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Originally Posted by Lefty Noob  Probably a crazy idea, but would any of you like to see NASCAR someday start a senior circuit, like the senior tour in the PGA? The drivers could theoretically run shorter distances due to their advanced ages, and maybe a shorter schedule overall. Perhaps they could even race old-style cars under old-style rules? What do you think? |
Nostalgia makes it seem like a good idea, Chuck, but practically...? Not so good an idea.
Unlike stick & ball sports, these guys do things which can kill you. To put on a good, entertaining show a driver must push it to the edge and have reflexes which would scare a cobra! With rare exceptions, guys in their 50's and 60's just don't have this ability. Some would like to think they do but it's merely an illusion in their own heads. Throw in the danger factor and you have a recipe for disaster.
ESPN tried this back in...? 1992 or 1993. They had some old NASCAR-types (Bobby Allison was one and David Pearson was another), plus some older USAC Indy drivers (I remember Troy Ruttman -'52 Indy winner -and Bobby Unser was there) run a four race series at IRP, in conjunction with their weekly "Wednesday Night Thunder" sprint car/midget show. They ran absolutely stock Jaguar sedans on a modified 1/2 circuit , with a chicane place in the middle of the front stretch. It was basically a flop, with the only excitement being the first race when (a) David Pearson put one of the older USAC drivers in a wall, and (b) 60 yr old Troy Ruttman had a flashback to his dirt days and tried a slide job and stacked up fully half the field. Bobby Allison was declared the winner of the short series and it mercifully disappeared forever.
If you want to see the old cars run, there are tracks across the country I've attended in the past few years which have "Classic Races" with either restored or replica classic stock cars. B-O-R-I-N-G! I've watched five or six of these and they have all been as exciting as watching paint dry. They don't actually race; they just motor around at a semi-fast pace. The owners/drivers just have too much involved in restoration that makes them think 2-3 times before even coming close to touching another car.
Like the 1961 Cincinnati Royals, the 1957 Yankees and Dodgers, the 1963 Cubs, the 1966 Blackhawks and the 1987 (I think) Bears, the "real" side of professional sport is only a memory and can be only relished by those of us who were lucky enough to have been around when it all happened. The new fans maintain that today's product is far superior, but those of us who remember know differently.
07-19-2007, 10:27 AM
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