Will Goodyear have a good year?

In the last few years NASCAR has been making some drastic changes all in the name of closer competition. The chase was meant to give us excitement. The car of tomorrow was supposed to bring the wide gap between teams closer and the racing was supposed to be better. Those are the two biggest things we've seen and there have been dozens of smaller things too that are all meant to add to competition. Have they all worked, that's hard to say, but I have to give them credit for trying. On one side I like the chase and enjoy the excitement of a championship battle that comes down to the last week. On the other side Jeff Gordon would be a 6 time champion of we still ran under the old Winston Cup points system.

Here I am rambling on about this and you're probably questioning my title and what it has to do with competition. I'm about to get to that. NASCAR seems to want to have better competition on all fronts......except for their tire maker. Why are we bringing tires to the track that won't even hold together? You may think that they are trying to give them a tire that is a compromise on durability and drivability, which may be their excuse. But if every car has the same tire on it, why don't they just make sure they aren't going to fry off the car after 20 laps? Is it going to take the death of a driver before they finally decide to do the right thing? These are some of the most talented drivers in the world. If you put them in a 3 cylinder Yugo the racing would still be good. Why does it matter that they may qualify 10 mph slower? Am I the only one who thinks that giving them a hard tire that won't blow up is the best answer to the tire situation?

What they need to do is go to the track that is hardest on tires, do some testing and come up with a compound that can withstand a fuel run at the very minimum with no questionable wear. Once they've accomplished that then they use that tire and that tire only at every track. In this hard economical time wouldn't it be price effective to have one tire that needs to be made instead of half a dozen that are used at different tracks. I'm sure the drivers would much rather have a dependable tire than a faster race. I don't see how they couldn't. As long as everyone has the same equipment it's fair.

So the question is why are Goodyear and NASCAR not smart smart enough to see this? Well you're guess is as good as mine. It can't be money, it can't be safety, and I don't see how it's an issue of competition. The only thing it can be is the old homage "well that's how it's always been done".

The bottom line is that we're seeing the new NASCAR running on old tires and no one has a good reason why.

Please mom, can I stay up just a little later?!?

Nascar was created on the east coast. 18 of 22 tracks are in the Eastern and Central time zones. I have no numbers to prove it, but the majority of fans HAVE to live on the east side of the Mississippi River. If these things are all true, and I know they are, then tell me why the sanctioning body that is NASCAR feels that they some how owe California the right to see a race finish during prime time? Yes, I know the race was in California, and there is a three hour time difference, but wouldn't common sense tell you to start the race at noon or one pm instead of waiting until 3:15pm local track time? Is it really necessary to make the majority of fans wait up until 10pm to see the end of a "day race"? I know, 10pm is not that late, but when you're little budding NASCAR fan wants to see how his favorite driver fairs, but mom wants him in bed at 8:30 because there is school in the morning you're border lining on ridiculous.

I understand a late start for the east when they're racing on the west coast, and I don't mind it myself all that much. But when it starts to affect the chances of finishing a race, that is when I have to protest. This years running of the Daytona 500 is the perfect example. The big question that went around was if Mike Helton and the powers that be made the correct decision to call the race so quickly when the rain started. People saw roughly 2/3 of the race, the rain came, the race was called, and when driving home didn't even have their wipers on. Matt Kenseth got to victory lane and it was a dry celebration. Questioning the weather is a crap shoot, you never know for sure, so I can't say they were wrong.....

BUT it wouldn't have been an issue if they would have just started the race at 1:30 instead of after 3:30. We have the technology to put a man on the moon, surf the world wide web at awesome speeds, and the ability to do many other unbelievable things, and yet it seems that not a single person who works for NASCAR knows how to log onto weather.com and look at the forecast or a weather map. Starting the race so late leaves you no grace period at all. Sure it puts the race on later in California, sure it gets the finish into prime time television, but if you can't at the very least have a provision for bad weather where you start the race earlier, then you are cheapening the fans experience. The most important aspect of keeping the sport healthy is keeping fans. Once you lose the fans you've lost the war. If I pay hundreds or thousands even to go to a race I want to SEE THE END. I know it's not always going to happen, but right now I just don't see them making the proper adjustments to give the race the best possible chance of finishing.

Are Mike Helton and NASCAR really that blind and stupid? I'd like to think they aren't, but so far the jury is out. They need to realize that, while getting new fans is important, you can't forget about the ones that got you where you are today.

A little background.

I've never been one for blogging, but I've finally decided to give it a shot. I guess when you blog you're supposed to blog about the things you know about. Some talk about life in general, others about their job or families. While some of that may get mixed in here now and then, this is first and foremost a race fan's perspective on the greatest, yet most maddening race circuit in the world, NASCAR.

I started watching back in the late 90's when Jeff Gordon Ruled the sport and all the Earnhardt fans were still praying for an 8th championship. I was an on and off fan and would catch races whenever they were on. In 99 I went to my first race, The Coco Cola 600 and was hooked from there on. It was Matt Kenseth's first win, I got burnt to a crisp, and stayed in a cheap hotel and had an absolute blast. Over the years I've come to realize that short track races are where it's at. Sure it's fun to watch bump drafting at Daytona or the road course at Watkins Glen, but when it comes to going to the track and witnessing it first hand you just can't beat 43 cars on a 1/2 mile track.

The main reason I want to start this blog is simple, I've had a lot of opinions and thoughts on the sport over the years and this is a great way to get a log and look back over some of the random things from race to race and season to season. If you're reading this and other posts and find me to be completely ridiculous, go ahead and say so. If you want to share any opinion I look forward to it.

You may want to know who I'm a fan of. I've been a Gordon follower since the beginning, but I am not a sheep. I can give credit where credit is due, even when it hurts a little bit to do so. And I can be critical of my favorite drivers when the situation calls for it. I call things like I see them and like my coffee, there's no sugar added.