Asian Motor Sports

Take a look at the following statements, do any of them sound familiar considering all the uproar over NASCAR rule changes in the last two years.

• The rule change “will further erode the fundamental philosophy of racing by rewarding mediocrity ahead of class.”
• “In the name of improving ‘the show,’” the sanctioning body will…
• “Drivers have universally criticized the point-scoring system…”
• The rules change “has shown how far the elements of sport have already been compromised in the name of a “good show”.
• “The already blurred line between sport and entertainment is closer to being totally erased…”

Those words could have been written by any one of thousands of fans on blogs and NASCAR forums related to the Chase format and other changes seen in recent years.

In fact they are noted in an article by Peter Krupka on rules changes slated to take effect in Australia’s V8 Supercar Series. That series just concluded it’s ‘05 season with NASCAR future star Marcos Ambrose - nick named Devil Racer - winning the event and Ford teammate Russell Ingall taking the Championship.

In short this is what rule change will entail: The driver who finishes first in the opening race of a weekend - normally a 100km event - will start at the back of the grid in the second. “The ‘reward’ for being the best in race one is you start last in the grid in race two. All grid positions for race two will be in reverse order.” The third race will start in the order of the second race result.

To put this in perspective, this isn’t your local Saturday night bull ring that inverts the top ten for the feature. These events typically start over 30 cars each event so a winner of race one must fight his way through at least 29 others to capture a second win.

This has also required a change in points awarded. For the events that hold three races - New Zealand, Perth, Shanghai, Darwin, Oran Park, Surfers Paradise, Bahrain, Tasmania and Phillip Island - 320 points are available each round with 128 going to the race winner in the first and third races and 64 for the winner of the second race.

All of which raises a question, but first consider this quote:

“The introduction of the reverse grid is designed to create more interesting racing and increase the great spectacle of the sport that has been largely responsible for our continued growth,” said V8 Supercars Australia CEO Wayne Cattach.

Place yourself in the position of a race one winner. That places you in 34^th and last on the grid for race two. You know 128 points have been added to your seasonal total but an all out bonzai run through the field will only result in gaining 64 more points. All at the risk of crashing out and receiving much less.

So what do you do, take the risk and go for the win and “create more interesting racing?” Or be prudent, race safe take what you can, then pass the rest during the third event when more points are on offer?

I’m no mind reader, but I bet the majority of V8 drivers won’t be risking too much during their second event on many Sundays.

Cross Posted @ Full Throttle

UPDATE: Here are a few selected driver quotes on the new rule change.

Greg Murphy, “I think there was a few people that were half asleep when they made that decision, that one’s got me a bit stumped,” Murph told Crash.net Radio. “I don’t know why you’d want to introduce something like that which is going to cause chaos in V8 Supercars, for people that were trying to reduce costs in this category, I think they’ve achieved the opposite.”

Jason Richards, “It’s going to be hell,” he told us, succinctly. “We spend a lot of money on crash damage anyway, just through four thousand dollar front spoilers, three thousand dollar rear spoilers, and we basically have to put a new one on of each every weekend, we’re probably going to have to do that twice a weekend now.

“That reverse grid race, there’s going to be some people getting touched up and there’s probably going to be some big crashes, so it’s certainly going to expand the costs of the sport, which is not a good thing, we’re trying to keep it in control at the moment. But certainly in terms of a spectator spectacle it’s going to be probably pretty fantastic.”

Glenn Seton , “As a race driver it’s disappointing to see. At the end of the day I understand it’s an entertainment business, but at the end of the day the important thing is we’re racers and we want to race the fastest guy at the front and to have reverse grids then you have a lot of carnage which we’ve seen in the development series over the year.

Steven Richards, “It’s a points game,” he says. “You have to score good points in that first race by the sounds of it.”

Richards looks back to the races held at Australia’s capital city where reverse grids were previously employed. “It’s not unfamiliar territory for us, we had three years of it at Canberra at the street circuit,” he says. “I’m sure it’ll be a bit of a problem for the teams because there’s going to be lots more damage, but saying that it should be a lot of fun.”