Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 7, 1991 TAG: 9104070125
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Bob Zeller
DATELINE: DARLINGTON, S.C. LENGTH: Medium
The most damning charge, being leveled by numerous fans in bitingly critical letters to racing publications, is that Winston Cup races have become dull.
The gist of the argument is, because the rules effectively prohibit tire changes during caution periods, the fields have become strung out, the fans have become confused and Sunday afternoons at the race track have become boring.
Boring? Not really.
Different? Yes.
Today's TranSouth 500 at Darlington Raceway, which starts at 1 p.m., and next weekend's race in Bristol, Tenn., provide two more particularly crucial tests of the new rules, established to improve pit-road safety after the death of crewman Mike Rich last November at Atlanta.
Both races usually generate a lot of yellow flags. So it will be interesting to see whether these events feature the long periods of green-flag racing evident in each of the first four races.
These long green-flag periods are cited as a primary reason the new rules have made racing less exciting, but they also have been blamed for creating more yellow flags because teams are not changing tires so often, causing cars with worn tires to crash.
There have been many races with long green-flag periods before these rules came along. And many of those races have been more boring than three of this year's races.
Every sport, whether it be baseball, golf, basketball or auto racing, has its share of slow time. And few will dispute that Atlanta's Motorcraft 500 was a sleeper.
There are valid reasons, however, to argue that the races at Daytona, Fla., Richmond, Va., and Rockingham, N.C., were as good, if not better, than they were in 1990.
At Rockingham, Kyle Petty's win was a lot closer this year than his dominating triumph of 1990. Rusty Wallace gave Petty a good run and Ken Schrader almost stole the race from him, but Petty won by 1.09 seconds. Last year, his winning margin was 26 seconds.
The Richmond race produced NASCAR's trademark down-to-the-wire finish as Dale Earnhardt nipped Ricky Rudd. Last year, Mark Martin won by three seconds.
And the finish at Daytona this year, with Ernie Irvan the victor, was more dramatic than many previous ones.
There have been 26 caution periods during the first four races, the same number as last year at this time.
The difference in 1991 is the style of competition.
"Before the new rules, we always raced from caution to caution," Petty said. "Now we can't race that way.
"Now, at a place like Darlington, we have to run 60 to 65 laps on our tires, no matter what, because we can't change the tires during cautions. And if your car is not handling right or you've got a bad set of tires, you've got to live with it for those 65 laps. Last year, you would hope for an early caution so you could fix the problem."
This has changed how drivers race, Petty said. "Everybody is being a little more cautious, saving their tires.'
For the fan, it has changed the spectacle on the track. There are not as many multiple-car battles for the lead, at least in the middle portions of races, because the teams are not getting as many chances to correct problems with their cars. More cars are equal.
It may not be as easy to watch, but it remains interesting and intriguing. During the long green-flag period at Daytona, for instance, many cars seemed to have a chance to win, although they weren't racing nose-to-tail.
This may be why a team like Mark Martin's is not as competitive this year. His team specialized in using caution periods to make adjustments that improved his Ford during races last year.
Teams now must develop race strategies based fully on using each set of tires and not making as many mid-race chassis adjustments.
But if the fans don't like it and voice their displeasure by staying away from the track, as promoters claim is happening, NASCAR is bound to change it because the organization stages the races at Daytona, Darlington, Talladega, Ala., and Watkins Glen, N.Y.
"If we have a couple of more races and this thing keeps going like it is, I'm sure NASCAR is going to do something about it," said H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler, president of Charlotte Motor Speedway and one of the advisers who helped NASCAR formulate the rules. "One thing NASCAR has always done that's been great is keeping the competition close in stock car racing."
by CNB