On 09-19-03 BOBBY QUEEN Typed to ALL  about NOTE on New NASCAR RULE!

BQ>Well guess everyones heard by now racing back to the yellow is now
BQ>ILLEGAL! When the yellow comes out everyone must slow down and stay
BQ>the in line.  Like local paper said here today the only question is
BQ>the what if someone is in process of passing someone when the yellow
BQ>comes out.  Is NASCAR going to have cameras all around the track?  Oh
BQ>well just another changing rule in this years NASCAR season. :)

Nope. No cameras needed. With the scoring transponders in each car they 
just punch up the leader's last completed lap on their lap tops and use 
that to realign the field. It's much simpler than the old write down the 
order from the score girls and hand it to the flag man that we used to 
use on the bull rings.

I am in favour of ending racing back to the start-finish line on a 
yellow flag. I have screamed about racing back to the yellow to anyone 
who would listen. NASCAR is the last major sanctioning body to get rid 
of that dangerous practice. I'm not sure about the free pass for the 
first car one lap down ... it's a mixed blessing. And it certainly 
benefited Ryan Newman (What? Me Worry?) ... oh, sorry. That was his 
cousin Alfred.

They've banned racing back to the yellow for ages on short tracks and it 
has worked out. Of course racers will scream if they have just spent 
five (or more) laps setting some bozo up for a pass and then have the 
yellow come out and they have to revert back one lap. But, it averages 
out. In 25 active years as a participant and another 15 years working 
and running tire crews for Hoosier I have marvelled that NASCAR stuck as 
long as they did to the old rule.

And I can say that reverting back one lap helped my activities as often 
as it hurt them on average, The racers and the fans will soon get used 
to the new deal ... take about two weeks, tops. But, you'll still hear 
bitching about it for twenty years.

I'd like for NASCAR to say "screw parity" and go back to racing _stock_ 
cars, not silhouette racers. Your Ford isn't fast enough? Because the 
Chevy has a slicker body? Tough. Redesign your body (within the rules) 
so that it will be the Mopar and GM guys who howl. You say the Fords 
make too much power - go back to the drawing boards and find some more 
ponies in what is essentially your 49 year old design for the small 
block GM engine.

And I'd like to see NASCAR make the manufacturers race the drive train 
configuration that the sheet metal represents. Screw a bunch of rear 
drive Monte Carlos and rear drive Intrepids and rear drive (and two 
door) Tauruses. Lets see - that would mean that GM could race (as rear 
drives) Caprice, Bonneville, Limited, DeVille (I think). And FoMoCo 
could do Crown Vic, Grand Marquis or Town Car. None of which come, AFAIK 
in a two door body style. And Mopar ... well, Mopar would be hosed until 
they could build a new RWD Charger to sell to the public. 

Or the manufacturers could learn how to make front drive cars raceable.

OK, I'm all done editorialising and you can have your soap box back.

ENJOY!!!
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UNCLE DIRTY DAVE'S KITCHEN --
Home of Yaaaaa Hooooo Aaahhh!!! HOT SAUCE and Hardin Cider


... "We were all just racers. All we wanted to do was race." John
Rutherford
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