Coming to grips with COT not easy, but can we try? (cont'd)

Conversely, an oversteering (loose) car is not stable. It's prone to change direction with little provocation. In the right dose, that's a good thing. The whole notion of rotating through the middle of the turn is a measured function of oversteer, a feat the COT has proven reluctant to perform.

By luck or design, Gary Nelson and the other evil geniuses at NASCAR have developed a car that, to date, produces closer racing and fantastic finishes. The marketing guy in me says that's a solid way to keep current fans happy, and attract new ones. That is, if we embrace change as a good thing.

But making that change comes at the expense of drivers (and teams), the most visible and vocal ambassadors of the sport. Whether or not it's a good idea to make drivers shoulder that burden has yet to fully play itself out. I suspect that as long as they keep cashing those paychecks, drivers will learn to live with the confounded frustration of it all.

Another big change that emerged from Phoenix was Jeff Gordon's historic 76th Nextel Cup race victory. When it comes to rewriting the NASCAR record book, change doesn't come easy. And this one has significant meaning as it pulls Gordon into a sixth-place tie with the great Dale Earnhardt for career victories.

Apparently, this didn't sit well with a number of fans.

Knowing full well his was a double-edged achievement, Gordon did what we all wish we could one day do: drive a victory lap and fly the black 3 in tribute to Dale (watch video). But because he's Jeff Gordon, he became the target of dozens of beer bombs hurled from the grandstands and countless insults launched on message boards and call-in shows on radio and television.

Shameful.

Don't get me wrong, I have my driver prejudices too. But by hating in that context, those people did a far greater dishonor to Dale than they ever did to Jeff.

Class act that he is, leave it to Dale Earnhardt Jr. to be the first in Victory Lane to congratulate Jeff on his accomplishment and to sincerely thank him for the gesture. The truth is a powerful thing.

So is change. We can't stop it. We're lucky to delay it. But it's upon us now and we'll all do ourselves a great service by accepting it as it comes. The sooner we do, the sooner we can measure the greatness of men and machines that have come before, and the sooner we can look forward to the promise of great things to come.

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.