Enough already! The ONLY way to fix the boring yet dangerous races here is for the France Empire to drop some bucks (for a change) and flatten out the banking. Remove the restrictor plates so teams won't have to spend millions on engine programs for two France owned tracks. If the banking is lowered, the cars may hit 230 very briefly before lifting or even (gasp) braking a little to make the turns. Skill would be back, racing would be back and more money in team pockets with a "one size fits all" motor program. Nuff said!

One issue there is that cars would be entering the corners at 230 mph, and braking while fighting for position.

It is while entering the corners that cars have the greatest chance of entering the stands and killing spectators.

Hi Maelochs, thanks for the reply. I believe that drivers in general are a pretty bright group, with a common self preservation instinct. Not only would the pack be smaller w/o restrictor plates, positioning would also be looser, even on green flag resumption. Understand that with flatter banks, the 230 mph I suggest (guess) even if reached only for a few seconds would have to be arrested by braking well before the turn. Still would be preferred to 190 all the way around inches apart. Newman showed that cars still fly well at 190. I also think that at both Daytona and Talledega there are no stands directly next to the turns and exit speeds should be well down.

If they flattened the banking sufficiently that the drivers had to brake, it might work. Others have suggested that ten degrees would be enough to keep the speeds high without allowing the drivers to stream through flat-out.

The two objections I hear are cost (estimated by others to be in the millions of dollars) and that the tracks would then be boring.

I don't find any racing boring (the last Talladega race even had a few moments) and I agree that the Empire of France should be willing to lay out the bucks.

Ten-degree banking sounds good to me. I hope some engineering types can figure out how much speed the cars could hold through that, and how much they might be expected to hit down the straights.

I think it would be much easier for Goodyear to develope F1 style grooved tires than to get ISC to lower the banking.

To me the solution is simple and that is shut all restrictor plate tracks down until those tracks are reconfigured to make them "safe" for use without the need for restrictor plates. If NASCAR was able to build these tracks from the ground up in it's infancy then they ought to be easily able to make necessary changes to these tracks now. Saying the cost of these changes would be too expensive is disturbing because what you're suggesting is that the safety of the drivers and spectators isn't worth it.

Not worth it to whom? I am all for taking whatever measures are necessary for the safety of the drivers and spectators, and to improve the quality of racing.

The question is, Will NASCAR spend the money to make the changes, particularly when fans are still buying tickets to those races?

It's definitely worth it to me.

The point I was trying to make is that many piss and moan about how much it would cost to reconfigure the current restrictor tracks and use that $ amount as an excuse to not do it and therefore anyone using that as an excuse is essentially telling me they feel the safety of the drivers and spectators doesn't justify that cost and THAT is what I find disturbing. And oh yes, NASCAR was one of the very first to say the cost would be too much.

I think it's fair to say that this is not what NASCAR is truly meaning when they gripe about the cost but the more they drag their feet about it then the more I question their priories because if spectator and driver safety were first and foremost then the cost to reconfigure these tracks wouldn't be an issue.

NASCAR income is first and foremost.

Jimmie Johnson said it after Talladega: So long as the fans keep buying tickets to those races, NASCAR will keep running those races.

Maelochs - 06 November 2009 01:06 PM

NASCAR income is first and foremost.

I'm afraid you're right.

-Flatten out the corners-

Wow.

I really hope not.

Racing is about risk,about taking your car as fast as it will go and beating everyone else who is doing the same.

I absolutely love both tracks and all the high banked tracks just as they are.

What you are asking for is an entire season of Pocono 500 races.

I cannot begin to relate how incredibly boring that season would be to watch.

It's time to bring the 'stock' cars back towards what the actual stock cars are.

This idea that a stock NASCAR race car has to compare in handling to a Indycar or Formula One car is simply nonsense.