Comments on: The Self-Defeating Bluffs Of NASCAR And Its Drivers

By: Michael Daly

Michael Daly — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:26:14 +0000

To Dave Odom -

1 – You read more into my statement about tracks smaller and flatter than Talladega than is there.

2 – I was at that 2003 NHIS race and the leaders slowed down but not Michael Waltrip. What NASCAR did was react against the rule instead of go after the actual guilty party (Waltrip). This is a fundamental failing they have – blanket rule changes instead of targeting the actual problem.

3 – This is better suited to the article in question, but I will say that you apparantly forget pre-March 1989 when there was no safety issue on pit road – not until NASCAR began closing pit road and thus beginning the series of events leading to the present absurdity of pit road rules that do not belong in the sport. Going back to the pre-1989 situation is the real answer to pit safety issues.

4 – We can take that chance on judgement calls; the bottom line remains that the “no bump” zone rule was a bluff and everyone knew it, and the proper reaction to crash incidents is to punish the specific drviers responsible. And I’ve never seen in-car footage of an accident that changed who caused it – deliberation with regard to crashes not only exists but is more prevalant than people think it is.

By: Dave Odom

Dave Odom — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 03:01:40 +0000

The data on track deaths refutes the implied claim in your paragraph five that most deaths occur at shorter flat tracks rather than longer ones. Eighty-four percent of deaths have occurred at tracks longer than five-eighths mile and Daytona and Talladega are as notorious as any other track.. That’s a fact.

I read the subject of your paragraph ten as being not about Mikey Waltrip, but about the rule that bans racing to the yellow and how you think it is unnecessary. It is a fact that at that time the entire field, not just Waltrip, was racing to the yellow and Jarrett was in great danger. Yes there will always be accidents, and if the pit speed limit was zero some guy would still fall off the pit wall, but the fact is that a slower pit speed should reduce the severity of injuries and that’s why it is a good rule.

I don’t think we want to get into making judgment calls as to who caused every wreck in order to penalize someone. That would lead right into a rat’s nest of more rules to define “cause” or “intent”, and you’d need an instant replay rule as well. What something looks like from outside the cars can be totally different than what the drivers see. You can’t tell me that you’ve never had an opinion about a wreck and found it changed after you’d seen the in-car video.

There’s a big difference between a driver losing control of a car by pushing a little too hard and deliberately driving into another car. NASCAR should punish obviously deliberate acts (like dump to win moves on the last lap) in a consistent manner and they are not doing it.

I do agree with you that NASCAR’s yellow-line and no-push-drafting-through-the-corner rules are stupid, but so is what passes for “racing” at Daytona and Talladega . I think they should just let them run anything they want but put ‘em on 7” tires.

By: Michael Daly

Michael Daly — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:38:59 +0000

Dave Odom,

1 – “38 out of 45 deaths at tracks longer than 5/8 of a mile.” In what specific statement is this a reaction to?

2 – Brad Keselowski fought for the lead all day and pushed Carl Edwards into the lead in the final laps. He didn’t get the lead because he fell into it; he got there in great part because he fought past the field. The wreck with Edwards and outfighting the field are two seperate points, and you apparantly missed the point I made that NASCAR, if they are truly concerned with crashes, should start suspending drivers – and I named Keselowski as an example – who cause them.

3 – You again missed the point entirely when you comment on Dale Jarrett’s crash at Loudon in 2003 – the point being that the problem was never the rule about racing to the yellow – the problem was Michael Waltrip.

4 – “Eliminating the pit road speed limit and your other asinine thoughts aren’t even worthy of comment.” Why, because you cannot bring facts to rebut them?

By: Dave Odom

Dave Odom — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:14:49 +0000

That has to be the most brain-dead and flat wrong article I’ve ever read.
Google “nascar deaths” and pick the first hit from Wikipedia. In the chart for Stock Car deaths I see at least 38 out of 45 deaths at tracks longer than 5/8 mile. The 7 short track deaths were all in the Modified series and one was on dirt.
Also, Brad Keselowski didn’t outfight the field, he cheap-shot dumped the leader since he ran out of racing ability. Same as Jimmy Johnson did with Denny Hamlin at Charlotte earlier. It pretty much takes zero skill to go into a corner faster than the guy in front of you and then punt him out of the way rather than exhibiting driving skill to make a clean pass.
The reason NASCAR banned racing back to the yellow was not just because Dale Jarrett had crashed it was because when his wrecked car stopped before the finish line he was facing directly into turn 4.
Eliminating the pit road speed limit and your other asinine thoughts aren’t even worthy of comment.