July 30, 2008
By Chuck Abrams
I normally make the trek back home to Louisville every year at this time not because I love the heat and humidity, but because I love NASCAR. When NASCAR started racing at the hallowed Indy track, I was there in a heartbeat. Growing up in Kentuckiana, you can’t help but feel the tug of one of the greatest tracks in all of motorsports history. I still get chills down my spine walking into the place.
This year I am glad I did not make the trip.
While the Brickyard arguably does not produce the best racing for fan viewing, it at least has provided some memorable moments in NASCAR history. Sunday was no exception.
How NASCAR and Goodyear could bring that package to Indy will have us all scratching or heads until this time next year. After a less than optimal tire test in April, some bright bulbs decided that things would improve in the heat and humidity of Indy in July. What? Have they never been there before?
For the life of me, I really do not understand what transpired behind closed doors. This was the first time these new cars have ever been at Indy and we all know how flat the track is in the corners and we have been watching the new car slide through corners with more banking that nine degrees all year. So was it a major surprise when tires started shredding apart at a track with 4 hard left turns in it? Especially after that is exactly what happened in April?
I know it is Wednesday by the time you read this, but it is Monday as I write this. I apologize for making you sit through my rant on an incredible mistake by NASCAR and Goodyear that you have probably already read about and blogged about and discussed at the water cooler and over beer about 100 times this week.
But I really can’t help myself.
To me this is one of the biggest embarrassments in all of motorsports history outside of the F1 debacle which, surprise!, also happened at Indy. Johnson’s win should have an asterisk by it. Nothing against him or the 48 team, but that was not a race.
NASCAR did all it could do on Sunday. They HAD to have all the mandatory cautions or we would have had no one running at the end of the race. Tires would have shredded on every single car and it would have been an even bigger disaster. They may have even saved a life by doing this.
But they also owe 200,000 fans an apology and, in my mind, a complete refund. They said they were going to hold a race and what they would up doing is having several sprints to pit. Oh, and a quick 7 lap shootout at the end. What a joke.
Fans spending hard earned money have to ask themselves is it worth it? Is it worth the tickets, the drive, the long hours, the dollars spent on hotel, airfare, parking, food, souvenirs and don’t forget that $4 a gallon gas?
This week we get to be entertained by one of the longest races in NASCAR at Pocono. Who among you will continue to plunk down hard earned money or waste your time after this weekend at the Brickyard? Makes you reconsider things a bit doesn’t it?
Those are my thoughts on the week. Let me know yours.
Drive fast, turn left and keep the shiny side up.
The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.
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