Road Courses: Please Sir can we have some more?
When ever the issue of road circuits is raised there always seems to be two arguments that get raised; that they are boring and that they are full of ringers who win the races. It will be no surprise that I disagree with the argument that they are boring races. Every corner provides an over taking opportunity and when there is twelve corners that’s a lot of opportunities and a lot of chances of cars making contact. The hairpin of turn 11 at Sonoma is a perfect example where drivers often come in to ‘hot’ and lose control which happens multiple times every race. I also can not see how anyone can claim a road course provides boring racing when we see time and time again cars getting strung out on long green flag periods at virtually all of the ‘cookie cutter’ tracks that makes a lot of people fall asleep or turn over. I can guarantee you will never see that type of racing at a road course.
June 24, 2012; Sonoma, CA, USA; Sprint Cup Series driver Clint Bowyer (15) celebrates after winning the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports
In relation to teams bringing in ringers, there is no denying that this happens. For some teams coming to a road course can seem like the perfect chance to pick up a lot of points by including a road course specialist. I hate teams doing this as it does a real disservice to the current crop of NASCAR drivers. Just because they turn left for 90% of the season doesn’t mean that they go into a complete panic at the sight of a right turn. NASCAR drivers have proved time and time again that they are gifted drivers on all types of circuits, the Race of Champions victories being the perfect example. Of course each driver has their strong and weak tracks but someone line Clint Bowyer and Kurt Busch has shown that a good driver is a good driver on any type of track.
From a historical point of view ringers have also proved to not be that effective in picking up wins at road circuits. The last ringer victory at a road course was in 1973 when Mark Donohue won at Riverside International Raceway. Sure there have been numerous top five finishes achieved by these drivers but teams are relying less and less on ringer and having faith in their usual driver. There are of course going to be some new names vying for a place on Sunday’s starting grid but I can guarantee that non of them will be in victory lane at the end of the race.
So lets embrace these circuits, let us see our favourite drivers put to the test more often, showcase their extraordinary talents of car control, will to win and race craft. Marvel at how they perfectly set up the heavy cars to dance round the corners both left and right as they work through all the gears and try to avoid out braking themselves or putting the power down to early and spinning their tyres. Lets embrace racing in its purest form. Just don’t expect me to ever get use to have to call these tracks ‘road circuits’!