In this edition of Dave Mathers’ Motion Motorsport Report, Dave offers his Christmas Wish List.
Where was this when we were racing? Costco seems to sell everything these days including this complete Pit Cart (almost eight feet high!!) and for only $4,995. Wow. I recall about 30 plus years ago stopping in at Irvan-Smith Enterprises in Concord, NC, and buying enough components to have Junior Hanley build three pit carts, one for our Motion team.
The Irvan name was Vic Irvan, Ernie’s father. The cost for the three sets of parts was $7,200 USD, which works out to $2,400/each or five grand Canadian!! LOL
Let’s have a look at my Christmas wishes from the various sanctioning bodies. We can hope … can’t we?
NASCAR: Not a lot to say about this well-run organization.
1: Please, please, please, put a limit of ONE only green / white / checker. The carnage (cautions create cautions!!) caused by repeating them cost teams millions and millions of dollars in damages this year (and previous years).
2: Consider shortening the length of the races. The new fans growing up now have an attention span of about half a millisecond and they are entranced with F1’s approximately hour and a half races.
3: Look at your website!! Jayski is the BEST source of all things NASCAR so what does that say about the house website? Videos, videos, videos. Why?
FORMULA ONE: Where to start? Where to start!!
1: Get rid of the incompetent and race-ruining stewards program. Hire permanent staff to conduct the races, staff that knows what they are doing. New sports officials are told on day one of training that the fans are NOT there to see them and a good game would be one that nobody remembers the officiating. Sadly, F1 fans remember almost every race for the wrong reasons (windows popping up on screen – ‘the stewards are reviewing’ whatever is the perceived indiscretion of the moment!!!).
2: Get rid of the brain-dead ‘Track Limits’. They destroy every race.
3: If there isn’t the corporate desire to let the ‘best drivers in the world’ race anywhere on the circuit that they want, then mandate every circuit to put in curbs in front of the ‘out of bounds’ areas to eliminate the problem. Remember, you are selling entertainment… NOT racing!!!!
4: More sprint races. Great addition to the race weekends.
5: Put a ‘Not Withstanding’ rule in the books allowing the Race Director to make an executive decision such as NOT penalizing a race car ten spots for repairs caused by an unsecured drain cover.
6: Find somebody, anybody, to turn off the nitrous oxide bottle hooked up to David Croft over the first two or three laps of the race. He has to slow down.
INDYCAR: Not a lot to talk about as things have gotten much better under Roger Penske’s leadership.
1: Add more races in Canada. I recall Vancouver and Edmonton. How about Mosport (CTMP) and/or Montreal? Lots of fans in Canada.
IMSA: The series is growing at a steady rate and the future looks very promising.
1: Why tie your series to Le Mans? Change your classes to P, P2, Pro and GTD. Keep it simple.
2: Simplify your website. Getting results usually means going to Dr. Google and asking for ‘IMSA results.’ Much faster and MUCH less frustrating!!
3: Please, please, please use the VERY competent American announce team rather than the uber-annoying team where the lead has to talk to “Jeremy, Jeremy, Jeremy” every couple of minutes. Make it go away.
4: Pave Sebring!!
NHRA: The top drag racing sanctioning body that’s been around for decades.
1: I realize some of the videos we see on YouTube, etc. are not at NHRA franchised tracks but something has to be done about the large crowds surrounding the cars in both the burn boxes and on the starting line. I go back to the days of the ‘pre-start’ line, 25 feet back from the starting line and only one crew member was allowed to go past that line to help with the staging process. The crowds give the sport a bad image. I’m surprised the insurance companies haven’t put a stop to the dangerous situations.
2: It’s way past time to replace Pro Stock with Pro Mod. There are easily ten times as many Pro Mods out there as Pro Stocks. The new (and cool) Factory Stock class can replace the P/S class. Pro Mods are really a throw back to drag racing back in the day (think Gasser Wars!!).
NASCAR CANADA SERIES: Canada’s only ‘national’ touring series.
1: FIX your Live Timing. The lame, ongoing ‘we’re working on it’ excuse is just NOT acceptable anymore. You are the top sanctioning body in Canada, prove it!
2: Please put in place the infrastructure to get results and content online quicker. The internet is all about instant access, after all. Take advantage of that.
3: Be FLEXIBLE!!! If there is rain coming, do NOT religiously follow the schedule. Move things up. The big boys on Volusia Ave., who are REALLY good at running races, do that from time to time. Your fans, teams and staff deserve the consideration.
UNITED RACING SERIES: A good, Ontario-based sanctioning body that always puts on a good show for the fans. I don’t have any suggestions for the series as they are doing a great job with their Late Models, Super Stocks, OSCAAR Modifieds and OSCAAR Hot Rods.
With the exception of the removal of the Fall Brawl and changing that date to September 7, the schedule is identical to last year, same tracks, same weekends. A very smart marketing program for a company in a very competitive marketplace.
ONTARIO SPORTSMAN SERIES: A cool class for teams that don’t want to spend the big bucks to move up. A mix of newcomers and veterans. And always good racing.
LOCAL STOCK CAR TRACKS AND DRAG STRIPS: Keep up the good work!!
Any comments can be sent to Dave Mathers via email at motionman@rogers.com or by Facebook Messenger.
