Home Plate? Dinner Plate? Silver Plate? Nope!

by: PattyKay Lilley

This weekend finds us at Talladega, which means it's time for my annual rant. To be perfectly honest; that track scares me to death! At the beginning of the race, I say a prayer (I do that for every race), then take a deep breath at the green flag and exhale when the checkers fly. The speeds don’t frighten me. Certainly, no one can be a race fan and fear speed. Rather, it's the tight pack of cars, stacked four wide and ten deep for 500 miles, with the fast cars being unable to pull away from the slower ones. One mistake by one driver results in a huge multi-car accident that we've come to know as "The big one." But it didn't used to be that way. That situation is the direct result of a diabolical invention known to race fans as the restrictor plate.

Let's talk about restrictor plates for a while. Raise your hand if you can remember Daytona and Talladega without them. As it's been 25 years now since that happened, I don't think that too many hands are waving. For those who have never seen "real" Superspeedway racing, let me tell you now that you have missed something special.