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November 02, 2009
Love & Hate Talladega
By: Dennis Terry
Everyone…. drivers, officials, pit crews, the news media and fans alike, all have very different takes on racing at Talladega.
As for me, I have a love-hate relationship with the Superspeedway.
I love going there… I hate leaving there. It’s one of the few places in life where you can be bored, ecstatic, surprised and mad as hell all in about 30 seconds.
We all have our opinions on speed restrictions, the spectacular multi-car crashes and we continuously evaluate if racing at Talladega is more show business than racing business.
Mark Martin said it best following Sunday’s crash-fest.
Mark said Talladega’s racing and crashing is a result of the Sport’s advancing technology. Race teams have out engineered Talladega’s high banks and high speeds while NASCAR plays a futile game of reverse engineering with rules aimed at increasing safety while promoting show business.
Everyone seems to want two things out of Talladega. An EXCITING race from start to finish and SAFE race for the drivers and the fans. But, no one seems to know how to make one better without the other getting worse.
Make the cars faster and more responsive and the racing is better, but the cars are flying into the stands and driver impacts are more severe. Slow the cars down and the racing is safer, but the cars race so closely that a small mistake by one guy ends the day for ten others.
Love it or hate it, NASCAR has some tough decisions to make and a responsibility to everyone in the sport to figure out how to make Talladega safe AND exciting.
DT
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November 2, 2009 | Permalink
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Comments
I agree DT, I love watching those cars in a bunch racing three wide like that, but I hate seeing those wrecks and torn up cars. I certainly don't envy the people at NASCAR. It's easy to critisize them. But it's awfully hard to come up with an answer to the problem that will make everyone happy.
Posted by: Peter | Nov 2, 2009 12:21:22 PM
Talladega has always been my favorite track. In 07 I finally got to make to 14 hour drive there from Chicago. It was one of the best times I can remember at a race. During yesterdays race I actually, for the first time, turned off the Talladega race and waited for it to get to 50 to go. I started to get into nascar in 98, 99 and by 2000 I was a huge fan. Now in under ten years since 2001 nascar doesn't even resemble the sport I fell in love with. This year in Springfield IL. we saw Parker Kligerman win and got to meet him, and he took a picture with my 6yr old niece and she is now his biggest fan. I know it is only a matter of time till they screw up ARCA but that is what I am going to spend my money on from now on, and actually enjoy the racing, instead of wanting to throw something at my T.V. each and every week because of some new rule, the lack of racing, the ugly cars, ect. Why spend money to go to the races if they get me that mad at home for free?
Posted by: Steve Biesterfeld | Nov 2, 2009 12:32:38 PM
NASCAR has an easy decision. Admit that Dega was one big mistake and get rid of it. But they won't because it was Big Bill's baby. If they built more Richmonds and Bristols then they wouldn't need Dega to please the fans. That's the best solution but it makes too much sense so NASCAR will never do it.
Posted by: Ken | Nov 2, 2009 1:59:21 PM
Make the cars harder to drive. Take away the bigwings and air dams that plant the cars as long as nobody touches them. Make it where the brave don't lift and the wimps do, which will spread the field. They run the same MPH at Atlanta, California, yet its the ones who go a lil' deeper that win.Let em' run 220 down the backstretech at dega, but without their wings, etc, some of the girly ones will be lettingup or grabbing some break when they get to three.
Posted by: clay | Nov 2, 2009 2:52:59 PM
Clay no insurance company is going to let them run an average speed over 200. So just forget the brave vs wimp.
Honestly yesterdays race was pretty good. Yes they ran single file but in the spring they ran single file. Both big wrecks happened when a 3rd car joined the bump drafting that was going on. Everyone can blame Keselowski all they want but he and Busch were working fine until Vickers gave them a shove.
My only problem was all the nuckleheads who didnt pit before the red flag. Which caused them to cancel the restart and force the green white checkered. They all knew they didnt have enough fuel. Johnson, Truex and about 5 others pitted before the red flag. And were in the best position until the restart and i believe it was the 34 didnt go which bottlenecked everyone especially the 2, 09 and 83. But i guess thats racing.
Posted by: Stuckey | Nov 2, 2009 5:07:21 PM
Dega' just don't belong in the chase.
yada, yada.. this is a recording.
DT, appreciate your efforts. At least we got 3 races left.
Congrats to Jamie.
Thankful Ryan's safe.
Posted by: Larry | Nov 2, 2009 7:20:52 PM
You'll never make everybody happy. A million complaints and about five solutions.
3 and 4-wide, it's still the best racing of the year.
I say, just shut up and race.
Posted by: Ironman | Nov 2, 2009 10:52:08 PM
Ironman,
If it was "racing", I'd shut up.
The only long term solution is to lower the banking. They would pay for it being able to host more events.
You know what doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result.. is.
You have been around long enough to know that zero drivers really like it.
Posted by: Larry | Nov 5, 2009 3:17:05 PM
First I have to say that Jim Utter wrote one of the very best articles I've read about the Dega race and the drivers' part in how it came out. It sure seems to me that Dega just proves what Robert Yates said some years ago, the Cup motors need to be downsized. There's more HP in Cup than is needed anywhere, but especially at Dega and Daytona. If the motors and speeds were lower, then they should be able to allow for more throttle response and lower speeds definitely should reduce the chance of cars getting airborne.
Posted by: Richard in N.C. | Nov 5, 2009 6:23:30 PM
Richard - Yup, I agree 100%... both on the Utter article and downsizing the engines at Talladega (maybe Daytona, but I'm still on the fence with that one).
I have an uncle who is as big of an engine mastermind as Yates, and he told me the Talledaga engines should be downsized 10 years ago.
NASCAR looks at everything, so I'm sure they have considered that idea, but I'm not sure what the downside would be.
DT
Posted by: DT | Nov 6, 2009 10:17:28 AM
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