There’s an old saying “don’t throw the baby out with the bath water” and it fits the ongoing discussion since Saturday night’s twin Firestone races at Texas Motor Speedway for the IZOD IndyCar series.
One has to give credit to track president Eddie Gossage for thinking outside the box and deciding to run two races of 275 kilometers each instead of one 550-kilometer event.
I liked the concept when it was announced and still think it is a format that will work not only for IndyCar, but probably NASCAR as well.
The only part of the format that proved to be unacceptable was how the starting line-up for the second race was determined.
Drivers posted qualifying times for the first race on Friday. For the second race, the drivers got to pick their starting position, in what became more of a game show atmosphere.
The driver finishing last in the first race got the first pick in the blind draw. The top three finishers in race one, Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon and Will Power, picked last. There were three positions remaining, third, 18th and 28th. Power picked the three spot, Dixon the 18th position on the grid, leaving Franchitti with 28th.
Despite winning the first race and charging through the field to finish seventh in the second contest, Franchitti lost points to season points leader Power. Power finished third and won the first race.
The two race concept is right, the method used for establishing the lineup for the second race is flawed.
I agreed when Franchitti said the field for the second race should have been a complete inversion of the finishing order from race one. Had that been the case, Franchitti and Dixon would have started in the last row and Power would have been right in front of them.
Growing up on Long Island, all three race tracks would invert the starting field for feature events. The fast qualifier started on the tail and had to race his way to the front. It made for great racing.
Hopefully Gossage and IndyCar officials will consider a complete inversion for the 2012 event, but please don’t change the remainder of the format.
Think how such a format would work at NASCAR events at places like Pocono and New Hampshire, where races tend to be boring affairs. Why does NASCAR feel it has to run almost every race at a distance of 500 miles? There is nothing unique or magical about that distance.
Two races of 250 miles on the same day would be a nice change and could generate some fan interest.
In other racing news
• The Champion Racing Association Super Late Model race at Lucas Oil Raceway on Sunday was an excellent show with a great field of cars on hand.
The only thing that marred the race was the fact that it took three restarts with eight laps to complete the Seal Wrap Repair Tape 100. Two accidents took place on the restarts that knocked a lot of good cars out of the mix.
• It’s a doubleheader weekend at Anderson Speedway with the rained-out spring championship taking place on Friday at 8 p.m. The HOSS Winged Sprints headlines racing on Saturday starting at 8 p.m. with the return of the Anderson Late Models on the program.
• Ken de la Bastide may be reached at ken.delabastide@kokomotribune.com or 765-454-8580.
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