The 2021 Running NASCAR/IMSA/other racing things thread

I accidentally watched 10 minutes of Bristol dirt practice. There is a 0% chance this won't be a shitshow. From a TV perspective, the dustcloud is Pigpen-level (I concede this may be normal), and they're supposed to get rain this weekend.

 

Rain would help. Dirt racing is better when the surface has a little water in it. Otherwise you get that dust you saw today. Of course, ideally they’d do this at night.

 

One of Bristol’s major parking lots is underwater and track staff posted this on Twitter this morning:

 

#ItsFloodingBaby

 

The Peerless Restaurant is apparently closed for remodeling. That was basically the only reason I found to spend $800 at the Ramada (Very) Limited (now some other cheap brand name) across the street -- four-night minimum at $200 per for a Motel 6 style room -- to cover Bristol.

If Bristol needs a gimmick for people to come watch racing at Bristol, NASCAR's in way more trouble than they're letting on.

 

How about they stop with the gimmicks and encourage some Junior Johnson/Gary Nelson/Smokey Yunick/Chad Knaus-style creativity?

Maybe this is an unreasonable metric to go by, but I felt like the racing was more “popular” when the crew chiefs were better known — that often was because someone was getting an edge on someone else. It wasn’t only about the drivers. I couldn’t name a Cup crew chief now except Ben Beshore, who played football in York around the time I lived there. (Edit: I lie, Rodney Childers — but that is it.)

I’m not an expert, just a casual fan, so YMMV.

 

Feel free to gimmick up Dover or Kansas or some other anonymous conveyor belt.

 

Perfect idea for Michigan. Maybe a giant windmill, ala mini-golf, they have to drive through and a moat to jump over.

 

I love the idea for dirt racing - just think Bristol in late March was a bad idea. One of those McTracks they built in the last 25 years would have made those races a bit more interesting. Or even put the drivers in cars specifically engineered for dirt-racing and throw the shell on with all the logos etc. I will be watching though.

If they're going to keep gimmicking up the sport though - they've got to do a street race. Not expecting Monaco - but I'd settle for any city willing to shell out the money to fix its potholes, a military base or an airport.

 

Yeah, the weather is always a coin flip for the spring race. They moved it out of March a couple of years ago to try to get a better window but for some reason thought it would be a good idea to go back.

 

I watched very little of the Eldora truck races. Were there this many red flags?