I attended yet another Indianapolis Brickyard 400 race on Sunday, July 27, 2008. This race was an embarrassment for NASCAR and for Goodyear. Unfair to the fans, who paid good money to attend the Competition Yellow 400 and unsafe for the drivers who were screaming around the track on rubberized time bombs that couldn't last beyond 10 laps. Yes, the Goodyear tires used for this race didn't uphold the beating received from the track. This was like being at the NBA playoffs when the basketballs go flat and nobody has an air pump. This race was a hot, desultory marathon of a dozen 10 to 12 lap mini-races, the longest stretch of green-flag racing checking in at 13 whole laps. Throughout the entire race, the boos were audible and understandable. At one point, the audience even booed the track sweeper driver who was blowing the bits of rubber and dust off of the track. The whole event turned out to be a disaster. NASCAR clearly announced at the start of the season that this year will be the first full year of using the new Car of Tomorrow. This new car has a higher center of gravity, which puts a lot more weight on the right-side tires. So why didn't NASCAR test these tires on the track before the race? They were aware of the tire situation from the qualifying and practice laps completed the night before the race. If NASCAR was well aware of the tire situation, why didn't they change or postpone the race until a safer tire for the track conditions could be delivered?
Some of the drivers expressed their concerns in The Indianapolis Star newspaper. Matt Kenseth stated,"It was actually embarrassing, it really was, I apologize to the fans" (A8). On lap 47, Matt blew a tire and had the right rear of his car destroyed. Ryan Newman also expressed his opinion by stating, "It was a ridiculous race, there was no racing involved other than the mandatory cautions, which was ridiculous" (A8).
At least NASCAR thought about the safety of the drivers. After the first couple of blown tires the decision to mandate cautions every 10 laps was secure. This was done to ensure no serious accidents were caused due to the tire problems. I hate to have seen a driver get hurt over the tire situation. That would have been a major lawsuit against Goodyear and NASCAR. All in all, it was the best thing to do for the safety of the drivers, but very upsetting for the fans. I like to see real solid racing at the Brickyard. It is a two and a half mile track and over the past years some excellent racing has taken place right in front of us. Too bad I didn't get to experience this kind of racing for the fifth year in a row. I can only hope the problem is fixed for next years race.
So, what is NASCAR going to do to ensure this doesn't happen again? Maybe, find a different tire manufacturer, or put Goodyear on probation? Who knows, but if nothing is done about this situation, then there will be thousands of upset fans and drivers.
If you don't already know, Jimmy Johnson took the checkered flag this year. This was his second win at the Brickyard and he is only one of two to win the race from the pole setting. The other driver to ever do this at the Brickyard was Kevin Harvick.
Reference
Kravitz, B. (2008, July, 28). A bumpy ride. [Editorial]. The Indianapolis Star, p. A1 & A8.
Picture retrieved from http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/sports/story.html?id=098bcc88-4b01-415e-8671-9b43c3c5e964
2 comments:
I personally am not a NASCAR fan but know from experience that the fans are definately die-hard! I can see what happened at the race as a major dissappointment to race fans. There is no excuse on the tire makers part for the condition of the tires. I am sure they were paid quite a bit of money to produce a quality product and they didn't deliver. I hope for the fans sake this isn't an issue next year!
I'm also not a huge fan, but have many family members that are. Sad they can't get something like that fixed. I know the tickets aren't that cheap. They also know with die hard fans like they have something is expected. I wonder what kind of politics kept them from fixing this problem. Maybe Good Year needed to sell more tires.
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