5/10/2007
OUTSIDE THE
WALL: by Ted Baxter
WMT'S 1st FLASH EVENT:
THE 1st 50 LAPS
Ok, Ok, this has been discussed ad nauseum, and I
don’t think this topic is going to go away any time soon. There’s a
pretty big line drawn in the sand on this one. If you are on a team,
either as owner, crew member, driver, or sponsor, it seems that you hate
the format, and want it to go away. If you are a fan of the sport, you
are tickled pink to get more value from your money. What will happen?
Who knows, but I’d like to speak out a little here, so here’s my point
of view.
So many teams hate the format. So many teams prefer the time
trials and 150 lap races that have become common in our wonderful world
of Modifieds. Let’s not forget about our wonderful history of modified
racing. Back in the 70’s and 80’s (Fitch or Howie will have to write a
piece if you want something from the 50’s and 60’s, cuz I ain’t that
old.) We had a ton of short races, and just a few long distance races.
Stafford had 30 lappers every week, with a weekly field of quality cars
to rival the competition on the Tour of today. Stafford’s big race, the
Sizzler, was 80 laps. Thompson’s big race was the 300, and man do I miss
that event, but that’s a different piece, for a different time.
Thompson’s other big events of the era were 40 lappers for the World
Series. 75 Lappers for the Icebreaker, and a mix of other distances for
Pole Qualifiers and Outside Pole Qualifiers for the 300. All these races
included Heats, Consi's and Features. Back then, most of the longer
races were in the fall. The unofficial triple crown of Modified racing
all were in September. You had the Bud 200 at Oswego, The Thompson 300,
and The Race of Champions. These were the Grandest races of the day, as
they were nothing like the other races all year. 34-54 cars started. Pit
stops were the order of the day, and fans got to see something
different. If fact, if you look at the 85-87 seasons on the Tour, the
only 200 lap races before late August were the early season races at
Martinsville. The rest were of a shorter variety. A little Variety is
good.
Now, the drivers who prefer the TT and 150’s to the Flash
Races, lets examine what we have here. In today’s world, for arguments
sake, I’ll compare a 150 lap TT race at Wall to a Flash Type race at
Wall. In the 150 lapper, yes, you would have had no Heats, so that makes
you happy. In the Flash Race, you would have had 100 laps of racing as
opposed to 150 in the Regular format. You know what, after all the
Cautions on Sunday, did you really want another 50 laps of potential
carnage. And don’t hide behind the fact that Caution Laps would have
counted, because then we would have potentially had a 150 lap race, with
25 laps of green. You should be glad the format was what it was, because
a 150 lap race with 25 green flag laps would have set the Mods back to
the stone age. Fans would have gone ballistic. It’s the Drivers
responsibility to put on a good show. The drivers do need to realize if
they are on a tight race track, there needs to be a little, ok, a LOT of
Give and Take. Something that obviously wasn’t in great supply this past
weekend. No matter what the Format, if you guys can only go 3 laps
between cautions, it is going to cost money to fix the cars. You can
gripe about heats, You can Gripe about purses, but if you really wanted
to make Modified racing more affordable, stop running into each other.
There’s an idea. The track isn’t causing wrecks. The Purse isn’t causing
wrecks. I am pretty sure that 100 % of the wrecks, was caused by some
driver or another. We still admire and respect you guys as much as any
drivers in the world, and there’s nothing we’d rather do on a sunny
weekend day that watch you drive around in circles, but please stop
making that yellow flag wave. It really puts a damper on our fun.
OK, now that I have your attention, I will go over why the
flash format works, and what needs to be changed about it for it to
succeed. The Flash Format really works. It does. Here is what the teams
need to do to accept it. Don’t think of the Heats, as well, heats. Just
think of them as the 1st 50 laps of the feature. Yeah, but the Heats
Don’t pay Money. Ya know what, the 1st 50 laps of a 100 lap feature
doesn’t pay a nickel either. You race the 1st 50 laps to get to the last
50 laps. You wreck on lap 25 of the race, you don’t get to see laps
51-100, or 150 or whatever the length of the race is. The 1st 50 laps of
a Flash event is VERY important. Every car you do pass, is 2 cars you
don’t have to pass in the feature. That does not mean go wild like a
bull in a china shop. Some drivers will chose to do that, and because
some drivers choose to do that, many other drivers who are patient, can
pick up numerous spots. Yes, you might get caught up in somebody else’s
wreck, but that can happen in the final 50 laps too. They do need to
structure the purse so that everybody who shows up and RACES gets at
least enough to cover a set of tires, and not just the cars that qualify
for the final 50 laps.
What I do not like is the way they line up the drivers for
the 1st 50 laps (see, I ain’t calling them heats). The regular drivers
on the Tour have way too much of an advantage in getting the top 10
spots in each race. Either pick out of a hat for everything, or use Time
Trials (Yes, I Said Time Trials) to line up the heat, er, 1st 50 Laps.
When the Tour Comes to Riverhead per se, Bill Park, Chuck Steuer, JR
Bertuccio, Wayne Anderson and the Gang are at a distinct disadvantage,
having to start in the back. Don’t get me wrong, the thought of my Long
Island favorites coming up through the field makes my blood race. There
is no bigger fan of Mike Ewanitsko than I am, but whenever he started on
the pole at Riverhead, I was always disappointed. I wanted to see some
passing. I wanted to see Mike, or anybody go from the back going to the
front, and make it look easy. So if that happens at Riverhead, and one
of the Locals comes from the back to the front, it will be one of the
best races ever at the Head, Tour, or otherwise. But it really isn’t
fair to them. Now before somebody starts screaming on the message
boards, this is a TOUR RACE, why shouldn’t the Regulars get that perk.
Here’s why. They are the best Modified drivers in the World, they don’t
need it. The Best Driver on a given night should win that nights race.
If Juan Pablo Montoya wants to strap himself in at Riverhead, why
shouldn’t he have the same equal opportunity as every other driver in
the field. I guess the only fair thing to all drivers is to use Time
Trials to line up the 1st 50 Laps. This way the faster cars are
together, the slower cars are together, and maybe with this formula, and
a little luck and patience from the drivers, the Flash Format will be a
big success.
One other thing that I would change is the amount of cars
starting the feature. You don’t need 31 cars on the track at Wall. 24
would have been fine. Take the top 10 from each 1st 50 lapper, and 4
provisionals, or better yet, GET RID of those provisionals in the flash
races and just take the top 12 from each 50 lapper. Cars that finish
13th or worse would be scored 25th on back in the final standings for
the day, earning points and money. Everybody gets points, because
everybody raced. No need to have that many cars on the track, and lets
face it, the likely hood of someone starting 25th or worse not named
Blewett at Wall getting anywhere’s near the front of the pack was small
at best. Less cars will equal less cautions. Less cautions equal less
damage. Less Cautions and Damage make EVERYBODY happy. Fans, Car Owners,
Drivers, EVERYBODY.
Drivers, Car Owners, Sponsors, etc, I know this isn’t very
popular with you right now. It’s only 3 races this year, and really the
Wall event is a hard one to measure by. You need to look at all 3 races
this year as a whole, and even that may not supply enough data on
whether it’s been a success or not. To compare, it would be GREAT if we
could get one of these Flash events at Stafford, or Thompson, or IMAGINE
one at NHIS. How many people would attend a 1 day event at NHIS with
Heats, Ok I said Heats, Consi’s and Feature? The Track could afford to
put a full purse up for that one, and who would possibly complain?
Sounds like a MONEY MAKER.
No, we are not going to all agree on this one. There are as
many opinions as there are people. Not everybody is going to be happy.
If Tony Hirschman, or anybody else wants to skip a Flash event, that is
their choice. It really only hurts them in the standings. You look at
the 1st 3 years of the Tour, and only a handful of drivers raced in
every event. Drivers skipping Riverhead for instance over the years was
fairly common, unless they were high in the points, and had to come. If
1, or 2, or 5 drivers want to skip an event because of the qualifying
procedure or reduced purse, the Tour will live. NASCAR is trying
something here. It may not be popular, but unless you want a Tour of
10-12 Races, mostly in Connecticut, it’s something you are just going to
have to accept. How many tracks that once ran a Tour event, and are
still open, do not have Tour events scheduled in 2007. Lee, Star,
Seekonk, Holland, IRP, Richmond, Waterford, Erie, Jennerstown, Spencer,
Adirondack, Oxford Plains, Beech Ridge, Monadnock, South Boston, Orange
County, and Chemung. You could make a pretty good Tour on those tracks
alone, and I’m pretty sure I forgot some too. Without the Flash Events,
you would have added Riverhead and Wall to that list too. Maybe we need
to try and schedule some COMBO FLASH WEEKENDS. Friday at Lake Erie,
Saturday at Jennerstown. Saturday at South Boston, Sunday at Hickory.
Friday Lee, Saturday All Star. Something where you could get 2 races in
for the price of 1 weekends fuel and hotel. I am not always a big
supporter of NASCAR’s decisions, but I really think they are trying this
to keep some of the borderline tracks on the Tour.
Now I am sure many of you are going to disagree with
everything I say, and well, that’s your choice. I’ll still be happy to
sit with you at the next event, and watch the Greatest Racing in the
World, The NASCAR MODIFIEDS!!!
See ya Outside the Wall!!!
Source: Ted
Baxter/Independent
Thoughts
Posted:
May 10, 2007 |