Daytona, knock down them banks

Written by

[media-credit id=22 align=”alignright” width=”262″][/media-credit]This weekend we headed back to Florida for the second race held at Daytona International Speedway. The July race is known for hot temperatures, patriotism, celebrating our freedom and fireworks. The problem is that most of the fireworks come from all of the carnage on the track and in the garage.

Friday night’s Nationwide Series event featured 3-4 wide racing, two car tandems and race record of 42 lead changes among 16 different leaders. But the big one always raises its nasty head and causes heartache for the drivers, teams and even the fans.

On lap 65, the big one came out and collected Mike Wallace, Kevin Harvick, Joe Nemechek, Casey Roderick, Elliott Sadler, Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Clint Bowyer, Danny Efland, Johanna Long, Kurt Busch, John Wes Townley, James Buescher, Cole Whitt and some others. It really does not matter who caused it because it’s this type of racing that brings this predictable unfortunate outcome.

Saturday night’s Sprint Cup Series race featured mostly two lane racing with the inside lane prevailing throughout the race. With the elimination the two-car tandems with yet again more rule changes with body modifications, the pack racing was back. But all of the so called fixes just put the drivers more into a small box.

On lap 153, Denny Hamlin got loose with possible contact with Greg Biffle and spun around, collecting Kyle Busch and then it was on, the first big one. On the final lap it all broke about again, no need to describe what happened; it’s a repeat over and over.

I would describe superspeedway racing like a virus. You go to the doctor (NASCAR) and they give you a prescription (restrictor plate) to eliminate the virus. You feel a little better but the symptoms still exist. So then you are prescribed something else (two car tandems, overheating, the big one, the yellow line, etc…) to combat the problems from the first prescription. Then you are prescribed something else to alleviate the problems caused from prescriptions one and two…… get the point? All in all, it’s a hard pill to swallow.

Obviously by now NASCAR does not have a good solution or even really wants to find a solution for restrictor plate racing. Maybe they feel it is good and exciting for the sport to get all crashed up. After all, crashed up cars are not costing them a dime.

I think the solution could be for the tracks themselves to step-up and find a solution to bring “real” racing back.

The easiest solution, probably not the cheapest, could be to reduce the banking. Daytona currently has 31° turns, 3° straights, and an 18° tri-oval and Talladega has 33° turns. Perhaps reducing the tracks to something similar to Charlotte, which is 24° turns, 5° straights, could reduce the speeds enough to allow the removal of the restrictor plates and then all of the rest of the mess should go away. The straightaway speeds maybe high, but if the cars have to brake more while entering the turns, then the overall speed should be reduced enough to meet NASCAR’s requirements.

Difficulty finding the right track configuration would be harder at the 2.5 mile track, but I am sure this could be done.

Bristol is attempting to bring back great racing, why not these two?

Comments

7 responses to “Daytona, knock down them banks”

July 11, 2012

jj

I’m with Tony. Let’s do a figure 8 at Daytona. Then they could have more nearly head-on crashes, instead of just the normal, I can’t handle the car, situation.

Reply
July 9, 2012

Areyoukiddingme

Please never write a column on NASCAR ever again. You need to stick with cheerleading, the WNBA, and college softball because you sound pretty ignorant saying Daytona should lower its banks! It’s Daytona! You don’t up and raise the banks at Indy because one race sucked. All NASCAR races there are boring but it’s so historic! Daytona is no different than Indy and should not be insulted as such. You don’t mess with 2 of the most historic speedways in America motorsports history!!!

Reply
July 9, 2012

James Hillegus

Bristol failed to make a better track! So they are reverting back to when they had a full stadium of fans and the phrase “rubbin’s racin” still meant something.
Change Daytona or Talladega and Nascar is dead in the water. Might as well call it Indycar.

Reply
July 9, 2012

Tom F

It might be cheaper to flatten just 1 corner to get rid of the Daytona crapshoot 400. I,m with you Amanda. Replay a tape of the 400 with the accidents excised and look what you’ve got. Yes, we need more Bristols and fewer cookie cutters but restrictor plates we don’t need at all.

Reply
July 9, 2012

jj

Over $2M worth of junk from 2 races. Isn’t this fun?

Reply
July 9, 2012

mikeyfan1599

Amanda – It’s people like you that we can do without reporting on NASCAR you have no idea what Tradition is about and don’t really care. The high speed, high banked ovals is what made this sport and it’s also what employess no nothings like you. There is nothing wrong with the racing as it is. Knock the bankings down like you suggest and you’d be bitching about boring races like the 1 1/2 mile cookie cutters we have now. Learn a little about the history of a sport before you come up with some stupid idea about how to correct something you don’t like because your driver got caught up in a wreck.

Reply
July 9, 2012

Tyler West

That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard! Bristol has been ruined! Daytona is perfect, they just need to let the teams do more with the cars. Everything is all equal and now folks are surprised when cars all stay together. Daytona is the reason there is a damn sport to begin with. You screw with that and it’s all over. Who wants to watch the other crap? It’s all the advancements in tires and track surfaces that are keeping teams together. Let the teams do their thing. Daytona is perfect!!

Reply