Last Lap: A shock(ing) waste of money

You know that age-old adage "The more things change, the more they stay the same"? Yeah? Well it doesn't apply in NASCAR. Because on the current NASCAR landscape, the more things change, well, the more they keep changing.

(Unless, of course, we're discussing hard liquor sponsors or probationary periods. But that's another topic for another time).

In two weeks, NASCAR will begin mandating minimum and maximum shock pressure limits for its Nextel Cup Series teams, meaning multiple thousands of dollars spent during testing is all for naught. Big budget teams are livid. The little man is elated.

I very much appreciate that NASCAR strives to maintain equal opportunity for anyone who wants to race. But this is competition, and technological advancement is part of that. Innovative teams shouldn't be penalized for their prowess.

Prior to the 2004 season, NASCAR reduced the spoiler heights on Cup cars in an effort to take away aerodynamic downforce on the front end. Until recently, NASCAR only had a minimum height requirement, no maximum.

Teams took advantage, jacking up the gas pressure in the rear shocks to re-establish those aerodynamic tendencies.

Such research ain't cheap. A seven-post shock dynamometer, or "shaker rig" - a device that shakes a racecar, simulating the shock travel attained during a mobile test - costs $5,500 an hour. Of late, teams have been forced to use this technology just to keep up, much less get ahead.

Marty Smith  Email  Archive

That is now effectively wasted money. I can't imagine how Richard Childress must feel. He shelled out upwards of $5 million for an in-house shaker rig.

NASCAR yearns for parity, and builds enough gray area into their rulebook to produce it among big-budget teams. And if not, they change a rule. Crew chief Chad Knaus says that only makes it worse on the little guy.

"What ends up happening, as the sanctioning body makes changes, it only makes more rules," Knaus said. "More rules bring the cars closer together. Then when somebody gets an advantage, that advantage shows up even more. I don't agree with a lot of the rules making. The simple fact is there are only so many Jeff Gordons, Jimmie Johnsons and Ryan Newmans.

"Teams need to be able to do things mechanically to help teams. This isn't just about drivers. We need to let crew chiefs and engineers work and find advantages to make their cars faster. If Jeff Gordon's out there racing against a rookie in equal cars, that rookie's only going to get spanked that much worse."

	Richard Childress

So what if a guy wins 12 races? It's costing teams hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep changing their cars. Manpower is the most expensive aspect of every team's budget. And the more changes NASCAR requires, the more people it takes to make them.

I'd love to see them make the rules in January and stick to them for one entire year, see what happens. Otherwise, I fear we'll soon be racing IROC.

"If it keeps going in this direction, with common bodies and tighter rules everywhere you turn, we'll end up with a spec car, in a sense," Jimmie Johnson said Tuesday morning. "I certainly hope that doesn't happen."

Is NASCAR over-policing the sport?

Knaus: "Parity is a joke. There's no such thing. If you have two athletes racing in the same shoe, that doesn't mean they're equal athletes. Bottom line, the racing was much better 10 years ago, when the rulebook was half as thick and there were half as many templates."

Wow.

Let me say the responses to this question were awesome, and I encourage you all to go read the message board. Responses veered all over creation, which is our fault. This week's question was broader than anticipated, due to miscommunication during my trip home from Sonoma. That said, the question posed produced thought-provoking responses. I simply can't include them all, though most are worthy of mention.

driver17_pa: NASCAR is like the finicky Wall Street trader who every time the market moves jumps to catch the wave. If the market is up they buy, down they're selling. NASCAR is the same with their rules, when all is well the rules do not change but as soon as something goes wrong they are making sometimes unnecessary and unthoughtful rules changes.

NASCAR needs to take a page from the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MBL on rules changes. Do them once a year and then let them be. The NFL did it with instant reply, they put a system in place, it may not have been a good system, but they put on in place and stuck with it. At the end of the season the rule was evaluated and then additional changes were made.

A policy such as this would be much more beneficial than the fly by the seat of your pants method of making rules. Maybe the biggest problem with NASCAR's rules makers is the lack of proactive thinking and proactive rules changes. NASCAR does the worst job of any sanctioning body when it comes to being proactive on a problem.

For years we all knew that racing back to caution was not safe and that someday, someone was going to get hurt doing it. I have no problem with NASCAR changing rules in the middle of the year if it is intended to protect the drivers, but other than that instance let things be. As for NASCAR how about trying something different for a change, look ahead and not behind with your rules.

Jeff Carter raises several solid points here, namely that any change made in the name of safety is warranted. The comparison with NFL, et al, is not. No other sport moves faster technologically than motorsports does. Keeping up is a full-time job in itself, much less having to deal with drivers chest-chopping each other.

Officials in stick and ball sports needn't concern themselves with warp-speed advances in equipment the way NASCAR must. Mike Helton and John Darby must evaluate even the smallest components on Nextel Cup racecars, because in motorsports the slightest tweaks can mean the greatest advantages.

For example: Per Goodyear's recommendations to teams, one pound of air pressure is worth 50 pounds of spring rate. Told you the increments were absurd.

That said, like Jeff I do wish NASCAR would set rules and leave them alone for a while.

Doctastic: NASCAR has been over-policing the sport for several years now. It started with the speed limits on pit road, and grew from there. In the name of safety, they've managed to take much of the "racing" out of racing. Lately we've seen an increase in driver "road rage" incidents, a la Kenseth and Harvick at Pocono. I believe this is in part due to the current rules, which neither the teams nor the drivers seem to understand.

Many teams privately think that NASCAR is trying to put a new weekly band-aid on the sucking chest wound that is the current rules quagmire. Add to that, that the penalties seem weak and insipid, with no real teeth. Sit one or two of the hotheads down for a week or two, and you'll see track behavior improve right quick.

Finally, NASCAR is still ignoring the fans. Last week a poll on green/white/ Checker vs. caution laps not counting, was decided 75% to 25% for the latter.

The silence from NASCAR, so far, is deafening.

True it is that penalties and probation fail to carry the impact they should. Newman said last weekend that NASCAR's probation policy is "nonsense." Once again, points deductions get teams to pay attention. Anything less is moot.

Now, about ignoring the fans. Doc, come on. If NASCAR implements green/white/checkers finishes, it's all about the fans. No one in the industry is clamoring for it. Only fans.

Doc says fans voted 75/25 in favor caution laps not counting. Failing to count caution laps throughout a race is not a viable option. Not counting them from the 10-to-go mark on is a different story.

Competitors want green flag finishes, not green/white/checkered flag finishes.

uncletom315: To me, it's a matter of over-policing, as well as under-policing. Translated loosely, it's equivalent to having a boss at work micro managing everything in the office. He/She does so to such an extent, that they quickly become overwhelmed.

It's to the point that the control tower is just swamped with decisions, then back at the office on Monday, there are more decisions to make. One person needs to be in charge of one aspect during a race. Trying to determine who goes where during a caution, figuring out when to open pit road, who deserves punishment, and other decisions are 'over policing.'

The day after the race, over-policing continues. Arbitrary fines and punishments are handed out, and rarely have any effect. If they want to 'over-police' everything, apply it with an even hand. Things have gotten out of hand, especially with regard to fines and suspensions. The same infraction often gets differing penalties, with no relation to severity of the penalty or number of recurrences.

Been awhile, Beecher. Great response. NASCAR is one huge micromanager. They want their hands on everything, which is an arduous prospect considering how quickly things change in the garage. What's fast one week may not be the next, so they have to work hard to stay privy on what advances teams are making.

Johnson said they're late on the shock trend, which became popular at the beginning of the 2004 season. We're nearly halfway through, and NASCAR has just become aware of the trend.

Now, about driver fines and suspensions: The only thing that'll get anyone's attention anymore is points. End of story.

Biffleboy: No, and they shouldn't either. It is the job of the sanctioning body to make rules, not rule with an iron fist. All participants are grown ups and don't need to be treated like 2 year olds. While enforcement of the rules is important, don't make it the center of attention, and for this NASCAR is doing a good job.

Considering the absurd quantity of hate mail I am asked to forward to NASCAR on a daily basis, I was surprised by the amount of support the sanctioning body received on the message board this week. Many of you feel they're doing just fine, and that with time all the quirks will work themselves out. Take 829, for example:

829fan: NASCAR needs to do whatever it feels like it needs to do to ensure the safety of the drivers, crews and race officials, both on the track and off the track. Two weeks ago, Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth both deserved a punishment for their antics under the yellow flag, just as Tony Stewart deserves a punishment for his actions after this weekend's race.

As for all of the rule changes that have all resulted in the long caution periods and what not, NASCAR is trying to work out a situation that is new to them as well. Remember, this whole set of rules came about because the drivers chose not the continue to police themselves with the "gentlemen's agreement."

Because of that, NASCAR had to step up to ensure the safety of the drivers and have had to tweak it because it is a different rule than they had previously dealt with. And with each tweak, another issue came up which created another controversy. Eventually, I think this situation will be worked out.

As for rules involving the cars, I say that rule changes involving parts or set-ups be made at the beginning of the season only, unless the change was needed to avoid a dangerous situation. (For example, asking teams to make a spoiler change to make cars more equal may not be a dangerous situation.)

Well stated on all counts, 829, minus the comment about Harvick and Kenseth. I felt the same way you do, until Ryan Newman put me in my place this past weekend at Sonoma. Newman explained to me that by scoring Harvick and Kenseth at the end of the lead lap, NASCAR effectively took points away from them both.

Ted_in_PA: To simply answer the question, YES. NASCAR is attempting to make everyone equal, and every crew chief out there, that is doing his job, will attempt to fudge, or mess with the "gray" area of the rulebook until he gets caught, and it is questioned. NASCAR, needs to establish the rules at the END of the racing year, even before the banquet.

This would allow the teams the opportunity, to work with the new rules, allow the drivers to get used to the rules, and then over the year, keep a notebook, and publish this notebook, to the drivers, car owners, crew chiefs; have then issue suggestions as how to correct a situation, then at the end of the year, issue the changes for the following year.

Make the rules in black and white, and change the contrast at the end of the year. Quit changing the rules as the game is being played. I am sure the drivers feel like the new kid on the block, where the older kids continuously change the rules, or enforce the rules that only help them out.

Punishments -- start at 25 drivers points, then 75, and then suspend for a race the third time. No more monetary fines, you start taking points, or races away from a driver, his sponsors or owner will take care of the rest.

Knaus said Tuesday that the only thing these constant rules changes are doing is wasting money. Teams will look to other areas to achieve gains.

"It'll take some wind out of some sails, but it won't tighten anything up," he said of the shock rule.

43PettBlues: From the drivers and teams perspective NASCAR has done a good job and has a strong grip on them. With the exception of a couple of incidents we don't see second time offenders. Probation, points deduction, fined and a stern briefing gets the job done. And for policing the running field, officials and safety workers, again with the exception of a couple of incidents NASCAR is doing a great job! I'd expect by the time we get into the 10 races for the Cup most ordinances will be effectively in order.

Gracious, let's hope so. If a Pocono-type scenario occurs during the Chase, all hell will break loose.

gladams29: It seems like that NASCAR is over-policing the sport but you also have to stop and consider that NASCAR has hardly changed since 1975. I would imagine that when Winston took over as the sponsor 25 years ago there were a lot of changes.

That is what happens when thing grow and get bigger. They are truly doing the best they can. I have seen things happen this year that I never thought I would see. I think they need to quit with the knee jerk reactions though. I would not want Mike Helton's job for anything!

Me neither, Ryan Adams. Not for all the cash in the world.

The Last Lap appears on NASCAR.COM every Tuesday.

The opinions listed here are solely those of the writer.