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GURSS: Better Racing?
Written by: Jade Gurss   
08/19/2008
Mooresville, NC
 
Faster. Louder. The weekly column on SPEEDtv.com by Jade Gurss. (Harold Hinson Photo) ยป More Photos

One response to last week’s column was from a fan lamenting the Indy Racing League’s “spec racer” situation where each competitor has the same chassis, the same engine and the same tires. This season, for the first time in the 60 years of NASCAR, the Sprint Cup Series is nearly a spec category. The only distinctions between the auto makes? Primarily a few decals on the nose and the engines. More manufacturers means additional marketing and advertising dollars for a series, but does it translate into better or more competitive racing?

The IRL got to this position through attrition (all other manufacturers withdrew from the series) while NASCAR achieved it by intention with their bulbous CoT and the big check Goodyear writes as tire supplier. NASCAR levels the field with an iron hand (see: Toyota Nationwide engines restricted mid-season) and a penchant for ‘phantom yellow flags.’ The emphasis is more on the show than pure racing.

To many fans, a homogenous field of cars is offensive and opposed to the purest form of racing: building the absolute fastest machine with the fewest restrictions. I loved the 1960s era at the Indy 500 where the variety of machines was extreme: from the old front-engined roadsters to the lithe rear-engined bullets to the all-wheel drive, turbine-powered Whooshmobile that Parnelli Jones almost drove to victory. Sadly, for the fans that yearn for variety, those days are long gone. And, homogenation will only increase in a very poor economy.

The closest to that purity is Formula One, where each entrant must design and build its own chassis. However, even in a series with seemingly endless budgets, there is now a single tire maker and an increasing amount of restrictions.

Formula One represents the highest form of engineering, innovation and imagination. The cars are as much stars as the drivers. The result is two (and on a rare occasion, three) teams with a remote chance of victory, barring extraordinary circumstances. The technology is exciting and scintillating, but the racing? Well, sometimes the qualifying is more exciting.

In Formula One, is it possible to truly determine the best driver when the cars are the dominant factor? Would Lewis Hamilton be as fun to watch in a Toro Rosso car? Perhaps, but he wouldn’t contend
for wins.

If you apply the same questions to Sprint Cup or the IRL, the answers are surprisingly similar. Would Scott Dixon be anywhere as dominant driving for a lesser team like AJ Foyt Racing? Would Kyle Busch be as brilliant driving for Hendri... uh, I mean Hall of Fame Racing?

While the restrictions result in closer action with more passing, a small number of teams still win the races and championships. How long has it been since a team other than Penske, Ganassi or AGR was a contender for the IRL title? When was the last time any other than a Cup ‘superteam’ won a race? This year: zero. The percentage of winning teams in F1 so far in 2008 is almost exactly the same as victorious full-time Cup teams.

The teams that win are those who devote the most effort, hire the best people, the best drivers and invest what it takes to be competitive. A sanctioning body can add as many rules and cost restrictions as they like, but the smartest people will always win. No matter the make or model – even if that make and model is exactly the same.

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or Speed Channel

Jade Gurss is the owner of fingerprint, inc., a sports publicity company. He has written two New York Times Best Sellers, including what is believed to be the biggest-selling motorsports book in American publishing history (Driver #8 with Dale Earnhardt Jr.). His two decades of publicity and marketing experience involves nearly every category of motorsports, including nine innovative seasons as NASCAR publicist for the Budweiser brand and Earnhardt Jr. His blog can be seen at: http://fingerprint.typepad.com


Attention Race Fans! Play SPEED's 'CHASE For The FANTASY CUP' Pick a team of 5 championship drivers every week... Compete throughout the 10 CHASE race weeks. Cash prizes are awarded to teams with the most year-to-date and weekly points!
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