Why NASCAR Needs More Short Tracks

4/26/13

Kevin Abraham

 

In the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series today, the drivers will race on 21 oval tracks and 2 road courses for a total of 36 races. The range of tracks is from the 0.526 mile track Martinsville, to the 2.66 mile track Talladega. Out of the 21 oval tracks however, only three of the tracks are what is considered a ‘short track’ which is a track that is less than one mile in length. Those three tracks are Martinsville Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, and Richmond International Raceway. Most of the current Sprint Cup schedule takes place on tracks between one and two mile tracks. I am convinced that one of the things NASCAR needs to change is to add amount of short tracks on the schedule in order to attract more viewers.

 

Needing more short tracks on the schedule is due to being able to watch racing on the whole track on a smaller track. Going to a race at Martinsville, a person can see most of the racing on the track, unlike going to Texas or Kansas for example. On a short track, a fan can see more of the race on the track, and can be less dependent on the FanVisions being installed at many tracks. There is nothing like watching a race live and in person, and when a person is spending over $100 to go see a race, they want to get their money’s worth out of attending the race. Many fans do not want to watch a parade around the track, they want to see action, and sometimes even wrecks on the track.

 

Short tracks also provide plenty of action for the fan. Drivers are not as afraid to drive (and more often overdrive) on the short tracks. This causes more incidents on the track. However in those incidents, there is a lesser chance of the driver involved getting injured, or worse, in the car. I realize that no matter how safe the cars are built, there is always a chance a driver could be seriously injured on ANY track when they wreck, not just high speed tracks. Consider Hall Of Fame driver Richie Evans, who died at Martinsville while driving his Modified in a practice session in the 80’s, or Tom Baldwin Sr. (Sprint Cup Owner Tommy Baldwin’s father) who perished in a modified incident at the short track in Thompson, Connecticut in 2004. Even with this possibility, drivers are known to be more aggressive, and willing to take more chances to pass a car by roughing up their competitor, or even get revenge on another driver for a past wrong that happened at another track.

   Kurt Busch practices at Richmond International Raceway

               

Short track racing also decreases aerodynamic sensitivity on the track. On the larger tracks, we see ‘aero loose’ and ‘aero tight’ when a car is around another car. This is not the case on the short tracks. A car that has been beat up can recover and still have a good finish, even if the car is missing a few body parts. This takes driving out of the engineer’s hands, and places control in the driver’s hands. This allows some of the smaller teams to have a better shot at a top 10, or even squeak out a top 5 on a good day. 

 

 

NASCAR needs more short tracks simply because it is entertaining to see drivers show their emotions during after the race. I can think of many instances there were shouting matches, pushing and shoving, and maybe even a fist or two thrown after the race (off camera of course). Back in the mid 90’s after a race, Dale Earnhardt and Rusty Wallace exchanged heated words after Dale had wrecked Rusty at Bristol. If memory serves me correct, Dale was given a penalty for rough driving, and also wrecked Terry Labonte at the end of the race, with Terry winning the race spinning sideways. Often when there was a short track race, it seemed that Ricky Rudd was involved in an incident with another driver. Ricky and Dale Earnhardt wrecked on the last lap in North Wilkesboro, ultimately costing Dale the 1989 championship. Then, in 2003 Ricky Rudd and Kevin Harvick got into an altercation at Richmond. Ricky ran into the back of Harvick, and Harvick hit the turn one wall. After the race Harvick and Rudd got into an altercation, with Harvick walking over to Rudd’s car in disapproval for Rudd wrecking him on the track. When Rudd was asked his side of the altercation, he said, "I couldn't hear him. He's got that little yap-yap mouth. I couldn't tell what he was saying." Another memorable short track incident occurred at Bristol this year. We saw Joey Logano walk up to Denny Hamlin after the race to confront Denny for wrecking him during the event. This contributed to Joey racing Denny hard for the win at Fontana, with both of them wrecking again. There are so many good short track memories, but there is not enough room for them all here in this column.

 

Short track races are fun for the fan to attend, and the racing is like no other racing out there. Short track racing causes drivers to actually show emotion, and look more human, and less like robots. NASCAR, if you are reading this column, please consider adding more short tracks to the schedule.

 

As always please feel free to leave your comments below. Also please feel free to share your favorite short track memory below.

 

I am on Twitter, if you want to follow: @kevdogg329

 

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