NASCAR’s latest gimmick...

[Charlie Harley, #14153]

Turn Bristol into a dirt track. I thought it was a joke at first. 

 

Take cars designed for asphalt. Put them on clay. On a track surrounded by bleachers that block wind. With drivers that haven’t touched dirt in years. 
 

Lotsa wrecks in the course of the race. But that’s what fans want I guess. 
 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/03/27/nascar-dirt-track-bristol/

 

[Jessey Hightower]

Mess with downforce. Make the cars equal. Stage racing. Track gimmicks. No stars and bars. Drivers need to play nice. 
Turning Bristol into dirt wont bring me back to nascar. Re-open Wilkesboro and I might be interested in watching something other than vintage races on you tube. 

[Cypress Sun]

1 hour ago, Charlie Harley, #14153 said:

Turn Bristol into a dirt track. I thought it was a joke at first. 

 

Take cars designed for asphalt. Put them on clay. On a track surrounded by bleachers that block wind. With drivers that haven’t touched dirt in years. 
 

Lotsa wrecks in the course of the race. But that’s what fans want I guess. 
 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/03/27/nascar-dirt-track-bristol/

 

 

I'll watch when I get home tomorrow.....until I get bored. It might be fun to watch though. Kyle Larson would be my pick for a dirt track.

 

One thing for sure is that EVERYBODY at the track is going to go home all the same color.....reddish orange.

[Pat Riot]

I used to go to dirt track motorcycle races here in California years ago. When the track was dry everyone was covered in dust. You breathed it, tasted it, it got in your eyes and other places dust shouldn’t be. 
At the night races they wet the track down. The first time I went to a night race some enterprising kid was selling cheap rain ponchos for $5 each that one could buy for a couple of bucks at drug stores and hardware stores. 
I thought “Hmm...I didn’t know it was supposed to rain.”

Then I got blasted with mud from the wheels of the bikes as they rounded the turn in front of my bleacher section. That’s when it dawned on me why the kid sold ponchos.  
 

Watching and enjoying dirt track racing depends a lot of where you’re seated and what direction the prevailing winds are blowing. 

This is not a concern when seated in one’s living room. 

 

[Subdeacon Joe]

A real gimmick that would be a crowd pleaser would be for NASCAR to bring back NASCAR.

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

It's STILL just a bunch of good ol' boys going fast and turning left. (we need a YAWN emoji).

[Smuteye John SASS#24774]

2 minutes ago, Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 said:

It's STILL just a bunch of good ol' boys going fast and turning left. (we need a YAWN emoji).

No, it ain't and hasn't been for decades.  Saying that shows how long it's been since you've watched a NASCAR race.

 

The drivers are well trained spokesmen for whatever corporation is their primary sponsor.  Any recidivism to being cocky racer car drivers with a chip on their shoulder is squashed.

[Smuteye John SASS#24774]

The gimmick is an attempt to fill seats in Bristol.

 

Bristol tickets were once bequeathed in wills- and that bequeathing was fought in court. It was once a destination race like Tallegeda or Daytona.  Every race there sold out.

 

Then, Bruton Smith bought the track, put in progressive banking and changed the racing there completely. 

 

You can pass anywhere!  They can go 2 or 3 wide through the corners now!  It's just like all the other tracks, isn't it exciting?  No longer is it a tiny bullring (the infield was once turfed and the track was used as a football stadium- it's that small) where you hold onto the bottom and 'passes' meant rooting a quarter panel under the car ahead of you and sending him up the hill.

 

In other words, the mystique of a track where an old school, more physical style of racing was still the rule of the day was shattered.

 

And the attendance numbers show it.

[irish ike, SASS #43615]

1 hour ago, Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 said:

It's STILL just a bunch of good ol' boys going fast and turning left. (we need a YAWN emoji).

They're no good ole boys. They're a bunch of whinny millennials. He bumped me, his cars faster, uh oh theres a hot dog wrapper on the track....caution thrown.

[largo casey #19191]

Build a track over a old stockyard.

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

3 hours ago, Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 said:

It's STILL just a bunch of good ol' boys going fast and turning left. (we need a YAWN emoji).

 

3 hours ago, Smuteye John SASS#24774 said:

No, it ain't and hasn't been for decades.  Saying that shows how long it's been since you've watched a NASCAR race.

 

The drivers are well trained spokesmen for whatever corporation is their primary sponsor.  Any recidivism to being cocky racer car drivers with a chip on their shoulder is squashed.

You're right, I've never watched. I was actually quoting an old George Carlin bit. I never had any interest in it, so my sentiment remains the same. So...

It's just a bunch of whiney little girls, (you know what I WANT to call them), going fast and turning left.  STILL want a yawning emoji. 

[Joke 'um]

Try homologation.  Use "stock" cars, like IMSA/ALMS do in sports car production racing.  They go fast at Daytona and seem to live through it.  NASCAR's all-the-same race cars hidden under identical bodies decorated to resemble different brands ain't "gettin' 'er done".

Drop political correctness all together.  People don't attend races to be taught morality from the leftists' point of view.

Stop trying to make all competitors equal.  Where would you be today if you had slowed down Richard Petty or Junior Johnson so Jim-Bob from North Wilkseboro could keep up in his jalopy?

K.I.S.S.

[Capt. R. Hugh Kidnme]

What's NASCAR again?

[watab kid]

looking forward to watchin it , should be kinda fun 

[twelve mile REB]

Make them turn right

[Ozark Huckleberry]

A dirt track? Meh.

 

They could make it really interesting if they put it on a Figure-8 track.

 

[sassnetguy50]

Agreed, a lot of early 20s drivers.  The recent crop of retiring "veteran drivers" were the threshold.  The current drivers are like the rest of the millennials but twice as fast.  Even Scarier are the up and coming Menards series drivers.

 

 

The next race at Bristol should be interesting.  Drivers expecting grip but getting a freshly cleaned track.

 

Will watch the end if the range session doesn't last too long.

[Big Sage, SASS #49891 Life]

16 hours ago, Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 said:

 

You're right, I've never watched. I was actually quoting an old George Carlin bit. I never had any interest in it, so my sentiment remains the same. So...

It's just a bunch of whiney little girls, (you know what I WANT to call them), going fast and turning left.  STILL want a yawning emoji. 

If you've never watched it, how can you know anything about it? Reading whats someone else's opinion about something you know nothing about, doesn't qualify you to have an opinion about it.

 

Not just turning left. There are 7 or 8 road races on the schedule this year.  Again someone who doesn't know what the current NASCAR is all about.

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

3 hours ago, Big Sage, SASS #49891 Life said:

If you've never watched it, how can you know anything about it? Reading whats someone else's opinion about something you know nothing about, doesn't qualify you to have an opinion about it.

 

Not just turning left. There are 7 or 8 road races on the schedule this year.  Again someone who doesn't know what the current NASCAR is all about.

I've never sat down and watched it, but I've certainly seen it. I have no interest in football, baseball, basketball, hockey, wrestling or soccer either. My unqualified opinion is that it just doesn't interest me.

[Blackwater 53393]

I’m afraid that I will probably offend several of ya’ with what I’m about to say.  THAT IS NOT MY INTENTION!!!  I don’t like the direction that NASCAR has taken any more, and probably far less, than most of you!!

 

First let me say that I was never good enough to be a top level NASCAR driver!!  Please remember that I said this.  I HAVE made many laps on various NASCAR tracks.  I actually tried it!!!  It’s a privilege I was granted for knowing the right people and being in the right place at the right time, nothing more.

 

Most of you have no concept of the skill and nerve, not to mention the amount of practice required of those who have that skill and nerve, needed to operate a top level race car at top competitive levels.  That’s not an insult or any kind of denigration, it is simply a fact. 

 

What many of you seem unwilling to acknowledge is that most of these drivers come from other parts of the motorsport community where they excelled and most of THEM don’t dominate NASCAR the way they dominated those other “steppingstone” racing organizations.  Even Formula 1 champions have found themselves frustrated by NASCAR competition, so the “Go fast. Turn left” stuff just doesn’t wash!!  Guys who proclaim that if they spent enough money and took enough driving lessons, they would be competitive in NASCAR, or any kind of professional auto racing for that matter, are talking out of their posterior regions!!

 

NEXT! It has been fifty years since NASCAR raced on dirt in the top ranked division. WHEN THEY DID it was NOT with “specially prepared” cars designed to run only on dirt!!!  Most drivers only had ONE car and they did most of their work themselves!!  No backups!! They ran as many as three events a weekend in those days, in many cases on three different tracks most of those times. Change tires and maybe springs and sometimes rear end gears!!  THAT’S ALL!!  So if they put those same current cars on the dirt, that’s nothing new!! Your NASCAR heroes from yesteryear did it that way.

 

It should be remembered that even historic names like Junior Johnson started out as “Jim Bob” or “Billy Ray” from East Nowhere!!  Most drivers in those days were their own mechanics and often their own chief engineers as well and that on more occasions than anyone will admit, the big name racer was usually the one who got a pass on doing something shady to gain an advantage.  A good example of this was King Richard’s 200th win.  His engine in that race was way past the usual level of illegal!!  The team was fined, points were taken away, the win money was taken away and the engine was seized.  It was barely made public and kept low key.  They were still credited with the win and they were allowed to keep the trophy.

 

The Bristol track has changed SEVERAL times!!  It started as an asphalt bull ring.  It is ACTUALLY 5/8 mile, NOT half mile as it is usually described. The progressive banking was a short lived experiment.  The dirt is temporary and I’ve thought for a long time it would be a great idea to include a couple of dirt races as well as the newly added road course venues that FINALLY happened this year!

 

Bruton Smith was and is one of the most successful innovators in motorsports.  There are a number of tracks that wouldn’t be around anymore if not for him.  There’s some scuttlebutt that he might take over operation of the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway, a facility that has a huge racing history, but has lately seen hard times.  That track is a sister to Bristol and has hosted NASCAR, IndyCar/USAC, and many other iterations of auto racing! Mr. Smiths entrance into the mix here is a welcome thing.

 

I can certainly do without “stage racing”, “stage points”, “playoff points”, and “playoffs”!!

 

I’m gleefully anticipating the new car that was supposed to make its debut this spring, but was pushed back because of the Chinese Bat Flu!!

 

 I wish they would go back to the old points system.  I wish they’d make the cars run factory body panels or replicas that duplicated actual body lines.  I wish that they would require that the body be set square on the chassis so that it doesn’t run down the track with the ass end skewed to one side!! (That one really bugs  me!) I wish that ticket prices weren’t in the hundreds of dollars for one seat!!  And while I think that some of these newer drivers are too pretty and some get to much press for the amount of skill they show and the results they produce, I wish folks would give ‘em credit for having the testicular fortitude to try to push these cars to and past their limitations. 

 

[Colorado Coffinmaker]

 

PLUS ONE for Blackwater !!

[Duffield, SASS #23454]

I wish they would go back to requiring body, chassis and engine from the manufacturer whose logo is on the car, requiring a run of five hundred cars with that engine and pretending that they are racing stock cars, like they were doing in the late '60s.

I know that stock is the basis for soup, and those cars were certainly souped up, but we could pretend that we could buy a car just like Bobby Allison or Cale Yarborough was racing.

 

Duffield

[irish ike, SASS #43615]

Well after rain most of the weekend NASCAR has decided to turn the event into hydro racing. Props are being fitted on driveshafts as I type this.

[Big Sage, SASS #49891 Life]

3 hours ago, Duffield, SASS #23454 said:

I wish they would go back to requiring body, chassis and engine from the manufacturer whose logo is on the car, requiring a run of five hundred cars with that engine and pretending that they are racing stock cars, like they were doing in the late '60s.

I know that stock is the basis for soup, and those cars were certainly souped up, but we could pretend that we could buy a car just like Bobby Allison or Cale Yarborough was racing.

 

Duffield

The engines are basically from each manufacturer. The Fords, Chevys & Toyotas are all different. All they share is the cubic inch displacement requirement. Even tho Ford & Chevy don't actually, their engineers are working with Yates, Childress & Hendricks. Toyota does make their engines.

[Smuteye John SASS#24774]

I ain't willing to call somebody that drives at over 200mph closer to the car ahead and behind him than I'm comfortable to park anything disrespectful.

 

That's sorta like how I ain't claiming someone that gets inside a 120+ degree metal box, does something that requires both intense attention to detail and incredible fine motor control for hours on end anything but an athlete.

[Blackwater 53393]

I kinda’ agree with Duffield on the stock appearing cars.  I’ll say that the purpose built chassis is truly necessary so I’ll let that pass.  The engines....  they are a matter for serious debate.  Used to be you had to “build” an engine capable of powering the car to the speeds required and able to survive over the distance.  The durability requirements are much easier to meet and today, some of the pace cars, (the Corvettes in particular) are capable of outrunning the race cars in stock trim.  

 

My personal preference is to see some version of the factory drive train installed in a purpose built chassis and cloaked in a skin that looks for all the world like the model it represents in size and shape.  Put all the tire under it that you can make fit and make windshields and roof lines conform to the angles and shapes of the showroom counterpart.

 

These guys keep claiming they want more challenge!! Let ‘em drive a car that’s too fast for the track and see how good they really are..

 

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

14 minutes ago, Blackwater 53393 said:

These guys keep claiming they want more challenge!! Let ‘em drive a car that’s too fast for the track and see how good they really are..

 

I never said that the drivers aren't a special breed, I just said I wasn't interested. As for the challenge, maybe bring back the IROC races and see what happens.

[Colorado Coffinmaker]

Harkening back to those halcyon days of Charlie's OP.  I've been to Bristol.  Both to look at and to Drive on.  What a HOOT.  covering Bristol in dirt however is just plain STUPID.

 

PLUS ONE (AGAIN) for Blackwater and Duffield.  Purpose built chassis I can well understand.  Keeps drivers alive.  BUT!!  Here be the CAVEAT(s):  Have to hang real sheetmetal on it and use OEM driveline components.

 

Currently, all the scoring, play-offs,  stages, heats and whatever else they use to muddy the water, just serve to make NASCAR SUCK.  Formula 1 has also become the same regulatory mess.  What a CROCK. 

[Raylan]

Get woke, Go broke.

[Blackwater 53393]

Most folks don’t realize that the current chassis is made up of parts that resemble those of a ‘57-‘64 Ford front end and the rear suspension from an early ‘60s Chevrolet pickup. Archaic to say the least!!!

 

ANYWAY! Back to Bristol!  That’s a promoter’s dream and nightmare!!  They hold two major NASCAR events there every year and last year they put on the all star race there as well. They have regular NHRA races there. A couple of years ago, they hosted a college football game that set an all time attendance record. There are major concert events held there. That they would fill the place with dirt and hold a week of dirt track racing events culminating in a points paying NASCAR race is really just par for the course.

 

 

 

[watab kid]

seems it got rained out so it wasnt televised , im disappointed not to be able to have it on today , 

[Blackwater 53393]

I think it’s going to be shown on FOX on Monday at 4:00 pm eastern time.

[Imis Twohofon,SASS # 46646]

Watching it puts me to sleep, even more so than golf.

 

Imis, eligible for lynching soon, at a tree near you

[Eyesa Horg]

How could you possibly get board watching someone hit a little white ball and chase it.

[Noz]

I'm in favor of showroom cars as a base. Do what you want with them. If you give them too much power they won't finish a race, not enough and they won't win.  Run what you brung.  Let the checkered flag show what works best.