NASCAR'S EXPENSIVE 3 1/2-HOUR TIRE TEST; 2008's BRICKYARD 400

(This might be the archetypal NASCAR fan photo; Dad spending a ton bringing the family to a race and buying trinkets and food and beer and maybe seeing some drivers; with the Pentagon a favorite NASCAR sponsor).

The only way to run a successful racing series is as a benevolent dictatorship. Never was this so obvious than in Sunday’s three-hour, 28 minute and 29 second tire test run by NASCAR as the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Since its creation by "Big Bill" France over 50 years ago, and now overseen by his grandson, Brian France, NASCAR has been run first and foremost by and for the France family, their partners and minions. This is one place where there is never any question of who is in charge; as a publicly-traded company, International Speedway Corporation, stockholders are happy to leave the running of the organization to those who know it best. In 2007, NASCAR made a profit of just under $3 billion, and was the world's second richest motorsport, trailing Formula One.

Back to Sunday's race at Indy: About two-thirds of the race’s 160 laps on Indy’s 2.5-mile track run under the yellow caution flag (where there’s no passing allowed and the cars are slowed to about 80mph), spectators at the track and those at home were treated to one of the biggest disasters in American racing history.

This past Sunday, ex-Formula One driver Juan Pablo Montoya, traditional crowd favorite Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Matt Kenseth, Brian Vickers and this season’s winningest driver so far, Kyle Busch, all experienced right-side tire blow-outs which put them out of contention for a win.

As the tire problem became evident, NASCAR threw the yellow flag every 10 to 15 laps, a competition yellow, they call it, so pit crews could inspect the tires on their cars to try and catch blow-outs before they happened. (NASCAR's Sears Craftsman Truck Series is used by many drivers as a minor league series they must get through in order to someday be in the Sprint Cup; some drivers are happy to stay in the series, though, making millions, though not as many as top Sprint Cup competitors).

The last green flag flew with 10 laps left, leaving a  race inside a race --- the race out of the pits --- to determine the winner. Defending NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson got out of the pits ahead of Carl Edwards and held on for his second Brickyard victory. Edwards was second and Denny Hamlin, who had led the race going into the final stop, finished third.

I hate it when races are decided in the pits, and never was a victory thanks to a pit stop more evident than at this Indy race.

NASCAR handled it as they always do; quietly and with no complaints heard by the public from anyone depending on NASCAR for a living, multi-millionaire drivers and team owners included. NASCAR learned a long time ago that auto racing is just another entertainment choice among many, and only a single, dominant story, what politicos call talking points, would work best. Henry Ford II once said, “Never complain, never explain,” and it seems someone at NASCAR took that advice to heart.

Click below for more on how and why NASCAR has become the #1 motor racing sport in the US.

As much as NASCAR personalities appear to be “good ol’ boys,” their very success has become a bone of contention with some fans. Carl Edwards, who finished second at Indy, recently signed a three-year contract with Roush Fenway Racing (as in Fenway Park in Boston, a new investor in the Roush/Ford team) based on a sponsorship from insurance giant Aflac said to be worth over $78 million. Edwards flies his own jet to and from the races. That’s nothing, though. Every team in F1 gets the use of two jets for the season, painted in their team’s livery. (Not every fan has gotten used to seeing Toyotas racing in NASCAR's three top series; some in fact remain dead-set against any "foreign" cars being allowed into NASCAR).

When it was all over, everyone involved on the NASCAR side of the event --- officials, team owners, drivers, crew chiefs and pit crew members, TV announcers, print and web journalists --- were all on the same page: That but for NASCAR’s all-encompassing emphasis on driver safety, there’s no telling what might have happened out there.

No one spoke about canceling the race and re-scheduling for a later date, which is clearly what should have happened. No one really explained why Goodyear tires meant for next week’s Pocono (PA) race, a track similar to Indy, also at 2.5 miles with lightly-banked corners though in a tri-oval configuration, had been shipped to Indy, when teams had tested at Pocono but not Indy. (Dale Earnhardt, center, the sport's most popular driver at the time, was killed in the final laps of the 2001 Daytona 500; his sons, Dale, Jr., left, and Kerry are both NASCAR racers).

There was too little discussion about why the Car of Tomorrow (now the Car of Today), an all-new race car  used on some tracks last year but on every track this year, had not been tested prior to the series’ second-most important event, the Brickyard, second only to the Daytona 500.

The lack of questions and the public agreement among all parties involved about what happened and why showed, once again, one of the main reasons NASCAR has become so popular in just over a decade: A single-minded determination to succeed.

The only other comparable incident in racing history had the same theme --- bad tires --- at the same place --- Indy.

During testing and qualifying for the June, 2005 Formula One U.S. Grand Prix, after several obvious tire problems, including a blow-out explosion which sent Ralf Schumacher and his Toyota into the wall, seriously injuring the driver, Michelin Tires told the teams using their product that they couldn’t guarantee the safety of their tires. (American Dan Gurney was the first person to win a Formula One race driving a car which he also designed and built at the 1967 Belgian Grand Prix; he also gave Porsche the company's only F1 constructor's victory at the 1962 French GP).

The F1 road course, built mostly on the infield of the existing track, emptied onto what is usually termed “Turn One” at Indy, with the cars headed clockwise into the turn and then down the main straight. Apparently, the g-force loads on the tires as the cars made that transition, from the road course and onto the existing track, was too much for the Michelins.

When that 2005 F1 race began that June Sunday, there were six cars on the starting grid, all of them shorn with Bridgestone tires. Six. This “race” is now known worldwide as the single-biggest farce in modern F1 history.

This created such a poisoned atmosphere between F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone and Tony George, whose family owns the Indy race track, it  resulted in the cancellation of F1 at Indy after 2007’s race (though that might change next year --- hope springs eternal when there’s big enough money involved, especially with George and Ecclestone; F1’s biggest annual crowd, well over 250,000, comes with Indy, too).

Formula One has been effectively controlled for decades by one man. Bernie Ecclestone competes with members of the royal family and the Queen herself  for the title of wealthiest person in the UK, and his sometimes ham-fisted dictatorship of the sport has nonetheless resulted in fabulous  financial rewards for all involved. Seven-time F1 World Driving Champion Michael Schumacher was often cited during his career as the world’s highest-paid athlete, with his later contracts with Ferrari said to have been worth more than $60 million annually. (The Indy Racing League and Champ Car have combined to form IndyCar; tight racing at speeds approaching the low 200's are a highlight of the open-wheel sport).

The disintegration of open-wheel racing in the U.S. began a dozen years ago, caused in large part by team  owners, in what was then-called CART, controlling too much of the sport. This was a gift to NASCAR, which has been tightly-controlled by the France family and its partners and minions since its inception over 50 years ago. Suddenly, there were two open-wheel series and sponsors and fans didn’t know where to throw their loyalty and money. Many looked good and hard at NASCAR, and often for the first time.

IndyCar has now been formed, combining two disparate series (CART and the Indy Racing League, the IRL) which couldn’t make it on their own. Tony George is the dominant figure in the sport, and this bodes well for the future success of that sport in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and overseas.

Comments

[Steve Parker]

Old, original parts can be hard to find, but there are many, many companies making what is known as "NOS," or New Old Stock. These are parts made to the original specifications of a car, truck or motorcycle, but made today. That means they are made using machines to make them which are infinitely better than those used in plants and on assembly lines even 30 or 40 years ago, and made with materials which are better and more reliable and durable than "old-old" parts.

There are a few companies which even make tires which look just like the originals, but much, much safer.

Thanks again for writing, and visit our other media outlets listed below.

Steve Parker

[salman]

Classic car parts are hard to come by because they are no longer in production, they don’t make the parts for them anymore. But that doesn’t mean they can’t be found.