NASCAR to make start times earlier again
Quote selected text Published January 22nd, 2008 in NASCAR News
Change, the old saying goes, is really the only constant in NASCAR. But so much change, in such a short period of time, can have a numbing effect. So much of this sport is bound by tradition, in sons following fathers as drivers or spectators. In many minds, the constant change in the past few years has pulled those bonds to a breaking point.
“We need to get back to banjos and get away from the violins,” said H.A. “Humpy” Wheeler, president of Lowe’s Motor Speedway. “We got a little too fancy there for a while. There were all kinds of forces moving in different directions to make it fancy. It’s not a fancy sport. It’s guys with big hands getting sweaty and getting out there knocking each other around, and all-American fans having a good time. A lot of things we tried to introduce into this just flat didn’t work, and aren’t going to work. I think that’s something [France] certainly realizes now. This is meat and potatoes. This is not caviar and smoked salmon.”
Toward that end, Wheeler said the start times for many Sprint Cup races this coming season will be earlier, a departure from the mid-afternoon green flags used to try and entice West Coast viewers. “I think we all yielded to pressure from the networks a little more than we should have,” Wheeler said. “We paid the price for it, and we’re getting back to sanity again.”
Bookmark to:
- Biffle plans to stay with Roush Fenway
- Biffle Finally Finds His Way into Victory Lane
- Eury, Jr steps down as Dale Earnhardt, Jr’s crew chief to start Hendrick job
- Mark Martin to Make Milestone 600th Consecutive Cup Start this Weekend
- Daytona 500 to have later start time, could finish under the lights
I happen to like Smoked Salmon… l0l. And Humpy is the biggest Hypocrite in the sport, he is part of the reason NASCAR got the way it is today because of his uncanny control of a company that he has nothing to do with.
I love the idea of starting the Cup Series race earlier, it let’s the east coast viewers go to sleep at a normal hour if its a night race and for day races, starting at Noon time or 1PM is great including if you visit the racetrack, you don’t have to wait so long on pitroad. I get to New Hampshire Motor Speedway between 7am - 8am to get a good parking space and waiting until 2pm for a start time is along time.
Now what about the Nationwide Series races, its 1am and I am watching a live Nationwide Series California night race, that doesn’t work for me.
Day races should start at 1pm Local track time, and Night races should start at 6pm local track time. Yes that may mean its a late night for east coast fans, or an early morning for west coast fans, but why should the sport favor one coast over the other?
Fisha695 wrote:
That may be well and good Fishy but he is right as rain on this thing about start times…
I’m getting really tired of waiting till night time to watch a day race. I lived in California and liked the 9:00AM start time so I could have the rest of the day to do something else.
He is right, Nascar racing is blue collar not F-1.
As far as S/Salmon you can have it fishy… I will take a cheese burger any day !!!!! lol
Americans (not the Europeans that came here, but Real Americans) were eating Smoked Salmon way before Cheeseburgers were even thought of…. l0l
Personally The races are held on Sunday for the most part so I have nothing to do but sit around in the Air Conditioning and watch tv anyway so I could care less what time it starts…
Humpy knows it wasn’t the west coast that brought on the poplarity for Nascar. They build tracks over there and take races away from Darlington & Rockingham and can’t fill the seats, but they are happy as long as a couple of rock & rap stars show up who really have no interest in being there. Something better change because I backed Nascar thru good times and bad, but this past season really has me questioning if I have the same interest in it now that it’s gonna be either hendricks or Toyota winning ever week.
The only “REAL AMERICANS” are Native Americans.
I’m second generation Irish, and a life time
Nascar fan, i don’t like most of the changes.
My opinion is: Nascar went to hell when we lost
Dale Sr. and Bill France Jr.
I used to like going to the 500 because it started at around noon, no later than 1:00pm. Then it ended around 3:30pm, 4:00pm at the latest. You could actually get in your car and be out of there in a short amount of time. You would be home at a reasonable hour and could even get to work on Monday. That was if there wasn’t a rain delay. Television screwed up football first and it trickled down to all other major sports. But that’s a part of the super duper package NASCAR signed. And that ain’t right.
Hunkerdown:
Your view of this year I fear is what a lot of FANS are thinking.
They say life doesn’t have a reverse gear only forward. I believe that for NASCAR looking back
at the past is the real KEY to the future of our sport.
Thats great thats how it should be an get rid of the dang hour an a half prerace crap too.
My opinion is: Nascar went to hell when we lost
Dale Sr. and Bill France Jr.
indeed. however, adding toyota, switching sponsor from Winston to Nextel to Sprint, eleminating, making every car look identical until stickers are placed, and restrictor plates, tring to force minorities into the sport, allowing them in, making it too political, etc cause the demise of nascar.
look at a video from even as early as 10-15 years ago and look at the sponsors compared to today. Go back 20-25 years and you will find names such as BIll’s BBQ and Sal’s Sanitation as the PRIMARY sponsor for these cars. This means, work during the week, race on sunday, win on sunday, sell cars on monday. bye bye NASCAR, you shall be missed.
hey Hunkerdown nascar has been on the west coast for years! i know that fontuckey is fairly new. they used to race @ riverside race way and ontario? i dont think the cup guys ever hit corona race way when it was around. i know my dad used to race @ 2 of the 3 i have two pics of him door to door with cale and the silver fox. btw dad never made it big he just run to have sum fun, back when it was nascar international. i still have the 50 studebaker pick up with that sticker in the back window that he would tow the race care with.
I agree with you Lee…there is no need for pre-race to start at 1:00 and the race not start until like 2:30. Have the countdown to green and be done with it.
I agree with a lot of what you guys are saying. Stop all that dragged out pre-race crap and start the races on time. No later than noon local time would be just fine with me.
I agree Bob…I live in California and I loved the earlier start times….I was aggravated when I had to wait for them…glad they are doing this and hope they make some more changes back to the way it use to be like the old point system…I’m not holding my breath just wishful thinking.
I hear what you are saying Todd and I didn’t mean any disrespect if any was taken. I do remember Riverside but am I right to say they closed the track to build a subdivision, not because Nascar pulled it off the schedule? It’s not taken too seriously over there or so it seems. Didn’t Nascar try numerous times to build a track in Washington and they’ve rejected it everytime? Why do they try to force themselves in areas where they are not welcomed?
Does anybody remember the 2nd michigan race this year when the race was rained out on Sunday and Monday and they ran it like at 9am et? Man that was great to stay home and turn on the race and all the BS was gone and all they focused on was the actual race!
That’s great! It is about time that they try to revert back to the old start times. If the West Coast has a problem w/ it, they can suck my left nut. We made it famous here on the East Coast, so we do not cater to their needs.
Tex
The 08 broadcast schedule has been released its up on Jayski. Daytona 500 starts at 3:20 (2 hours later then it should IMO) and the earliest time I’ve seen a race starting is 2pm ET and that is only for 18 Cup races. The latest time I saw was 8:30 and that was for the first Phoenix race. And they added another Saturday night race or two this year (which IMO is stupid, and is killing the weekly tracks)
The other saturday night race is chicago which thats good its really hot an humid that time of year an the chicago area isnt that big on local racing.
Chicago an surrounding area is more open wheel not stockcars I think it was great move to change it to sat. nite.
Todds right I use to live in southern cali,it was after riverside and ontario closed but they have alot of racing there at bakersfield an irwindale,an the post about them building fontana and taking races from darlington an the rock an fontana not filling seats,sad but true but darlington an the rock werent filling seats either as far as that goes.
can we have wilkesboro, rockingham, and darlington back now?