Rick Hendrick, and as of late Jeff Gordon, are basically stealing the show, week in and
week out.
In spite of a mandated 2008 Car (COT) that has identical frames, legislated bodies, weight
distribution specifics, and on and on. In spite of Jack Roush’s Fenway merger, and in spite of the (gasp) Toyota Invasion,
Hendrick continues to show them just how it’s done.
The latest complaint is that they are testing outside of the official “testing”
rules, that is, on non Cup tracks and on non Goodyear tires. Other Teams are ramping up their testing schedule and it is a
safe bet that the on-facilities test track that Penske is building will be equipped with lights for around the clock work
on everything that rolls.
So, in spite of all parity efforts, and in spite of all cost-savings efforts, costs continue
to spiral upward and one Team continues to dominate (and congratulations, by the way to Hendrick for playing within the letter
of the rules and gaining an advantage—and congratulations to Jeff Gordon for picking up his game and looking like he
did back in the good old {for him, anyway!} days).
Mr. Pemberton
must certainly be thinking, “What is a Sanctioning Body to do?”
Let’s tackle
that testing issue, but first bullet points on past problems solved in this column (articles available upon request) that
are apparently still, well, in the pre-discussion stage…
·Slow Cars on The Track: Lose the “Top 35”, it’s time has come and
gone, and let the Big Dogs (of the week) run.
·Credibility: For (literally) Goodness Sakes, write some rules and penalties regarding
what is legal and what isn’t and the penalties are for irresponsible on and off the track behavior, post them publicly,
and then live by them. If something new comes up (like the Hendrick trick shocks) it is illegal next week, for now it is within
the rulebook.
·Plate Racing: Three words-- Lose The Banks
·Boring Racing: Two words-- Shorter Tracks
·More Boring Racing: On restarts, put the lapped traffic behind the field and start them
two abreast, as in the beginning of the event.
And now, Mr.
Pemberton, (drum roll please) the Answer to the Testing Dilemma, again in bullet proof form:
·Ban ALL testing, other than authorized NASCAR sanctioned testing. Period. There will
be plenty of self-policing (read “ratting out your competition”). This is the only way to get your arms around
the problem. Mr. Penske can test his sporty cars and perhaps use his track for go cart races, but he will survive.
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information.
·Stop “Test Days”, “Driver Substitutions”, and the rest of the
complexity of the current system, and implement the following:
·On non-Busch companion events dedicate a full day to testing, on regular weekends have
an extended Test Session before qualifying, and here is the kicker—divide the
time available by the number of cars on a Team. That is, the Wood Brothers car gets to test all day or the allotted time,
each Childress car for a third of the time, Jack Roush’s Fords a fifth, and so forth.
That’s
it. End of the problem.
Certainly there
will be complications. Certainly there will be different details regarding a different advantage or problem next week, but the secret to dealing with “issues” for both NASCAR, and for us all, is not to listen to your wallet,
and certainly not to spend days in committees to agree with what one’s head decides, but to quietly listen to your heart—for
the Answers that were there all along.
2006 StockCar Review.
