10/27/06
EVEN A BLIND PIG. . .
Burk, as a general rule I don't give much credence to your self-centered buffoonery and your pompous attitude. I generally take the position that you write just to pick a fight with the world. You have surprised me. I cannot agree with you more. You have hit the nail on the head concerning track conditions. Let the overpaid, under-educated whiners work a little for their money. It does make for great entertainment.
Do you think it's possible to put two of these intelligent articles out in a row or do I have to wait another year?
Your Pal,
The World Famous Kevin J. Ruic
Cleveland, OH
VARIABLES SHOULD BE A PART OF THE EQUATION
Hell, yeah! Perfect tracks and perfect runs will turn anything into the Sewer - oops - Super classes. Bore fests that may as well be re-jigged to turn them into "reaction time contests" where no actual car would be needed, simply a tree and your foot in the beams! Think of the pit space that would free up!
When did variables leave the racing equation? I must have missed the memo. When did tuning for conditions become an antiquated skill? Back in the old match racing days any
racer worth his salt could put down a decent lap on marginal tracks and consistently make a show of the whole exercise. I never saw Jungle or Pat Foster or Bruce Larson click it off sixty feet into a run because the track was sub par. What a load of crap it is to think that surface prep should be optimized in order to provide a show. Does anyone remember the appeal that Fuel Altereds held? Did anyone care about optimized performance watching those fire-belching devil chariots do their Tasmanian Devil imitations going down the track? Most times they traveled more than 1320 feet on a single pass. And we loved it!!!I may be an old fart in the eyes of many, but I would prefer seeing some tuning skill and driving prowess rather than be bored to death watching “perfect” pass after pass where the deepest wallet wins.
Mike Gamache
Montreal, Qc. Canada
PUT THE CHALLENGE BACK IN RACING
Great column about the track prep and the whiners. I would go one step further, though, and take the COMPUTERS off the car on race day. Then all of us will see who's got their stuff together and can make four passes worthy of the trophy and the money at the end of the day.
Pair that with safe but less-prepped surfaces and it makes the digs interesting again. That's how a lot of legends were born in NASCAR. Who could tame Darlington? How do you get around Martinsville? Who's the bigger man at Daytona?
Drag racing could benefit from that, seeing who could slide their car down a greasy Englishtown or get their car to hook up in Seattle or work a great biting track like Texas or Las Vegas.
Hell, it would definitely make the points chase interesting and we could root for people again, instead of wallets. Just my opinion.
Scott Heinrichs
Tacoma, WA