ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, July 28, 1996 TAG: 9607300048
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-9 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: AUTO RACING
DATELINE: TALLADEGA, ALA.
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER
Car owner Robert Yates was talking about the ever-more-crowded Winston Cup schedule Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway when he contemplated the fate of the average fan.
``I think the fans themselves need time off from NASCAR,'' Yates said. ``I think they get pretty messed up during those eight weeks in the winter when they can't see stock car racing. But they've got to get their houses painted and do other things around the house.''
Could it be that across our great land, lawns are going unmowed, gardens are being left untended and gutters are not being cleaned because fans are glued to the tube every weekend watching NASCAR races?
Probably not. But one of the hottest topics in the NASCAR garage this season has been how much is too much? How many new races can the Winston Cup teams absorb? How many new trips? How many more work days?
``I think we're maxed out,'' said car owner Butch Mock. ``My guys are already working seven days a week. If we go any further with new races, I'll probably have to have two teams within a team, with one team for tracks a mile and under and another team for the bigger tracks.''
One potential time-saving solution being discussed here this weekend was reducing or eliminating testing. During the rain delay here Saturday morning, several crew chiefs shared their thoughts with Winston Cup director Gary Nelson and vice president Mike Helton.
NASCAR rules limit each team to seven tests with a maximum of three days per test, not including tire tests and Daytona tests in January. Until a few years ago, there were no limits on testing.
``I think we need to reduce the number of tests or even the number of days per tests,'' said Tony Glover, Sterling Marlin's crew chief. ``Everybody is gone from home too much right now. It's just hard to keep caught up at home.''
Mock believes the smaller, less-experienced teams need testing more than the top teams, so he suggested teams finishing in the top 10 in points be prohibited from testing during the next season.
Robbie Loomis, Bobby Hamilton's crew chief, said he supports the new races coming on the schedule because ``each week you have a new life.''
But when it comes to testing, ``what they ought to do is let us go into certain tracks one day early, give us one or two sets of tires, and let us run for about four hours,'' Loomis said. ``You've got to figure that we'd gain 14 days that way, because with the testing schedule we have now, we spend 21 more days at the race track.''
The optional testing day is more or less what will happen Wednesday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway the day before Brickyard 400 qualifying. Teams have been told they must bring their own tires (the same type used at Pocono), and the track will be open for practice from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
NASCAR is taking suggestions, but is not contemplating any immediate changes, Helton said Saturday.
``If we do away with testing, some teams will find other tracks than Winston Cup tracks to test at and the evolution will bring it right back to where it stands now,'' he said. ``We don't mandate testing, so it's an option teams have."
``If we did eliminate testing, how do you police it?'' said Kevin Triplett, a NASCAR spokesman. ``Would teams that are asking us to quit testing, would they quit testing? If we eliminated it, would they eliminate it?
``As far as serious consideration, I think it's kind of hard to seriously consider in the middle of a 14-week stretch,'' Triplett said. ``So we're not going to change the policy tomorrow.''
``We used to run 60 races a year, but you didn't test. You just loaded up and raced,'' Triplett said.
Now that's a thought.
``Look at New Hampshire,'' Yates said. ``We had only 12 laps of practice there and we won. Look at Daytona. We had very little time in on the race track there because of rain and we still had a good race.
``You learn more racing than you do testing anyway,'' he said. ``If we're going to have 35 to 38 races each year, let's cut out testing and let us use the race track a day early and it will be fair for everybody.''
LENGTH: Medium: 81 linesby CNB