On one of the restarts, during today's Craftsman Truck race in Ohio, Bobby Hamilton didn't get a very good start, allowing Ron Hornaday to jump out to a sizeable lead. But NASCAR black flagged Hornaday, saying that "he jumped the start," thus knocking Hornaday out of contention. Dad and I got so PO'd about this, we decided to watch something else, rather than the rest of the race.

Not that we're huge Ron Hornaday fans, but it seems that NASCAR has been in the habit, this year, of penalizing drivers for things they didn't really do...be it the Craftsman Truck series, the Busch series or Nextel Cup series. Is it time for television viewers to stop watching NASCAR racing of any kind, and possibly for folks that would normally attend the races to stay home? How can there be fair racing, if NASCAR is effecting the outcomes, by imposing penalties for the sake of imposing penalties "because they can???"

Matt

 

There is a lot of stuff you don't see... NASCAR doesn't impose rules to hurt drivers... only to make them more equal...

 

I didn't see the event in question but nowadays I think they have a landmark--be it a cone or something before the start/finish line that designates that the lead car can start to accelerate.
At least in ncc they do.

Clint

 

After the race, they showed a different camera view and he clearly jumped the start by 4-6 truck lengths. He got what he deserved.

I do think there should be a line painted across the track to make it more clear, though.

 

In the past NASCAR has favored certain drivers. Look at all the times that Dale Earnhardt knocked people out of the way to win and never got penalized.
Tell me this, why does it seem like the rules changes always favor the Chevys? It seems strange to me that Ford isnt running the 500 yet in NASCAR. I think the reason is because its too round and NASCAR hasnt found a way to handicap the Fords yet.
A lot of the late race cautions are BS. It seems like they always try for a 5 lap shootout. It was good to see that they didnt mess with the race this past week in the cup race. Kasey Kahne had been so close to winning so many times and he seems like a pretty down to earth guy, it was good to seem him FINALLY win.
I used to be pretty big into NASCAR, but Ive lost interest lately. Too many California open-wheel guys and not enough good ole boys driving nowdays for my liking.
Octane

 

Thanks for clarifying that! Don't know if Hornaday himself jumped the start, or if he was listening to his spotter, who would have a different look at the start point than he would. You're right, though, that they should have it more clearly marked, especially if it's a case of the driver jumping the start because the spotter thought he was at the designated restart spot.

Matt

 

someday gordon will get whats comin to his smarta**

 

I haven't followed NASCAR for about 10 years. It has become so sterilized and devoid of personality that the original appeal is long gone. The cars are equal and identical as are the drivers. There's no reason to favor one team over another anymore because there is no difference between the teams.


What made NASCAR fun was the personalities. The Elliots kicking everyone's butt with essentially no sponsorship. The Alabama gang. The "creative" rules interpretations. Alan Kulwicki winning the championship by learning the points system.

There are no surprises anymore. The tension and competition has to be manufactured and contrived for the TV audience now. Yawn.

 

At the recent Texas race I noticed all of the cars are running the same bodies now. The only difference is the grill openings and shape of the windows, other than that the bodies are identical. Rules changes now wont affect one brand more than the other. I think it is a joke, and I am becoming more disgusted with NASCAR all of the time. Isn't it funny how every time there is a tragedy with some team or the anniversary of that tragedy somehow that team overcomes adversity and triumphs. Even last weekend Kahne called his victory over Tony Stewart before the race. Coincidence? I don't know, but it seems a little fishy to me.

 

I have not watched in years. The last two posts pretty much tell it all.

What happened to the "S"TOCK in NA"S"CAR? The sport is marketed like basketball and is making tons of money, but not from me. I try to avoid buying products with the NASCAR logo for that reason.

As for the comment about "California open-wheel guys", open-wheel racing is exactly what I watch these days. Trans-am is the only series with fenders that is actually fun to watch anymore.

Jim

 

The biggest problem I see with NASCAR, in recent years, is that they seem to be catering to the crowds that only go to the races/watch the racing on TV to see the wrecks. If I wanted to see a bunch of cars wrecking into each other, as often as they're starting to in NASCAR, I'd go watch a demolition derby! Anymore, it seems like "I went to see a demolition derby, and a stock car race broke out" (paraphrasing a Richard Petty comment, about a fight that'd broken out between two crews, after a Grand National race).

I guess my reaction, that prompted my initial post, was a jaded one. How many other times, in the past several years, has NASCAR stood behind a wrong doing against a driver, simply because they're NASCAR? At least I'm impartial about this, since Hornaday drives a Chevy and Hamilton a Dodge, and I haven't really seen NASCAR favor one particular make...more like favoring certain drivers, it seems at times. I've been a racing fan since back when the Daytona 500 was first televised, and have watched many of the ups and downs of NASCAR trying to grow, and they've actually done a damned good job of it. In that, maybe they've gotten a bit too big?

I'm all for bumper to bumper, and door handle to door handle three wide racing and two or three cars racing for the same piece of pavement for which only one will fit. But, when "the big one" happens, I'm one that'll cringe and hope that nobody gets hurt from it, not be happy that I got to see a "really awesome pile-up." As I said, if I want to see cars crashing into each other, I'll go to a demolition derby. Any more, it seems that if I want to watch good stock car racing, I need to start going to the local short tracks more often, rather than watching NASCAR on the tube.

Matt

 

As long as I have been watching NASCAR there have been wrecks. (since the early 80's as a young teenager) I think this year there have been fewer wrecks than ever. I don't necessarily want big pile ups and mayhem, but when there are too few cautions and only 10 cars on the lead lap what fun is that? Watching cars drive by on the interstate is about as much fun. I don't want too see anyone get hurt, but the danger is part of the appeal to the spectators and the participants. When the cars are slowed down by making them handle worse it has the effect of watering down the sport. When the stars are censored and fined if thier tempers flare it waters down the sport. NASCAR started with the good ole boys, and grew with the good ole boys. Now they are trying to make it suitable for the international community. Sanitized, equal, and civilized equals boreing. Give me ingenious ways to cheat, gray areas in the rules, colorful personalaties, (Waltrip, Earndhart, Spencer, Stewart) a smack into the wall every now and then with a driver too onery and tough too get hurt. These are the things that made NASCAR what it is today. Take it or leave it, but just don't change it.

 

The problem with NASCAR is that they are too worried about being PC. They want the drivers to have personalities, but only the personalities that NASCAR gives them. They want the popular drivers to be more popular and the not so popular drivers to never make it. There are more profits in selling 1000 Gordon shirts than there are in selling 100 each of 10 different drivers. I've said for years that there need to be some changes made in NASCAR. A few that I really harp about are these:

1. Make every team build every car they campaign from a production body in white.

2. Get rid of these stupid restrictor plates. Read below before you rant about the cars being too fast.

3. Make the engines run on cheap gas from the station down the street from the track. Limit displacement and don't allow artificial aspiration. Other than that, let them do whatever they want as long as it runs on pump gas.

4. Get rid of the rear spoilers unless they come from the factory that way. That'll separate the drivers from the wannabees in a hurry.

5. Make them run an engine that is currently offered by the manufacturer. Ford is running an engine that hasn't been in production for over 30 years. The engine GM uses was never in production. Toyota started with a clean sheet of paper to design their NCTS engines and this is reflected in the power output.

5. Include the driver in the minimum weight. Over the course of 500 miles a small driver (Mark Martin) has a huge advantage over larger drivers (Jimmy Spencer). I think they might have already adopted this, but I haven't kept up with it enough the last few years to be sure.

6. Either race back to the yellow, or base the lucky dog on track position instead of running order. Too many people are coming back from 3 or 4 laps down to win without earning it because the rule can be manipulated to generate a desired result.

 

I can't for the life of me understand why some of the cautions are so long. I mean, somebody cuts a tire and scrapes the wall and then drives all the way back to the pits...the car isn't hurt all that bad...does it really take 10-12 laps of yellow to sweep the track off? I think they should'nt count the laps under yellow. People pay big bucks and sit out in the hot sun or rain because they wanna see 500 miles of RACING not putting around behind a pace car.

 

I think Silver Streak has got a lot of good answers, and Purple 55 you got a nice 55p/u and a good idea of white line accross track, when they all come by the starter someone should dump a line of white flour accross he track where they want them to start from, no passing behind it(kinda like Outlaw Racers)