"...AND THERE'S A FIGHT!"

Ahh, NASCAR. Just when even more fans were about to give up on you, you go and give us a show like that. For those of you who missed the "AAA Texas 500" you missed one of the best NASCAR races in awhile! Drivers fighting, drivers flying the bird to officials, and to cap it all off, a fantastic dash to the finish that saw Denny Hamlin pick up the win and, more importantly, the points lead with two races to go.

But it is the fight that inspired me to write today. Over the past several seasons, NASCAR's policy has been severely punishing drivers involved in fights and overall trying to prevent them from happening. But at the beginning of the 2010 season, NASCAR instituted a new policy that has come to be known as "Have at it, Boys!", meaning that the reigns were going to be loosened a bit and the drivers could show some personality without fear of being fined money or points. The drivers have taken that to heart this season which was evident by the "altercation" between Jeff Burton and Jeff Gordon in Sunday's race at Texas.

Fights like the one Sunday truly serve to increase interest in the sport. For example, I had a fellow student in one of my classes tell me today that while he hardly ever watches NASCAR, he watched all the highlights from Sunday's race on SportsCenter because he saw the fight and wanted to know more about the race. While this Sunday's race was a minor example of how fights can increase awareness of the sport, it was a fight in the late 70's that catapulted NASCAR into the national awareness.

The year is 1979 and CBS has signed a contract with NASCAR to air the Daytona 500 live flag-to-flag for the first time. For the first time in history, all of America would have access to the still largely Southern sport of NASCAR. The situation got even better for NASCAR when nearly the entire East coast was hit by a huge blizzard that left many people stuck in their homes with only one thing to do......watch TV. This, in the end, gave CBS huge ratings for the race and made alot of people tune in for the race who may not have otherwise; and what they saw was NASCAR history.

Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison fight
at the conclusion of the 1979 Daytona 500.

Donnie Allison

Cale Yarborough

The closing laps of the race saw 2 NASCAR veterans battling for the win. Donnie Allison in the #1 Hawaiian Tropic Oldsmobile and Cale Yarborough in the #11 Busch Beer Oldsmobile.

As the two drivers tore down the backstretch on the final lap, Donnie tried to block Cale and they kept going lower and lower on the track until Cale's left-side tires were in the grass. After much beating and banging, both drivers crashed hard into the outside wall and came to rest at the bottom of turns 3 and 4. Richard Petty, who was running 3rd, drove by both of them to win his 6th Daytona 500. Once Cale and Donnie got out of their cars, they both felt it was the other drivers fault they had crashed. Donnie's brother, Bobby Allison, who was also in the race, pulled up to see if his brother needed help. The fight was on from there! Allison vs. Yarborough in front of an enthralled nation! The American people had never seen anything quite this on their TV before and alot of them were hooked that day.

Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison fight
at the conclusion of the 1979 Daytona 500.

(Video of the final lap and fight can be seen be clicking this link!)

So will the Burton/Gordon fight have the same effect and revitalize some interest in NASCAR? While the circumstances are not the same as in '79, the effects have really yet to be seen for this fight. NASCAR has fought sagging attendance and TV ratings for several seasons at this point. But if the races can continue to be as entertaining as Texas (and if the drivers continue to let their personalities show), attendance and ratings should BOTH go up!

Let me know what YOU think:
Should fighting be a commonly accepted thing in NASCAR or any other sport?
Should those fights be used for publicity?

Safety vs. "The Show"

The finish of last weekends "Amp Energy Juice 500" brought up a debate that arises in NASCAR circles often: namely, Should the race be declared official and the caution flag thrown if a wreck occurs on the last lap? The crash in question was for a large crash that occurred right at the start-finish line as the field was taking the white flag and resulted in A.J. Allmendinger getting some air time.

Up until the summer of 2003, NASCAR had the policy of letting drivers "race back to the caution" meaning that if the yellow flag waved the leader finished the lap they were on at full speed with no regard for where the cars causing the caution might be. The drivers could continue to advance their position after the yellow flag had waved until they raced back around to the start-finish line when they would then assume "caution speed" behind the pace car. This produced some fantastic racing for the fans but posed a serious threat to the drivers who were involved in the accidents.

The problem finally came to a head on September 14, 2003 in the running of the "Sylvania 300" at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Dale Jarrett wrecked on a restart and was left, stalled, in the middle of the track right before the start-finish line. The leaders continued racing so as to race back to the caution and several of them nearly hit Jarrett's stalled car as they raced to the line. In the wake of this near incident, NASCAR enacted a new policy where the field was frozen as soon as a caution came out and the cars slowed down immediately. If the caution flag comes out on the last lap of the race, the race is declared finished and whoever was leading at the time of the caution is credited with the win.

This was the scenario that arose at Talladega last weekend, as you saw in the link above. Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick were side-by-side racing for the win when the large crash broke out at the start finish line. The race was declared official and after several minutes of unknowing while NASCAR checked video and scoring monitors, Clint Bowyer was declared the winner.

Clint Bowyer celebrates his win in the "Amp Energy Juice 500"
October 30th, 2010 at the Talladega Superspeedway

The question that arises is: Should the race be declared "finished" before the drivers have actually completed the scheduled distance? It comes down to the safety of the drivers vs. the quality of the show. NASCAR always wants to put on the best race they can for the fans, but should some of that involve unneeded risks for the drivers? The 43 men who strap into their cars each Sunday are already aware that if the right scenario occurs at the wrong time, they may not get to see their families again.

In my opinion, the "show" is never worth risking the life of one the stars participating in it. In the instance of Allmendinger's crash at Talladega, had the race been allowed to finish, the leaders would have come screaming back across the finish line at nearly 200 mph while several wrecked cars sat on the apron of the track. Had another crash then occurred at the finish line, who knows what could have happened.

I think that sometimes people see the bright-colored and flashy racecars and can easily forget the fact that there is a human being strapped inside who may or may not need help after a crash. With all the safety innovations in the last 10 years, the risk of injury has been greatly reduced from what it once was. With that being said, I don't believe we should lull ourselves into a false sence of security and assume the driver is okay after a crash. The sooner that the cars can be slowed and medial/safety personal can get the the driver's aid, the better.

But enough of my ramblings...what do YOU think?