The Big One

[pdub]

Flipping channels, college football....meh, crazed yankees going at it, another channel, Southern game, meh. Another channel the truck race at Talladega. However you spell it, that was my daddy's birthplace in 1925.

I hit it just right, a timing miracle. All I needed to see. They were running two wide nose to tail and somebody messed up and they wrecked, all of them. The Big One. With the restrictor plates that keep the cars (in this case trucks) from flying up into the stands and killing the spectators, they are all equal in speed. So you have the big wreck.

Wreck. There it is. If I'm a fan, I'm sitting there waiting for that to happen and see who's in it and who avoids it. If I'm a racer, I've got to hate getting out there and doing that just to keep the TV money coming, knowing I may very well destroy a mighty costly ride. But I didn't buy that ride with my money so maybe I wouldn't care at all as long as I didn't get hurt destroying it. Just sayin.

[JamesMayberryIII]

Flipping channels, college football....meh, crazed yankees going at it, another channel, Southern game, meh. Another channel the truck race at Talladega. However you spell it, that was my daddy's birthplace in 1925.

I hit it just right, a timing miracle. All I needed to see. They were running two wide nose to tail and somebody messed up and they wrecked, all of them. The Big One. With the restrictor plates that keep the cars (in this case trucks) from flying up into the stands and killing the spectators, they are all equal in speed. So you have the big wreck.

Wreck. There it is. If I'm a fan, I'm sitting there waiting for that to happen and see who's in it and who avoids it. If I'm a racer, I've got to hate getting out there and doing that just to keep the TV money coming, knowing I may very well destroy a mighty costly ride. But I didn't buy that ride with my money so maybe I wouldn't care at all as long as I didn't get hurt destroying it. Just sayin.

That racing, it is racing but it is also a "show" the racers know the only reason they are ABLE to race is the fans and the sponsors ,
And why the people in charge build rules for close racing.. now close racing ,wrecks are a product of that.. some fans like the wrecks most don't but understand that it is a part/ product of the close racing.. Unlike the days of KING PETTY that the winner might be 2-3 laps ahead of the 2 place car..

Sure I'd assume the drivers don't like it as getting into someone elses wreck can kill your chase, but they also know who put them there and that is the fans, the fans don't want F1 or CART/INDY CAR follow the leader racing for 300-500 laps..

When it takes 10 million + to fund a team for a year,, and sponsors are plastering their names across the sheetmetal to pay it..
a 60k truck roller is a known cost of racing that track, if they leave with it fine it's a bonus they don't plan going in ,that to be the case..
a Nascar cup team eats 40-60 million a year.. Most of us, pay our own way no sponsor racers that do it as a hobby can't wrap our heads around the funds it takes to run at these levels..