Quote:
Originally Posted by Déjà Bru
Please forgive a neophyte question. I looked it up and one source says "In NASCAR, restrictor plates slow down cars by reducing the amount of air that can flow into the engine. This makes racing safer and more competitive." Since your post followed mine, I am assuming it was in response to the severity of this crash. How so, then, your vituperation? I am just curious, that's all.  |
Basically what Cod already said; because of the restricted air intake, engine power is drastically reduced, to the point that the fastest way to travel around Daytona and Talladega (and since recently, shambolically, Atlanta) is for all 36+ cars to travel in one tight pack with no wiggle room and wait for the first incidental touch to set of the chain reaction.
So in one way restrictor plate (the term old geezers still use; the actual part that is installed is now called a "tapered spacer") racing is safer, since it prevents cars from going 240 miles an hour.
On the other paw, it makes it more dangerous, since you have no way to escape a huge wreck that happens at 180 miles an hour.
In the end, you get a 3 1/2 hour race (plus red flag durations) where being first at any given point matters little, it just means you get a clear view of your own obliteration. The race is inevitably decided on a green-white-checkered finish with just 11 cars still rolling.
No, I have no actual solutions to make these tracks functioning in a modern environment.
My guy Byron, who won his second consecutive Daytona 500 on Sunday, was three times just one car away from destruction in the various wrecks in the race. In the Preece wreck, he's right in front of Preece when Bell's #20 comes back around and careens into the pack.
Also, get Cole Custer (#41) outta there. He's proven to be useless in the past, unless he's trying to pass for Logano/Keselowski. Then that's an A+.