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GRUMBLING: NASCAR getting tired of complaints
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Published: June 15, 2008
Updated: 06/15/2008 01:30 am
Shut up and race?
Well, maybe NASCAR's Mike Helton wasn't being quite so succinct in his Friday-morning meeting with drivers at Michigan International Speedway, in the wake of yet more complaints about NASCAR's winged car -- which has been less than a success out on the track this season. But the message that Helton, NASCAR's president, delivered was clear: He's tired of hearing drivers complain about the car. It's not good for ticket sales.
Denny Hamlin: "I took it that they are just frustrated they're not getting a fair shake from us drivers … that we're jumping to conclusions a little too soon and not giving this car enough time to develop."
Dale Earnhardt Jr.: "My interpretation was the drivers should be thankful for the position they're in and should be more positive in where this car is going to be in a year or two.
"I think they're doing more than we give them credit for … that they're thinking and working and trying and wanting to improve … and that us drivers should do less complaining."
Surprisingly, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart said they didn't want to talk about what Helton said in the meeting: "I think they should be closed," Stewart said. "Not everything that's discussed behind closed doors needs to be generated through the media. There's information that isn't to be broadcast to the general public."
So maybe NASCAR executives are finally -- finally -- coming around to the idea that the car isn't really getting the job done. Yes, it's safer, but it's certainly not cutting costs -- ask Richard Petty, who just had to sell Petty Enterprises, about that. And it's not making for better action on the track.
Maybe NASCAR wouldn't have gotten itself in this dilemma if it had listened to crew chiefs, drivers and owners during the development process, instead of just designing a car and throwing it out to the teams as a fait accompli. Obviously there are significant issues with the car, and just telling drivers to keep their comments for behind closed doors isn't going to make the on-track product better.
Not a good show
If NASCAR's winged car is supposed to be a machine that brings out the best in stock-car racing's best drivers, then why are Stewart and Gordon still winless this far into the season? And why has Jimmie Johnson, a two-time defending champ, had such a lousy spring as well?
Those three have long been considered NASCAR's top drivers. But Stewart's last tour win was at Watkins Glen last August, and his last win on a midsize track was at Indianapolis last July. Gordon's last tour win was at Charlotte last October, and Johnson's last win on a midsize track was Texas last fall.
Is this car really a boondoggle?
Judging from the lack of side-by-side racing, judging from the fact that a leader on the track has a big aerodynamics advantage over the guy running second, judging from the fact that a guy trying to pull up to pass a car in front of him "hits" an invisible wall before he can get to him; well, just listening to drivers and crew chiefs, and it's easy to see that this car isn't producing the results on the track that NASCAR promised or expected.
Gordon said simply, "There are guys making it work, certainly making it work better than we are. I've gotten to the point where I just need to shut up and drive, because other people are making it work. We are not, and we're one of the best teams out there."
So what's NASCAR's reaction?
Until now, NASCAR officials have steadfastly declined to make any of the changes that crews have requested, and they've insisted that things are just fine, that the crews can work things out.
But in hauler after hauler the past several weeks, crews have expressed dismay that NASCAR has refused to do anything to make these cars drive better.
Last weekend's complaints about the cars being so much hotter than the old cars, that drivers were having to go to the infield hospitals after races, well, that may have been the last straw.
Something, it appears, may be about to change. Just what isn't clear. But with $4 a gallon gasoline, and empty seats in the stands even at tracks typically sold out, such as Dover, NASCAR officials may be rethinking the game plan.
In a Friday-morning session with drivers, Helton expressed his displeasure at the run of complaints.
Hamlin said, "I think Mike Helton just wanted to make sure everyone is on the same page. This is early in the building process, and we don't need to rush to conclusions that this car is junk and that it's never going to be any good, because that's not going to be the case."
Getting it fixed
Earnhardt said, "It reminds me a lot of working with video-game developers: The public wants to know how good the game is, the public wants to know what's being fixed. Once the game is released there are a lot of bugs … just like with this race car. And the public wants to know when is it going to be fixed, and what's being worked on, and what's going to be added.
"NASCAR understands the car is new and it's going to evolve and we're going to learn more. Maybe three years from now we'll look back at what we have today and go, ‘Man, can you believe we had that car?'"
Carl Edwards, one of the few drivers whose team has figured out the right tricks with the car, said that the criticism "just got a little out of hand this week, everybody complaining so much about everything.
"It's almost a little bit silly....
"I can understand their position -- we've got it pretty good here. This is what I signed up for. When we signed up to be race-car drivers, part of that is, ‘The car doesn't handle real well,' and sometimes the car is hot, sometimes you're uncomfortable.
"It's what they pay us for, to so that job. That's what I got from that meeting. I think that's fair."
But will simple silence on the issue really work to make the racing better?
■ Mike Mulhern can be reached at mmulhern@wsjournal.com.
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