NASCAR/FOX Screws Over Fan Base By Trying To Finish The Auto Club 500
Monday, February 25, 2008
I'm not even talking about the fans watching on television that got dragged around by FOX and NASCAR but the fans who actually went to the race and got there early for the festivities were completely screwed.
Get this. Not only was the race delayed three times due to rain, crashes, and Michael Waltrip leaking oil onto the track, but NASCAR officials told fans at 10pm that the race was going off at Midnight. It didn't but fans had to wait until Midnight (PST) to get the final word.....
By the time they completed 87 laps and had to stop again at 6:11 p.m. -- this time for more than four hours -- race officials had issued seven cautions because of bad weather or debris on the track.Okay, that's a little over the top, but I can understand the frustration. And mind you.....that's West Coast time. All in all fans at the track could have ultimately waited over 12 hours as NASCAR and FOX strung fans along.
The race was scheduled to resume at 11 p.m., and only a handful of fans remained in the stands huddled under ponchos or makeshift shelters crafted out of plastic sheets. NASCAR officials finally decided just before 11 p.m. to postpone the race until this morning.
Those officials should be grateful that the day's casualty list was limited to dented sheet metal, sheared off bolts and shredded rubber.
That list could easily have included broken bones and battered bodies.
You can't ulimately say if FOX was involved or if this was entirely NASCAR's decision, but with the Oscars happening on ABC it really seemed like they were trying to get people to stick around and watch the race. Just a horrible decision in regards to fans and it's drivers to try and finish one race.
I think Larry Brown sums it up best....."FOX had the viewers by the balls if you’re a NASCAR fan. If you made the choice to commit to watching the race, you hung around the extra two hours. And what’d they tell you on your local FOX channel? Sit around and watch our post-Oscars coverage in the meantime."
NASCAR Crapped on Race Fans Sunday (Larry Brown Sports)
Decision to go ahead with auto race is all wet (LA Times)
NASCAR's Debacle in Cali (The Sporting Blog)
9 Comments:
Do they not have radars? They could have foreseen the issue that "hey, it's going to rain for the next 6 hours, we can probably send all those idiots back to the trailer park."
Oh, AA, what do YOU think the Gopher Cam should be named?
I like Kyle Busch's name of Skid. That way the blogosphere can change it to Skid Mark or something.
Damn, and I thought the Detroit Tigers making everyone (including the Yankees) wait to start a Friday night game at 11pm Eastern was a bad idea. That game didn't end until 3:30 in the morning.
And how is it that F1, IndyCar, and motorcycles can race in the rain, but NASCAR can't? They have enough money to buy new tires, don't they?
No windshield wipers?
prophetcat - It's a common question, but the main reason is that the physics of racing on oval tracks with rain tires, just do not work the same as racing on a road course. It has to do with the fact that the cars simply turn left, and the loads that the tires have to endure. NASCAR actually has rain tires on site for the two road course races each year, but have never had to actually use them for a race.
And this is one reason that I can't stand the sport, despite the fact that I live smack dab in the middle of NASCAR country(Martinsville and Richmond are just 2 hour drives; Bristol, 3 or so).
My son and I were there, and our mistake was taking the chartered train ~ we were stuck until the very end, and didn't get home until 2:00AM. If the race had been cancelled earlier in the day we would have gladly gone out to the track Monday to watch the finish.
The problem with the whole thing was how long NASCAR and FOX dragged the whole thing out. I don't blame them at all for trying to run the race. Who knows maybe it doesn't rain, however to drag it out past 1 AM ET is ridiculous!