The long and short of it: Best style of race tracks

Big-time sports these days are all about how they translate to television. Don't believe me? Ask the NHL, a league carrying the banner of a sport that is thrilling to watch in person, but maddening to watch on TV.

Hence, the league's TV contract is with Versus.

So for most fans on any given weekend, the question of what track presents the best racing comes down to which type of track provides the best television experience. Using this rationale, it's hard to imagine anything beating a superspeedway event.

Part of watching sports on television is the anticipation. Sports are set up that way -- the 3-2 pitch in baseball, the third-and-short play in the NFL, the last two minutes of a basketball game, among others. With a superspeedway race, there's 3 1/2 hours of anticipation.

Is the big wreck going to happen? Will my driver be in it?

Hey, my driver's leading ... nope, no he's not ... wait, yeah he is.

Plus, for me, there's just something about watching 20 or 25 cars run in a pack inches apart at 180 mph. I always wonder how I would react to being in a pack that big running that fast. The answer is always the same -- not well.

Sure, the short tracks have the same type of anticipation in spots, but what they don't have is the speed of a superspeedway. So whether you like wrecks or you like speed, you'll get your fill of both at a superspeedway.

My first live NASCAR event was at Martinsville and I've been addicted to short-track racing ever since.

The intensity of Bristol, the precision of Martinsville, the excitement at Richmond, there is just something about the smaller tracks that make for one heck of a show. Sure, the speeds aren't impressive -- I think my Kia on I-20 has matched Bristol's average speed -- but if I had my pick of any race to attend, I'd choose a short track every time.

First, you get to see all the action. Daytona, Talladega, you just miss so much because it's so far away. The speeds and the racing at those two tracks are out of this world, but when I was at 'Dega, the pack drove by and then I saw it again 40 seconds later. For me, I prefer constant action -- not flashes of excellence.

The same can be said about a road course. Those tracks play great on TV, where there are 20-plus cameras capturing all the action. But in person, the allure just isn't there.

And then there are the intermediates. Don't get me wrong, that is some great racing, but intermediates can get boring at times throughout an afternoon.

Short tracks have attitude. Short tracks have personality. Short tracks have non-stop action. A driver is never alone on a short track and a driver never checks out. At a short track, there is aggressive racing from Lap 1 to Lap 500 -- and that's something no other track on the schedule can duplicate.