The 2024 running motorsports thread

The view from Rossi's car as it happened. The back and forth between him and his team made me laugh, and I probably shouldn't have.

 

"It's Sting Ray!"

 

Pretty sure Verstappen is going to be on the receiving end of a session with the stewards after the Hungaroring.

Also, it was hilarious listening to McLaren's pit demanding Lando Norris move over for Piastri and Norris responding that Piastri was going to have to catch up (he was 5 seconds back at the time, 6 seconds back now).

 

Also, McLaren should be fined €10 million.

 

Checks out based on what Rossi said on his podcast, which is an entertaining listen, by the way.

 

Yeah, seriously. I thought team orders were supposed to be penalized. Strip McLaren of its constructor points for the race.

 

Team orders are perfectly legal. They did the right thing.

 

I swear I thought somewhere in early 2000s they said no more orchestrated finishes. There was a time when teams had to strop directly saying. They could hint such as today with "conserve your tires" or whatever but to blatantly pull over and let a teammate pass was a no-go.

 

It lasted a season, I think. It wasn't workable.

 

75,000, per IMS. And I remember NASCAR boasting back in their heyday that they were so popular, they'd take over the 500, too.

Honestly, I think NASCAR needs a complete reset. Kyle Busch even mentioned he's looking forward to the two week Olympic break. Maybe in 1980 when attendance meant more than TV money, local fans would pack grandstands to spend an entire Sunday afternoon watching 500-mile races where the cars could pass and perhaps even break down.

NASCAR has never realized you can have too much of a good thing. Or in this case, too much of a really mediocre thing.

Attention spans are shorter. The schedule is way too long, the races are way too long, the cars are way too identical and the burnout for drivers, crew chiefs and crews is at an all-time high. There's a terribly boring sameness to nearly every event, with cars logging laps between stages because they're all going to pit under caution anyway.

Keep Daytona in February and race every other week until the weather gets better. Then break up the summer schedule with weeknight 250-milers or Saturday-Sunday doubleheaders to avoid making two trips to tracks where attendance is lagging. Start the "playoff" with the Southern 500, wrap it up with five or six races and end the season in mid-October.

Something between 24 and 28 races, with only a handful of "classic 500 milers" should be the goal. Right now there's too much supply and not much demand.

 

Somewhere, Rubens Barichello had a nasty twinge and doesn't know why.