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Bruton, What Did You Do To My Favorite Track???by Mike Irwin ~ August 25th, 2007. Filed under: Mike's Musings. |
It’s the August Cup race at Bristol.
As this is being written, there are 202 laps to go… and I’m on the computer, writing this article.
What’s unusual about this? It’s that I’m on the computer INSTEAD of watching what used to be my favorite race at my favorite race track.
Bristol is supposed to be about beatin’ and bangin’. It’s supposed to be about flaring tempers and helmets being flung at other cars.
Bristol is supposed to be about donuts on the side of race cars, spins, tire smoke, and yes, even a wreck or two (or twenty).
Bristol is supposed to be about that bump-n-run coming out of turn 4 to the checkers.
What Bristol has ended up being is a snooze-fest.
Sure, they’re running 2-3 wide.
Who cares?
Maybe the drivers do, but it surely isn’t very exciting for the viewers.
First, NASCAR took away some of our classic race tracks… like North Wilkesboro.
Then NASCAR took away the drivers’ personalities. Everyone’s a smiling media robot.
Then NASCAR took away any drivers other than those in the top 15 or so. If you’re a fan of anyone who’s not in that span, forget about hearing anything about your driver.
Then NASCAR took away the individuality of the different race car brands with their common templates and “car of tomorrow”. Take the stickers off of a Toyota Camry Cup car and put ‘em on a Chevrolet Impala SS Cup car…. same thing.
Now NASCAR has taken away the only real racing I ever really looked forward to… for weeks ahead of the date of the race.
All the drivers are raving about the great racing surface at Bristol now. Oh, it’s so smooth. Oh, it’s so easy to drive now.
I can add to that.
Oh, it’s so easy to fall aslee….. ZZZZZ… ZZZZZ…
August 26th, 2007 at 8:50 am
Yes, Bristol is now just another 1/2 mile track, I think the drivers liked it, but us fans didn’t,I heard Burton say he could put 8,000 more seats in one of the turns, I bet he’ll have a hard time filling them, all we need next, is to put progressive banking in the road course turns, so no one can “touch” each other and scratch there cars. I’ll still watch Bristol, but I’ll watch it like most of the other races, I’ll, watch the begining, the end, and T-VO the middle. Us fans like the bumping, we like a little anger, and yes the crashes. Lone live Robby and Tony
August 26th, 2007 at 10:02 am
Time marches on. If you want the good old days, find a time machine.
RM
August 26th, 2007 at 10:45 am
never thought the words ‘boring’ and ‘Bristol’ would ever be used in the same sentence. I’m glad I went to Bristol in March. I can say “I got to see this race before they completely screwed the track for good.” What a shame.
August 26th, 2007 at 11:06 am
Goodyear messed up again and brought a super hard tire…. if the tires gave up more it would have been better
August 26th, 2007 at 11:12 am
For awhile I thought it was just me. But as the green flag runs went longer and longer with no action, I realized that a lot of other folks were going to feel the same way. Reading all the comments on the web this morning pretty much confirmed what I felt watching the race last night. BORING! BORING! Nascar finally did it, They took the most exciting track on the circuit and neutered it. I could have taken a nap and not missed a thing. Micah
August 26th, 2007 at 11:46 am
I did fall asleep. I agree with Mike. Take your $$ and go support real racing at your local tracks.
August 26th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
Turn out the lights the party is over.
August 26th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
I have said many times that Brian France is totally screwing NASCAR up, he’s trying to or doing something that just doesnt seem right.
He’s taking something that was built around a bunch of southern guy’s brilliant enough to make fools out of most engineers, beer/drinking/shine drinkers & replaceing it with the wine & cheese crowd.Now with the influx of the foreign open wheel type drivers, he’s turning it into something different than what his grandfather started.Yes I know that the car owners have a hand in that too, starting with Ganassi bringing in OneProblem Montoya.I’m gonna stick with NHRA
August 26th, 2007 at 1:42 pm
I am truly and seriously becoming extremely sad about what has happened to our Nascar, if I were talking instead of typing I would be getting choked up after reading all I have on the internet this morning and feeling the same way as 99% of the others that have left comments an ALL the articles about what they have done to one of THEE last remaining classic nascar tracks and race.
August 26th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
Just another example of na$car dumbing down the sport. To many of the drivers out there today were unable to race on the old Bristol, so lets reconfigure the track and make it easier for them. Same as the did in Miami, Charlotte and Darlington. Bristol has had 51 sell outs in a row… wonder if they will get to 55?
August 26th, 2007 at 2:50 pm
What’s the big deal about going 3 wide at Bristol?? Dale Earnhardt was doing that 10 years ago, and it was called hard racing. The track promoters ruined the Bristol “experience” by adding 100,000 seats, and although I never thought it would be possible, now they’ve ruined the race. It’s a sad day in Tennessee when the TV announcers are reduced to shrieking “we ALMOST had a caution” in an effort to generate some excitement.
August 26th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
I think all of you need to watch some old tapes at Bristol.
Seems to me like last nights race was like the early-mid 80’s races — some racing the “Gant” line around the wall, some racing on the bottom…and 2 wide racing like it used to be. There was still beating and banging and all the wrecks for the wreckmongers who love to see people crash equipment. I think everyone is mad that no one started a fight after the race.
August 26th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
I have many old Bristol races on dvd and 43 your full of it. No where near the same. And whats wrong with a good show emotion after the race…..oh you must be a france and agree that the drivers should all be corporate cutouts being pc all the time with no real emotion as a human being
August 26th, 2007 at 7:28 pm
So what is Nascar betting on these days ? Do they think they can gain more “new” fans that they can loose old fans?
Reconfiguring Bristol was a crappy idea and one more reason the word Nascar and the term “my favorite sport” don’t go together to often anymore.
Ruin the best short track that exist, remove dates from tracks that got the sport where it is ( Darlington, North Wilkesboro) and while your at it, run off sponsors ( AT & T )- good job Nascar.
August 26th, 2007 at 10:28 pm
I was at Bristol for both the Busch and Cup races. (For the past 7 years.) The difference in the races was dramatic. In the Busch race with the ‘old’ cars, you had lots of agressive action, no one protecting a spot in the ‘Treasured Twelve’. The Cup race, with the CoT was almost like watching a race at California or MIS. Three wide, not very agressive. I don’t need to see a lot of wrecks, but a few doughnuts on doors would have been nice. Too many teams with too much to lose with the ‘crapshoot’ format drained the excitement out of Bristol last year…I was there for that one, too. Is this what the ‘chase’ and the CoT have condemned us to?
August 26th, 2007 at 10:50 pm
as a longtime Nascar fan it saddeneds me to see all that I had loved die–it began shortly before we lost Dale and continues — now they have ruined the one thing that had remained constant–BRISTOL–sure it is smooth — it has 2 or 3 wide racing and maybe the drivers love not fighting and banging up their cars or being worn out at the end of the night– but, dang it, that is why I save my money and camp there all week, endure the heat and scream my head off–Oh well, maybe a trip to the mountains next year!!
August 26th, 2007 at 11:01 pm
Nancy,
You nailed it on the head, it started in the late 90’s with some new rules and some other changes and got worse after we lost my ‘Hero’, exponentially and faster by the year. The France family and some other big wigs involved in the sport (track owners and associations) should all join politics and run for office. They don’t care what the fans want that put them where they are and will disregard them and get a new one.
August 27th, 2007 at 1:33 am
Night Bristol was a never miss race and I’ve been watching them since the 80’s. Now Bristol is just another race that I may watch if I remember, much like what the rest of NASCAR has become.
The Chase sucks, the TV sucks as they focus on only a handful of drivers and NASCAR has lost all of its personality and the COT while “safer” sucks as well. Ditch the wings and bring back the spoilers. The COT looks like an S-10 or Ford Ranger running around the track.
I somehow think they want us old school fans to forget about NASCAR and move on. They have demonstrated this over and over. Bye bye to N. Wilkesboro, Rockingham and just one race a year at Darlington all replaced by cookie cutter mile and a half tracks.
The character of the sport that drew me in over 20 years ago is gone. What’s left unfortunately is not enough to hold me.
August 27th, 2007 at 6:55 am
I can not believe what Nascar has done to Bristol. It was a boring race until the final 100 laps. Short tracks are what I always looked forward to..that use be real racing. Now they have made Bristol just another track that is along the same line as a two mile track. Why even have a short track anymore?????? It all about money to Nascar nowdays and not what the fans want to see. I agree that if your driver is not in the top 15 or so in points that you might as well forget about hearing about them. I am a big Bobby Labonte fan and they never said anything about how fast he was moving up through the cars until he was in second place. But then again Bobby is 17th in points so he doesn’t count…need I say more.
August 27th, 2007 at 7:40 am
Ditto 19x over! We look forward to the nascar race now just so we can catch a long nap after a hard week! F1 vs Nascar…. No difference now. Emotionless, predictable, boring. And the worst part, the powers to be don’t seen to get it, they don’t understand why ratings are going down.. DUH.
August 27th, 2007 at 9:16 am
I would like to say this, I could have standed the long green flag runs if there was more passing for the lead. When 2 people lead for 487 laps out of 500 it is like California. People like to see passing weather it is for the lead or in the pack. But when you do this at Bristol were there is the one hope for exciting racing at Bristol those days are now gone. Biffle said it was like a small Dover and he was right. If I wanted to watch just 2 people in the lead I could have watched Indy cars or Formula 1 racing. Nascar has become the same thing. Cannot wait for California. Snooooooooze
August 27th, 2007 at 10:46 am
The truck and busch race were good. I kept falling asleep on the cup. i think the drivers are so afraid of hitting the chase guys that they just don’t race them. most one of them who had any guts was mikey who was holding them up lol! way to go mikey! i saw more passing and aggression on the interstate after it was over the next day.
August 27th, 2007 at 11:02 am
I was real excited at first, after all this is Bristol! But it was not long before I was fighting to stay awake.(will admit to falling asleep for a short period of time) I did enjoy watching the passing being done all over the track, the TV coverage was unusual
in that they actually showed more than just the leader, but there was very little of the usual ‘beating and banging’ that has made Bristol so exciting. The most we saw of that was by #29 & #42, I was hoping to see #24 & #17 going at it, but alas
no such thing happened. They have now taken an ‘exciting race’ and turned it into a ‘Vanilla race’, partly through the rework
of the track, partly through the COT and partly through the “Chase” concept. Now the championship is not determined by total points for the entire season - it is now two separate seasons and some get to play in both, but most get to play in only
one. Sad!!
August 27th, 2007 at 2:34 pm
I hate the new COT. It doesn’t seem to be as racey as the old cars were. Let’s not forget that this was the first race on the new track, the 2nd COT race at Bristol and only the 12th (or so I believe) time with the COT. Drivers and teams are still figuring these things out. I completely agree that this race was boring. I thought it was just me until I came across this article. There is soooo much room in the corners it almost becomes hard for Robby Gordon to spin another car out. (That’s just a joke, nothing personal) I’m going to be giving it some more time, for Bristol and the dreaded COT.
August 27th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
NASCAR needs to insist Goodyear provide different tires that are softer for the COT which lacks downforce compared to Busch or Trucks. If Goodyear insists it’s to expensive to provide different tires NASCAR should offer to give back some the cash Goodyear pays them to be the exclusive tire supplier.
August 27th, 2007 at 8:59 pm
I agree with most that is said. Bristol was different and disappointing. Tthe bump and runs were gone and cautions were scarce until the end of the race.
Don’t know if it is the COT, resurfacing or tires but something needs to be changed to bring back the Bristol we all know and love.
August 28th, 2007 at 8:52 am
It stunk, it’s the same ole same ole, Let’s wait for the last ten laps so NASCAR can throw the yellow too really stink up the show. They are two (2) QUICK to throw the yellows,
They throw safety around like it means money to them. In the old days we took our racing because thats what it was, it ain’t racin no longer, its give the races to the big money teams. Like Tony said its like wrestlin, it ain’t racin no longer.
Thanks for listlin,
Roy Coghill
August 28th, 2007 at 9:36 am
Yes, I agree with most of the fans above. What I always looked forward (with much anticipation) is now gone. All the excitement of Bristol is now in the past.
Why oh why take something that is not broken and “fix it.”
I have been a Nascar fan for longer than I like to admit (40+ years) and Nascar is slowly removing the reasons that I became a fan. In their place, we now have: cot, lucky dawg, top 35, the chase etc., etc. (and now BRISTOL.)
glenn
August 28th, 2007 at 7:20 pm
It seems like we have come to that place where we find out that some people who thought they were “race fans” are actually “crash fans” instead. To the “crash fan”, they prefer a car bumping and banging their way around the car in front of them rather than seeing a driver use their skill and car control to make and complete the pass. I am the first to admit there were fewer incidents where an aggressive, faster car needed to bump and spin the car in front of them to complete a pass. To this aged observer, good stock racing should never include more spinouts and crashes than slick passes. The Bristol track is no longer the kind of track where contact between two cars is the only way passing is going to occur. I never could figure out why causing another car to spin made for a better race than performing a clean pass by a driver with car control and a faster car. The new surface at Bristol Motor Speedway is a multilane raceway providing side by side racing, and, from my perspective, we (hopefully) have seen the end of double digit yellows caused by drivers with more guts than skill or brains.
Those of us from the upper Midwest have backgrounds in asphalt racing shaped by the longtime rule that requires a driver initiating a spin (and consequent yellow flag) to restart the race from the back of the field. This rule quickly teaches drivers that, if they want to move up, they need to find a way around the car in front of them rather than through that car. It seems to me that those who miss a track that lends itself to gratuitous spinning and wrecking would be happier to watch a race that starts as a drifting event and ends as a demolition derby.
An opinion on the old vs. new racing surface at Bristol depends on a fans definition of racing or what constitutes an event they would consider a good race. A good race requires a racing surface that allows for passing. To me a one groove race track is a contradiction of terms, an oxymoron, if you will. One grove racing isn’t a race, it is a parade. Statistics from last Saturdays race indicate there were virtually twice as many passes made during the race on the new racing surface. There will be those among the crash lovers and “I love beating and banging” crowd who feel this sort of racing will be the death of Bristol and ultimately NASCAR, but I am hoping this new surface will serve as a racing venue where good drivers and fast cars can run a race the way a race was meant to be run.
paulb
August 29th, 2007 at 11:00 am
Thank you Paul, very well put.
As I posted at the other article/argument, I thought it was great. I didn’t have that knot of dread in my stomach the entire race.
I would also mention that the type of racing that most of you people like has been doomed for many years, since fines and penalties for aggressive driving have become the norm. Plus, I agree with someone who thought that the Chase has a lot to do with. It’s more than just changing the track, it’s a result of many different factors. The COT and the type of tires have to be added in to the equation also.