June 28, 2011
By Doug Demmons
It says something about NASCAR that Infineon Raceway is now more like Bristol than Bristol.
Before Bristol was resurfaced, a driver had to literally root somebody up and out of his way at the one-groove track. It made for a lot of beating, banging, hard feelings, vows of payback and lots and lots of ticket sales.
That old Bristol is long gone. Nowadays you can pass on the top and in the middle. Drivers are a lot more respectful of each other there and the place is half empty.
But the spirit of the old Bristol lives on at Sonoma, at Watkins Glen, at Montreal and Road America. The hard-to-pass road courses are where the bumper-creasing action is.
There are several reasons for this.
For one, road courses are more forgiving for beat-up, smashed-in cars. Aerodynamics are far less important there.
For another, more and more drivers are becoming skilled at road course racing than in the past.
It used to be that a number of drivers would go to Sonoma and just ride around and hope for a top 20 finish. They couldn’t wait to get back to the ovals.
But with the competition so close these days there are no more throwaway races. So there is plenty of consulting work for road-course experts like Boris Said and Max Papis. Said has coached so many drivers his nickname ought to be Professor.
Some drivers will probably never come to love road courses. Dale Earnhardt Jr. didn’t seem all that upset for a guy who was out of the race early and looking at a plummet in the standings, a guy who had just lost his engine after getting caught up in someone else’s wreck.
But there are plenty of road-course experts now, so many that it’s a lot harder for consistent road-course winners like Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart to dominate Victory Lane the way they used to.
Road course races used to be a sleepy way to spend a Sunday afternoon, snoozing on the couch while waiting for the end of the race. Not any more. Get up to make a sandwich and you’ll miss somebody getting knocked into the next zip code.
And despite what the racing purists say about all that beating and banging being bad for racing, it’s good for NASCAR. It is what puts fannies in seats and glues eyeballs to TV screens.
And that’s why NASCAR should add a third road course to the schedule.
Can anyone really say they’d rather watch a second race at Pocono every year than a road race at Montreal?
Montreal consistently puts on entertaining Nationwide races and has no trouble selling tickets. In fact, Montreal race fans are so loyal they’d stay in their seats through a downpour.
Doug Demmons is a writer and editor for the Birmingham News ~ he writes daily and weekly auto racing columns ranging from NASCAR to open wheel to Formula One, local tracks and more... you can read Doug's columns online at Blog of Tommorow
Follow Doug on Twitter: @dougdemmons
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.
You can contact Doug Demmons at ....
