What Are You Hoping For This Season?

[Acadia]

It looks like the days are getting longer and people are getting active again. There's some life showing up on these boards.

Let's give NASCAR some things to think about before the drop of the first green flag.


What would you like to see different this season?


I'll start...



I want to see a hair-trigger on the black flag for aggressive/reckless/stupid driving. That is the biggest cause of yellow flags. Yellow flags are the biggest detriment to racing. There is way too much wrecking going on. I want to see racing, not a series of 2 to 8 lap restarts interrupted by yellow flag pauses. Most drivers of championship caliber are exciting and that performance is only tarnished by the bonehead driving of the extreme minority. So if the sanctioning body clamped down on the wrecking, the overall product will be improved.


Next?


Summary:

Clamp down on reckless driving
Less yellows
Quicker return to racing from cautions

[Acadia]

If you think about it, the product is racing laps. Many of you like to say it's all about "the show", but I'll ask you to define what is "the show".

This is just horrible efficiency.




Track
Laps
Cautions
Racing Laps
Non-Race Laps
% Non-Racing
% Racing


Thompson
150
12
89
61
40.7%
59%


Stafford
200
8
157
43
21.5%
79%


Stafford
125
3
106
19
15.2%
85%


Monadnock
175
6
129
46
26.3%
74%


Thompson
150
5
123
27
18.0%
82%


Loudon
100
2
94
6
6.0%
94%


Riverhead
175
11
75
100
57.1%
43%


Stafford
150
2
136
14
9.3%
91%


Loudon
105
10
53
52
49.5%
50%


Bristol
150
9
99
51
34.0%
66%


Delaware
159
13
92
67
42.1%
58%


Thompson
125
2
115
10
8.0%
92%


LRP
66
5
47
19
28.8%
71%


Loudon
100
4
75
25
25.0%
75%


Stafford
154
13
89
65
42.2%
58%


Thompson
168
16
84
84
50.0%
50%











Sum or Cum. Avg.
2252
121
1563
689
30.6%
69.4%



If we use a classical grading system of:

A = 90 - 100
B = 80 - 89+
C = 70 - 79+
D = 60 - 69+
F = <60

There's room for improvement.

So that's why I want to see more effort put towards containing driving styles that cause yellow flags.

[BigMac]

I think you guys nailed it. Too many cautions and not enough racing. In a bad economy a lot of people are staying home because they know there is a very good chance they will only see 50 green flag laps at a given event. Fans have too many entertainment options to play that game. If you go to a football game you know you are going to see 4qters. You know you'll see 3 periods at a hockey game. There is no reason to count cautions at the local level.

[Sicklajoie]

I'll admit some gains were made this past year, but it still takes too long to go back to green once the yellow comes out. A single car spin should just be a quickie yellow - cross them up, go back to green, rather than spending 3-5 laps trying to sort things out.

[Lugnuts]

I agree with no cautions counted and to go back green as quickly as possible especially if it is only a one car spin. I think that transponders would help in that area in getting things sorted out quicker.

[Acadia]

I'll admit some gains were made this past year, but it still takes too long to go back to green once the yellow comes out. A single car spin should just be a quickie yellow - cross them up, go back to green, rather than spending 3-5 laps trying to sort things out.

That drives me nuts!


And that it takes two laps after the yellow comes out before pit road opens. I don't see the reason for that. Damaged cars shouldn't have to drive around making matters worse.

[csg]

has the tour ever had a no caution race? I have been to quite a few races and can not remember one. I do remember complaining about the number of cautions and the amount of time to get going again from a relatively minor spin.

[JWfor8x]

I'll admit some gains were made this past year, but it still takes too long to go back to green once the yellow comes out. A single car spin should just be a quickie yellow - cross them up, go back to green, rather than spending 3-5 laps trying to sort things out.

There is one more thing besides sorting things out that adds to the caution lape. That is the "lucky dog" rule. That adds at least one caution lap to every yellow. I agree that on a spin, it should be as you say, but they want to do things the way they do with the cup series. That means, similar pit procedures to allow cars to pit under yellow. That's just great if it's a 500 mile race, but for a shorter race, without tire changes or fuel being added, why is it needed for every caution?

[Acadia]

And given all the radio communications of today, I would think things would be faster as far as restarts go.

The idea of having yellow laps not count has merit, but it will be abused by those that need or want a restart. I like it the way it is, kinda keeps their toes to the fire. And I do believe if we were to go to yellows-don't-count, the event laps will be reduced so we'd end up pretty much with what we have now. So instead of a 150 lap yellows-count races, we'd have 100 lap yellows-don't-count races that end up being about 150 laps total with about a third yellows.

I'm going to summarize points brought up in this thread in the opening post.

[BigMac]

I'd rather pay the gate fee knowing I'm going to see a 100 green flag laps than pay for a 150 and have no idea how many laps I might see. Based on the numbers provided earlier it is highly likely I won't even see 85 laps of green flag racing. Time for the cautions to go on all tracks under 1 mile. All of the open shows are green flag races. The VRMS is green flag racing. Time for nascar to make the change.

[Acadia]

So if yellows don't count and there was a 100 lap event, those 100 laps will be broken up by many, many yellows.

I want to see long run racing. The events that had 5 or less yellows were pretty good. The events that had 10 or more yellows were horrid.

Those events with lots of yellows rarely had a run over ten laps, most runs well under ten laps. That's not racing, that's a bunch of restarts. And restarts are prone to even more incidents.

Knowing that yellows-don't-count, some teams will abuse that to cause yellows to bunch the field. That will make things worse. Listen to the radios at the track, it happens already.

The sanctioning body is like a parent that is afraid to discipline the trouble child.

Make it painful for causing a caution. Then we'll see more racing and less cautions.

The NHRA penalizes cars that cause delays. If a Top Fuel car oils down the track, the car is penalized in points and/or dollars depending on how often the car has offended.

Perhaps some sort of administrative consequence is needed to curb the wrecking and corresponding yellows. Don't accommodate or enable the causes of the yellows.

[limodmaniac]

This is what I'm HOPING

1. Forty cars at every race.

2. Respect for the modifieds from Nascar

3. The demise of the KandN series

4. Higher purses and point fund for the modifieds

5. Great weather for the Riverhead Tour Race

6. Finding enough people to help me raise money for the Riverhead tour race

7. Good weather all year long

8. Exciting racing

9. Safe racing

10 Cheaper gas prices to travel to races.

[Revscott]

I am hoping for less complaing by Modified fans haha.

[JWfor8x]

I am hoping for less complaing by Modified fans haha.

I think that Jim has a better chance of seeing his entire list of 10 things happen <G>

[stoningtonmodmania]

I want to see

1 More tv time
2 higher purse
3 More cars

I put these in this order for a reason

[SUfan]

FYI- The races with the fewest cautions were also the most boring events all season. Be careful what you wish for. The drivers are on edge every lap on the WMT because they have to be if they want to win. Just read what Daniel Hemric said of the WMT in his press release for proof of that. I will take the bad with the good over riding and saving fuel to win a race any day.

[Acadia]

Pit road is open during the race for green flag stops. But when a yellow flag flies, pit road is closed and then reopened some time into the caution period. Why does pit road close when a yellow flies and why the delay in reopening until some time into the caution period?

[Sicklajoie]

Pit road is open during the race for green flag stops. But when a yellow flag flies, pit road is closed and then reopened some time into the caution period. Why does pit road close when a yellow flies and why the delay in reopening until some time into the caution period?

The reason for closing the pits during a caution is so that the pace car can pick up the front of the field and get everyone caught up. It’s a safety issue. NASCAR wants to get everyone slowed down nose to tail before allowing folks to start diving onto pit road.

[Acadia]

Yeah, but I kinda figured there was a safety angle to it, but also thought that the pit road speed limit covered the safety aspect.


The reason for closing the pits during a caution is so that the pace car can pick up the front of the field and get everyone caught up. It’s a safety issue. NASCAR wants to get everyone slowed down nose to tail before allowing folks to start diving onto pit road.

[JWfor8x]

The reason for closing the pits during a caution is so that the pace car can pick up the front of the field and get everyone caught up. It’s a safety issue. NASCAR wants to get everyone slowed down nose to tail before allowing folks to start diving onto pit road.

On the WMT, do they allow all of the cars to pit when they open the pits or do they allow the lead lap cars to come in when they open pit road and those down a lap or more to enter on the next lap?

[Acadia]

I think the lead lap cars pit before the rest of the field.

[Rich Mergl]

TEDS RACE TOURS
Runs a bus to a Friday night race at Stafford Springs

[Acadia]

I'd like to see sponsors come back.

Remember these?


MOPAR, Eggland's Best, Polar, Sunoco, Tidy Cat, etc.


Need more sponsors on the cars.

[bud]

Teddy Bear Pools, Magnum Oil, Miller, Shark Lounge, Danny's Market!

[worm]

all marios sponsers

[mwf44]

Gulf Oil spent over a half million in four seasons with the WMT, best sponsor ever at this level ( hospitality, show car, media adds, merchandise, ect.) & nobody mentions them as a Tour sponsor !!!! Guess I did a sorry ass marketing job. Gonna fire myself !!!!

[bud]

Oops...... Yeah you are right! Just miss the 44

[NWMT PR]

I'm not around competition on a day-to-day basis, but when I am, I can definitely tell you that they are always looking at ways to shorten caution periods. There is considerable time and thought given on how to do it in the most efficient manner, taking into account safety as Arcadia mentioned.

Some venues provide scenarios that others do not, which can make things different from one week to the next, the tracks with outside pitting for example.

To put myself in the seat of a fan, I could see where some caution periods might appear to have a needless lap or two of caution. If anyone has a radio, then you usually understand why this is. It is almost always because a car (or cars) is not in the right position for the restart. The transponders help with lining up the cars, but sometimes there are scenarios that where things need to be corrected manually. But even more frenquently than that, it is because the drivers are not getting it corrected themselves after they've been told where to go. I'm certainly not trying to throw anybody under the bus here, but if you've listened to the radio, you know this happens often.

We'll continue to work to make this situation better.

[Acadia]

I listen in on the radio once in a while, and the problems with getting the cars lined up is pretty obvious. The drivers are just behaving badly.

The cars jockey to get ahead under the yellow, they just drive ahead as far as they dare go under yellow, and perhaps hope they aren't told to get back before the green. That has to be stopped. And then the multiple warnings over the radio are just silly, as if the driver can't hear what he's being told. Whip out the black flag and send the offending car to the back of the pack, and if it happens again, park it for three laps. The drivers need to stop "racing" under yellow, it only leads to more yellow laps.

Seriously, with all the transponders and radios we have to day, things don't seem to be much better than the clothesline used at Islip.



I'm not around competition on a day-to-day basis, but when I am, I can definitely tell you that they are always looking at ways to shorten caution periods. There is considerable time and thought given on how to do it in the most efficient manner, taking into account safety as Arcadia mentioned.

Some venues provide scenarios that others do not, which can make things different from one week to the next, the tracks with outside pitting for example.

To put myself in the seat of a fan, I could see where some caution periods might appear to have a needless lap or two of caution. If anyone has a radio, then you usually understand why this is. It is almost always because a car (or cars) is not in the right position for the restart. The transponders help with lining up the cars, but sometimes there are scenarios that where things need to be corrected manually. But even more frenquently than that, it is because the drivers are not getting it corrected themselves after they've been told where to go. I'm certainly not trying to throw anybody under the bus here, but if you've listened to the radio, you know this happens often.

We'll continue to work to make this situation better.

[Acadia]

I hope NASCAR is watching what is going on at NSS with Speedweeks. The poor performance of tech inspection results in major problems. It appears a car should never have been allowed on the track, and then competitors had to protest to get the offending car removed from competition.

That should never happen. I hope NASCAR doesn't do this to itself.