How to fix Talledega?

Return to the roots of the sport... Stock cars. Strip out the non essentials, put in safety gear, and 'run what ya brung'...

COT templates,restrictor plates, non spec drivetrains?
Come on, really? My Peterbilt 379 has more parts in common with a true stock car than what they are trying to pass off as such.

 

NASCAR jumped the shark about fifteen years ago.

Let's face it: any sport that has to be explained to fans by a cartoon gopher is not long for this world.

"Oohhh look! He turned left!"

 

Bet that sucker could crush a few of them too, in a crash, as well! :laugh: :laugh:

Ed

 

I'm not so sure about that.

Here's an article on Nascar.com about the wreck.

Of course they are. That's their job. If Carl Edwards, or Jimmie Johnson, or Jeff Gordon, or anybody else, doesn't push it to the limit, he's not going to win and, in fact, he'll lose his job. Pushing the car to the limit is what's required to keep their jobs.

There you go. This was all the drivers' fault. Maybe Nascar will change their tune over the next few days, but I wouldn't hold my breath expecting it. Carl said it. It's going to take somebody getting killed before changes are made.

 

Dale Earnhardt Sr. once suggested they remove all the grandstands on the outside of the track and put them in the infield. That way no fans would ever get hurt when one of the low flying racecars headed for the fence like Mr. Edwards.

Wind Tunnel on SpeedTV

 

While I don't follow Nascar, I saw that footage. That would have been some scary stuff if I were sitting nearby. One idea would to put thick, durable plexiglass behind or in front of the chain link fences in front of the stands. that way, debris wouldn't fly into the crowds.

I would love to see a destruction debry race in the Nascar leagues though. The first car to cross the finishline or the last one that is still drivable is the winner. Make the cars more durable. Allow the drivers to crash into the other cars. You'd have more people watching the races then.

 

Ever been to Indy? You can only see small portions of the track because they have stands in the infield.

You wouldn't be able to see anything. It would be almost as boring as watching it on TV.

 

You think that one's bad, go on Youtube.com sometime and check out Bobby Allison's wreck back in '85 or '86.

The crashes are the only interesting thing about it.

 

No. I wouldn't go that far.

When I play the Nascar video games though, its fun to ram the other drivers, or even better yet, race in the opposite direction. I'll only do that during practice, but not during the actual race.

 

Earnhardt's other suggestion was to build the walls 100 feet high and take the restrictor plates off. I like that one better.

If you are looking on Youtube, it was May 1987.

The only thing that's really going to fix Talladega is to change the track, but that's not going to happen. See the article here.

 

lol


You are trying to make NASCAR sound like it has its roots in some gentleman's past time.... It always has and always will be a violent sport, both in and outside the cars. How many times have you seen a driver whack another driver in the nose? You think maybe that started back in the day when it was a bunch of bootleggers racing for bragging rights? If you want to see some serious car demolishing go back to the early footage...these young punks today surely didn't invent the bump draft,the Earnhardt Shuffle, or any of the other colorful metaphors for cleaning a dudes clock. No sir, it isn't about clean racing and a firm handshake to the victor.... and it never has been.

The problem isn't the racers its the organization wanting them and the sport they love be something its not. Don't want 250mph cars? Don't race on a nearly 3 mile track... its not rocket science.

 

Please tell me you're not suggesting that Keselowski knocked Edwards out of the way.

So, the dominant competitors of that time did knock each other out of the way.

You can't compare the eras and say that the drivers were beholden to a sort of honor system that doesn't exist anymore. Usually, the leader was so far ahead of 2nd place that the 2nd place guy wasn't in position to knock the leader out of the way.

 

I love Talledega just like it is. I also loved the 15-round heavyweight championship boxing matches back in the day. But that was too much punching to be safe. (Is any punching safe?)

Talledega really needs to be changed. Maybe the whole sport needs it. Smaller engines. Tires that aren't quite so good. Tracks that aren't so extreme in banking and/or size. Maybe even a few road-course type chicanes (although I cannot imagine that).

I'm a Carl fan through and through, but he screwed up at Talledega ... again!

 

In the context of when you said it, I'm not sure what other conclusion I should have been drawing, but no issue.

I continue to go back to the idea that the cars weren't nearly as equal in those days as they are, so the bump and run wasn't even an issue.

I did not say that they never had close finishes. Here's what I did say.

I chose a year at random, 1972 in this case, and I went to racing-reference.info and looked up every race for the margin of victory. In over half of the races, the leader was far enough ahead that bump and run wasn't even possible. What I said was accurate.

 

Yes. This is why I didn't use the word never and why I used the word usually.

I'm simply not buying what you're selling, that the sole reason there was no bump and run in Nascar in the 70s was due to the drivers having more class.