What is a 500 anyway

About halfway through my viewing of the Daytona race last Sunday, I was struck with a thought: "Does the '500' in Daytona 500 refer to the number of miles the competitors run, or the number of commercials TV-watching fans have to endure?"

After the race was shortened to 109 laps, I think the commercial count actually defined the "500" designation. I predicted that this was going to happen when the TV package with FOX and NBC was announced a couple of years ago. With the amount of money the networks had to pay for the rights to air Winston Cup events, the number of commercials needed to pay for it just had to increase.

Admittedly, some of the new commercials aired during the race were better than any of the Super Bowl ads, but I'd still prefer to watch the racing.

NASCAR has finally ended the "double secret probation" on red flag rules, revealing a policy that should (but not necessarily will) take the confusion out of just when and how a race will end. Up until a couple of years ago, a late yellow flag in a NASCAR race meant that the race would end under caution.

Then red flags started magically appearing when there was a late-race caution, ensuring that competitors would race to the end. Never mind that the red flag had the potential of drastically changing late race strategy and, in some cases, the outcome.

The biggest problem that I (in concert with the rest of the motorsports press and a majority of fans) had with this situation was that it seemed totally arbitrary. The absurdity of the situation was underlined at the fall Busch race at Darlington, when officials stopped the cars 100 yards from the finish line just short of halfway, then explained that the odd number of laps meant the race had ended on the backstretch, then finally allowing the cars to start up and cross the line in pouring rain. This capriciousness led to a really ugly outburst at Daytona last July, when a red flag did NOT come out, giving Michael Waltrip a victory under yellow. The crowd, trained to expect a red, embarrassed serious race fans everywhere by turning into an unruly mob tossing debris onto the back track as drivers rolled to the finish line.

Henceforth, NASCAR will announce at the drivers meeting and to the crowd before the green flag that the race, if yellow-flagged at a certain point, will finish under yellow. That point will be determined for each individual race and will vary depending on track and race length, but at least everybody will know what to expect for each race. The rules will apply to Winston Cup, Busch, and Craftsman Trucks. So one part of NASCAR's "flexible flyer" rulebook has now been laid out as a hard and fast rule, at least until it changes.

One of the signs of racing's coming of age as a major sport is the trend of NASCAR's TV partners, FOX and NBC, to schedule races in more popular time slots. According to NASCAR President Mike Helton, "The broadcast relationship has become a critical stakeholder in our sport, and our future decisions will be based a lot on that relationship. What it brings is exposure. And in 2002 another critical stakeholder, car sponsors, received nearly $5 billion of TV exposure." (Note my reference to the true meaning of the Daytona "500" above).

One of the downsides to this trend is the migration of more races to Saturday nights, hurting the gate at local grassroots tracks like our own Champion Motor Speedway. Sunday race times may also be moved to later in the day, hoping to garner more viewers who have completed their outdoor weekend activities and come home to watch the races.

Another downside is the movement of races into bigger markets. Of course this migration means more fans, more money, and more viewers, but it comes at the expense of some of the smaller traditional tracks that are so much a part of NASCAR's history.

Success is not always an unalloyed joy for all participants, but the trend is very much in keeping with America in the 21st century: the rich get richer and the rest can fend for themselves.

Roger Diez is the Nevada Appeal motorsports columnist. He can be reached at Racytalker@aol.com.