Start Wrecking... First Contact

Lets face it, unlike most other forms of top level professional racing NASCAR racing can be a contact sport. On the right weekend, at the right track, contact is permitted. Whether it's at a restrictor plate track when it is called "bump / tandem drafting" or on some of the sports smaller venues or "short tracks" when it is called, well the "norm" really, there are occasions when contact is allowed. Actually it's more than that, on the short tracks it's expected.

After what was universally thought to be a fairly lacklustre Bristol Sprint Cup Series race, the drama of the last few laps at Martinsville came as a welcome change of pace. In fact it brings hope that once Bruton Smith is finished with his concrete half mile the same level of excitment and drama might return for the beloved "night race" later in the year.

So why are some of the sports journalists and commentators having to defend or explain the contact to the fans? Headlines like "Newman makes no appologies for race win?" or statements like "it's just racin'" show the authors explaining why it's allowed. Only a few short weeks ago the vast majority of fans told Mr Smith this was the kind of racing they wanted to see at Bristol, and now after Martinsville the sport is feeling the need to defend that very style of racing?

To this discussion I would like to add the following thought... this is the sport of NASCAR. In NASCAR, on a short track, contact is a way of life, get over it! If you don't like it then watch F1 or touring cars where over the top contact is frowned upon... Mr Plato...

Three wide into Paddock Hill bend, on the grass, was never going to be considered a good idea. Lean on each other, bang mirrors by all means but you can't attempt a move like that and get away with it. For not letting that happen, and for not letting the penalties issued affect the results I applaud the Championship officials.

For the BTCC the first meeting of the year at Brands Hatch has to be considered a success. Three different winners from three races, lots of new cars and all with the new turbo engines. I wish the new NGTC era well!

Now onto David Reutimann...

Riddle Me This, Riddle Me That...

Take 43 of the best stock car drivers...

Pair them up with the best Crew Chief they can find...

Have the best teams in the business run them...

And watch one driver dominate?

Not one team, but one driver.

The Sprint Cup races this year have me baffled. Each week there is some good racing throughout the field, and we have seen a lot of different winners this year but still there is no consistancy. A while ago I was championing this as a good thing, variety being the spice of life as they say. However this variety has me wondering how one driver can hit on a set up so much better than all the others that they dominate a race like Jimmie Johnson and the 48 team did at Kansas.

What did that team do which made them the best, on that day, by some margin. You would have thought out of the other 42 cars someone else would have hit on that magic formula as well and given the 48 a run for his money. Stewart got close at times but only ever looked like he had a second place car and not one able to battle for the win.

It's not as though one team is dominating, as last Sunday Gordon had an average race and Earnhardt and Martin were never really in contention. In fact if one driver in a team is winning you can almost guarantee that the others in the same team are nowhere to be seen. If Tony is winning then Ryan is average. If the 48 is up front the 24 is at the back, and visa versa. If Brad is hot, Kurt is not and again visa versa.

You may say track position, and being the lead car, has a part to play in this but I don't buy it. The racing behind Johnson was good and proved overtaking was possible using the various grooves through the turns.

Is it down to the edgy nature of the cars? They are hard to drive ane we often hear Crew Chiefs talk about the fine line between a car that works and one that doesn't. However with the regulations for the cars being so tight, or to put it another way all of the cars are more or less the same, you would think that more than one team would find a setup that works on a given weekend. Also considering the limited number of car builders, Hendrick for Chevy, Roush for Ford, Penske for Dodge and MWR/Gibbs for Toyota, you would think the secret formula for the ultimate setup would not be secret for long.

I look forward to the race when all the top drivers find a setup that works at the same time, Homestead perhaps, and then we will have a race on.

I am not complaining, I am just puzzled. It looks like the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion will be the driver and team who can hit on that magic setup the most over the coming weeks, and not fall that far when they miss.

Indiana Jones and the Yard of Bricks

Star Wars... two sets of three.

 

Three Spiderman films, and by the end of next year there will have been three Batman movies...

Pirates of the Caribbean originally came in three parts...

Raiders of the Lost Ark originally had two follow ups...

What does any of this have to do with racing?

Hollywood loves a twist. And the movie of the Brickyard 400 always throws up a surprise.

Juan Pablo Montoya should have won the last two races at the Brickyard but let both races slip through his fingers. Will this weekend’s race be part three of the trilogy or the much needed franchise reboot? Montoya needs to hold on to this one, or "Indy, no more parachutes!"

Another cast member hoping to turn a great weekend at the box office into a successful follow up has to be Stewart Haas Racing. After starting and finishing in first and second at New Hampshire, (how many times do the front row of the grid finish in that order in a Cup race) the sequel needs feature another set of strong performances but, for the sake of their championship chances, with the “leading man” getting the spoils this time, not his “sidekick”.

The Brickyard is a wonderful setting for a NASCAR rollercoaster storyline...

I can’t wait to see who’s name is on top of the list come the credits!

Performance Parity - NASCAR

Over the last few weeks we have had some fuel mileage racing, some pit strategy racing, some “boys have at it” racing, some good racing, some not so good racing...

The best thing about the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series? To take a phrase from BTCC driver Jason Plato, “Performance Parity”!

The Hendrick cars are up there, but not dominating. Sure Jimmie Johnson is high up in the points and Jeff Gordon has ended his winless streak. Dale Jr is looking good, has come close to ending his winless streak and is also high up in points... but none are dominating!

The Gibbs cars are competitive, are leading laps and getting in the wars, but are not dominating!

Kevin Harvick, the “finisher” and dictionary definition of “boys have at it” has won races and looks like he badly wants the end of season trophy, but none of the Childress cars are dominating!

The Roush Fords are back in the hunt this year after a quiet season last year, but are not dominating!

Holding up the honour for Dodge are the Penske cars, good at times, but not dominating!

This is Tony Stewarts time of year to shine... the Red Bull cars of Kasey Kahne and Brian Vickers have looked good... the Earnhardt Ganassi Racing cars... the Richard Petty Motorsport cars have all been running well... at times very well... however no one is dominating!

But here’s the thing...

Carl Edwards is currently leading the points, just ahead of... the 48! You remember him don’t you; he’s done quite well over the past few years... Somehow the 48 car always seems to find a fifth gear once the Chase begins!

In my opinion the drivers most likely to keep up with Johnson once the Chase starts are Edwards, Harvick, and if he can get it together, Kyle Busch.

I am glad Dale Jr has been running well. He finally looks like he can drive a race car and is third in points right now but does he quiet have enough? Only time will tell.

But again, the question is... Who has what in reserve for the Chase?

Performace parity... that's BTCC talk, in NASCAR it's called good hard racing!

"Latest GP NOT a Turkey" and "Hand Bags At Dawn"

Overtaking, wheel-to-wheel, cross-over, round the outside, three-a-breast, and pit lane battles are all terms we would usually associate with a NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Darlington, but Formula 1 from Turkey?

Erm... YES!!

Hold the Front page... “Latest Grand Prix, NOT A Turkey!”

I have just watched the Turkish Grand Prix. I did not watch it live, I recorded the race so I could forward speedily through the dull bits. However, I watched this all of this race... full length... every lap... the whole lot... start to finish...

And it was good...

Regular readers will know that I am not the worlds greatest F1 fan.

Regular readers will know that when it comes to F1 I can come across a little on the cinical side.

It would be wrong of me, as someone who will readily critisie F1 for boring races and who will openly accuse the drivers of not being able to “race”, and as someone who has done just that, to not acknowledge that the Turkish Grand Prix was none of those things.

While I think the DRS thingy is a bit contrived and false, combined with the KERS, it made for a very good race.

With the exception of Mr M. Schumacher the drivers have remembered how to race and not just drive. They are giving each other room and driving round each other, not just into each other.

Button round the outside of the last corner, the McLarens all over each other, the drag race in the pit lane... the list goes on... all good stuff!

I might even be looking forward to the next race, but don’t tell anybody...


“Hand Bags at Dawn” or “Racing Rivalries”


At Richmond it was Montoya Vs. Newman. At Darlington it was Harvick Vs. Kyle Busch.

The winner in each case?

NASCAR!!

Sure JPM and Newman beat up two perfectly good race cars and wrecked their own chances of a good finish, let alone each others, but it WAS a short track race and this IS NASCAR!

Was Busch loose coming off turn 4? Was he ever in control of that car? Could he have done more to avoid taking Harvick out?

Yes... no... maybe... I don’t care!



The fact is that both sets of incidents made for great TV. Long may drivers get passionate about their chosen sport, and show that passion!!


After all we all know that drivers who lack passion or emotion, and are more interested in strategy than racing don’t race in NASCAR they race in Fomula 1...

Then again...

Wrecks to Riches

V8 Supercars

Start line crash. It's never good to see flames!



NASCAR Sprint Cup

The "Big One" from Richmond which took out Jeff Gordon, one of the main rivals to Kyle Busch.



Montoya Vs. Newman
What started out as a "racing incident" turned into retaliation. Just the latest part of this long running rivalry.

This is why I like JPM and Ryan Newman. Both drivers are passionate about their racing and are not affraid to show it... in their own ways!