Happy Hour: Intervention time
By Jay Hart, Yahoo! Sports Nov 10, 10:18 am EST
Quick story:
My sister and her family took in the race Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway. A few hours before it started, we were standing in the media center when Jeff Gordon walked in. My 4-year-old nephew, holding a diecast replica of Gordon’s No. 24, thrust the car out and said, “Can you sign this please?”
Gordon took the car, penned his autograph across the front hood, then without anyone asking said, “Let’s get a picture.”
With that, he knelt down, huddled up my niece and two nephews, waited while my sister got her camera out of her purse, and now they have a keepsake they’ll never forget.
That’s the kind of guy Jeff Gordon is.
Now, let’s get to the mailbag:
Since the Chase is basically decided, I stayed true to my word and didn’t turn the TV on. My wife, an ardent JJ fan, did. So I went out to the garage and installed new pads and rotors on my ’97 Sunfire while the nonrace-for- the-Sprint-Cup continued.
I managed to come in and catch Kyle Busch running out of gas, but apparently the “all-Jimmie-all-the-time” ESPN bunch couldn’t shut up about the No. 48 until Kurt Busch took the checkered flag. Maybe what happened on Lap 3 (on Sunday) was Karma catching up with JJ and Chad, after the totally undeserved sixth-place finish last week. Still, with deer season opening next weekend, I’ll have a good excuse not to watch or listen to the deification of JJ and Chad by the ESPN crew, and I won’t miss it one little bit.
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The Texas race was just a tease, and we all know it. I hate to say it, but it’s about time for Mark Martin to pull that bridesmaid’s dress back out of mothballs. As for me, I’ll tune back in in time for Daytona.
Mark D. Knight
New Salisbury, Ind.
Alright, it’s intervention time. NASCAR fans, you are addicted, addicted to complaining. I know, there’s plenty to complain about, but at some point it’s too much. So here’s what I’m going to do: I’m laying out a three-step plan to get you through the rest of the season, followed by a three-step plan NASCAR should adopt to make more of you happy.
To get through the remaining two races of 2009, do one or more of the following:
1. Hang with me and Jay Busbee Sundays during our in-race chat. Yeah, it’s a little self promotion, but we have a good time.
2. Play the start-and-park game. Guess which driver on which lap will take his car to the garage first. (Hint: Dave Blaney is usually a good choice.) If you guess correctly, pat yourself on the back for a job well done.
3. Whenever you hear or read the name “Jimmie Johnson,” replace it with “Dale Earnhardt Jr.” Example: “Jimmie Johnson clinches his fourth straight title” becomes “Dale Earnhardt Jr. clinches his fourth straight title.”
As for you, NASCAR, here are three suggestions, free of charge, to get the folks (some of them anyway) off your back:
1. Shorten the season: The Cup schedule should not – I repeat, should not – venture past early October, if even that long. In some ways bigger is better, but there is a point of diminishing returns – 7-footers make for good centers; anything above 7-4 (Yao Ming excluded) makes for Gheorghe Muresan or Manute Bol – and NASCAR stepped across that line back in 1994 when it extended the schedule beyond 30 races.
Cap the schedule at 30, ax a race from California, Pocono, Atlanta, Phoenix, Michigan and New Hampshire, start the Chase after 20 regular-season races and keep fans wanting for more instead of having them gradually lose interest once the football season rolls around.
2. There should only be six tracks where 500-mile/laps races are run. Races at Daytona, Talladega, Darlington, Charlotte, Bristol and Martinsville can keep their current distances. The rest must trim down. This would tighten up the action at tracks where the action needs tightening up. It will also give a little extra importance to the longer races.
3. Call a spade a spade. A few weeks ago, Shogun Rua was robbed by judges in a UFC title match against Lyoto Machida. Even though the crowd at Staples Center favored Machida going into the match, it booed the decision loudly. Immediately afterward, UFC president Dana White told Rua he thought he won the fight. Then in his postfight press conference White condemned the decision.
Fans appreciate that sort of honesty.
What they don’t appreciate is a NASCAR spokesman, armed with a bevy of stats, telling everyone that, contrary to their own opinions, Talladega was great.
Here’s the thing: It doesn’t matter what the “stats” say or if the race really was great. If the folks don’t like it, they don’t like it, and they didn’t like what they saw at Talladega, and not just because they were following the lead of ABC’s commentators.
Show them some respect. They aren’t 8-year-old kids you’re trying to force feed a plate full of spinach. If enough of them don’t want to eat it, it’s on you NASCAR, not them.
Mr. Hart, you’ve done it again. You’re intro to last week’s Happy Hour “Late Notice, rule change no complaining about Talladega” had me ROFLMAO. That was a masterful tongue in cheek shot at NASCAR!!
Now, my question is this: Texas Motor Speedway is roughly similar to Daytona and Atlanta. So why aren’t restrictor plates used at these two tracks? Restrictor plate racing is a bore for the most part, but isn’t this scenario kind of a double standard? What’s your take?
Ross Jackson
Longview, Texas
Keeping the cars on the ground is the main purpose of the restrictor plates. If left unrestricted, cars at Daytona and Talladega would reach 230 mph, which would greatly increase their chance of going airborne. While Atlanta and Texas are fast, they aren’t Daytona and Talladega fast (if Daytona and Talladega were left unrestricted). Therefore, the threat of a car going airborne isn’t high enough to warrant a restrictor plate.
What’s up with NASCAR allowing other Hendrick teams to help out Jimmie Johnson after his wreck? Seems they would have a rule prohibiting that as it is an unfair advantage for the larger teams.
Pier Komes
Raleigh, N.C.
This is exactly why I’ve said Johnson needs a non-Hendrick rival. While I understand Hendrick wanting to insure keeping the title under their umbrella, and thus doing all they can to get their best title hope back on the track, it cuts into the credibility of the “competition” when the competition is aiding what’s supposed to be the enemy.
If you want to know what killed the old-school rivalries that gave NASCAR much of its character, blame mega-teams.
Well jay, how many letters have you gotten from the conspiracy bunch that say the Johnson wreck was all put on to even the playing field to draw more fans for the run off? Venture to say plenty. Love your column. Keep up the good work.
Bill Pless
Jacksonville, Fla.
