Damp Day For NASCAR In The MTL

NACSAR came roaring back to Canada in the only true NASCAR event of the season. Sure there is a NASCAR Canada series but when you have former Montreal Canadians defence man Patrice Brisbois driving in those races chances are it isn’t an All Star event. At the 2.7-mile Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Carl Edwards passed Marcus Ambrose on basically the last turn on the last lap in a race that saw Ambrose lead for the majority of the race. It was 1 mistake that was mad but it was a big one at just the wrong time when he jumped the curb and became airborne opening the door for a quick move to the lead. Ambrose was none too pleased as this was the 3rd time he has been screwed over in some way at this race. Twice it was his own doing but it really seems like he is snake bitten on this track. He always seems to have a great car and a great race right until the end when the "wheels come off" and he has to settle for a finish that he clearly did not deserve.

Again at the Montreal NASCAR Nationwide race it was, I don’t want to say was marred but was affected by rain and tough driving. The marathon race lasted nearly four hours, with 11 cautions and 31 laps run behind the pace car It seems that this race is scheduled every year during the rainy season in Montreal. The only saving grace is that it is a road course and they are able to break out the Goodyear rain tires. I believe this was the first place that NASCAR has gone to these tires and got to do so again. There was a delay as teams were allotted 5 minutes to install rain tires, wipers, tail lights, apply Rainex, and some guys even changed visors from the regular tinted ones to a clear style.

Canadians were well represented in this race yet again with varied success. Veteran Ron Fellows had a bad day that ended early. Patrick Carpentier who finished second in each of the first two Nationwide events in Montreal was forced to retire after engine trouble only 15 laps in. On the positive side Andrew Ranger managed a 3rd place finish. In shocking news Jacques Villeneuve actually finished the race for the first time in what seems like EVER and managed a great fourth place finish. Relative unknown Jean-Francois Dumoulin scored a seventh place finish.

What is great is despite the weather the fans stayed throughout. The city seems to love auto racing either NASCAR or F1 or Cart and that support should keep the race coming back as they move forward.

As a weird little side note, it is the only NASCAR event held outside the United States and it produced a rare statistic -- three of the top five finishers were non-American (maybe a sign that it is getting more international and continuing to separate itself from the southern red neck stereotype that still lingers).

This Could Have Been The True Last Lap At Talladega

Brad Keselowski won his first Sprint Cup Series race Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway but it was Carl Edwards who was the talk of the race. Edwards car became airborne and sailed into the fence near the finish line. It was a chilling crash as seen by the pictures. Thankfully Edwards managed to get out of his car under his own power and then did his best Ricky Bobby - Talladega Night impression as he ran down the track to cross the finish line on foot, lord knows the car wasn’t going to make it that far. Talladega is a NASCAR regulated restrictor plate race. Basically for those who are not racing fans, Restrictor plates are used to combat the high speeds at NASCAR's two fastest tracks, and the plates typically keep the field bunched tightly together. One wrong move by a driver can and almost always cause a massive accident.

NASCAR put these restrictions on the cars at a few tracks known as the Superspeedways. It was a crash by Bobby Allison that led to this rule at this very track. In the attempt to slow the cars down to make things safer, they made the races more dangerous.

With all the cars only able to go the same speed and it is not like it is a slow speed either. All the cars will bunch up during the race creating a big pack still going at a high rate of speed. 1 small mistake by any of these cars will result in what is known in the NASCAR world as “The Big One” and every week that they are at one of these tracks before, during, and after the race they talk about the ‘Big One’. This is not something new. Fans know it, commentators know it and of course the drivers know it....and very few like it. Many people will tune into a race to see the racing, many others will tune in to see a wreck but these races are more then just a fender-benders...just ask Carl Edwards. "We'll race like this until we kill somebody," said Edwards, "then (NASCAR) will change it."

Where the accident happened it was also very lucky that the “Safety Fence” held up and prevented the debris and the actual car itself from flying into the stands and doing some serious damage and undoubtedly killing spectators. This event had all the potential to turning into one horrific tragedy. It is bad enough if a race car driver is hurt, but at least they know that they are always in a dangerous position when on the track, fans in the stands our for a fun afternoon of watching a race, usually with friends and family don’t expect to be taken out by sheet metal, tires or a whole car. Luckily the safety measures in place held up this time but next time NASCAR may not be so lucky.

Not only was there Edwards' frightening flight into the fence, Sunday's race was also marred by a 13-car crash on the seventh lap and another 10-car accident with nine laps to go.

NASCAR needs to look into this NOW. They are always talking about the improvements that they make to make the races safer to ignore one of the biggest risks is borderline negligent!
it happens too often and they know that there is always a real possibility that a major tragedy is just 1 turn away...Smarten up and do something!

See the last 2 laps here