Racing Speed And Tires

Speed in racing has become an issue again both following Paul Dana's death in IRL practice at Homestead and with the repaving of Charlotte and subsequent tire testing there a few days after the Southeastern 500 at Bristol. Robby Gordon stated that Indycars are "too fast for ovals" and this is ultimately why he left Indycar racing.

Now the particulars of the Paul Dana tragedy are more complex than this. NASCAR barely escaped double tragedy at Charlotte in 1996 in seperate wrecks involving Johnny Benson (in the World 600) and Ernie Irvan (in the National 500) under virtually the same circumstances as in Paul Dana's death - a car spun in Two, slid down the banking into the path of traffic, then was nailed at full speed by another car. The speeds at Charlotte for stock cars then were some 40 MPH slower than with Indycars at Homestead. So in this particular instance the speed of the cars really isn't relevent to anything.

Having said this, though, there is something to discussing the speeds of modern racing. The repaving of Charlotte led to fears of speeds too great to race for stock cars and possible use of restrictor plates at Charlotte for the first time since October 1973. Initial tire testing seemed to allude most fears about the speeds involved, though more testing was necessary. But a disquieting situation happened when Jimmie Johnson blew a tire and wrecked, bringing back memory of the two NASCAR weekends at Charlotte in 2005 where the track surface was smoothed out but proved extraordinarily hard on tires, resulting in some forty caution periods in two Nextel Cup races there.

That stock cars are exceeding 190 at Charlotte is a huge growth in speed in 25 years when the pole speed was 165. But is it really that desireable? This is not the first time the speeds at Charlotte have been an issue, and one is hard-pressed to see where speeds well below 180 would not be better, in terms of safety as well as ability to race.

When Robby Gordon mentions Indycars, one should keep in mind how much more downforce and tire Indycars have - so much so that running stock car speeds on an oval like Charlotte would be considered sluggish for an Indycar. But would cutting the speeds to 190 for Indycars harm anything? Certainly the safety of the cars would be enhanced and more raceable grooves would definately be opened.

It is an issue that won't go away even though it hardly gets discussed, but the speed of modern racecars should be addressed, and one should question whether racing really needs the speeds of present.

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The other issue from the Charlotte tire test is the tire failure on Jimmie Johnson's Chevrolet. Tires have been an issue since the switch from high downforce and hard tires to lower downforce and softer tires - the Rusty Package, if you will. The Rusty Package - so named because it was Rusty Wallace who so openly lobbied for it - has been in place for two seasons now and one cannot cite a single race where it made for better racing. Tires have failed at serious rates numerous times over the past two years, leading to the usual back and forth about "aggressive setups" and so forth.

The entire package remains in drastic need of reevaluation, and one has to be more forceful on tires, because it is an issue in need of solving.