivers on the Cup series now? Are the cars so evenly matched that there is virtually no competitive advantage anymore? Is parity so great that luck is often the deciding factor in outcomes?

It’s that last question that poses the most interesting possibility. Prior to the 2005 season, it was quite easy to name the ‘great’ plate race drivers of the era. It didn’t matter if their car was torn to bits or if they hovered at mid-pack with just a handful of laps to go. You knew that as long as they were out there, they could find a way to the front.

In a lot of ways it was because they possessed a skill set that not every driver had. Much like there are great short track racers and great road racers, there were great plate racers.

Some would argue that that was due to the quality of the cars they were driving at the time and the lack of the parity we enjoy today. But how else do you explain then a driver like Sterling Marlin scoring top fives at Daytona and Talladega with five different teams over the 1990s? Did Marlin just happen to end up with five teams with spectacular plate programs, or could it perhaps be that his skill is what put him above others during that time period?

That skill set is now no longer needed in current evolved form plate racing. The victor is typically one who was merely shuffled up to the front in the most recent round of frantic pushing and drafting. It has become almost a game of chance, devoid of any input by the driver as to the outcome rather than the game of chess we have seen in years past.

Sure there was the occasional surprise winner here and there, but that was the nature of the track. We like the occasional under-dog sneaking through with a victory. That was part of the appeal of the races, the unknown. Drivers like Dale Jarrett enjoying one last hurrah with a victory or Bobby Hillin, Jr. shocking the sport with a lone victory. Much like the old Bristol Motor Speedway, it gave the fan a sense of intensity and anticipation as to what may happen.

What happens though when that unknown because a regular occurrence?  What happens when the unknown becomes a defined prescience?

And finally, what does it say when the crown jewel event of the sport, the Daytona 500, can now seemingly be decided mostly by chance? It’s been five years since the winner of the Daytona 500 finished in the top ten in points, a remarkable stretch which underscores the lack of relevance of a 500 victory.

In fact, the four races of as a whole could almost be considered detrimental to the season long points battle. In a lot of ways one could gather the same outcome by merely drawing names out of a hat. Winning at Talladega or Daytona doesn’t make you a championship contender, it just means you were up front at the right time.

Don’t get me wrong, I find plate racing as thrilling as the next fan. It is not a recent occurrence as this fact has been building for the better part of the last decade.

At some point, someone has to question what price we pay for the excitement. Clearly I do not have a solution to this possible problem, nor am I sure there is any good solution. One possible solution would be to remove Talladega from the Chase if this continues. Keeping there would be like asking teams during the MLB playoffs to play a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors to decide who gets credit for a series win.

It’s not fair and it takes away from the meaningfulness of a championship.

Who knew NASCAR’s quest for parity would have such a surprisingly, and worrying, outcome?

Did Jimmie Johnson Technically Win?

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SM Staff
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[media-credit name=”Barry Albert” align=”alignright” width=”227″][/media-credit]Many have already begun to question Jimmie Johnson’s close win at the Aaron’s 499 yesterday. It tied as the closest finish since 1993, when electronic score keeping came to be. Anybody will find something to speculate, and in this case they are speculating whether or not, Jimmie Johnson’s move was actually legal.

Several camera angles proved to be that Jimmie Johnson’s #48 Chevy appeared to have been right on the yellow line, but never crossing it. The only camera angle that appeared to be questionable, was the blimp camera. From a birds eye view, it looked as if it was just past the yellow line slightly. But whether or not he crossed the forbidden yellow line, is not the question.

In 2008, Regan Smith crossed the yellow line as he passed Tony Stewart, in what we thought would be his first NASCAR Sprint Cup victory, but instead we saw Tony Stewart celebrating in Victory Lane. This rule was widely criticized but nothing seem to have changed. Granted, Regan Smith was clearly over the line in 2008, but was Jimmie Johnson? And if he was over the line, was it even relevant?

The rule clearly states, that a driver can not advance his position if he were to cross that forbidden line. If you might recall, Jimmie Johnson did not advance his position, as he had a slight lead over 2nd place finisher Clint Bowyer coming out of the front-stretch tri-oval.

My opinion is the same as the other 42 NASCAR drivers that day, who did not challenge the call, Jimmie Johnson won fairly in one of the greatest finishes in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series history.

REUTIMANN, STREMME AND BOWLES TO PILOT THIRD CAMRY FOR RWR

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Austin Dillon No. 33 Nationwide Series Advance: Nashville Superspeedway

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Logano to Run Nashville NNS Race After All Thanks to Harvest Investments & Harvest-Properties.com

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Bully Hill Vineyards Partners With Kevin Harvick Inc.

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Johnson and Gordon to Appear at Hoedown Hospitality at the Throwdown

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NASCAR Needs To Rid Of Yellow Line Rule

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SM Staff
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[media-credit name=”Steven Iles” align=”alignright” width=”223″][/media-credit]It has been the topic of controversy ever since it was implemented in 2001 and it is causing more controversy today after the end of the Aaron’s 499, which had Jimmie Johnson crossing the line for his 54th career victory by 0.002 seconds, tying the 2003 Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 for the closest finish in NASCAR history. However there is some controversy that comes along with the win.

Let’s be quite honest here, the yellow line rule is crap. The yellow line rule was implemented because of Dale Earnhardt’s death. Earth to all NASCAR fans: Going below the yellow line had nothing to do with Dale’s death. Nothing. Despite the fact he passed over a decade ago, his death has completely changed the sport and sometimes not in good ways. Earnhardt was killed because of his excessive blocking and he made one wrong move too many during that race. Marlin dipped below the yellow line after the initial contact to avoid getting into the mess. Unfortunately, our man of the hour, who this morning forgot to take a shower, Mike Helton,  fails to realize that the yellow line rule actually causes more excessive blocking, more crashes, and more confused fans.

After the 2003 EA Sports 500, Helton made it apparently clear that you could go below the yellow line if you were in the lead. That was his explanation after the controversy between Dale Jr. and Jimmie Johnson. Jr. actually wasn’t in the lead before he dipped below the line and the win should have gone to the second place driver, that being Kevin Harvick. If NASCAR was consistent, Jr. would have been placed in in 17th. NASCAR was too afraid of upsetting Junior Nation in this case.

Sometimes even the announcers are confused. For example, during the Tony Stewart-Regan Smith debacle, Andy Petree actually thought it was legal to go below the yellow line on the final lap. In all honesty, did Regan Smith deserve to go from 2nd to 18th? No. Tony forced him below the line. If he moved up, he would have caused a huge accident. I have a new slogan, “Like big government. NASCAR Is There.”

The first person to be caught under this rule was Tony Stewart during the 2001 Pepsi 400, the first race with the new rule. He was forced below the line by Johnny Benson and also really had no choice. Stewart was so fed up with NASCAR, he refused to answer the black flag. That didn’t please the dictators very much and that relegated him to a 26th place finish. The Carl Edwards incident of 2009 can be tied in with this, along with Hamlin and Johnson this year.

Denny Hamlin won the Budweiser Shootout. After looking at different camera angles, photos, video, and pausing at the right time. Hamlin had the lead and his tires were “ON”, but not below the yellow line before he went down. He won the race. NASCAR yet again needs to be more consistent with its rulings. Why do you think NASCAR has a poor reputation in many parts of the sports world? A reporter even went as far to compare NASCAR with UFC, WWE, and boxing. Oh and by the way, Stewart did that in 2007 and was fined heavily. NASCAR doesn’t want to hear what others say. They run the show. I have something to tell you. Freedom of Speech. This is America.

Now, going into today’s incident I went onto Yahoo Sports and they claimed it was a legal pass based off one photo. The problem with basing your argument off one photo is that another photo at a different time may have a different look. It’s like blaming a guy for murder based off a picture of him having a gun, only to look at a second photo of that man being shot four times in the chest. The photo Yahoo had put on the web showed Johnson “ON”, but below the line. The in-car feed from Dale Earnhardt Jr. showed Johnson go just below the line for like a quarter or half a second. The question is not whether he went below the yellow line or not, we know he did, but was that short second below the yellow line what sent him past Mark Martin? That is debatable. Jimmie and Dale definitely had the momentum coming to the line. It set up a fantastic finish.

It set up an exciting finish, but do fans like this type of racing? No. According to a new poll, 74% of NASCAR fans prefer pack racing rather than the two-by-two tangos. I prefer the pack racing to be honest, but your opinion is your opinion and you won’t be criticized for it.

Finally, I had some heated exchanges today with some fellow reporters. One said, “What does the Budweiser Shootout have to do with anything? Denny admitted to going below the yellow line to pass Jimmie Johnson. Were you not listening to what he said? He purposefully went below.”

First of all, Jimmie Johnson had no influence on the finish and had nothing to do with it, so I’m afraid you’re wrong on that part. Who gives a crap about what he said? Let’s look at the footage shall we? http://cdn.bleacherreport.net/images_root/images/photos/001/135/205/hamlinnewman_crop_340x234.jpg?1297704152

What do you see there? Hamlin got robbed. Anyway, it was a fantastic race. Don’t take that away. Leave your comments below, Facebook me, or email your opinion at therhino.ryan@gmail.com

My grandfather passed this weekend and I would like to send condolences to my father, brother, and the rest of the O’Hara family. Happy Easter and we’ll see you at Richmond in two weeks!

HORNISH POSTS 13TH-PLACE FINISH IN SATURDAY’S NATIONWIDE SERIES RACE AT TALLADEGA

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