A New Low for [Traditional] American Racing?

[JohnBM01]

For my sometimes critical commentary, I'm back again. And this time, some of you may have seen the NASCAR Trucks race at Gateway. It was told to be the last of the "green/white checker" laps. For those of you who don't know what happened or for those who can care less about NASCAR, here's what happened. Earlier tonight, I saw Columbia beating Costa Rica 2-0 in Copa America competition. When I changed over to NASCAR Trucks, I thought the race would be over and that the race winner will have showered himself (or herself. After all, girls can race too) in Gatorade, I noticed that there were two laps to go. I either thought there was a quick rain delay or NASCAR racers flailing at each other like ruthless thugs, forcing caution after caution. And as I learned, the race was cautioned out for three times, with the third forcing a red flag. The first restart I kind of forgot what happened. The second caution came as the leading two racers (Shane Hmiel and Bobby Hamilton) banged into the wall at Turn 2 battling for position. The third restart seen Rick Crawford bang into the wall at Turn 2, and the truck would be lifted off the ground and on its side while sliding down the wall. This would force a red flag. Afterwards, restart number four. And NASCAR racers finally grown up and realized that this was a race, not a demolition derby during L.A. rush hour traffic. And David Starr finally won his second career race.

The question I'm asking is this. "Has this race set a new low for traditional American racing?" Caution after caution for roughneck racers vying for the gold. I hate to say this, but if you don't win, you just don't win. I'm sorry. You're better off ending the race, but SOMEBODY said otherwise. All three series will have only ONE "green/white" and then the race is over. So tell me, did American racing stoop to a new low with this finale? Reply.

 

[Darin]

I was watching the Trucks and soon as I turned the channel to speed they were talking about this and I knew you would make a thread...

Cause I thought. "Watch John make a thread about this in the morning."

And looky here.

 

[Firestarter75]

Well my take is, you have a very simple solution to the "problem" of non-green finishes. STOP WRECKING AT THE FRIEKEN END OF THE RACE! Its that easy. If you wreck at the end of hte race, expect a caution and deal with it. Here is the thing, Dave Despain said out of the 48 times the green-white-checker was used it only changed the outcome 12% of the time. Not worth going to for so little change, I would love to know how often they wrecked though... something tells me it would be more often then 12% of the time in that situation.

 

[JohnBM01]

And watch. Speed Channel will show the ENTIRE RACE even down to pre-race ceremonies to the post-race show from the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers Ram Tough 200. To me, NASCAR is trying to be more like the stick-and-ball sports here in America. Who knows? Jimmie Johnson may bat for 40 home runs in three months (I don't follow baseball). Bobby LaBonte may shoot a 3-pointer over Yao Ming. Dale Earnhardt Jr may run for 900 yards and score 10 touchdowns. Then again, NASCAR IS a stick-and-ball sport. It's just in the form of a steering wheel and the gear shift.

I mean, you wouldn't see the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Petit Le Mans, Daytona 500, or whatever go into "overtime" like this past Saturday's truck race went. The only way is if the race was postponed and the goal was extended. And I mean, some American racing fans are pure nuts. I can understand wanting to go all-out and hand wins over even if they get as controversial as Jeff Gordon upsetting Earnhardt Jr. at Talladega earlier this year. And what happened then? They responded by throwing food and cans. I don't see that happening when Michael Schumacher wins in F1 or if the Audi R8 wins a race, so why NASCAR? Why oval racing fans? At the local dirt track, that's okay because real racing fans don't really give a hot damn. But contrary to popular belief, NASCAR race drivers (and oval racers in general) are race car drivers. Ladies and gentlemen. From the sexy Leilani Munter to Jeff Gordon, race car drivers are professional athletes. And I hate to say this, but even though racing is a sport, such an overtime like this is not usually done in racing. I mean, I heard of a college football game last year that went into as many as 7 overtimes. A hockey game WAY back when had 12 overtimes, I think. But I don't care what anyone says, you're better off racing as a gentleman. If you don't win after a caution, that's just it. But NO... some fans rather see something like this happen. "That's just racin'." Racin' my ass. Just a bunch of thuggery and road rage. People taking each other out and extending races. I think it's a new low, my opposition would daresay otherwise.

And if you can't finish races on laps, finish on time. CART did it. ALMS surely does it. When my Dish receiver says that a race will be on for 2hr 30min and a cool show is afterwards, I want to see that show in its entirety without seeing a redundant oval race. Sportscar races are almost never replayed except for major races. There's no "Trackside at..." for a real race. No "Pit Bull," or "Countdown to Green," or even its own variant of "Speed News..." but I'd rather see some professionals race than an oval series that wants to compete with the NFL and such. And even I'd rather see an NFL game over an overrated oval race. I think it's a new low, how about you?

 

[JohnBM01]

And Firestarter, here's another scenario related to this. I seen Brazil shut out and blew out Mexico (sad day for anyone from Mexico that loves Mexican soccer) in Copa America 4-0. I've seen the New Orleans Saints blow out the New York Giants 45-7 or whatever the score was (and let's not forget Joe Horn's antics during the game). When teams are winning in other sports, it's just okay to play things simple. In soccer, you just keep on playing. In NFL and NCAA football, you simply do run plays to melt the clock down in the 4th Quarter when leading. But in racing, you don't get to run down the clock or complete all the laps. In racing, you keep going until the race is completely over and you've established completing the goal of laps or time. This NASCAR truck race is like triple overtime. It was almost as if I were watching the Houston Rockets take on the Atlanta Hawks this past season. THAT was triple overtime; this NASCAR race was... the "Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers Ram Tough 200 and Change." No offense, but races don't go into overtime unless there's been a red flag or rain (for those who don't compete in rain). This race was actually a piece of crap. Just finish the race so I can watch the shows I want to see afterwards. But what they do? It was 11:10 PM CDT and so, and Speed News Saturday came 10+minutes late because they HAD TO RUN the Petty's Charity bike thing. The "Making of Victory by Design" was probably never going to show in the first place, so to put that there was a joke. But I know what I'd rather watch.

And just for fun, I don't type fast. My connection was slow with GTP, so I had to type up somewhere else what I was going to talk about.

 

[JohnBM01]

Stop wrecking so much? That's like asking a baby not to suck his/her thumb. Oval racers love to fight for victory. To me, that "racin'" they do is nothing more but thuggin' on the race track. Did you even SEE that race on Speed this past weekend? As much as I like racing, if you don't like green-white checkers, too bad. Green flag finishes? Sorry to say this, but too bad. Hell, I'd be p*ssed if I couldn't pass a guy on a final lap, but that's racing. Right? I often laugh at a "Gentleman's Agreement" in NASCAR. Most gentlemen are in road racing and do one thing best- race their hearts out. So you lose a couple of races. You can always come back some other time. Same goes for rain-shortened races. And if that's the case, here's a suggestion... DESIGN THE CARS FOR RACING IN THE WET! Sure, high speed on a wet oval is unsafe, but if on a road course, it doesn't mean a damn. It just means you have to build a car to withstand both situations. It's why I love and prefer road racing over ovals. At least things are not being overdone and old. Look at their racing style and how races go and compare it to any good old oval race. I'd say it's a new low for American motorsports. You learn to do better another time if you miss out in one such race. So I'm that's how I feel.

 

[VIPFREAK]

Let's see I would have said the more wrecks the better but I'm not 10 anymore, I think it's a little late to say stop wreck. For my ending as soon as they introduced nascar I think it was already a new low. When I say introduced nascar I mean recent like 1990 and up because 1. I don't remember what nascar was like before that and 2. I'm sure before that time they actually knew how to drive in a circle even though it was slower.

 

[Sleek Stratos]

I thought this thread was going to be about the "bump n' run" (leave it to the oval racers to invent a name for a cheap shot manuever like that) that Starr did on Chaffin. That's what ticked me off. Makes no difference to me how many times they tried to finish the race; besides, in all forty-something G-W-C that happened in NCTS, only 4 went more than once.

Frankly one attempt from now on doesn't seem like enough (for the fans) Two seems like the perfect number. That way people would leave the racetrack knowing they were given the opportunity to watch a race to the finish not once, but twice, and it wouldn't drag on that much.
I don't see what happened at the truck race as a new low. You have 2 laps to gain a spot or two and win a couple grand more in a G-W-C situation, and as I mentioned above, they rarely went on more than once.