France Committed in London

I am only the messenger. Please don't shoot me if you mistook the headline to mean that the head honcho of NASCAR had been placed in a London mental institution. Sorry to dash your hopes.

He's just been mouthing off again and once again, Jeff has forgotten to send his handlers along to accompany Z. When will he learn?

Brian still has that VP Steve O'Donnell swimming with the porpoises in Concord, NC or repurposing or doing something sinister over there. (My spell check keeps trying to throw out the word, "repurpose" - lol).

Jul 25, 2:04 PM EDT

France committed to improving NASCAR racing

By JENNA FRYER
AP Auto Racing Writing

LONDON (AP) -- NASCAR chairman Brian France doesn't buy the argument that if it isn't broke, don't fix it.

France said he is committed to ensuring the series has the best racing possible, even if some believe there's nothing wrong with the current product.

"We can do better. We can have the packages better, tighter racing," France told The Associated Press in London, where he spoke Wednesday in the Beyond Sport's annual summit. "That's our stated goal and we have to get there. With the new car coming, we want to get this right. And we know it will be hard to keep it right."

France currently has senior vice president Steve O'Donnell repurposing the North Carolina research and development center. France's goal is to split the R&D department from the competition department with an eye on improving the rules package before the 2013 cars debut.

Fans have complained about stretches of racing this season, particularly a two-month swing that saw lots of strung-out, green-flag racing. NASCAR has made slight aerodynamic changes to the cars twice this season to try to make passing easier, and series leaders want the best possible package on next year's car.

France said if there are improvements that can be implemented now, he won't wait for the 2013 car.

He also understands that some drivers and even some leaders in NASCAR don't think anything needs to be changed. France likened it to the split between baseball fans who enjoy a pitchers' duel against those who like a lot of runs and football fans who enjoy defensive struggles to those who prefer action-packed scorefests.

"If you are a real purist, you may think it was a great event," France said. "But if you are a casual fan, you may have wanted to see lots of touchdowns or lots of lead changes. Things that make you go `wow.' I find, myself, I am on the `wow' side. I want to be wowed by close finishes and uncertainty and lead changes. That's me. But you certainly can find other people that see it differently."

As CEO, France said what he wants supersedes what any purists on his staff might prefer.

"I overrule them, quite frankly, because I have to," France said. "We can't have four strategies going on. There aren't a whole lot of people who don't want to see more lead changes, or a photo finish, or slamming and banging coming out of the fourth turn.

"We are unabashed about wanting that. We want to put it more in the driver's hands. It's a contact sport and if you have a chance to win and are in second place on the last lap, would I expect there to be some contact if you have a faster car? Absolutely. The guys who don't do that, that's not our rules. We want to see what everybody else wants to see - excitement."

France said last year's season finale was perfect. Tony Stewart used the victory to tie Carl Edwards in the championship race and win the title on the tie-breaker, and France called it "probably the greatest performance I've ever seen from a driver and a team.

"That was it for me. That was exciting."

That sounds like something Brain Phart would say. Knock the spoilers off'em and raise them 5 inches.

raise them up --square them up and put a big motor in them--oh yeah put them on 8 inch tires --you know like grandpa has on his car-- then tell them to lets go racing boys-- sounds like old school fun again whatcha think there Mr Dave Winston Wrangler Fulton

I'm sorry but I just can't read this. The man makes no sense whatsoever. He contradicts himself constantly and insults, OMG!, us so called "purists". We once were referred to as "die hard fans", but now we are "purists". Either way, we contributed to the success of this sport, lined his pockets, and as such, are reducing his empire to rubble week in and week out. Just look at the grandstands every week. He never understood that the new crop of "fans" he wants to cultivate for the most part, don't have the attention span of a knat.

Makes me sick.

I am definitely a "purist" ladies. I purely detest what they've done to my sport in the name of marketing, progress, and repurposing, whatever the heck that is.

And, I like that 8" tire thing, Johnny.