Has Anything Changed?

[Diamond Jim]

While going trough some of my "stuff" I came across a bunch of Auto Racing Digest. These are from the mid 70s to the early 80s. There was a digest published for all of the major sports, baseball, football, hockey, golf, basketball and of course auto racing. Anyway while looking at an ARD dated January 1979 I came across an interesting comment made by the one and only Bobby Unser.

UNSER: "NASCAR is a dictatorship. Whoever it wants to win, wins. You can do that in a dictatorship, but that is not possible in our from (USAC) of racing, which I would describe as free enterprise. But dictatorship is not bad at all times. It has made NASCAR racing more successful than USAC. NASCAR has been nice to me the few times I have been associated with it. However I am smart enough to know that if Billy France (president) and Bill Gazaway (competition director) like me I am going to be a NASCAR winner like Waltrip. And if NASCAR doesn't like you, it can put you away where you'll never race again. Hell, even A.J. Foyt treads softly when he's racing in NASCAR."

In my opinion Bobby hit the nail on the head 29 years ago and nothing has changed.

 

[GeorgeLV]

Well NASCAR is a spec car series now...
A decal for the Toyota Camry has been added to the hoods of some cars...
And a different set of four teams account for something like 85% of the top 10 finishes week in and week out:

Hendrick
Joe Gibbs
Roush Cheatway
RCR

So yeah, everythings changed and nothings changed.

 

[Diamond Jim]

I long for the days when they said a Ford, Chevy, Pontiac, or Dodge and that's what they were, real cars. I remember the Holoman-Moody Ford team from the 60s.

I can't remember which, but one of them owned the the Ford dealership in Charolet and he would pull a couple Galaxies off of the showroom floor and the other was the dealership machanic, he would get them race ready. If memory serves me correct, Ned Jarrett won the championship in 1966 driving for them.

 

[Jimbo]

While going trough some of my "stuff" I came across a bunch of Auto Racing Digest. These are from the mid 70s to the early 80s. There was a digest published for all of the major sports, baseball, football, hockey, golf, basketball and of course auto racing. Anyway while looking at an ARD dated January 1979 I came across an interesting comment made by the one and only Bobby Unser.

UNSER: "NASCAR is a dictatorship. Whoever it wants to win, wins. You can do that in a dictatorship, but that is not possible in our from (USAC) of racing, which I would describe as free enterprise. But dictatorship is not bad at all times. It has made NASCAR racing more successful than USAC. NASCAR has been nice to me the few times I have been associated with it. However I am smart enough to know that if Billy France (president) and Bill Gazaway (competition director) like me I am going to be a NASCAR winner like Waltrip. And if NASCAR doesn't like you, it can put you away where you'll never race again. Hell, even A.J. Foyt treads softly when he's racing in NASCAR."

In my opinion Bobby hit the nail on the head 29 years ago and nothing has changed.

How true that statement is.

Nascar has an even bigger hold on the teams now than they did then.
If you think about it, many of the parts used are given to teams directly from NASCAR ....
Think about a Super Speedway where restrictor plates are used to keep the speeds down, NASCAR can definatly control who they would LIKE to win. ....

All they need to do is give a team a restrictor plate slightly different from the rest and you have a team with enough of an advantage that they should be able to run out front ..... not saying that, that happens, but .......

For instance, the Toyota's could not get out of thier own way last year and now they are all running well (Gibbs team).

This year the Hendricks team cannot win to save thier lives and could not lose a race last year, using the SAME car .....

Not saying anything, just say'in ....



And I am a NASCAR fan.

Jimbo

 

[Shipsnake]

I am trying to figure out how Toyota went from crap to golden in just 1 year myself!!

 

[Jimbo]

I am trying to figure out how Toyota went from crap to golden in just 1 year myself!!

When Toyota paid Joe Gibbs ( A big time player in NASCAR) to come aboard with them, NASCAR knew Toyota needed to field a good/great team, or Gibbs would leave when he had the chance, I am sure that NASCAR has something to do with the Toy's running well now.

Look how slow NASCAR is to make changes to the car this year, they have still not adressed the YAW adjustments that Toyota had figured out, had it been any other year, they would have jumped on that competative edge right away.

Jimbo

 

[Shipsnake]

Seems like NASCAR likes Gibbs over Hendrick for sure this year, they need to spread the love around. It looks fishy when 1 owner dominates.

 

[Jimbo]

Seems like NASCAR likes Gibbs over Hendrick for sure this year, they need to spread the love around. It looks fishy when 1 owner dominates.

There is talk that Tony Stewart is thinking about going to Hass racing and be an owner as well.
I don't see this happening, but it's being talked about.
Now IF this happens and Hass starts winning, then we'llbe on to something ...

I can't see Tony going to a company that does not have a winning tradition and expect him to carry the team.

He has talked about wanting to come back to Chevy for awhile now.

Maybe Hendrick's will finally get rid of Mears and go after Tony !

Jimbo

 

[Ramy]

I don't know. I don't think they are giving anyone special treatment. They do have a hold of all the teams and govern over them way too much.

 

[SmokeFan14]

I don't know how anyone can say NASCAR likes one team over another. Look at the points standings. Kyle Busch has won a lot this year for sure, but some of the times it was only because other drivers (Roush/RCR/Hendrick) had mechanical problems. I mean, Carl Edwards has won 3 races..He's not leading the points, so is NASCAR in love with him?? I don't think so...It must be your drivers aren't winning. Don't feel bad; my driver Tony Stewart ain't won jack-crap..Close, but close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. Oh yeah, the reason Toyota couldn't win last year vs. this year boils down to one thing..$$$$. Michael Waltrip Racing, and probably the other Toyota teams combined, has NOWHERE near the money Gibbs does. Money talks....Horsepower and engineers walk.

 

[SmokeFan14]

Oh yeah..The one thing I think NASCAR/sponsors do have too much control over is all this political correctness crap. What happened to the days of sluggin' it out behind the garages? I'm not looking for or hoping for fights, but you know most of these guys want to punch the lights out of the guys who seem to be wrecking 5 or 6 drivers EVERY week..Elliot Sadler (whom I do like), for instance.. but their tongues (and fists) are tied. It's so Elementary School..

 

[GeorgeLV]

I am trying to figure out how Toyota went from crap to golden in just 1 year myself!!

Gibbs (and Roush Cheatway) are way ahead on CoT chassis design than the other teams. Their cars handle better so they go faster. The other Toyota teams aren't doing much better than last year.

According to credible sources, Toyota engines don't have any consistent advantage on the dyno compared to any other makes (the 30HP figure being tossed around is B.S.), but thanks to Gibbs they have been tuned to put out better performance across the powerband. Also, if you've been watching the races you've noticed that the Roush-Yates Fords have more than caught up. (Kyle Busch has been slower than the 16 and 99, when he outruns them it's through luck and better pit performance.)

 

[GeorgeLV]

Look how slow NASCAR is to make changes to the car this year, they have still not adressed the YAW adjustments that Toyota had figured out, had it been any other year, they would have jumped on that competative edge right away.

Jimbo

IIRC, crabwalking was a Roush Cheatway innovation. Gibbs was the first to figure out how they did it and copy it, and it you could argue it ultimately restricted to 1 degree of yaw because a) when Hendrick finally figured out how to do it Jeff Gordon couldn't handle the car, or b) when Penske finally figured it out how to do it Sam Hornish's car was so cheated out it literally couldn't get on the scales.

 

[Hart5150]

If that was the case, scrub Jr. wouldn't be 0 for 2 years.

 

[Jimbo]

I don't know how anyone can say NASCAR likes one team over another. Look at the points standings. Kyle Busch has won a lot this year for sure, but some of the times it was only because other drivers (Roush/RCR/Hendrick) had mechanical problems. I mean, Carl Edwards has won 3 races..He's not leading the points, so is NASCAR in love with him?? I don't think so...It must be your drivers aren't winning. Don't feel bad; my driver Tony Stewart ain't won jack-crap..Close, but close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. Oh yeah, the reason Toyota couldn't win last year vs. this year boils down to one thing..$$$$. Michael Waltrip Racing, and probably the other Toyota teams combined, has NOWHERE near the money Gibbs does. Money talks....Horsepower and engineers walk.

Tony never wins much in the first half of the season, he'll be fine

Jimbo

 

[Jimbo]

If that was the case, scrub Jr. wouldn't be 0 for 2 years.

What are you talking about ?

Jimbo

 

[Hart5150]

What are you talking about ?

Jimbo

Well so far in the thread people have said that NASCAR has let Gibbs and Rousch break the rules for an advantage, I say that is BS, because if they had their way Earnhadrt Jr. wouldn't be winless for 2 years.

 

[SmokeFan14]

Tony never wins much in the first half of the season, he'll be fine

Jimbo

Tis true. But, man..11th place is hard to come back from even after the points "reset" when the Chase starts. I guess we'll see..It's gotta be hard to go from the "leader" of Gibbs to the "latter" of Gibbs.