Who Will Be This Seasons Victims?

By Denise Thompson

January 25, 2003

Another season of racing is just around the corner. Like most NASCAR fans, I am beginning to get that pre-season itch and wondering what this season is going to bring for us all. Who will be the victim of what we, as fans, hope to see each season.

Many drivers will be the victim of engine problems. Some may be victim to the bumping and grinding that good racing always brings.

Tires are an issue at most tracks. How will they hold up and who will be the victim to their blow-outs?

Fuel mileage plays a big part in the outcome of a race. What teams have studied their fuel mileage? What driver will be the victim for miscalculations this year? I cannot wait to find out.

Many of you have heard the term "The Big One". Some of you new fans may not have. This is a wreck that takes place at some of the tracks (mostly the restrictor plates races), where the cars run in a large packs. Drafting plays such a big part at those tracks that it's hard to get away from the cars around the drivers. Therefore, when one car, one driver, possibly from that one flat tire, fails, it causes a chain reaction behind that driver that sometimes takes out half the field of cars at once.

This is one of the scariest type of wrecks, but highly anticipated. Running at these tracks under restrictor plate conditions takes precision driving. Restrictor plates, for those of you that are new to the NASCAR sport, is when a plate with four holes smaller than normal, that restricts the air flow into the carburetor and reduces engine power, in effect slowing the cars down. When the cars are all slowed, the have a tendency to all bunch together, one mistake by one driver can be disastrous.

Who will fall victim? And GOD be with ALL the drivers to keep them safe.

The speed of a car is figured by the rpm's on a car. NASCAR race cars have no speedometer but a driver can look at a tachometer that reads rpm's and is used mainly for calculating speed when entering pit road.

On a different note, the tempers. Who will have a tough time this season with keeping their tempers under control? Who will be the victim to those who can't? I can hardly wait to find out.

It's not only the drivers and owners that have temper problems. Last season we saw many fans throw a tantrum for a race finishing under the yellow flag.

How disappointing many of us NASCAR fans were to see other NASCAR fans behaving in such a manner. I thought behavior like that was only in other sports and not from NASCAR fans. Throwing debris out on the track for the drivers to run over. That could have caused damage to a driver or his/her car.

The drivers had nothing to do with the decision to end the race under yellow. Again for the new NASCAR fans, when a race finishes under the "yellow flag" that means the remainder of the laps are finished under those conditions. A red flag can be thrown anytime during a race if NASCAR deems the track unsafe. A red flag does not necessarily mean the race is over, although it can mean that if it's gone half way and it rains or other conditions are such that the race can't be completed.

To those of you that are new NASCAR: I welcome you to a sport of excitement, and a sport that has some great fans, and wonderful drivers.

Until next time.

You can contact Denise at: Insider Racing News