NASCAR is facing pressure to get up to speed

Sporting News, The, Feb 12, 2001 by Lee Spencer

Pressure to perform is nothing new in Winston Cup racing. These days, drivers lose rides and sponsors in the blink of an eye. As quickly as Tony Stewart loses his temper. As suddenly as Jimmy Spencer loses control. As inevitably as Michael Waltrip loses races.

Who feels the most pressure entering the new season? The drivers? The owners? The pit crews? The mechanics?

Try the folks in the ivory tower. That's right--this season, the pressure is on NASCAR.

Pressure to make drivers feel safer in their cars. Pressure to make races more competitive. Pressure to appeal to new advertisers and a bigger TV audience. Talk about pressure to perform.

NASCAR will be under the microscope more this season than any other in the sport's history. The green flag will drop on its new, fat TV deal at the Daytona 500. If the race is as boring as last year's, will new viewers tune in again the next week? Will the new Dodge teams be crying for rules changes? Will all of the drivers live to tell about it?

NASCAR is monitoring five major stories this season. You'll want to watch, too.

* Safe or sorry? NASCAR prides itself on the safety of its cars, outfitted with steel cages of thick roll bars that have helped many drivers walk away from spectacular crashes. Last season--in one season--three drivers didn't walk away, and that's unacceptable.

Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin were killed in practice laps, likely because of stuck throttles, at New Hampshire. Tony Roper died in a truck crash at Texas. NASCAR tried to help. It had teams put switches on the steering wheels to shut off throttles and mandated restrictor plates, which limit air flow into the carburetor and reduce speeds, for the second race at New Hampshire. The 1.058-mile track can be unforgiving because of its flat corners.

The drivers want more.

Teams and manufacturers have investigated insulating the driver with specially designed seats and using the HANS (head and neck safety-restraint system) device. Ford has offered to pay for HANS devices for its drivers who want them.

Drivers also are concerned about the high speeds run on some of the 1.5-mile tracks, such as Atlanta, Texas and Charlotte. Jeff Gordon's pole speed of 194.274 for the season finale at Atlanta was faster than the top qualifying speeds for the races at Daytona and Talladega, the biggest tracks on the circuit.

Winston Cup Series director Gary Nelson says NASCAR might consider using restrictor plates at some of the 1.5-mile tracks but only after more research and input from the drivers.

The bottom line: Let's hope it's not too little too late. NASCAR should have worked overtime to come up with solutions before the start of the season.

* We won't be bored again. NASCAR knows it must try to make the competition closer on the intermediate tracks. One-third of Winston Cup's 36 races take place on oval tracks ranging from 1.5 to 2.0 miles. Last month, NASCAR had drivers test cars with roof strips and rear-deck spoilers at Atlanta, Texas and Las Vegas.

The overall response from the drivers wasn't positive. So NASCAR went to the wind tunnel last Friday and back to the drawing board. Still, expect NASCAR to mandate aerodynamic adjustments designed to enhance competition before the teams go to Las Vegas for the third race of the season. Boring racing is bad TV.

* Fewer tires, better balance. Goodyear has limited the variety of tires teams will use, eliminating much of the guesswork that goes into setting up the cars. The same tire compound that works at Michigan also can be used at California, allowing teams to review earlier notes and giving them time to work on other variables.

Ricky Rudd says he didn't feel a difference in his tires after testing at Atlanta, but other drivers insist the tires offer better grip and are more forgiving.

Opinions differ on which teams this will help the most, but figure the younger teams that don't have as much experience with tires should benefit simply because they will have fewer compounds to confound them.

* If Dodge needs help, NASCAR will oblige. The clock is running out on Ray Evernham, Dodge's chosen leader. After nearly 500 days and an estimated $70 million of backing, Evernham must show his hand.

Dodge lap times weren't up to those turned in by Ford, Chevrolet and Pontiac during testing at Daytona. But Dodge teams found speed in the engine shop and the next week during the Talladega tests.

Reliability isn't the problem, but whether the engines will exert enough horsepower under race conditions remains to be seen. Evernham admits his engine department still is in its infancy, and the recent departure of chief motor man Ron Vacarro doesn't help.

Should Dodge founder early, NASCAR will step in with rules changes to help it become more competitive.

* See a different game. NASCAR's TV ratings dropped last season, down 7 percent from 1999. More than half the races lost audience share, and disgruntled former TV partners didn't go out of their way to promote the sport.

That has changed with NBC's and Fox's ability to cross-promote during events such as the World Series and NBA Finals, but NASCAR must give the networks a quality product to sell.