December 14, 2009
By Matthew Pizzolato
Matthew Pizzolato
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Talladega.
To a NASCAR fan, the word inspires images of great racing, bump drafting and of course, enormous wrecks that sometimes involve a third of the field. Fans are on the edge of their seats because they know the "big one" is coming, it's only a matter of time at a restrictor plate track.
Both races at Talladega this year featured spectacular crashes, from which all drivers involved miraculously walked away. In April, several fans were not so lucky when Carl Edwards' car hit the catch fence and showered the grandstands with debris as it was torn apart. Seven fans received injures, with two of those having to be hospitalized.
The debate reached a fever pitch in November when Ryan Newman's car was spun around with five laps remaining in the race. Newman's car flipped over and landed on top of Kevin Harvick's car, then proceeded to pirouette across the track on its roof in front of traffic before rolling over several times and finally coming to rest on the infield grass. Newman had to be extracted from the car.
The incident sparked a lot of debate, and rightly so. Some have wondered if restrictor plate tracks even have a place on the current NASCAR schedule. However, Daytona and Talladega are NASCAR's two marquee tracks. They are the tracks that made NASCAR into what it is today. NASCAR will be racing there for as long as there is a NASCAR.
"Those are our signature races, no question about it -- starting with the Daytona 500, going to the Pepsi 400 and going to Talladega twice," Brian France, NASCAR chairman and CEO, was quoted as saying in a Joe Menzer article for nascar.com.
But still, driver safety has become a major issue in recent years.
"Those are the highest-rated television races, and we've got to make certain the racing is safe for sure," France said. "And then we need to make sure it's a typical Daytona-Talladega kind of race, and that's what we work on."
A "typical Daytona-Talladega kind of race" always involves the "big one," so apparently NASCAR isn't planning on making any significant changes, although it is clear that something needs to be done.
At the November race, NASCAR officials made a race-day decision to strictly enforce the bump drafting rule. Drivers could bump draft on the straight-aways, but could not touch the car in front of them in the turns. The decision garnered a lot of criticism from drivers on the track and from the broadcasters in the booth.
The idea was to keep an accident like what happened in the April race from occurring again, but the wreck happened anyway. It always does at Talladega, which gives credence to the belief that the NASCAR shouldn't be racing there at all. Several drivers have voiced the opinion that it's only a matter of time until someone is killed.
“We’ll race like this until we kill somebody,” Carl Edwards said in an article in the Columbia Tribune after his accident at the April race, “then” NASCAR “will change it.”
Now, NASCAR officials are upset because their broadcast partners criticized their racing product. At last check, this was still a free country and the Constitution still allows Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press.
The commentators didn't initiate the criticism. They simply reported radio communication between several drivers and their crew chiefs and commented on it. After all, responsible journalism is providing both sides of the story and allowing the viewer to decide on their own.
If NASCAR wants to control their programming and what broadcasters say about their racing, they should start their own television network, broadcast the restrictor plate races on it, and provide commentators with scripts to read.
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