When I first hear that Michael Waltrip made a suggestion to the president of the newly renamed Auto Club Speedway of Southern California with the idea of converting the racetrack to a restrictor-plate track by building up the corners to 33-35 degrees of banking and the fact that they are seriously considering it , I have to admit that at first I said “What, are you kinding me, another restrictor-plate, yeah we need that?”, however the more I thought about it, I began to understand one thing, that in fact that the speedway does need a new identity.
Currently the racing at the Auto Club Speedway has been boring for the most part with the previous car, it’s not like Michigan racing, its long, drawn out caution free racing with the ending coming out to be a huge lead and in some cases a fuel economy race, so yeah, it does need a change. However I will say that this past Sunday night-Monday afternoon’s 500 mile race with the new COT car was better than in previous years, it was more side-by-side racing, but again, the large lead at this race track just keeps coming back.
So what should the identity be considering there is a short-track 1 mile in Phoenix, a 1.5 mile in Las Vegas that is less than 200 miles away and there is a road course in Sonoma, so at this point, I am beginning to understand why a restrictor-plate track might be worth it.
Now don’t get me wrong, I hate restrictor-plate racing for the most part, I do enjoy Daytona because at least you have to have a handling car to get to the front and stay there and its heart pounding including with the Daytona 500, however Talladega is not appearing and some of the time I would rather go shopping, work a to-do list and so on, it’s a Demotion Derby period, so no love there.
So what then, the way I see it, they have two choices:
First they could go with Michael Waltrip’s idea of changing it into a restrictor-plate track that should be a 2.0 mile with 33-35 degree banking.
Second, what about a Homestead type race track, a normal Darlington, an old Atlanta, a 1.3-1.5 mile track with two long drag strips and two tight with variable high-banked corners, the racing is good at Homestead and the setup could work for California. Think about it, Homestead is cool, Darlington is tight under the lights and the old Atlanta track which was a 1.54-mile quad-oval track…the point is they all produce good racing and there is no similar track in or around California.
Either hopefully will work and it would give the speedway a new identity.
Finally, the Auto Club Speedway have the same problem as the Atlanta Motor Speedway does, your current dates are not in good seasons let along that NASCAR races on the same night as an awards banquet, its either raining, way to hot or just a nightmare for fans to sit in the grandstands for hours and that should be the first change you make.
Personally I want Darlington back on Labor Day weekend with the Southern 500 and that could work with a three-way swap with all three speedways. Mother’s day in California or Atlanta, start there.
- Racedriven
2 Comments:
wow...cool, nice blog also....keep update and i will be back to check what new soon
I don't think that a restricter plate track would draw fans any more than the current configuration. If they want to fill the seats, and have something unique, they should build a 5/8 mile oval track, perhaps a miniature Dover or a west coast Bristol. There are already too many intermediate and restrictor plate venues on the schedule as it is. A Darlington or Richmond replica would be cool, as well, but I would really like to see a true short track race there.
I agree that the Cup schedule should include only one race per year in California, and it should be neither during rainy season nor the hottest time of the year.
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