Do some fans watch races just to see crashes?
I’ll never forget what my aunt told me, many years ago, when I mentioned I’d gone to a NASCAR race.
“That’s just a bunch of people sitting around drinking beer and waiting to see cars crash,” she said.
I didn’t disagree about the beer part – I’d watched that race with my beer goggles on – but I argued there was much more to NASCAR racing than people waiting to see a bunch of crashes. I know I was right that day, but after last Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, I’m having my doubts.
I’ve read and heard dozens of comments from fans after the Bristol race, and 98 percent seem in agreement: The race was not very good. The culprit everyone blames is the resurfacing of the track in 2007, which makes three-wide racing possible. As many fans point out, at the “old” Bristol, if a driver in a fast car wanted around the car in front of him, he had little choice but to bump that car out of the way. Those bumps and resulting crashes led to some wild moments, most memorably in a couple of Dale Earnhardt/Terry Labonte showdowns in the 1990s.
I was a bit alarmed that so many fans said that racing at Bristol without a bunch of crashes is “boring.”
Are crashes an essential part of a good race?
I don’t believe so, but many fans apparently do. Last Sunday’s race sure wasn’t a Bristol classic – a la Earnhardt spinning out Labonte on the final lap in the 1999 fall race – but it wasn’t terrible, either. About average, I’d say.
Here’s where it gets complicated: In talking with a couple of retired crew chiefs yesterday – who between them were part of more than a half-dozen NASCAR Cup championship teams – both thought the race was pretty good. Further, they thought the track resurfacing had definitely made the racing better there.
I believe that most drivers feel the same way. Most would probably rather whip around a car and make a clean pass than have to bump a car out of the racing groove to get by.
This isn’t the first such split between drivers’ preferences and fan opinion. Drivers are almost unanimous in their hatred of restrictor-plate racing, while most fans seem to enjoy seeing a three-wide pack of cars sweep around the track inches apart at almost 200 mph.
Now I wonder: How many of those fans are watching those races just to see a big crash?
