I'd like to see an exhibition race at Daytona or Talladega for Winston Cup teams who would like to race without the restrictor plates. I think it would be interesting to see just who could do it and who couldn't. I think that a few of the teams/drivers would succumb to ego problems. There would be a few of them who would enter the event, and then realize that they were out of their league. They would end up hanging back, getting lapped, not having the courage to run full out with the unrestricted 750+ horsepower racecars.
There's lots of ways that the race could be set up. The slower cars or those who just think that they can race stock cars at continuous speeds over 200 M.P.H. could be sorted out by a qualifying run to make sure that the cars can qualify at speeds over 200 M.P.H. The first race along these lines would help to set the rules and tone for future races.
At first these events would be exhibition races, but as time wore on, given the passing of a couple of seasons, I'd like to se these races added to the point system. If a driver isn't able to race stock cars at speeds over 200 M.P.H., then they certainly wouldn't, or shouldn't, be considered to be rated as championship material drivers.
NASCAR's latest "idea" of limiting the racecars to 13 gallon fuel cells is really the last straw in ignorance. The restrictor plates haven't worked, the dirty air scheme that they tried last season didn't work, now they are messing with the fuel capacities of the racecars. What they are actually doing is making the cars use the pit area more often during the races, which will allow for more time off of the track instead of actual racing. The more the cars have to enter the already dangerous pit road area, the more chance of a mishap that may critically or fatally injure a team member.
Their idea of making the cars stop more often to break up the big packs that are racing together in order to prevent the big wreck from happening isn't going to work. The faster cars will end up together and the slower cars will end up together. Drafting is the name of the game on the super-speedways. Regardless of what speed you race, you need to use the draft. Super-speedway racing has always been that way, and it always will be that way. When the cars use the draft, they have to bunch up together to give themselves an aerodynamic edge. With out that edge, there wouldn't be much of a race on super-speedways. This is going to happen with or without the use of restrictor plates, limited fuel cells, or dirty aerodynamic packages. That's what super-speedway stock car racing has become these days, and at this point, there's nothing anyone can do about it.
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