Tuesday, March 24, 2009

NASCAR’s Most Exciting Track

Bristol MotorSpeedway is one of the shortest racetracks on the NASCAR circuit and definitelybrings about exciting racing. The track is half a mile in length. Ready for amath moment? If the track is half of a mile that means the track is 2,640 feetin length. Now, each car is 17 feet long. With 43 cars, at 17 feet apiece, alltogether they would equal 731 feet in length. Still following? The point I ammaking is this: the racecars themselves take up almost a quarter of the racetrack!Add that to top speeds of 125 miles per hour and you will absolutely getincredibly exciting racing!

If you cannotalready tell, Bristol is my favorite racetrack. The track facilities are verysimilar in both size and shape to a bowl football stadium. This allows for thechance to be up close and personal with the racecars.  Every lap is filled with sliding cars, flaring driver temperand simply good racing. I believe everyone would be a NASCAR fan if they couldexperience a race at Bristol.

From Bad Boy to Good Guy?

This weekend inAtlanta, Kurt Busch captured his first win of since June 29^th, 2008in Loudon. From the moment he entered the Cup Series in 2003, this Busch waslabeled the "bad boy." He was cocky and not afraid to say what was on his mind.He continuously talked poorly about the more experienced, veteran drivers. Hesimply showed no one respect. Now, six years later, he appears to havecompletely changed. Is this possible?

            Forthe last three seasons, Kurt Busch has uncharacteristically flown below theradar. He has not been nearly as successful as he was in the past and has kepthis arrogance in check. This is quite a drastic change. During interviews, hesays just the right thing, complementing other drivers and even NASCAR's leadershipskills. At first I was skeptical. Is this just really good PR work? Or has he changed? Up until these last fewweeks, I was sticking to the former. I thought that the perfection of hisinterviews was deceiving. I often wondered if he knew how obvious he was. But,I am beginning to think this really is the new and improved Kurt Busch. I amvery close to believing his change is sincere. I never would have allowed thosewords to come out of my mouth a year ago, but I do not think someone canflawlessly pretend to be good for over three years.

            However,I still cannot completely believe he is changed. It seems that all the currentfacts point against me, but I cannot let go of what happened in the past. Isthis wrong?  I am beginning tothink it might be. If I had gone through a change like it appears Kurt Buschhas, I would long for acceptance. I would get tired of the boos I no longerdeserve. I would begin to question if anyone would give me a second chance. So,should I and the rest of the NASCAR world believe in him and give him a secondchance? Or is there still good reason to be skeptical?

More Than Just Fan Friendly?

  This week I wasblessed with the opportunity to travel along with the NASCAR "city" to Las VegaMotor Speedway. I toured the track a few years ago, but I have never been tothis track for a race weekend. I arrived Friday afternoon and was overwhelmedby the number of people present. Never, in my NASCAR weekend experience, have Iseen so many people in attendance on a Friday. 

To give you abetter idea of this abnormality, I thought I would briefly explain the eventsof any given NASCAR weekend. Typically the NASCAR teams arrive early Fridaymorning to unload and set up and then, spend the early afternoon and evening inmultiple practice and qualifying sessions. Fridays are open to the generalpublic for a low ticket price. I have been to six or seven Friday events and Ihave watched even more on TV. The typical crowd present for this day usuallyfills 20% of the grandstands. Saturday morning is spent in more practice andqualifying sessions leading up to the Nationwide, the lower division, race. Thecrowd on hand at the start of the race typically fills 75% of the grandstands.And then comes Sunday, the big race! Sundays almost always have a sold outcrowd.

With this in mind,you can see why I was surprised to see the crazy number of people present thislast Friday. The same proved to be true on Saturday. What is different aboutLas Vegas Motor Speedway? Is it the facilities? The fans? As I thought aboutthis throughout the weekend, I came to some conclusions. Las Vegas MotorSpeedway is overall very fan friendly. I have been to 8 NASCAR race tracksthroughout the country and Las Vegas was definitely the cleanest and most up todate. On top of this, Las Vegas Motor Speedway has a unique infield set up,very much like a theme park. They call it the Neon Garage. The driver's garagesare set up in a circle and each garage can be viewed through windows up top ordown below. Fans are charged to enter the garage area, but are able to watchthe drivers and teams at work in their element. To have this experience at all othertracks, fans must have a hot pass, essentially a press pass and they areincredibly difficult to get unless you are a journalist or know someone whoknows someone. I wonder if the Neon Garage will catch on at the other racetracks. 

What Makes a Driver Popular?

  This weekend theNASCAR "city" traveled across the country to race in our backyard. I had theopportunity to visit the track in Fontana, California and watch the carspractice and qualify for Sunday's race. I have been to five Sprint Cup races atthe Auto Club Speedway and as much of a NASCAR fan as I am, I find the racingat this track not that exciting. Now, I would not pass up any opportunity tofeel the intensity and hear the rumble of a race car live, but I do wish the racingwas more exciting at my home track. 

With that in mind,I decided to take a different angle this week. Instead of covering the highlightsof a not so exciting race, I have selected a different aspect of this weekend'sNASCAR happenings to discuss. During the previous week, Dale Earnhardt Jr. satdown with Darrel Waltrip for an interview. While discussing the aggressive driving Dale Jr. displayed lastweekend, the subject of Dale Jr.'s popularity came up. Dale Jr. made adistinction between the drivers who know and respect him and those who don't.Speaking of the drivers who do not respect him, Dale Jr. said, "they don'tunderstand what the popularity is all about because the popularity and theresults don't match up. They have a problem, I guess, with a guy having thatmuch popularity and not being able to have the same kind of results. So, youknow that's just the way it is." Dale Jr. has been NASCAR's most popular driver consistently for the past six years, but sadly his success has not been asconsistent. What then makes Dale Jr. so popular?

Some say Dale Jr.owes his popularity to his father, the infamous Dale Earnhardt. Although thefame of Dale Jr.'s father adds to his popularity, I do not believe this is all.Dale Jr. did not receive the award until two years after his father's tragicdeath. Some would also say that success is a key part of driver popularity, butas Dale Jr. touched on in the interview, he has been lacking in the successarea for a while now. I believe these aspects are definitely a part of DaleJr.'s popularity, but I think there is something more. Dale Jr. has respect.Most every driver and journalist in the NASCAR garage respects Dale Jr. andrightfully so. He is polite and considerate, but at the same time he allows forhis true personality to shine through. When you are interacting with Dale Jr.,you know you are getting the real him and that is worthy of respect. I believesuccess definitely has something to do with driver popularity, but if successis not matched with respect can it really be considered success?

Controversy Opens the Sprint Cup Season!

  The moment arrivedafter drivers and fans alike waited three months with no racing, but now the2009 Daytona 500 has come to a close. Who was added to the prestigious list ofDaytona 500 winners? Matt Kenseth, driver of the number 17 Ford, is the luckydriver. And yes, I say lucky. The race was filled with controversy, crashes andworrying weather conditions. Matt Kenseth was the fortunate driver to steeraway from the crashes and keep in time with the weather.

            A500 mile race, particularly at Daytona, can feel like a life time. This particularrace had enough action to fill a life time and the race was not even completed!Because of a bad Florida storm, the NASCAR officials decided to call the race toofficial end after 152 of the 200 scheduled laps. In NASCAR, if a race isred-flagged (paused), it is considered an official race if the drivers reachthe half way point. At the point NASCAR red-flagged the 500, Matt Kenseth wasin the lead and is therefore 2009's Daytona 500 winner. Depending upon whetheror not you are a Matt Kenseth fan you will either agree or disagree withNASCAR's call. This was just one of the multiple controversial calls NASCARmade during the Daytona 500.

            DaleEarnhardt Jr. seemed to be at the center of the most controversial decision ofthe weekend. Thirty laps prior to the end of the shortened race, Dale EarnhardtJr. and Brian Vickers, driver of the 83 Toyota, were racing hard because theywere both aware of the coming rain. They knew there was a high possibility thatthe race would be shortened. Vickers jetted down the race track to block acharging Dale Jr. and as Dale Jr. came back up the track, he clipped the rearof Vickers' car. This sent Vickers up the race track taking many cars with him.The hard racing of these two drivers took many cars out of contention for thewin, but was it wrong? Both of these drivers were a lap down and needed to makethat lap up quickly because of the coming rain. Many drivers would say and didsay the hard racing of these two possibly caused them a win and therefore DaleJr.'s and Brian Vickers' actions were wrong. I disagree. Put any two driverswith a longing to win in the position of Dale Jr. and Brian Vickers and Iguarantee you they would race just as hard. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is a talentedand aware driver that would not intentionally take out an entire field of cars.Race car drivers have to constantly make spilt second decisions and it isimpossible for them to always make the right call or judgment in such a shortamount of time. I believe the ability to make these decisions is a key trait ofsuccessful drivers. So, all this to say, the outcome of Dale Jr.'s and Vickers'hard racing was definitely undesirable, but if they and all other driverslighten up on the throttle a NASCAR race would be nothing but 43 cars playingfollow the leader.