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edf40wrjww2NASNET_review:reviewarticle fiogf49gjkf0d fiogf49gjkf0d Recently, a topic came up in the forum about the numerous complaints we fans make about NASCAR. More specifically that we jump at the chance to complain but rarely ever offer a viable solution to the problems we oh so love to point out. So here I plan to offer up my solutions to the major problems in my next few posts here. I tried to do this in one page, but it’s just too much so I will thin it out and post separate articles on each major issue/solution.
Where to begin? Why not the object that is most often the object of fans ire, the COT. The COT is the most common scapegoat in the garage and in the stands. We blame for the bad racing, Jimmie and Kyle’s dominance, and if you gave one us enough time and a few bud light’s we could somehow find a way to blame the recession on the COT. So what exactly is the COT responsible for? Well that may come down solely to opinion. If you ask me the new car is not responsible for bad racing or 99% of what we blame it for. What the new car has done is introduce radical change that has resulted in a large learning curve. The Car takes away many of the mechanical advantages present in the old car and puts more emphasis on the driver’s ability and horsepower to win a race. And because the car is so different it naturally requires time and resources for teams to learn how to adjust the car and give the drivers what they want. Simply put, the teams have only had about two season’s worth of racing with this car and that is not enough time. Teams like Roush and HMS naturally have learned quicker because they have more recourses like 7-post shakers and more money to test. That is why teams like HMS and Drivers like Kyle Busch dominate. Because the staggered learning curve gives advantages to the wealthy and the well endowed. Within the next season’s the Car’s ability to provide good racing will drastically increase as the amount of knowledge in the garage levels out and the cars being built become more refined.
So according to what I have said there is no problem, so what’s the solution to a problem that doesn’t exist? Well NASCAR can reduce the Learning curve by providing teams with wider taller tires. The car’s mass and size has increased but the tires have not changed. We saw the result of this inconsistency at many tracks last season most notably Indy. Goodyear is currently researching new tires but they expect them to be on track until the 2012 season. Sorry Goodyear, but with the amount of money NASCAR is paying you that is ridiculous. We fans and the drivers deserve better, if Goodyear put their money where their mouth is we could have wider tires by next season and we should. Also by now most you have seen the new Nationwide COT, and if you’re me you fell in love with it. They look like what a stock car should look like. Each Make is clearly distinguishable from one another even without decals and that is how it needs to be. In a sport where inter-manufacturer competition is so great it is ridiculous to be driving cars that are so similar to one another. NASCAR needs to phase in new bodies similar to the nationwide bodies over the next few seasons. These bodies will give manufactures identities and give the field a more exciting look. Because the cup uses a standard chassis this would not be a big change and the cost to teams will be minimal since they already regularly produce new bodies for cars.
Now wider Tires and Different Bodies will be awesome, and that will definitely increase the appeal of the car. But the real solution here is on us. We as Fans need to accept the car for two reasons. One, its here to stay, no matter how much we complain it NASCAR won’t budge and for good reason. Changing to a new car would bankrupt an already financially unstable garage and just re-introduce a new learning curve. Two, the car really is better. Over time this will become apparent but right now we just have to bear with it. The car puts the river back in control and races will be determined more by who is a better driver than who has a better car and that is what racing is about. The car is not the main reason racing sucks; it’s just the most obvious, so give a break and stop calling it the COT. If you noticed throughout this article I went from using the word COT to just saying car and that is something we should all do because this isn’t the Car of Tomorrow it’s just the car. That’s final it’s not going to change, instead let’s focus our energy on the true perpetrators here like the tracks, which will be covered in the following issues. Hope you enjoyed, feel free to comment in the forum.-Greg "TheShackle"
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