Comments on: No Contrived Finishes Here, Please

By: NaBUru38

NaBUru38 — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 16:52:59 +0000

In Formula 1, if the safety car is on the track on the last lap, it enters the pits to let cars rush in order to the finish line. It’s a way of having a full-speed ending without extending the race past the official duration.

By: SkipinSC

SkipinSC — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 14:52:57 +0000

You want to see evidence of how the sham of GWC finsishes would affect INdycar? Insert a GWC into the race between Little Al and Emmo back in the day. Little Al and Emmo touch, Unser goes into the wall, Fittipaldi continues, but wait….Now we make everyone pack up behind Emmo for a GWC re-start. Is there damage to Emmo’s car? Does he have enough fuel to run the additional laps? I’m sorry, but that is NOT what the racing “Gods” had in mind.

By: Robert

Robert — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 03:12:27 +0000

Most things are best left alone. If a race finishes under caution, so be it. Your entry says it all; those drivers that won under caution should not have their victories seen as anything less than a victory. If a team has the best car or runs the best strategy (or both), that team should be rewarded with a victory. Oh, and I sure hope Firestone isn’t gone for good.

By: Vic

Vic — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 06:56:42 +0000

George,

Regarding “green-white-checker” finishes…..I’ll share a line from my best friend Dom. He’s a guy who loves the 500, respects open wheel, but by in large, isn’t a big race guy. Regardless, his view on this topic, when I brought it up to him over a a year ago……….”Why would Indycar ever do that? It’s real racing. Not the pro wrestling that Nascar is.”

Take that as you will. I love it, and agree!

Vic,

South Bend, IN

By: 15daysinmay

15daysinmay — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 05:01:43 +0000

I just think a GWC takes away from a race being an actual competition. If a race is 200 miles or 300 or 500, the person who covers that distance first is the winner…plain and simple. Other sports go to extra time in the event of a tie, but ONLY a tie, not to appease the TV networks and fanbases. There are no ties in racing, so there is no need for extra laps.

To me it is just manipulating the finish, and that sends you down the slope between competition and entertainment.

Finishing under yellow is no different than a 10-0 game in baseball or a 20-point blowout in basketball. It’s a competition, and sometimes that’s just the way sports goes.

By: jhall14

jhall14 — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 00:24:03 +0000

George, I always said when the reigns were handed over to Brian France, he would run NASCAR into the ground. He does not have the saavy his dad or grandad had.
Now if the Speedway would take back control of the pre-race festivities, maybe we could have the flow back the way it used to be years ago, for the Anthem,Prayer,Taps and “Back Home Again in Indiana”. Tv is great but it sometimes it can’t get out of it’s own way for the commercials.Long live INDY

By: A.J.

A.J. — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 23:34:10 +0000

I don’t know, George… I agree with you quite strongly on the general sentiment of “No Gimmicks”. That’s an aspect of NASCAR I simply cannot stand, and it’s been my own personal peeve in any of the racing series long before I ever found your blog. Right down to the use of the term “gimmicks”, even.

That said, I can make an argument for forcing the race finish under green. That can be argued as being a “purist” stance itself. You see, the potential problem is that yellow flag finishes in controversial atmospheres can be argued as contrived or manipulated, which would be it’s own sort of problem to deal with. It’s one that could potentially be quite incendiary, I fear. Hypothetical siutation: Someone’s running great in 2nd place, and the frontrunner is fading for whatever reason. Make the frontrunner either a favorite in the points, or someone with a “popular” story: Danica, or a new “Willy T. Ribbs” as an African American, or someone coming in younger than Marco… Big Al coming out of retirement… whatever. The second place runner is coming up, there’s 3 laps to go, and BANG!! Yellow flag. Debris. Or whatever. The “Favored” racer wins.

How many people would come out of the woodwork to say the race was fixed? And alternately, what does the series do to keep any such pressure from being exerted on an official to prevent any such dishonesty to begin with? The questions alone, even if the finish was a natural, unmanipulated event, could get disruptive if someone – a fan, a disgruntled driver or owner, a sports writer, whatever – decided to mount a soapbox and start a crusade.

You see the problem?

Again, my initial answer to the question is the same as George’s: Keep away the gimmicks. I think the risk of that sort of situation arising is worth taking in order to avoid being manipulative via a GWC gimmick. But at the same time, I’d argue that this risk is one of the things folks should take into account when they consider the matter. It may not change your mind, but it should at least help inform your conclusion.

By: delta3

delta3 — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 18:14:12 +0000

Good column! I totally agree with your stand on avoiding contrivance and “gimmicks” in a misguided attempt to create interest in the series. I followed NASCAR during the 60′s (I was very p.o.’ed when the “Hemi” engine was banned because Petty was winning too much — how asinine . . . should we place some restrictions on Penske because he’s winning too much), and again later after the OW split (in the meantime, after I got out of the service, I had been a big follower of CART and the Indy 500), and back in the day I thought they had an exciting racing series with some interesting tradition. But since they instituted the gimmicks you mentioned under Brian France’s watch, coupled with their insistence upon maintaining a spec series that clings to archaic automotive technology, NASCAR has been losing it’s racing credibility, in my opinion.

(Also in my opinion, the grandson of the NASCAR founder is an arrogant, elitist, mental lightweight — an interesting co-incidence that IndyCar’s own arrogant mental lightweight is also named Brian — who would be selling used cars somewhere if his last name wasn’t France).

I would like to mention too that I am in agreement with “redd” on his comments above regarding “yellows” and an on-board ignition system . . . and, I sincerely hope the “tire” situation can be resolved in a manner that will not cause the progress of the series to be hindered in any way.

By the way, sir, as I think I have mentioned before, I am a regular reader of your very thoughtful and well-written blog. And, in my opinion, you do yeoman service in selecting topics for discussion . . . most of them I find very interesting and informative. I am a fairly capable writer myself (probably my only real talent), and I know a good writer when I see one. When I am checking out the latest IndyCar news, you are usually my third stop after Speedtv.com (read: Robin Miller and Marshall Pruett) and Curt Cavin’s Q&A.

Keep up the good work.

By: billytheskink

billytheskink — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 17:57:54 +0000

I think it was the 2008 Texas race that would have sparked any "momentum" for finding a way to finish all races under green, as that race ended under a caution caused by 2nd and 3rd places, Andretti and Hunter-Reay, getting together 6 laps from the finish. The 2009 Texas race did finish under green. I don't recall much of an outcry against yellow flag finishes then, except from a few callers on the post-race radio show while I was driving back home from the race. NASCAR's GWC rule too often makes for an absolute mess at the end of a race, it makes the drivers look like amateurs. Yellow-flag finishes do not usually bother me (maybe if the race is really close). Instead of addressing the finish, a potentially thrilling aspect of a race, Indycar needs to address the start, which is where their drivers look like amateurs and is something that should be guaranteed to thrill at every race. I do think it is fair to point out, though, that finishing under green-white checkers has happened before in Indycars...

By: The Speedgeek

The Speedgeek — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 17:22:23 +0000

Yep, what Brian said. Can’t really add much more other than to say that since the introduction of the G-W-C, my NASCAR watching has gone down by at least 75%, if not more. Who wants to watch a 3 1/2 hour race, 98% of which is rendered meaningless by something inconsequential that allows NASCAR to throw a yellow and then do a G-W-C (or, now, up to THREE G-W-Cs, which can routinely take 20-30 excruciating minutes to execute)? Not me. Sorry, NASCAR, but I’ll catch the highlights on Wind Tunnel.