Tuesday, July 29, 2008

"What are you doing?" (Step Brothers)

So NASCAR Sprint Cup had (and still do) a problem Sunday. Tire problems resulted in a poor racing atmosphere.

People go to racing to be entertained, and most go for wrecks. For this last race at Indy, Goodyear brought a tire unable to handle the pavement at Indy, which is specially treated for Indycars which travel 30-40 mph faster than a Cup car. The tires were getting chewed up within 5 laps for some teams, then explode if not taken off the car. Indy has grooves in the pavement which help open-wheel cars, but severely hurt heavy stock cars. And I'm sure the suspension style of Cup cars also add to the abusiveness of the tire.

End result was a very boring and caution-filled race full of uncertainty for teams. Will people come back next year to Indy? Some may not, since this isn't the first time Indy had tire trouble. They need to fix this now, and not hope it will be fixed next year.

To mend the fences, here's what I think NASCAR & Goodyear should do:
1) At the end of September, NASCAR Cup is at Kansas Speedway. Indianapolis is less than 500 miles away. Thursday and Friday needs to be a tire test where Goodyear comes prepared.
2) Only the top 25 teams are allowed to test.
3) Friday afternoon the speedway opens the gates for spectators (FREE), and based on practice speeds, the cars are lined up for a 50-75 lap shootout.
4) NASCAR, Goodyear, and whoever else feels responsible for the debacle can put up $100k (minimum) for a purse, divided amongst the top 5 finishers.

Goodyear gets a good test. Racers should get a good tire. Fans get a show they were denied Sunday. Teams get another test session. And everyone can go to Kansas.

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