| Jack Arute and Jerry Bonkowski said what? |
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Ok, I had to write again. This time I am writing in a fit of rage and I
hope I take the time to relax and reread this article before hitting
send. I just got done reading both Jack Arute's and Jerry Bonkowski's
articles on ESPN.com. They both made suggestions on improving pit road
safety. And in my personal opinion, I could not find a sensible
suggestion between the 2 of them. I have, or maybe I should say had, a
lot of respect for both these guys until now. Whatever it is you guys
are smoking over there, it must be illegal. I have one word to sum up
both articles: Absurd!!
I'm not quite sure which one to start with. Did ESPN have a "Who's the biggest fool?" contest?? Let's start with Jack's since it aired first. Jack's big argument was this, and I quote, "Green flag pit stops exacerbate pit road safety. How many times have you heard TV-types preface a pit stop report with the cliché that one second shaved on a pit stop results in a commensurate advantage back on the track? The faster the lap speed, the bigger the gain from a quick stop. This puts a premium on a driver's in-lap and out-lap. So drivers must push the pre-set margins set by officials." Let's start there. The in-lap and out-lap that he refers to are before and after pit road. Pit road has a mandated speed and you can not exceed it. All the extra effort and pushing of the limits takes place while slowing down to the pit road and accelerating back to the track AFTER leaving pit road. Jack's next brainstorm: "Consideration can be given to outlawing green flag pit stops." What?? Did you REALLY just say that?? You have got to be kidding me. He continues," While a critical part of most race strategies, it is an area that can be scrutinized in much the same manner as speed limits. It will not remove the potential for injury, but would certainly reduce it. A lot of scenarios would have to be addressed and the end result would drastically change the race routines that fans have become accustomed to, but it is an area that should be examined." So is your head Jack. Have it examined. How can you not have green flag pitstops? These cars run on gasoline and guess what Jack? They run out of fuel over time. In order to outlaw green flag stops, one of three things would have top happen. 1) Shorten the races to 50 laps so they don't need to stop for fuel. 2) Have mandatory cautions every 50 laps so they can refuel, or 3) Let's have "in-flight" refueling like fighter jets. I want to drive the "Fuel car". However, my last argument is entirely unnecessary because.... THE PROBLEM IS NOT WITH GREEN FLAG PIT STOPS!!!! Jack, you have been around racing since before I was born. When was the last time 30 cars pitted all at the same time under green? The problem is pit road congestion. The only time pit road gets stacked up is under caution. Now, could they eliminate yellow flag stops? Yes, they could. Could they limit that only the top ten to fifteen cars can pit the first time by under caution and then on the next lap allow sixteenth thru thirtieth, and so on? It's possible. I will repeat, and I will type this slowly for you Jack, THE PROBLEM IS NOT WITH GREEN FLAG STOPS AND EVEN IF IT WAS YOU CAN NOT OUTLAW THEM. PERIOD!!!!!! Ok, enough of that. I went on ESPN.com today hoping Jack had removed his article only to find that Jerry Bonkowski has no clue either. This is the brainstorm Jerry had: "Make pit boxes uniform in size from one track to another. NASCAR currently "recommends" to track owners -- but does not require -- an area of 25 feet long by 17 feet wide for the "average" pit box. Why, I've seen one-car garages that are bigger than that. To me, a good rule of thumb would be to give each pit a healthy length, say, 35 to 40 feet at least, as well as an even healthier width of at least 25 feet. That's a lot of real estate, but it also increases maneuverability and, more importantly, safety for crew members." Ok that was good, but you should have stopped there. Jerry continued with "Where do you come up with the extra space for larger pit boxes? This may sound like a radical idea, but it is also quite simplistic at the same time: put pit boxes on both sides of pit road." Do what???? He adds "While this may be difficult to accomplish at places like Bristol, Martinsville and Richmond, enough creative thinking could accommodate such a proposal. My logic is simple: Discounting Bristol, because of its two separate pit roads, having pits on both sides of pit road does two things: First, it doubles the amount of pit size available. Second, the space gained would allow for longer, wider boxes. Look at the open expanse of grass in front of pit roads at places like Daytona, Talladega, and even Homestead. There's plenty of acreage available to enhance safety. Furthermore, if pit boxes are indeed placed on both sides of pit road and result in greater spacing between them, NASCAR might want to consider going one additional step and install concrete barriers in front of each pit box to add an even greater measure of safety. In a sense, I'm suggesting NASCAR make each pit box a virtual drive-up window, with crew on one side and a protective barrier on the other. The trade-off for some of my ideas is the actual part of pit road that cars drive on may become a bit more congested, but with concrete barriers on both sides of the pit boxes, if cars bang fenders there it's a heck of a lot better than banging several crew members and send them flying into concrete." After reading that I am forced to believe Jerry is speaking from experience and has obviously had his head flown into a concrete barrier at some point in his career. Let's review. In the essence of safety, Jerry wants to expand pit road at closer to the track where the cars are going 200 MPH, he wants to put pit boxes on each side of pit road and add concrete walls to protect the crews. First off, only about 4 or 5 tracks on the circuit could be modified to accommodate such a thing without having to move the frontstretch back into the middle of the stands somewhere. Second, would the cars need to have fuel fillers on both sides of the car depending on which pit box they get? Wouldn't putting pit boxes on each side actually congest the middle even more? If you want to put anything on the other side of pit road, put the travel lanes out there. Move them closer to the track and have speed bumps or something in the lanes closest to the crews to keep the cars slow in that area. Now, concrete walls? Do you realize how difficult it is to get in and out of a pit box? Now you want to add walls for the drivers to negotiate? These guys are the most talented drivers in the world and I can guarantee you that many would miss their pit, get blocked in or out or crash trying to negotiate these walls. The answer is plain and simple: SPEED. Short of making pit road speed 20 MPH at all tracks the only other option is "freezing" the field under yellow so that you CAN NOT gain any positions in the pits. This takes away from the frantic scrambling in the pits under yellow when it is the most crowded. Not under green jack. You can redesign the pit road anyway you want and even design the "perfect" track, but the accidents, although rare, will occur as long as there is a thing called speed. I apologize if I offended anyone with my rampage, with the exception of Jack and Jerry. I hope you guys read this and I hope you take offense to this. Maybe it will make you think before writing another atrocity like both of you have this week. And to the editors of ESPN.com: HIRE ME!!! I would never humiliate your site like they have done and never insult the intelligence of your readers as they have. Jerry, Jack, e-mail me. I would love to hear the logic behind those articles. I also welcome any feedback from anyone who can support their theories, although, I won't hold my breath. Til next time..... Thanks and keep reading!! Rob |