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Nascar and Racing

Road Course Racing Is Real Racing, NASCAR Needs More

Posted Jun 18, 2009 5:13PM By Holly Cain (RSS feed)

Filed Under: Jeff Gordon, Chase for the Sprint Cup, NASCAR Tracks

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For those that question NASCAR's race shows -- the people who criticize white-checkered finishes, single file parades and races that are agonizingly too long -- the antidote comes Sunday on the beautiful 1.9-mile road course built into the winding, hills of Northern California wine country.

Road course racing is real racing, the true test of driver talent.

And NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series could stand a few more.

This form of competition requires not only a fast car and good car set-up, but employs different strategies and offers a stage for simmering rivalries and the kind of door-to-door, hard-nosed racing that most NASCAR fans favor.

Best of all, it takes drivers out of their comfort zone. It challenges them in ways they aren't used to and that creates a suspense and sense of excitement that even NASCAR can't manufacturer.

The new double-file restarts will certainly make this edition of road course racing more interesting. NASCAR's best-ever at it, Jeff Gordon, said he expects "havoc" on Sunday at Infineon Raceway.

And just the anticipation of that extra unknown increases the intrigue.

Road courses separate the men from the boys. It's where you see the real racers -- drivers like Gordon, Tony Stewart, Mark Martin, Robby Gordon, Juan Pablo Montoya and Kyle Busch -- put on a clinic. You've actually got to drive the car. It's a test, not an exercise.

For all the wins he's collected driving in different NASCAR series, it was when Busch won both road course races last year -- at Sonoma, Calif. and Watkins Glen, N.Y. -- that ultimately proved to many what a bona fide racing talent he is.

The drivers that protest loudest about adding more road courses are the ones without game.

Say what you want about the IndyCar Series, but part of what makes its championship so competitive and compelling is that it holds events on speedways, short ovals, permanent road courses and street circuits. Imagine how much more interesting NASCAR would be with a schedule as diverse.

Road course racing also represents a prime opportunity for NASCAR to expand into new markets, all without asking taxpayers to foot a hundred million dollar bill for yet another new cookie cutter 1.5-mile speedway.

NASCAR's sister company, International Speedway Corporation, spent a lot of money and time outside Seattle unsuccessfully lobbying to build a track that would have given stock cars a platform in the race-starved Northwest -- a region that has produced two of the Cup Series biggest stars, Kasey Kahne and Greg Biffle.

A solution would be bringing the Cup Series to the scenic Portland International Raceway course, a popular venue that hosted some of the all-time best Indy car road races and would draw sizable crowds from Oregon to Canada to Idaho.

How about losing one of the Pocono, Dover or New Hampshire dates and take the series to Mid-Ohio and/or Elkhart Lake, Wisc. Instead of two races at Atlanta Motor Speedway, split the difference -- hold one race at the speedway and one at Road Atlanta.

I realize the audacity of these suggestions. The logistics of getting the tracks NASCAR race ready along with territorial power struggles with speedway owners would force NASCAR to anger some longtime venues. But it would simultaneously add countless new fans, tap under-served race markets and break up the monotony of turning left.

In this free-wheeling, diversity-driven, open-minded era of "change," why not consider some drastic new ideas.

For years, I've argued the Chase for the Championship should be representative all of NASCAR's tracks. The Chase needs a road course, not what seems like 250,000 miles at Dover, Delaware.

Until then, pour a glass of Cabernet on Sunday and enjoy one of the two real races of the season.

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