Have NASCAR drivers had
enough of “Boys, have at it”?
In the hours after
Sunday’s Sprint Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway, there was a lot of
discussion among NASCAR fans and media members about the fact that 900 miles of
racing had been completed in back-to-back weekends without a single wreck.
There were lots of
reasons offered, such as the high winds at Texas and Kansas; hard tires;
aerodynamic issues; and so on. Many have been stated before. One – proffered by
driver Brad Keselowski – was new.
On Twitter, Keselowski
noted that drivers may be less inclined to put themselves in position to
accidently run into someone because those drivers now have a “free pass” at
intentional retaliation.
At first it sounds iffy.
If a driver accidently gets into another one, why would that driver then want
to intentionally wreck him back?
For one, whether an
action on the track is intentional or not is in the eye of the beholder. Just
because the driver who commits the act didn’t intend it to happen doesn’t mean
the driver who was hit has to believe that.
And Keselowski is right.
The “boys, have at it” mantra gives drivers an open invitation to settle things
among themselves.
Has the ability and
willingness of drivers to take retaliatory action now dissuaded others to not
put themselves in position for it to happen in the first place?
Think about this. If
only one on-track incident has been avoided in the first eight races of the
season because of that reason, the entire premise of “loosening the reigns” of
NASCAR’s regulatory powers has been lost.
Instead of “opening
things up,” an even larger clamp will have been placed on the participants.
That’s certainly not
what anyone intended.
There were some close calls in Kansas, one I remember was the 43 sliding up out of control in from of the 20 in some serious traffic, coulda been bad. Had me yelling oh sh*t but I dont' even recall the announcers mentioning it. And there were some spin outs, just got lucky no other driver was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
ReplyDeleteI kinda thought the Boys Have At It might have this effect when it was first introduced a few years ago. I expected a lot of wrecks & payback at first, which happened; then drivers would "learn" if they don't want to be wrecked in retaliation, they would start avoiding causing the initial wreck, which is apparently happening now.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure how to fix it though. I don't think taking away the Boys Have At It will suddenly make drivers careless and start running over people again, maybe it would take another 2-3 years for drivers to adjust again and wrecks to come back. But, I don't think there's any quick fix.
I don't think lack of wrecks is NASCAR's biggest problem. It seems to me we are right back where we were before this new car came out - we hear "clean/dirty air," "aero-push" and the like far more than we hear "and here's a battle for the lead!" Yes, there is some passing for position going on, but not an over-abundance. The last few races have been great insomnia cures.
ReplyDeleteLack of wrecks isn't a bad thing. It's lack of lead changes. The whole aeropush issue never went away and it's still there. The sport still hasn't figured out how to change dirty air back to the drafting effect it is supposed to be as opposed to the wall effect it now is.
DeleteI've watched NASCAR for 30 years. This year, I start to watch a race, then walk away from the TV and never come back. I wait until Monday and look at the results on nascar.com. Don't know why, but after 30 years, I've lost all interest in NASCAR.
ReplyDeleteThink about it...The owners are multi-millionaires that belong to the club. The drivers are multi-millionaires with endorsements and merchandise sales. Drivers stay in a car for years past their prime because it's a money machine. Neither group is motivated from the old fashioned meaning of the word. Now it's mostly egos. The entire NASCAR experience has changed from racing to entertainment. Competition yellows, late race debris yellows, green, white, checkers. All designed for the show. So here we are talking about how to bring back the wrecks so the "fans" stay interested. Really?? WOW!
ReplyDeleteNascar Designed this "SHOW", complete with the Waltrip factor, add to that, the "GREAT KENTUCKY, I DON"T WANT TO" and I hope both NASCAR and SMI are happy. Changing the surface at BRISTOL only proves how disconnected the sport has become. ITS the ticket prices and the Hotel raping that has killed NASCAR. They have priced themselves out of business. The TV issue is a joke, literally. The fans are fed up and at last the lack of butts in the seats and poor T shirt sales prove it. Sprint has done a terrible job of promoting the sport, nothing like RJR, and its taking a while to really develop, but its killed the sport.
ReplyDeleteTicket prices and hotel prices are set by the market, not NASCAR.
DeleteThe model to succeed in NASCAR is to make the chase. Car sponsers don't pay for little or no TV time. Drivers have proven they don't need to win only be consistant to get in the chase, i.e Edwards 2011, Stewart 2011 and the list can go on. Why would a driver push to win when they dont need to and furthermore, why risk a bad finish by pushing to win.
ReplyDeleteNascar is to be credited with tremendous progress in safety but has done nothing else right.
ReplyDeleteThey have "over-controlled: everything. No one can innovate (cheat) or use their own ingenuity to beat the other guy.
Bottom line: the fun is gone. I'm like an earlier poster in that I can't make myself watch a race anymore.
Why should anyone be allowed to "innovate" (cheat)?
DeleteI think drivers simply don't care enough about winning to bother fighting for anything, either on or off the track. The sport had the ugliness of "Boys Have At It" and it was a black mark on the sport.
Boys Have At It did exactly what it was intended to do. It taught everyone to respect each other in order to be respected. Now we're complaining about it? Wow! Because these guys are actually exhibiting good sportsmanship we've got a problem? Time to re-evaluate our priorities here.
ReplyDelete