Miscellaneous Comments
First NASCAR
Congratulations to Kurt Busch and Jack Roush. I was hoping you guys would win it. Although, that broken wheel incident had me a little worried. Did anyone see a Hendrick guy lurking around the tire area? ;) Mr. Busch looked like he was going to pass out after the race.
Furthermore, I guess I should eat some crow over my poopooing of the Flee from Attrition. It added a lot of drama to the last few races of the season. I still contend this format is still about avoiding attrition, though. If I recall, Kurt Busch only had one major incident in the last ten races. Mark Martin had a few more and had to work his tail off to get back to fourth. Gordon and Johnson, well they're just really good.
Comments on WRC, SCCA, and the homogenation of motorsports
One of the writers over at Fast Machines has some thoughts on the decline of World Rally. Due to other commitments in my life I don't get many chances to catch WRC coverage on TV. Heck, I don't get to watch much TV at all these days. But I always enjoyed the WRC sport. It saddens me to some extent that News Corp/Speed Channel is slowly pruning back their WRC coverage (not to mention the cancellation of NASCAR Pit Bull) and the withdrawal of manufacturers like Peugeot and Citroen from WRC (retreating in classical French fashion). One attached commentary to the article mentioned the same thing about drag racing.
Unfortunately, our society is evolving ever faster into instant gratification and eye candy. Road courses are some of the least watched on the NASCAR circuit despite being more technically fascinating because it's too hard to see the entire track. WRC suffers even more because, not only is it not in a compact venue, there is little wheel-to-wheel action. Moreover, xenophobic Americans can't stand to watch furners racin' in a furren land. I guess SCCA saw the writing on the wall when they decided to drop the rally programs for 2005. They claimed it was insurance costs, but I suspect other issues were at play. That sucks. My opinion of SCCA just dropped a little.
I guess we'll have to sit back and enjoy more drifting coverage on Speed. Style, not substance. Heaven help us.
Congratulations to Kurt Busch and Jack Roush. I was hoping you guys would win it. Although, that broken wheel incident had me a little worried. Did anyone see a Hendrick guy lurking around the tire area? ;) Mr. Busch looked like he was going to pass out after the race.
Furthermore, I guess I should eat some crow over my poopooing of the Flee from Attrition. It added a lot of drama to the last few races of the season. I still contend this format is still about avoiding attrition, though. If I recall, Kurt Busch only had one major incident in the last ten races. Mark Martin had a few more and had to work his tail off to get back to fourth. Gordon and Johnson, well they're just really good.
Comments on WRC, SCCA, and the homogenation of motorsports
One of the writers over at Fast Machines has some thoughts on the decline of World Rally. Due to other commitments in my life I don't get many chances to catch WRC coverage on TV. Heck, I don't get to watch much TV at all these days. But I always enjoyed the WRC sport. It saddens me to some extent that News Corp/Speed Channel is slowly pruning back their WRC coverage (not to mention the cancellation of NASCAR Pit Bull) and the withdrawal of manufacturers like Peugeot and Citroen from WRC (retreating in classical French fashion). One attached commentary to the article mentioned the same thing about drag racing.
Unfortunately, our society is evolving ever faster into instant gratification and eye candy. Road courses are some of the least watched on the NASCAR circuit despite being more technically fascinating because it's too hard to see the entire track. WRC suffers even more because, not only is it not in a compact venue, there is little wheel-to-wheel action. Moreover, xenophobic Americans can't stand to watch furners racin' in a furren land. I guess SCCA saw the writing on the wall when they decided to drop the rally programs for 2005. They claimed it was insurance costs, but I suspect other issues were at play. That sucks. My opinion of SCCA just dropped a little.
I guess we'll have to sit back and enjoy more drifting coverage on Speed. Style, not substance. Heaven help us.
2 Comments:
No...the SCCA really did drop rally for insurance reasons. When two guys died in an SCCA rally a while back (http://www.rallyplanet.com/?pid=10843) the SCCA saw that particular writing on the wall...if stuff like that happened again the lawsuits could bring down the whole organization. Why risk all facets of SCCA for just one series. I actually participate in rally (co-driver)(http://www.katinger.com/2004/11/rally-new-york.php) in both the SCCA and NASA and I do understand why they are doing what they are doing, though right now it is a blow to the sport in the US. Don't fear though, there are folks within NASA and elsewhere that have big plans for Rally in the USA...I'll try to keep you abreast as I get let in on them myself.
Thanks for you comments, Josh. I'll be looking forward to any updates you have on how Rally America runs their shows. By the way, you should post more pics of you own Rally efforts! Good luck!
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