[Shotimes] Re: NASCAR numbnuts

[Donald Mallinson]

"Real Racing"?  There might be some forms that suit you 
better than NASCAR, but to call what these people do 
anything other than real racing is showing how much you 
really don't know.  Ever been on an oval at speed?  I have, 
and I can tell you, that just by yourself it is scary.

Having said that, I admit that I enjoy europeon sedan 
racing, rallye, dirt track and Trans-Am more than NASCAR 
most times, but the round track stuff can be quite exciting.

As for caution periods.  When you don't have any TV 
schedules to worry about, and all your fans are from less 
than 50 miles away, you can run events late, but a typical 
NASCAR race has so many more people in attendance, and TV 
and other concerns including security, employees etc, that 
extending the race by an hour or more sometimes would be a 
disaster. A NASCAR race event is a LOT different than your 
red clay track, or the dirt track I went to most saturday 
nights as a teen.

You have to think beyond the race track to understand why 
they do some things the way they do.

Don Mallinson

MonsieurBoo@aol.com wrote:
> "Real racing can be found on your local track, not in NASCAR.  And it's sad 
> to say that."
> 
> Case in point, this silliness about ending the race under caution.  
> Talladega, where they ran the last six laps under yellow (in first gear on a 2-mile 
> superspeedway) because one guy in the back of the pack spun out, didn't touch the 
> wall, didn't dump any debris or fluid, just kept going around to the pits to 
> change his flatspotted tires.  Ain't no lame excuse about safety concerns 
> gonna make any sense out of that.
> 
> Back in the 70s in Hawaii when we were running at a 1/4 mile red clay track 
> in the middle of the sugar cane fields on Saturday night, caution laps never 
> counted with less than 20 to go.  We ran it like that for every class from 
> claimers to super sprints -- and we got good finishes every time.  Now the big boys 
> got all these weird new rules, but yet can't fix the simplest damn thing that 
> would send everyone home happy.
> 
> Mark LaBarre