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Sunday, July 27, 2008

Goodyear should be ashamed after Brickyard charade

Shame on Goodyear.

That’s all I can say after forcing myself to sit through the event Sunday afternoon that masqueraded as the Brickyard 400, which left drivers, team owners, NASCAR itself and fans everywhere disgusted and disappointed.

Goodyear’s lack of preparation and bringing such a terrible tire to this historic racetrack created a situation as embarrassing as the Formula 1 debacle in 2005 where only six cars were on the track racing in the U.S. Grand Prix due to tire issues with Michelin.

Goodyear had to know the Car of Tomorrow presented a new challenge for them at Indy. But they still didn’t do the proper amount of testing necessary to ensure a tire that would last more than 10 green flag laps without falling apart. There’s nothing else to say, other than they screwed this one up worse than I could have envisioned.

The result of this horrible misjudgment was a race that was a series of short heats, always followed by a mandatory competition caution. But in reality, they weren’t even true heats, as the cars couldn’t even go full speed for fear of blowing a tire.

Sure, there was some occasional action. But deep down, all the teams were doing all afternoon was trying to survive. It was a farce of a race, and will go down in history as one of the most ridiculous shows NASCAR has ever put on -- right up there with the 2000 New Hampshire restrictor plate race where Jeff Burton led all 300 laps.

Anyone who tries to defend Goodyear will really be stretching. With the COT being a new animal at Indy, there is no excuse for them not doing more testing to make sure the tires would work properly at Indy.

I won’t even comment on the little racing that did happen Sunday, as this “race” isn’t worthy of that. NASCAR is very lucky no driver got hurt because of Goodyear's poor planning.

Jimmie Johnson may have taken the checkered flag, but nobody won Sunday. I feel sorry for all the fans who had to pay money to watch that charade, and all the fans who wasted their time watching it at home, not to mention those who had to participate.

Points repercussions
The big winner was Denny Hamlin, who jumped four spots to 8th after a third-place finish.
Kevin Harvick got caught up in a wreck and dropped four spots, out of the Chase, to 13th place. The tires literally ripped up the right rear quarter panel of Matt Kenseth’s car, dropping him three spots to 11th and within a few points of falling from the Chase. As far as the drivers battling to make it in the Chase: Clint Bowyer snuck back into 12th place; Brian Vickers had trouble and fell 132 points back and may have ruined his chances; and sophomore sensation David Ragan moved within 56 points of the Chase with another decent run.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I spent $360 in tickets to take my family to this joke of a race on Sunday. Never again. Tony George and Nascar are going to take a gigantic hit in their pocketbook in 2009 from the lack of tickets sold. They should send the bill to Goodyear. This opinion was shared by 95% of the crowd in our section of the grandstand. Oh well, we do have a REAL race every Memorial Day weekend to look forward to.

July 28, 2008 at 5:29 AM 

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