 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
The Andy Belmont Area
Click Here For Other Andy Belmont Articles
Daytona 2006
Another Daytona is in the books! All of the pre event hard work and planning by an immense amount of people in many forms of racing is history. The landscape of the ARCA RE/MAX Series appears to be forever changed.
With the NASCAR testing rules changed and shortened, the ARCA schedule is more appealing for Cup, Busch and Truck teams to use for driver development, testing and general team training. It is good for our series in general, but is not without some fall out amongst our long time regulars who may not be able to afford to compete at the newer higher levels. The changes have put our series more in the limelight than in the past. While some may not revel in the changes, we believe that sharing our playing field with Hendrick, Roush, Yates, Harvick, Ganassi, Evernham and whatever other top NASCAR teams show up, is good for our marketing package.
The fact that our series Champion has been invited to the IROC series also validates what we do in ARCA. The IROC event was exciting and we were well represented. (still wish IROC would come to the clay at DuQuoin!)
Sponsors are more apt to play at our level for an entry level investment if they know they can rub elbows with some of the biggest names in our industry. Reality is, we are the only series that offers such opportunity at the same NASCAR facilities. We should make the most of the opportunity in spite of the new challenges.
The bump drafting issues at the top levels are a memory for a few weeks until Talladega rolls around. Having the privilege of being at the driver's meeting for the twins, Mr. Helton spoke and minced no words. He usually doesn't. Mike Helton is a pretty good guy. He is stern when needed and a friend as well. For those of us at the lower end of the garage area, he treats all with the same level of respect. In fact, he went so far as to offer our guys a ride on the long walk to our motor coach area. I am just not sure that the top guy in all of any other sports would stop with his personal vehicle and offer the personal touch.
Anyway, the bump drafting thing is serious. For the most part it was kept in check. I I do believe it can be cured with a simple rule change, one that may very well involve driver safety. Most all of our race tracks are in the midst of adopting better barriers. Safer barriers, paved run off areas and so on are making it much safer when contact is inevitable. So, making the cars more rigid to be able to bump draft while not damaging the cars body work, is opposite of what I think race cars are supposed to do. By putting these big nasty heavy steel supports in the front and rear bumper areas of the cars, the cars are not only more rigid, but it transfers the load through the car harder on a violent impact. At some point this will need to be addressed. Transferring impact through the cars is not healthy for the driver environment. As the cars are continually reviewed to keep the competitors safe, this needs to be addressed.
My opinion would be to outline what the construction of the support braces should look like and what materials should be used. Take all that railroad iron out of the bumpers and mandate sixty or .083 material in those bumpers and the guys will quit running into one another. As Mike said, "we didn't want to get involved in this, but now we have to". For about 475 miles of the 500 everybody listened! The rule book clearly states how roll cages should be constructed, perhaps a simple amendment to address bumper construction would calm this whole situation down. Perhaps that is extreme, but we all know that if you give racer's an inch, they usually shoot for the mile!
This year's Daytona restored faith in me that the guys up at the other end of the garage are still racer's at heart. Think what you want about finances and where everyone is in the pecking order, it really doesn't matter. There will always be have's and have nots in racing. Make no mistake, the guys at Hendrick, Scott Maxim in particular, and Frank Kerr over at Robby Gordon's were a big help to us and we really appreciate it. At the end of the day these guys have not forgotten where they came from. It was a pretty cool revelation and we couldn't have done it without their guidance.
Year One made it possible for us to chase the dream of racing in the 500. We missed it of course and have homework to do. It was great to see Kirk Shelmerdine get in the 500. Some guys spend an entire career trying to win the 500. Some spend an entire career trying to get in it. We will keep trying!
Until the next one..
Andy Belmont
