“You play. To Win. The Game. Hello?” This Herman Edwards rant from his day as New York Jets head coach, has now been memorialized in a Coors Lite commercial. It sums up well the spirit of competition in professional sports; it’s that driving desire that pushes an athlete to the limits to reach higher and go all out for the prize and their place in immortality.
With that mindset in mind, it’s also the reason why I have a hard time with the presence of “start and park” teams in NASCAR. I understand racing is different from stick and ball sports, but imagine the Atlanta Braves packing up after the fifth inning, or the Jacksonville Jaguars throwing in the towel after the third quarter. You just don’t do that.
Please understand, I am not hating on Joe Nemecheck, Phil Parsons, Tommy Baldwin and some the other guys whose cars develop mystery maladies after 20 laps. They are simply taking advantage of the conditions that presently exist in the sport, and they are literally doing the best they can with the limited funds they have.
In my opinion, there’s a better way. In 2009, there were a couple of teams who modeled a better approach.
One team was the Wood Brothers with their “21” car, piloted by former champion Bill Elliott. Instead of showing up at every race, and going through a charade, they raced their way in- and in most instances- clocked in some respectable finishes. You may contend team and driver are past their prime, but they fought the good fight to get in, they got in, and they played to win the game, though they had to realistically know they faced long odds.
They’ve announced they’ll do the same again in 2010- attempting to get in to about 14 races. While a win would be the biggest upset since David and Goliath, you know the team will compete. Elliott has five top 20 runs, and his worst race was his 36th place finish at Atlanta.
After struggling through previous seasons, Furniture Row took a similar approach with their “78” car and DEI cast-off Regan Smith. They made 18 starts in 2009, and like the Wood Bros. squad, they didn’t embarrass themselves. Smith’s 40th place finish at Richmond was his worst, but he went out there fought the good fight, taking home three top 20’s, and a number of finishes north of 30th.
When you think about this team functioning on the outside edge of the NASCAR universe in Colorado, it makes what they accomplished all the more remarkable. Even if the results are not what you want, it’s still a heck of a lot better than starting the race,running around for a few laps, and parking when you know you still have a car you can run.
Now Furniture Row has poised itself- with some new personnel in place- to run a full-time schedule in 2010. I wish them well. While I have no illusions they’ll take the Sprint Cup by storm, I applaud them for how they’ve approached their team.
Here’s hoping that more teams consider this approach. It has to eat at the gut of a Dave Blaney, a Michael Mc Dowell, or a Joe Nemechek to go out and run, knowing full well your day’s work is done inside an hour.
It’s just not how sports are played. Even in racing, to finish first you have to first finish.
{ 16 comments }
The other thing the start and parks do is take up space of the teams like the Woods Brothers or Furniture Row who are trying the play the game with integrity. With NASCAR’s “I Gotcha’ Back” qualifying format it is hard enough to bring in a new team that wants to compete, then to have a start and park team take one of the few spots is extremely frustrating.
This season I have counted as many as 9 Start and Park efforts going to Daytona and another 6 or 7 small teams trying to make the race and run, a couple who have plans on the entire season… 200,000 at Daytona for one of those teams gives them a couple more races of basic expenses.
We all know start and park is not new in Nascar, it’s been around for a long time. In fact Nascar has given it taciturn support in order to have the huge fields of cars. Nothing creates excitement–other than close racing, that is–than a huge field of cars to start the race. The rumble of a 43-car field roaring down the front straight and into the first turn is a thrill. Follow that by the field spreading out, the potential of obstacles such as slow cars maneuvering to last long enough to get their credited first lap (in the old days, no first lap meant, no guaranteed start money), and faster cars dancing around the snails and it amps the excitement even higher. And Nascar is nothing if not about entertainment.
I’ve maintained since the beginnings of my racing involvement that Nascar should pay-out heavy at the top (1st – 20th) and a flat finishing fee for all the cars which follow. The backmarkers should earn just enough to make just short of their entry fee back, nothing more. In order to make more they have to race to a decent finish.
Large fields at plate races and tracks longer than a mile and a half, smaller fields–adjusted for the size of the track–at the others and the “racing” just might improve. Such a change in attitude toward racing might make it not only entertainment, but also might make other drivers and teams attracted to “racing” for their finishes and the money that comes with it.
Why do jounalist dwell on so called “start and park” teams? This has been going on as long as Nascar has existed. J.D. McDuffy made a career out of it. Dave Marcus operated that way when his funds were tight. The list is endless. Do your research and find out that Nascar was built on the backs of “start and parks” Stop dwelling on it and find something else to write about!
I AGREE WITH DAVE LEAVE THE START AND PARKS TEAMS ALONE. IF IT WERE NOT FOR PEOPLE LIKE DAVE MARCUS,ROYMOND WILLIAMS,NEILL CASTALES,JOHNNY ALLEN.BUNKIE BLACKBURN AND OTHERS NSASCAR WOULD NOT BE WHERE THEY ARE TODAY. WHAT IF ALL THE DIRT TRACTS DID NOT HAVE ALL THE BACK MARKER THAT THEY HAVE THEIR WOOD NO RACING. BY THE WAY I AM A 67 YEAR OLD MALE THAT STILLS FOLLOWS NASCAR . THIS WILL BE MY 5TH DECADE OF GOING TO DAYTONA. LOL SE YOU IN DAYTONA,,,
Start and Park is kinda like getting something for nothing, just like the top 35 rule. At least the S&P guys bust their tails to get in the race. Qualifying at Daytona is a joke. The 26 & 78 locked in for the first five races and still people want to complain about teams struggling to pay their people. Same thing last year, Logano, a rookie, locked into the first five races. Thats a big leg up on the rookie race. But lets bad talk about drivers, driving inferior equipment and making some points (dollars) against the big guys.
Thanks Jim for putting something out there on the Wood Brothers. They are a class act and I hope Bill agrees to be their full time driver in 2011. I hope they take a look at the kids he is helping to develop in the years after that. Roderick can flat drive the wheels off a car. That’s the kind of stuff that give me hope and will keep me around racing.
@Dave
@Roger. I defy you to go back through my archives and find that I’ve been “dwelling” on the S&Ps. BTW- I’ve done my research, and I am quite well aware of the racers you speak. Let’s been a lot of crap around for a long time, it doesn’t mean I have to like it. The main point I’m trying to make today, I like the Wood Bros. and FRR approach to racing than I do what the other guys are doing. Furthermore, take heed to what I said, I am not hating on these guys. Furthermore, I have no illusions my opinion changes anything. In fact, there’s not one thing I find dislikable about Tommy Baldwin, Phil Parsons, and the other teams in this boat. I’m just saying this approach to racing is counter-intuitive, and I’d rather see soembody in the race who intends to run it. That’s all. Your entitled to your opinion, I have mine.
I understand why a lot of smaller teams take the “start and park” route – but that doesn’t mean that I have to like the approach to racing. I tend to agree with Jim – if you don’t have enough funding to buy enough tires and fuel for the whole race (let along hire a pit crew), then you shouldn’t be at the track that weekend. There were too many times this last season when a “start and park” team, running a stripped down car maximized for qualifying, bumped out a team that fully intended to run the duration of every race for the full season (or at least had sponsorship to run that particular race completely, if they’d qualified). I’d much rather see 30-40 cars running hard at the end of the race (accounting for normal attrition) instead of knowing at the start that at least 5-10 are going to drop out by the 1/4 mark, leaving only about 25 or less running at the checkered flag.
However, the only way that NASCAR is going to eliminate the “start and park” teams is to insist that every entrant for a race provide proof that the have a full set of tires, fuel for the distance, and complete pit crew in order to attempt a qualifying run – and, until the motorsports economy turns around pretty dramatically, that ain’t going to happen. You’re always going to have a ton of teams trying to make the big races at the “name” tracks – Daytona, Talledega, Charlotte, Darlington, Texas, etc. – while skipping the less well known or well attended tracks/races (which I won’t name – we all have our list). Look at the IndyCar series – 50+ serious entries for a 33 car field at the Indy 500, but could barely field 20+ for the rest of the race schedule. Eliminate the “start and park” crowd, and there definitely would be some races on the NASCAR Cup series schedules that wouldn’t field a full 43 teams.
So, the “start and park” crowd are a necessary evil for the time being. I just wish there was a way to give preference to the “go or go home” teams that show up intending to run the full race.
I have to agree with the #64 on this issue. You would have showed up at Poconoconocino last August to collect a free $65,000 too.
We all know that Nascar “looks the other way” with these start & park teams because it cost’s them (NASCAR) BIG $$$, if there are not 43 cars lined up to take the green flag. It is in the TV contracts between the Sprint Cup series, FOX,TNT & ABC. If there are not 43 cars, the networks get a big a rebate $$$$$$$. Nascar calls the start & park teams to ensure their attendance, offer them tires, fuel ect. because it is much more cost effective than paying the networks, if the field falls short. I’m sure most fans would prefer to see smaller fields of more competitive cars/teams. Adjusting the field for the size of the track & having to show the ability to run the entire race (tires, fuel & pit crew) are awsome ideas. “Tank”
Nascar puts an entry blank out with the procedure to qualify. No where does it say how you have to race. If you bring your car to the track like Phil Parson’s #66 and your team is fast enough to qualify then guess what. You have earned the right to race however you please. As for full time teams that getting beat out by the start and park teams, their worries are much larger than the start and parks taking up starting spots. On a side note, Dave Marcus always raced his cars to the finish. He often was short funded, but always raced hard and never made a living as a start and park.
TRAVIS I AGREE WITH YOU, BUT THESE PEOPLE DONot realize THAT THEES PEOPLE EMPLOY A LOT OF PEOPLE. THIS IS NOT ALL PROFIT FOR THE OWENERS. AND THE PEOPLE THEY EMPLOY MY JUST FINE FULL TIME JOBS FROM BEING AT THE TRACK. BY THE WAY PHIL IS A CLOSE FRIEND. AND WHAT EVER PEOPLE BELEIVE THESE OWNERS DO HAVE CREWS, AND THEY MUST BE PAID
Just think what would happen if only the top 42 cars received a pay out. Suddenly we have a start and park race. No S & P driver wants to be the first to drop out. This should spice up the first 50 laps or so.
The true ignorance (that is not a slam….or saying anyone is “dumb” or anything) of some of these posters and new “fans” of the sport truly shows in the replies above.
First of all, JD McDuffie *NEVER* parked his car. The only thing that comes close to being suspicious of a S&P is the few races that he entered a second car with his son, Jeff driving. JD McDuffie and all of the misspelled TRUE RACERS mentioned above were COMPETITORS who were at the track as often as they could be with the full intention of giving their all to obtain the best result possible.
For all of you new “fans” out there, there used to be a disease out there called “passion” which made people do crazy things like selling your truck & flatbed trailer (now known as haulers) just to buy used tires and COMPETE in the ENTIRE race. If you didn’t have a way to tow your car home, so be it. But you’d give a kidney just to race. It wasn’t about money then. It was about the spirit of competition, the love of the sport and the desire to do the best you could with what you have.
In the early 2000’s, the France family came out with a vaccine for the above mentioned disease. I’m not sure of the exact milligrams of each but I know it contains the following drugs:
*Greed
*Money
*SellOut
It sickens me to read people stating that S&P’ing has been part of the “sport” forever. The sentence alone is a contradiction of itself.
If the people mentioned above were around now to hear you say that they sold everything they owned just to show up at the track as often as they could with no intention other than to qualify and then park their cars after the green flag dropped so that they could get $$$ money $$$ instead of competing as best they could…….well……I’m sure I couldn’t post the things that they would do & say to you on this public forum.
So in conclusion, please don’t post your ignorant assumptions and slander the names of some of the greatest people who truly *MADE* NASCAR what it is with your here-say that you read from some other ignorant internet troll or blogger. If you want a TRUE account of the hardships of the ****INDEPENDANT*** aka ***UNDERDOG*** drivers from the past, well, I can’t recommend any research material. Because 99% of the misinformation I’ve read on the internet ends of being incorrect assumptions like those stated in earlier replies to this post.
And BTW—if you want to go around spreading COMPLETELY INCORRECT information about someone who’s dedicated most of his life to the former sport of NA$CAR, you’d think that they would at least know how to spell his last name correctly.
It is Dave MARCIS.
SORRY IF I SPELLED SOMEONES NAME WRONG AND I NEVER SAID THESE DRIVERS WERE START AND PARK TEAMS. I SAID LEAVE THESE OWNERS ALONE THEY WOULD LOVE TO RACE TO BUT IT DOES NOT MAKE GOOD SENSE TO RUN 100 MORE LAPS AND SPEND 3000 MORE ON TIRES TO GET 1000 MORE IN PAYOUTS. I AM SORRY TO INFORM YOU BUT I WAS A NOM PAYED CREW MEMBER OF TWO OF THE TEAMS I MENCHED. 1 IN 1958 BUNKIE BLACKBURNS AND RAYMOND WILLIAMS. SO I AM NOT A NEW FAN,
Amen, Matthew. I also agree with a poster that NASCAR needs to realign the payouts for races so that just starting a race isn’t worth the effort. I would rather see 35-40 cars actually competing. How would fans of other sports feel if their teams took their ticket money and then didn’t really try to win? Makes NASCAR look like they really are just interested in “entertainment” and money, and not true competition….
you cats do not realize this is not your old nascar,this is corporate america. twenty years ago u did not have the rouses,hendricks,gibbs,teams do you really think they got into racing just for fun. i am sorry but i dont thank so
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