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Qualifying, Provisionals,Coolers and Bill Simpson By-Don Hamm Check out ALL our sections and features here!! There is plenty to keep you busy on our main page! I have previously written about how the qualifying proceedures and the allocation of provisionls hurt the little teams. Here is a fine example of what I have been ranting about. The Busch Series race at Daytona finished their rain delayed qualifying Thursday morning and you can check the lineup by clicking on the link, http://www.bgnracing.com/2002/races/01daytona/lineup.htm. You will readily notice that Dan Pardus and Mike Wallace both out qualified all seven of the provisional starters. What gives here? I am sure that owner points enter the picture but this is totally unfair to these two drivers. Both have ran the Busch Series for years and Kirk Shelmerdine hasn't nor has Casey Mears. Why are they in and Pardus and Wallace out? I understand the need for provisionals, up to a point. Obviously we want to see the top teams in every race but if they can't run at the top, tough cookies. I maintain that there should be no more than three provisional starting spots. Two for those in the top twenty five in points and one for a past champion who, for whatever reason, don't make it on time trials. To my humble way of thinking, if you make the speed you get to run and if you can't get up to speed you don't belong on the track. How much simpler can, and should it be? Both Pardus and Wallace qualified 1.25 mph faster than Mears and nearly four mph faster than Shelmerdine. Common sense says that Pardus and Wallace should be in the race and that Mears and Shelmerdine should not. Don't get me wrong here. I have nothing against Mears or Shelmerdine and, in fact, wish them success. Their success should not come at the expense of Pardus and Wallace. Over the past two or three years, poor ole' Dave Marcis loaded up and went home while slower drivers made the race on points. This had two profound effects on Dave. First off, it smacked this last of breed owner-drivers right in the pocket book. Secondly, it prevented him from gaining points and put him farther behind the curve in the points standings, thus reducing his chances at a provisional starting spot. Talk about a double whammy. He couldn't make the race for lack of points and, while out qualifying other drivers, he has to go home without a pay check. I use Dave only as an example of how totally unfair the NA$CAR system is to the little guy and how it so strongly favors the big bucks teams. In addition, this makes it ever harder to find or maintain a decent sponsor. NA$CAR, ever mindful of the big bucks sponsors makes sure they get in the race and the cost of sponsorship escelates even further and makes the little teams ever less able to compete. My ever alert team of spies discovered the following memo: Memo From NA$CAR: (Also known as NAZICAR) To all small, underfunded teams: It is with great delight that we inform you that you are no longer needed or wanted in our elite racing series. We fully intend to ensure that the purpose of our rule book, written in invisible ink, is to run you out so we can attract big names with big sponsors. You served your purpose when we were attaining to national recognition and we are there. As a result of our current status as the second highest rated sports series we can no longer make room for you. Thank you for your past support but we can no longer see any purpose in your participation in our ever growing sport. We truly wish we could help you further your carreers but we are to busy stashing illicit profits in our off shore accounts to pay attention to your feeble needs. Signed: Bill France, Jr, Jim France, Mike Helton Approved: Almighty God (Big Bill France, Sr.) Now that I have that out of the way, here is my second rant of the day. Over on NA$CAR.com there is this young man named Marty Smith who makes the flimsiest of excuses for ISC's (NA$CAR's) refusal to allow hard sided coolers into their speedways. You can check this misguided article out at the following link. http://www.nascar.com/2002/news/opinion/smith/02/14/smith_column/index.html This excuse maker for NA$CAR's money grubbing ways tries to make it sound like Daytona is a likely target for terrorists. Give me a bleepin break Marty. There is no way our terrorist enemies would waste their time on such a futile effort. He states that a hard sided cooer, "can serve as a bomb with the potency of eliminating an entire city block." If Mr. Smith knew anything about explosives he'd realize that this potency only works when the shock waves have solid materials to reverberate from. If his theoretical terrorists had his hard sided cooler bomb in the middle of the grandstands on the tri-oval at Daytona the effect would be to kill a few hundred people. The bodies of the fans in his immediate area would absorb the force of the blast and reduce it's effect over that of one set off in or in front of a building. Granted, this would be tragic for those poor souls who died, but it wouldn't achieve the effect that these well trained terrorists are seeking. Hey Marty, the super bowl would have been an attractive target. Collapsing the SuperDome on top of the thousands of spectators would have been effective and devestating. Attacking one or more of the buildings at the Olympics would be effective in that it is a gathering of international sports figures. Daytona USA simply isn't a logical target with national or international significance. Taking down the Golden Gate bridge would be significant. Blowing up a nuclear power plant would be significant. Taking down The Empire State Building would be significant. Blowing up some fans at Daytona, while bloody to be sure, is not an effective statement. No way are the terrorists going to attack Daytona with plastique explosives in a hard sided cooler.. I hate to take on a fellow columnist but I only have one good nerve left and Marty Smith just irritated the Hell out of it. It is shameful that he is pimping for the money grubbing ways of NA$CAR and making flimsy excuses for their behavior. Even more shameful is his acceptance of the flimsy evidence he cites as a logical reason for ISC's decision. I'll bet he buys NA$CAR's reasoning that the Simpson seat belts killed Dale Earnhardt. To this I say, "Go Bill Simpson, and may you end up ownining NA$CAR." To Marty Smith I say, "Get an honest job and keep your feeble excuses to yourself." Bill Simpson has devoted his life and every fiber to making NA$CAR and all forms of racing safer. I am in full support of his lawsuit against NA$CAR and pray that he is successful. His character, integrity and proffessionalism has been villified and he deserves compensation. He offered NA$CAR the opportunity to apologize and they refused. May they pay the price and reap the rewards of their ill conceived blame casting on an icon of the sport. Character counts and I find NA$CAR guilty for the lack of this commendable trait. Thank you for your readership and please remember, "You have the right to disagree but not the right to be disagreeable." God bless the USA. Don@insidethepitbox.com Check out ALL our sections and features here!! There is plenty to keep you busy on our main page! (Editors Note:The views and opinions of our writers are just that, theirs. If you have comments, write to them. We take no responsibility for their articles... Do you blame us?) Article archives Return to the Main Page