I am new to NASCAR and have a question. Seems all races have car initially
in pairs on track except for
the last row which has only one car. Why it that?
John
31
Dec
Number of cars in NASCAR race
On Sun, 15 Jul 2001 20:57:32 CST, "John" <johnn…@earthlink.net>
wrote:
>I am new to NASCAR and have a question. Seems all races have car initially
>in pairs on track except for
>the last row which has only one car. Why it that?
43 cars start the race.
Why 43?
Because. ;o)
Marty
I don’t think you really meant to ask the question they way you asked it. That
answer is simple in that there are an odd number of cars.
Wht the real question is , Is why are there 43 cars? You will see many answers
to that question. Take the one that is most logical.
Steven Scharf
SCSMe…@aol.com
"John" johnn…@earthlink.net asked:
I am new to NASCAR and have a question. Seems all races have car initially in
pairs on track except for the last row which has only one car. Why it that?
John
>I am new to NASCAR and have a question. Seems all races have car initially in
>pairs on track except for the last row which has only one car. Why it that?
>John
Well… long story. Short Version:
Used to be, they started 42 cars per race, then someone got the bright idea
that Past Champions should always be in the race, and they let the most recent
Past Champion who missed the race start anyway as the 43rd car. Then they
decided to always start 43 cars.
Or something like that.
Eric
Eric O. Troldahl, E…@Troldahl.com
Moderator Emeritus, rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated — http://rasnm.carracing.com
#5, #18, #20, #29, #15, #1, #10, #84 — And Kat Teasdale!
I cheer for a lot of drivers in a lot of series, especially female drivers.
>Used to be, they started 42 cars per race
Used to be only a few years ago that they only started 36 at Bristol, North
Wilkesboro and Martinsville.
>hen someone got the bright idea
>that Past Champions should always be in the race, and they let the most
>recent
>Past Champion who missed the race start anyway as the 43rd car. Then they
>decided to always start 43 cars.
>Or something like that.
I thought there was at one point a 44th spot on the grid for a past champion’s
provisional. I remember this being in effect sometime around 1994 and NASCAR’s
first visit to Indy, since I recall them mentioning that on the qualifying
broadcast for the first Brickyard 400.
-Sean
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -
On Mon, 16 Jul 2001 05:28:38 CST, absolutelys…@aol.comnoemail (Sean) wrote:
>>Used to be, they started 42 cars per race
>Used to be only a few years ago that they only started 36 at Bristol, North
>Wilkesboro and Martinsville.
>>hen someone got the bright idea
>>that Past Champions should always be in the race, and they let the most
>>recent
>>Past Champion who missed the race start anyway as the 43rd car. Then they
>>decided to always start 43 cars.
>>Or something like that.
>I thought there was at one point a 44th spot on the grid for a past champion’s
>provisional. I remember this being in effect sometime around 1994 and NASCAR’s
>first visit to Indy, since I recall them mentioning that on the qualifying
>broadcast for the first Brickyard 400.
Years and years ago they used to start different numbers of cars at each
track, depending on how big the track was and how many cars the promoter
thought would show up (that’s how you got fields of 60 or 70 cars at Darlington
in the early days). This eventually settled on 36 cars at the short tracks, mostly
based on the number of cars that would fit in the pits; and 42 cars on the long
tracks, mostly because that’s about how many cars would consistantly show
up. That worked for many years, until NASCAR’s recent burst of popularity
started in the late 80′s. Then more cars started showing up, and most races
saw 3 or 4 cars go home. This didn’t really distress anyone until the day one
of the cars going home was Richard Petty. NASCAR immediately reacted
(a rarity for them, even in those days) by creating the past champions provisional.
Because everyone thought it was a cute alignment of numbers, instead of just
making the last (42nd) position the past champs, they added one more on the
end, making 43 spots (this was for Petty, remember). The past champs provisional
didn’t get used much at first (DW still had a handle on qualifying), and Bill Elliott
started a nice tradition of taking a past champs prov instead of a regular one,
to let another driver take the regular provisional and get in the race. NASCAR
eventually decided that was a good idea, and decreed there’d always be 43
starters, with the last spot being a regular provisional if a past champ didn’t
need it. Round about the same time they decided to pressure the short tracks
(the few that were left) to build more pits, so they could start 43 at those tracks
too.
The 44th car Sean is thinking of was the Winston West rule. For a few years
there were joint WW and WC events – Sears Point was for 4 or 5 years, Phoenix
was for a couple of years, and for some reason Indy was for one year. At those
events they had a rule that garaunteed the WW points leader a spot in the race;
if he didn’t qualify (almost a certainity) he got an extra, 44th place provisional.
The rational for that blatantly unfair rule has always escaped me.
John
>This didn’t really distress anyone until the day one
>of the cars going home was Richard Petty. NASCAR immediately reacted
>(a rarity for them, even in those days) by creating the past champions
>provisional.
Provisionals were origianlly a "promoters option". Visit any local track when
they host a bigger than normal event, and you will see that they do whatever
they can do to get the local favorite in the big event. It’s just part of
racing’s history. NASCAR developed the points system, but each track operator
still ran ‘his’ races the way he thought best. The provisional rule has been
appropriated by NASCAR, for better or worse, and the intent is first and
foremost to keep the drivers the fans came to see in the race. Secondly, it
helps assure a sponsor they have a probable chance of making the race.
john each race is only allowed 43 cars , so when u go by two that leaves one
left over.