Big News

10/03/04

           

            We’ve all heard about the meeting that NASCAR had at NHIS a couple weeks ago to discuss “big changes” for the series. Well, it’s about time! Just what we need right now is an infusion of excitement and sensibility. It seems as though we have lost a lot of both in the past couple years and NASCAR needs to make big changes to get back the excitement and to make some sense of what the series is doing and where it is going.

When I look back on the past 6 months what I need to remember are a couple fantastic 3 car finishes, a few good bumping incidents between rivals, some creative cheating, and happy winners jumping on the roof of a beat-all-to-crap race car that just pulled into victory lane. What I’m remembering instead is Manny and Ortiz hitting back to back homers, Corey Dillon kicking new life into the Pats running game, Robby Gordon and Tony Stewart acting out on and off the track and watching my cat chase squirrels and chipmunks around the yard. All of these things have been very exciting but none of them have involved Busch North Series racing. The top stories I remember from the BNS are pretty much all weather related and most involved what I considered some pretty foolish ideas for rescheduling, postponing and/or canceling.

Some of the things that are rumored to have come out of the big meeting do a pretty good job of addressing some of our biggest problems, such as doubling the purse on the short tracks. Hopefully, this will make the drivers want to win more and will cause them to try harder, making for better racing. One of the other changes rumored was the demise of a few of the shorter tracks in favor of some larger venues like Richmond, Martinsville and a Canadian road course. Good idea, bigger tracks make for faster speeds and more excitement, especially from the less experienced drivers. I’m excited about the road course possibility as I really enjoy the road course races. What I’m not too excited about is more races being held ten-plus hours away from central Maine. It is near impossible to make a one-day trip out of any race on the circuit at this point and I’m about done driving 10 to 20 hours to see one to one and a half-hours of racing.

There has been a lot of talk of the series going to composite bodies on the cars for next season as a cost cutting measure. That could be an excellent move, there is nothing more exciting than watching a good Modified race and after 2 or 3 good wrecks, that is exactly what it will look like. One driver was quoted as saying that the most exciting news to come from the meeting was that 2005 would see a new title sponsor for the series. That particular driver obviously isn’t a beer drinker. Busch gives away beer to the teams at the end of the race, why would we want to change the one thing about the series that is perfect? What’s worse is that the new sponsor could be something really silly. Can you imaging having to tell family and friends that you follow the Femarouse North Series or the Male Member Enhancement North Series? We could even have the Fat Reduction Pill Grand National North Tour.

The one thing that wasn’t rumored to have been talked about in the meeting was any sort of plan for rain or other natural disasters that makes any amount of sense. So far, we’ve been treated to a cancellation (if you didn’t want to race there, why did you schedule the race to begin with?), a Monday race (Come on, do you think we all can be hanging around the track on weekdays? And what was wrong with Sunday morning before the Cup race?), and now a “Y’all come back in two weeks” postponement. Is Sunday not a viable race day in New Jersey or did NASCAR just assume that everyone would appreciate the opportunity to spend another long weekend driving up and down the beautiful Atlantic coast? I guess my point isn’t that one plan is better than another is, but that there needs to be a plan. Someone needs to stand up and say “This is how we are doing it” Every race needs to have the plan and all of the teams, fans, media and officials need to know what the plan is before the race. Someone, please have another meeting.

As always, send Questions, Comments, Hate Mail, and Indecent Proposals to, Fish c/o Busch North Scene or e-mail them to fishy@ctel.net