On my way home from my vacation in the North Carolina mountains I listened to an interesting interview on satellite radio with Ray Evernham. The main topic was the All Star race last weekend and what he thought of it. The question was brought up whether the event was supposed to be a race or more of a show. The answer of course is both. Which can be said for NASCAR in general. It is a fine line between creating entertainment without turning the series into professional wrestling. I think right now NASCAR is doing a pretty good job balancing it on the 36 races that make up the normal schedule. Most of the on-track racing has been good enough to provide the entertainment and some of the events have had a little post-race excitement. One of Ray’s main points was that he thought the All-Star race should have a different technical rules package. To allow the teams more leeway to work on the cars. I agree with Ray that it should be different from a rules package stand-point. Let it also be an All Star event for the teams to showcase their talent. Let them innovate and drive the sport forward.
Now I’m not talking about throwing the rule book away. That would lead to some ridiculous cars being made. I’m saying open up the rules in areas that won’t change the look of the cars, but would give the teams some options to make the car even faster. Mainly in the front and rear suspensions. Allow them to do anything they want as long as they use the Goodyear spec tires and they remain in their normal position when it goes through tech. Let the teams play with the geometry and mounting points. It would be interesting to see what the teams could come up with. You could also allow the team to decide how much rear spoiler to run. Too tall and the car will have too much drag, too little and you won’t have enough downforce in the corner. Then they could also play with the angle.
I would also like to see them open up the engine rules. Nothing too crazy. Allow the teams to run any rear gear they choose. That way the engine guys can turn as much RPM as they dare. Take away some of the weight rules for the pistons, valves, etc. Allow them to use some more exotic materials. Just thinking about the possibilities from taking away those couple of rules gets me excited. It would really challenge the engine builders and drive development. You always hear people wanting to return to the “good ole days” and this is one way to get a small piece of that back. I would not be surprised to see some engines turning RPM similar to an Indy car, but with a pushrod V8. The focus for the engine shops now is mostly reliability, but this would be a chance for them to push the power envelope even more.
Now this could lead to some problems with the racing. If a team comes up with an advantage that is too great, they would run away with the win. Think Jeff Gordon and the legendary T-Rex car. That could make for a boring race. I’m sure NASCAR could come up with something to add the excitement back in. I think shrinking budgets and teams not willing to spend all year developing a car for a non-points race would keep most them from spending too much time on the cars. Hopefully this would keep the field relatively close. Obviously the bigger teams will be able to do more, but that’s always been the case in auto racing. I think you would have many engines builders pushing the limits and that could lead to more failures, adding drama to the event.
As a fan I just want to see something special with the All Star cars. Something that sets the racing apart from a normal event other than the big pay-day. Charlotte is the perfect track to allow the rules to be opened up. It isn’t big enough to allow the cars to get up to dangerous speeds. Even if you added another 10 mph to a lap, it would not cause any issue. You would still be quite a bit slower than Michigan.
What do you think would spice up the race? Do you think the All Star event should be more of a show than a normal points race or do you want to just see good hard race? Would allowing the teams to work on different areas of the car add excitement?
image from Wikimedia author tequilamike
The Auto Blogger 
I absolutly agree!! But I don’t think you have to expect NASCAR to come up with gimmicks to prevent a “T Rex” type of situation. I would encourage all the teams to create another T Rex. If you want it to involve all the “stars” on the teams, allow them to put the best equipment on the track and see who wins. If it turns out to be a “boring” event, then it will be clear who the true “all stars” are.
You’re right. Boring is relative. Some need close racing, some want wrecks. You could argue that if your driver is the one running away with the race it isn’t boring to you. I don’t mind seeing my favorite driver spank the field. In my mind the cream will always rise to the top.
Mr Blogger you sound like you have lost your dern mind! Open it up? They already have engineers out the kazoo on both the Rules side and the Team sides. Faster, they already can run 195 on this crazy track!! How about stepping back a little bit. Saw off the splitter, outlaw tape on the grille, mandate the front springs with tie rod end “regal ride” shocks to go along for the ride. Do away with the go cart solid suspension, go back where the roll center is in the front of the car instead of in the back with the goofy track dragging track bar they have now. Turn them back into cars they can drive instead of “rocket ships” or “dogmeat” weird things they are now!!
Thanks for the comment. 195 was qualifying. The tires fall off quickly at CMS and that can’t be sustained. It seems like during the race most were in the 190 range. Even a 200 mph lap average is still slower than MIS. No matter what the teams will do, the limiting factor will still be the tires. I think opening up the rules will make the cars harder to drive. They will be more on edge.
Have a good Memorial Day!
You don’t need more gimmicks. How bout some solid racing. Let’s talk about the segments. How bout you run 4-5 segments, (which ever you want), Each segment 50-60 laps so a pit stop is in there somewhere. Then, tally each drivers finish and the one with the best overall is the winner. By using the best overall finish, you force the drivers to try for the best finish in every segment. (whoa, that would almost be like real racing) And, by making the segments longer, you open the opportunity for some one to make a better call for the long haul. No jumping out front and running off in the clean air by yourself for a whopping 10 laps. No system is perfect, but something like this would seem to have the chance to put a little more racing into the show.
As I said before, forget the gimmicks like no speed limit on pit road, If you really need a gimmick, make everyone use bias ply tires for the night. (you know, like the one’s used by real racers for years). I’d pay good money to watch these young guns try to master a loose car smoking off the corners.
Thanks for a chance for an old time racer and longtime fan a chance to spout off.
Why not run real stock cars like the Australian V8 supercar series , Real bodys , working doors , headlights wipers ..etc then run them on the road course at Charlotte….
I’m a big fan of V8 Supercars. I don’t know how well a Fusion or Camry body/chassis will work with RWD and a V8. It would take a lot of work
The answer is, bring us, the US driving public, good RWD cars like those down under and get rid of the POS rigs like the Camry and Fusion!
– Run alternating segments counterclockwise then clockwise.
– Put a ramp in the groove at the start finish line.
– every five laps black flag last place car, until you are down to 10 who race for the bucks
(Tongue in cheek)
Simple… Figure 8 race at 150+ mph.
– Cover Bristol with dirt and make ’em run it there. Pay the big bucks to win and you’d see a packed house again.
Nothing learned there translates to anything else on the circuit-so the sanctioning body can rest easy there, plus if FOX covered it DW would be lost as he never had much success on dirt, so we might actually get to hear someone else talk.
(Seriously)
Haven’t they covered Bristol in dirt in the past?
Yes, for Sprint cars and modifieds.
Some back and forth here….. I agree with Ray, and some other posters here…. but they need to be doing some of these things throughout the season! No pit road speed limit? Hell yeah! Race back to the yellow flag, allow teams to innovate, to be creative, to put their best minds to work….. you know, the things that NASCAR did for years to become popular, before it was watered down to the bland, boring spec series it is now. I’m all for the V8 Supercars, from what I know so far.
The Australian V8 Supercars are no longer real production cars. They changed a year or two ago to full-on funny cars like NASCAR.
That is correct. They use a full spec chassis like NASCAR.