Q: I was very impressed with what I felt was great NASCAR racing at Atlanta Motor Speedway. There were very few yellow flag laps, the cars could easily run two wide, with sometimes three-abreast racing and I liked all of the passing and lead changes. It looked like the grandstands were full of fans even though it was 40 degree weather. If Atlanta is now considered a superspeedway in the same class as Daytona and Talladega, I’d have to say I thought Atlanta put on a better show than Daytona did last month.
My question is this: Does the repaving and reconfiguration of Atlanta give us hope for 1.5-mile ovals overall? Could something like this reconfiguration and repaving be successful at Texas Speedway and improve both the NASCAR as well as IndyCar racing at Texas? Has NASCAR found a solution for other 1.5-mile ovals? It seemed like the fans were back, and enjoying the show in Atlanta. Can you comment on attendance estimates for Sunday’s race in Atlanta versus previous years?
Kevin P., Los Angeles, CA
KC: I don’t think this needs to be the answer for any other intermediate racetracks. Aside from Texas Motor Speedway, there’s been some really good racing on the 1.5-mile tracks. But, yes, Texas continues to be a disappointment and not a favorite of the drivers either. With two races at Daytona, Talladega, and Atlanta, that makes it six superspeedway-type races on the schedule. That is plenty, and there is no need for more, so I would hope NASCAR doesn’t continue down this path of turning tracks into smaller superspeedway races.
Attendance seemed decent, I’ll go as far as saying. It wasn’t full but it looked pretty good. It was also really cold and windy, so I’m sure fans were in and out of their seats and going under the grandstands for refreshments, etc. I don’t have an actual number to give you — those aren’t released anymore — but sometimes local outlets will give estimates. I haven’t seen anything for Sunday’s race.
Q: I’ve been listening to Corey LaJoie’s podcast “Stacking Pennies” for a while, and on it he often mentions Chevrolet’s “key partner” teams (which I believe are Hendrick, Childress, and Trackhouse). My question is, do Ford and Toyota also have teams in the Cup Series that they designate “key partner” organizations? If so, which ones are they?
Garrick
KC: The key partners of manufacturers are the ones who get the most resources and support, and those are usually the bigger teams with bigger budgets. They get the backing from the manufacturer, data, sim time, etc. Team Penske and Stewart-Haas would be those in the Ford camp. Toyota has a smaller group of teams, but the pecking order is going to start with Joe Gibbs Racing.
Q: Is there a particularly plausible or reasonable explanation why the FIA does not run F2 races in North or South America? For some reason they seem to have come up with justification to run them in Melbourne, Australia.
Wiscowerner
CHRIS MEDLAND: It all comes down to funding, and whether a race promoter wants to help make the event viable for those categories. F3 was set to race at COTA in 2020 before the pandemic hit and that could have been a precursor to F2 following suit, but those plans had to change once the race was cancelled. The promoter might offer some financial or logistical help — I believe that’s what’s happened for Melbourne — but for races far from Europe it needs to be more significant to ensure it isn’t too expensive for the teams. The Middle East is better value for money as teams do pre-season testing and the first race in Bahrain, then head straight to Jeddah, while they end the season in Abu Dhabi and do a three-day test there afterwards too.
I do think we’ll see COTA at some stage host an F2 race as it fits into the existing calendar pretty well, but Miami and Montreal are probably too close to other events for it to be financially viable without a lot of help from the race promoters, and Vegas is solely an F1 race with no support categories planned (plus is too close to Abu Dhabi for F2).
THE FINAL WORD
From Robin Miller’s Mailbag, March 20, 2019
Q: In doing some research the other day, I came across USAC’s original 1980 schedule, which included some interesting track choices. Of the 10 races, there were events scheduled for Charlotte, Road Atlanta, and to my surprise, a 500-mile race at Talladega (all of which were later cancelled when CART and USAC briefly got together to co-sanction). Now, knowing a bit about USAC’s ill-fated attempt at Daytona in 1959, it honestly shocks me that they would have even considered running at a high-speed superspeedway such as Talladega again. Do you have any recollection concerning this race? Who on earth thought this would be a good idea?
Vincent Michael, Williamsport, PA
RM: Hmmm, let’s see who thought it would be a good idea? How about the same clowns that took the dirt cars out of the USAC Championship Trail? There were some crazy ideas being thrown around back then, but I don’t think anybody ever took Talladega seriously. Jim Hurtubise ran 191 mph in his Mallard roadster at Daytona in 1968, but the lone Indy car pass came in 1974 when A.J. Foyt ran 217.854 mph in his Coyote.