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Monday, June 27, 2011 at 09:45AM

June 29, 2011

NASCAR + Road Racing? More, Please.

By Peter M. De Lorenzo

Detroit. Fresh off of a slam-bang weekend of excellent road racing, first in the Nationwide Series race on Saturday afternoon at "America's National Park of Speed" - Road America - and then on Sunday with the Sprint Cup race at Sears Point (Infineon), it's clear to me that if NASCAR really wants to bring the fans back and generate some much-needed buzz, they need to add at least three more road races to the Sprint Cup and Nationwide schedules.

Yes, I know, this is not a new perspective from me as I've been advocating for this change in this space for well over a decade now, but the realization that this is the very best racing "product" that NASCAR can put on track these days lends a sense of urgency to the idea. And no, I'm not suggesting that the total number of races be increased, but I am suggesting that some double visits to existing tracks on the schedule - Michigan, Pocono and Atlanta just to name three - need to be dropped in favor of new races at Road America, Barber Motorsports Park and Road Atlanta.

Because the thing is that road racing is real racing in the classic sense, and I would also argue that road racing is much truer to the NASCAR founding mission than the type of robo-racing that exists today on any of the cookie-cutter 1.5-mile speedways that have been constructed in the last fifteen years. If NASCAR wants passionate racing that gets the fans jacked-up, then more road racing is the answer. There's no "phoning it in" for drivers during a hotly contested road race like there is during the middle of a particularly boring race on an oval. That just doesn't happen. As we watched over the weekend drivers have to claw and scrap for every inch of track position all the way around a tough road course like Road America or Sears Point. And even better, anything and everything can happen during the last laps of a cracking good road race so it not only holds fans' attention throughout, it keeps it right up to the end too.

I can tell you that there's a growing realization within the NASCAR hierarchy that Road America in particular is looking more and more like an ideal venue to kick-off The Chase for the Sprint Cup championship in the fall. Because the glaring downside of The Chase - even to the most casual of "stick-and-ball" media types - is that there are too many similarly-configured tracks in the last ten races that don't reflect the diversity of the NASCAR schedule, and there's burgeoning sentiment both within and outside NASCAR that this must change for the integrity of The Chase and the integrity of NASCAR itself.

Anyone who watched the NASCAR road races over the weekend had to be struck by the stark contrast between the high-quality and high-excitment racing on the natural-terrain road courses vs. the typical NASCAR racing product on the homogenized and sanitized "modern" speedways that have cropped-up over the years. There is simply no comparison.

NASCAR could help itself in a big way by embracing more road races. It's right for the drivers and teams, it's exciting for the fans and it's great for the sport itself.

More, please.

(Photo by Tyler Barrick, Autostock USA. All rights reserved - 2011)
The diversity of the terrain, the elevation changes and the pure, knock-down, drag-out nature of the close quarters racing is all part of the appeal of natural-terrain road courses to racing fans and enthusiasts. David Gilliland (above) drives his Ford Fusion up through turn 2 of the Infineon Raceway at Sears Point, California, last Sunday.

Publisher's Note: As part of our continuing series celebrating the "Glory Days" of racing, we're proud to present another noteworthy image from the Ford Racing Archives. - PMD

(Photo By Dave Friedman, Courtesy of the Ford Racing Archives)
Riverside, California, January 17, 1965. Dan Gurney hustles his brand-new Wood Brothers-prepared 1965 Ford Galaxie around Riverside International Raceway to one of his five NASCAR wins at the famed natural-terrain road course that is long since gone. Watch an excellent video recap of the race here. Pay close attention to the way they slide through Turn 1 and watch for one of the most devastating crashes in A.J. Foyt's career after the six-minute mark. Incredible stuff. - PMD

Publisher's Note: Like these Ford racing photos? Check out www.fordimages.com. Be forewarned, however, because you won't be able to go there and not order something. - PMD

See another live episode of "Autoline After Hours" with hosts John McElroy, from Autoline Detroit, and Peter De Lorenzo, The Autoextremist, and guests this Thursday evening, at 7:00PM EDT at www.autolinedetroit.tv.