Tell me again, why should I hate restrictor plate races?
by Charlie Turner
I'm Charlie Turner co-host of the syndicated, mostly NASCAR radio show On Pit Row. Thanks for stopping by OnPitRow.com and the Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie blog. Oh yeah, Steve is an idiot.
April 30, 2007 9:37 am CDT 8 CommentsIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Twenty different drivers swapped the lead 42 times. Jeff Gordon won his 77 th career Cup Series race, passing Dale Earnhardt Sr., on the birthday of the greatest restrictor plate driver who ever lived. Tony Stewart got wrecked and got pissed. Kyle Busch destroyed everything he drove. Another beer can barrage.
Ah, Talladega.
Next up, Richmond. I love Richmond. You may have to use some brakes this week, negotiating these four corners–in less than 100 words.
1)Â Does the Green, White, Checkers overtime need to be adjusted; especially at restrictor plate tracks?
2) If DEI and RYR merge, which car manufacturer will win out?
3)Â Does Tony Stewart doing the side step shuffle after his meeting with NASCAR surprise you?
4)Â Should Jeff Gordon’s beer can shower, force NASCAR to re-think its “coolers in the stands” policy?
We used comments from three different contributors on last week’s ON PIT ROW. If you haven’t heard the show yet, check us out on Race Talk Radio, Thursday 7 to 9 pm ET. The live Fast Lap is sorta  like a short track race, I usually put Steve in the wall a few times.Â
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About the Fast Lap blog
Fast Laps! Welcome to the On Pit Row Fast Lap blog. Every week On Pit Row we pose four Fast Lap questions. Four corners - four questions. On the radio show, Steve and I have 30 seconds each, to give our response to each of the four. If you are a listener, you already know that we rarely agree on any answer. The Fast Lap is NASCAR debate. Hannity and Colmes. Lincoln and Douglas. Wronkowicz and Turner. OK, maybe not Lincoln and Douglas. We have more fun than Lincoln and Douglas. Here's the challenge. We will post our Fast Lap questions some time each Monday. Four questions on topical NASCAR related subjects. Your mission is to comment with your answers and each answer is limited to 100 words. The questions, answers and comments will form the basis of this blog for that week. Comment on the Fast Lap questions. Comment on the comments. Insult the commenters. Witty ridicule is rated at least as highly as cogent commentary. Just remember that you have limited words and penalties are severe. Or not. Steve and I will select worthy blog entries to be featured on an edition of On Pit Row. That's the plan. I'm sure we will have some other things to post about each week but the intention is to pose most posts as questions. I want to argue with you! Bring it on.
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1) I think it should. Giving it one shot just isn’t cutting it overall, and at a plate track they aren’t even up and rolling yet. An additional lap at plate tracks would be beneficial, and perhaps cut some of the accidents down. Then again, maybe not.
2) He who ponies up the most dough and support, wins. DEI is playing third fiddle in the Chevy camp at the moment, with Hendrick and Gibbs getting better attention, but they could be second fiddle with a blue oval on the hood. Of course with Ginn having support from Hendrick, one could argue DEI isn’t even third in the pecking order.
3) Not one bit. He didn’t earn his Thunder Lounge nickname of Flip-Flop overnight.
4) No, it shouldn’t. That would be like someone saying ban guns because a few are used in homicides. Talladega took a step in the right direction with arrests, and they should continue to clamp it down in that fashion.
Luke, I can’t give you my full answers to these four turns until after this week’s ON PIT ROW….but I can tune you up as needed.
1. Look at what carmike had to say at the bench racing blog. Very, very interesting idea.
2.I know Earnhardt fans that want to puke right now.
3.You’re going to have to explain your pet nickname here. Couldn’t hear it for all the Thunder Lounge noise!
4.Hmm.
1) Not bad, but I don’t see the garage going for it. If positions 9-20 eat it, whoever was in 21st just walked into a top 10. Every point counting, even though nobody wants someone intentionally hurt, puts them in the position to benefit from it.
2) I couldn’t agree more.
3) Flip-flop. It’s simple. Just look at what he said last Tuesday, then what he said last Friday. It happens quite a lot, so we (OK, I) started calling him flip-flop. Daytona last year, Pocono, etc.
4) I’d pay another $10 a ticket for the additional security, if that’s what it takes. Granted, $5 would probably cover it.
1) CarMike’s scenerio would have the drivers/cars that were removed from the race locked into those spots so they couldn’t move up. Not a bad idea. But at ‘Dega everyone on the lead lap believes they can make the move to win in a short shootout. That is where the problem occurs.
Here’s another radical idea, and I’m not saying I support it; just throwing it out there, how about lining them up in rows of two. Odds on the inside, evens on the outside, just like at the begining of the race, this gives everyone a “dancing partner” to start with and maybe a little less radical jockeying for position at the git go.
Steve your proposal is flawed. Part of the beauty of CarMike’s idea is that it lessens the likely-hood of a race ending crash. Your proposal would create almost immediate 3 and 4 wide situations, and increase the crash frequency. Bonehead.
I’m the bonehead? Check the thinkness of your forehead.
Starting side by side with a drafting partner would keep the cars in line while they came up to speed. Then, and only then, would drivers be looking to make a move. So instead of 30 cars fanning out while they were coming to speed, at different rates, they could race for position when they were able to do it–after the second of 3 or 4 laps. After all what do all the crew chiefs say to their drivers when they re-start? GREEN-GREEN-GREEN…white-checkers. Noah’s way is the best way!
Could it be the “hurry up” mode that the current 2 laps provide? If it were say, 4 or 5 regardless of where they were, would that perhaps calm the intensity down a little bit?
Maybe then, if a driver knew he had 5 laps to get it done, they wouldn’t stick their nose into the first available hole regardless of size.
Then again, I’ve always thought it should be a 3 shot max deal instead of the 1 they do now. Although 1 is better than none.
I got it. We’ll let the fans vote on it. Then NASCAR can announce the results at the anniversary of the first green-white-checker race.