THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 28, 1996 TAG: 9607280216
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: TALLADEGA, ALA. LENGTH: 74 lines
Car owner Robert Yates was talking about the ever-more-crowded schedule in the Winston Cup series Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway when he suddenly 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 and gardens are being left untended because fans are glued to their tubes 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 road 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 this weekend was reducing or eliminating testing.
During a rain delay Saturday morning, several crew chiefs shared their thoughts with NASCAR Winston Cup director Gary Nelson and vice president Mike Helton.
NASCAR rules currently limit each team to seven tests with a maximum of three days per test, not including tire tests and January testing at Daytona. Until a few years ago, testing was unlimited.
``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 that the smaller, less-experienced teams need testing more than the top teams, so he suggested that teams finishing in the top 10 in points be prohibited from testing during the following season.
Robbie Loomis, Bobby Hamilton's crew chief, said he supports the new races coming onto 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. 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 racetrack.''
The optional testing day is more or less what will happen at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this Wednesday - the day before Brickyard 400 qualifying. Teams have been told that they must bring their own tires (the ones used at Pocono), and the track will be open for practice from 2 to 6 p.m. EDT.
NASCAR is taking suggestions but is not contemplating any immediate changes, Helton said.
``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.''
Said NASCAR Winston Cup spokesman Kevin Triplett: ``If we did eliminate testing, how do you police it? 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. 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.''
Now, that's a thought.
``Look at New Hampshire,'' said Yates. ``We had only 12 laps of practice there and we won.
``Look at Daytona. We had very little time in on the racetrack there because of rain and we still had a good race.
``You learn more racing than you do testing anyway. If we're going to have 35 to 38 races each year, let's cut out testing and let us use the racetrack a day early and it will be fair for everybody.'' by CNB