Watching that race, it was obvious that the older guys like Ken Schrader and Norm Benning still have it, Ken getting the pole and Norm putting on a spectacular run in the last chance event to nail the final starting spot in the feature. Although neither had an exceptional run in the main, compared to Dillon, Larson and Newman, both of those elder statesmen gave all the fans something to cheer for. Judging from what I could see on television, the fans were not disappointed at all. Some 20,000, a capacity crowd from the facility, spent a lot of time on their feet and surely for the final ten laps no one sat down and the cheering could be heard above the roar of the trucks.
I have often said, as have many, that the trucks represent the closest thing NASCAR has to the “old school” drivers and equipment on a touring circuit. I think that was certified last Wednesday evening when we watched the side-by-side rubbing and bumping racing going on. We also saw the “old school” when at least five teams went to help Norm Benning get his truck repaired from the minor incident in taking the last starting position in the main. Now, my friends, that is old school. I can’t count the number of times I saw competitors help each other out on the local track scene back in the day.
I was the recipient more than once of that help and my team often assisted other teams. We loaned parts, borrowed parts, and generally were always there for each other when needed, no matter how hard we had slugged it out on the track or would slug it out on the track in the future. I remember countless times The King and his team would loan parts, borrow parts, back and forth with some of his roughest competitors. If that happens today, outside of the drivers own team, then I never hear about it. I never see it. Heck, some of the teams within the same organization don’t like to share with the other members of the organization. Can you think of one such? Maybe two? I can. No matter what the team owner says publicly, you know there are those “secrets” that just never get out there. It was refreshing as anything I have seen recently when those teams helped Benning out. That is the kind of racing I remember.
Another part of the truck race that was something I remembered from the past was the actual “rubbing” that was going to between several of the drivers. Johnny Mallonee and I often discuss the “doughnuts” we always managed to have on our cars from the rubbing we were always doing on the dirt tracks. I gave as many as I ever received, if not more, and, to me, that was always a fun part of racing on dirt. I’m not so sure about the new vocabulary the announcers for the event were trying to “teach” us, but I did get a little sick of “slide job”. Although we may not have accomplished it with such aplomb as it appears the guys did last Wednesday, we still got the job done and it was, to me at least, every bit as pretty as anything any of those guys pulled off last Wednesday.
Another part of last Wednesday that was huge for me, was the realization that we do have a class of new drivers coming up who are going to enhance the sport as it has not been in a long while. When I look at Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, Austin Dillon and Ty Dillon, I see fresh new faces of racers, not marketing execs although the marketing is going to be important for them to learn. Not involved in that race last Wednesday we need to add Chase Elliott and Trevor Bayne. That’s six drivers right there I believe will be the major addition to the future of the sport. Can’t you see the difference in these guys coming up than, say Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, and others coming into the sport over the past 10 years. I don’t mean to belittle any of those drivers mentioned by any means, but they just never seem to have had the “racer’s persona” I see in the six young guns I just named . It is exciting to think of all these guys getting into the Cup within the next few years. Oh, there are more coming along, but I’m mentioning the ones we are seeing for right now.
So, before we leave Eldora behind for this year, one final thank you to Tony for giving us that race, and to NASCAR for allowing it to happen. Many of us, so many of us, are hoping for a repeat next year and quite possibly the addition of another one or two dirt races for the trucks. Some of us even dream of the Nationwide cars hitting the dirt and maybe, just maybe, that will happen. The Cup cars? Personally, I doubt that is ever going to occur but then two years ago I would have said it would never happen with ANY NASCAR touring division.
Ok, now for the second part of my “thank you” to Tony. Another part of my conversation directed at you Tony, concerns your comments after the “Brickyard 400”. I have to take exception to your “definitions” of “racing” and “passing” which have been well documented in your tirade after the race when so many folks criticized the fact that there was only ONE pass under green for the lead. In reality, there wasn’t much passing on the track whatsoever. To this, you respond that if fans want to see passing, they can go sit on the overpass on I-465 and watch all the passing they want to see. Tony! Really? Look at the 68 passes for the lead in a very exciting Indy 500 this year. Close racing with open wheel cars. Where was that Sunday? I admit I didn’t get to watch the Nationwide race but from what I have heard, I didn’t miss anything exciting. I’m still sort of confused as to why they moved that race from the short track to the big track. Makes no sense to me.
I must congratulate NASCAR in that they did not fabricate a “debris caution” within the last few laps to wipe out Ryan Newman’s lead. Good move. Of course, I would think the fan rebellion at such a move which would have allowed Five Time to close up on Newman, was considered while making the decision to keep it green. You know, come to think of it, only three cautions flew, two for Timmy Hill’s car which experienced fuel pickup problems it was reported, and one for debris which we could clearly see so there was no suspicion as to “foul play” this time. Tony, I’ve been a fan of yours since you came into NASCAR, but I really disagree with your assessment of the hugely boring race Sunday.
Fans tend to agree that stock car racing at Indy is boring. After spending an hour this morning researching all the attendance figures for the NASCAR events there, the best I can come up with is that the first event, 20 years ago, brought in somewhere between 280,000 and 320,000 fans. The attendance has declined steadily and markedly over the years. Attendance this year, quoted by one source as 80,000, another source as 60,000 and the “official” Indiana State Police estimate of 45,000 to 50,000 backs up what fans have tried to express in other ways than their absence. Indy doesn’t do it for us. Admittedly, for Stewart, Newman, and Gordon, sure. For most others, it’s not that big a deal.
Okay, now it’s time I ruffle more feathers than I have recently. In spite of the possibility that Indy will run “under the lights” for future NASCAR races or whatever other enticements NASCAR and NBC can invent, the races there will always be boring. Stock cars don’t race well there! Yeah, I know there are those who disagree and are standing by to point out many reasons I’m wrong, but consider what I have to say.
As a stock car racing fan, I am sick and tired of hearing the drivers equate what NASCAR does at Indy with the “historic significance of that track”. We all know the history of Indy. We know what an icon it is on the world stage of any sporting event, but it is that icon for a different reason than NASCAR. The talking heads and the drivers refer, almost in reverence, to how winning at “The Brickyard” is so significant. I call foul on that. For NASCAR, winning at Darlington is significant. Winning at Daytona is significant. Winning at Indy in a stock car does NOT equate to winning the Indy 500. All the hype Sunday about the four time Indy winners and comparing either Jeff or Jimmie equaling that in a stock car as significant and the possibility that one of those two could be the first five time winner at Indy was disgusting. That’s comparing apples and oranges and I remember that doesn’t equate. I had one teacher in high school that pounded that into me.
So, as someone said, NASCAR would be much better off scheduling another road course, a dirt track race, or perhaps 10 laps on I-485 than running at Indy again. When the race was finally over Sunday and I got up from my recliner, I thought to myself that next year I may sit on the deck and listen on the radio while I watch my grass grow. Got to be more exciting than what I had just watched. You know, even the local Christmas Parade has more competition!
