NASCAR Wrecks - Bama Bumping at Talladega

 

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Things that go bump in the draft
Monte Dutton- Gazette Sports Writer


TALLADEGA, Ala. — A funny thing happened on the way to the Daytona 500. At Speedweeks in Febuary, something called “bump drafting” became the scourge of NASCAR. Tony Stewart set off the furor with some pointed remarks about some other drivers. Later the furor continued, at least in part, because of Stewart’s own tactics in the Daytona 500.

Stewart said something had to be done, and then he proved his point by making an example of himself. Don’t try this at home, kids. In the passage of time since the Daytona 500, the heat has subsided. Stewart has worked himself into position to at least contend for a second straight Nextel Cup championship. He commands considerable respect among his peers and is far more respected in the garage area than among his detractors in the grandstands.

But it’s time for the first of two Talladega races, which means that aluminum plates are going to be placed between the carburetors and manifolds of the cars to sap horsepower. Another thing that will be back is bump drafting, because most of the best drivers don’t consider it likely anyone can win one of these so-called “plate races” without the tactic. It’s hard to pass. When one car bumps another from behind, it causes a little boost that advances the front car, and perhaps both, in relation to those glued together in the next line over.

NASCAR officially discourages bump drafting. You can look it up. Bump drafting is the Office Discouraged Tactic of NASCAR. NASCAR officials are not going to allow it. Nor are they going to allow anyone except Dale Earnhardt Jr. to pass by going below the yellow line in the turns.

Enough is enough! At the end of the day, it is what it is. You could ask NASCAR’s president, Mike Helton. Come to think of it. You could ask Helton practically anything and that would be the answer. But these mountains of Jello had to do something, so, in the weirdest move since they started making drivers pit more often by reducing the size of the fuel tanks, they have decided to protect drivers from themselves by not protecting the front ends of their cars as much.

Officials have responded to the Crisis in our Drafts by changing the construction of the cars. They supposedly aren’t as strong. A good, swift kick in the rear of the car in front may cause damage, which sounds a lot like a Surgeon General’s warning. Some warning labels in fine print might be next. Jeff Burton says it isn’t going to do a bit of good. After all, boys will be boys. Not all racers are boys, but the analogy fits pretty well. Racers will be racers. Boys will often be racers, and racers will frequently be boys.

“To be quite honest,” said Burton, who at 38 isn’t a boy anymore, “I don’t really think they’ve done anything. If you really look at the new front bumpers that will be in the cars, they’re really strong. I don’t think we’ve done anything but cause a lot of work without accomplishing anything. That’s my opinion. “

Maybe I’ll be proven wrong, but when I look at it, I see an extremely strong front bumper. I don’t think it’s going to keep anybody from running into the back of the guy in front of him at all. When we go to Talladega, it’s almost a vacation for the drivers until Sunday. You go out and practice, but there’s not a lot you can do once you get to the track. Once Sunday comes though, business picks up and it’s a little bit of a crapshoot to miss the big wreck. There’s going to be a big wreck; you just have to hope you miss it.

” Not everyone thinks the bumpers are as bump-proof as Burton does. His own teammate, Clint Bowyer, said, “I think it’s a step in the right direction, but you’re probably just going to see bashed-up bumpers now.”

Don’t tell anyone, but there are actually some drivers — more of them private than public, perhaps – who don’t think bump drafting is such a bad thing. Casey Mears, who finished second to Jimmie Johnson in the Daytona 500, admits to thinking it’s fun, and he’s obviously not fired up about having to worry about a nose on his No. 42 Dodge that isn’t quite the battering ram it once was.

“I’m not sure about the new softer bumper this weekend,” said Mears. “I know they want to get rid of guys slamming people, and I think they did when they had the meeting at Daytona. It was one of the cleanest races I’ve seen in a long time. “I feel the majority of the crashes are caused not by the guy trying to bump draft, but the guy in front trying to block the driver that has a run on him.”

An acknowledge master of bump drafting, Dale Earnhardt Jr., agrees with Burton. He doesn’t think he’s had his super powers sapped.

“I don’t think it’ll make that much difference,” he said. “A lot of guys are going to go out there in practice and see how soft (the bumpers) really are: what they can take and what they can’t take. We’ll have an opportunity to find that out and know exactly what we got for the race. When the race comes, we’ll know exactly how hard we can use them, what we can use them for, stuff like that. “I hate that it had to come to that, but it’s probably better than the situation we had.”

So this week, NASCAR fans turn their intense scrutiny to Talladega. Maybe they can worry about gas prices, bird flu, Iraq, Iran, and immigration next week.
Contact Monte Dutton at hmdutton50@aol.com