Tuesday, January 10, 2017

NASCAR'S 2017 Calendar Of The Weird Already Underway

NASCAR's 2017 season hasn't even started yet and two stories have already made it a Calendar Of The Weird.

First came word that Carl Edwards has left Joe Gibbs Racing and will not race in 2017. The reason why is for now a mystery, though Tom Jensen analysis suggests burnout from racing. Daniel Suarez takes over the JGR #19 Toyota.

The sport has offered the usual positive retrospectives on Edwards' career, the wins and the backflips in celebration -




2010 Atlanta 500




Compendium of Carl Edwards tantrums






Edwards takes out Keselowski and Keselowski gets T-boned, 2010 Gateway.   


- but the real legacy of Edwards is the psychopathia he displayed on the racetrack - as one notes on the replay of the 2010 Gateway crash, he worked to change the subject, always the giveaway of someone who is dishonest.   Edwards has an eminently successful career but added all up he was never a guy to root for and is not someone the sport ought to miss.


*****


The other story is a report that NASCAR executives are considering format changes including midrace breaks, "heat" races, and the like. That NASCAR is even considering format changes - some of which have already been tried without success in the Xfinity and Truck Series - instead of attacking substantive weakening of the sport's competitive strength shows anew that corporate types who are not racing people continue to not learn from their mistakes.   NASCAR needs real substance to the competition, not gimmicks which make a mockery of competitive integrity.






1996 Daytona 500





1996 Pocono 500



What is racing at heart? 500 miles fighting for the lead with racecars that are forgiving for the drivers and that want to pass and repass. NASCAR suits need to get it, having not done so for so long.

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