A disgusting display...

[stuart1044]

People like these hooligans just spoil all kinds of sport IMHO.

You don't pay good money to go and see people throwing things, or people starting riots.

I remember when a riot started at a football match i was at, and seats and various other items began to be thrown in our direction, i was ignoring it all and watching the match when i was hit by a coin on the side of my head, which then preceded to blead down the side of my face.  I was only 14 or 15 at the time, very scary

[RitterKreuz]

i think it is pretty easy to fall into mob mentality like they did.

i think its pretty nasty myself, but i will say this.

Nascar manages to piss off some fans by letting guys like Gordon win under caution... i mean think about it, if you're the leader on the last lap and they throw out the yellow flag the race is yours no matter how much track is still ahead of you to the finish line. People pay to see a competitive race, and nascar cheats them out of it frequently in the last few laps of the race.

If it were up to me...

if you're in the last 5 laps of a race, and the caution flag MUST come out by all means throw it out there... but the lap count should be STOPPED with 5 laps to go, and the cars should have to line up double file behind the pace car, and force a double file restart when the green flag goes out.

that way it is a true race all the way to the finish line... none if this you cant pass anyone for the remainder of the race, and you have to line up behind the pace car and hold 45 miles per hour... these fans want to see a balls to the wall 200+ MPH race, not grandma's sunday drive to Luby's cafeteria..

that would be like paying to go to a football (USA) game and the score is such that one touchdown determines the winner, but in the last 2 minutes of the game the team that is in the lead has NO PLAY CLOCK!!! how can the team thats down by one TD possibly come back to win? short answer - they cant... because with no play clock the leading team could just sit on the ball and let the time run out  >:(

same deal with nascar when you close a race under yellow. my 4 year old niece could finish a race under caution for crying out loud!

BUT - still no excuse for behaving like an angry mob despite the fact that they are ... well ... an angry mob.  ;D

[Mobius]

That's supposedly why they introduced the Green-White-Checkered rule, so races wouldn't finish under caution, but I think Tony Stewart hit the nail on the head when he called NASCAR the WWF.  I agree with you though Ritter, with less than five or ten laps to go, the lap count should be frozen until the green is thrown again.

[Mushroom_Farmer]

Well, I quit wathing NASCAR shortly after there were no bumpers on the cars anymore. I tried to watch occasionally since then, but figured it wasn't worth it. I do keep up with the rules and read the results in the newspaper. I also notice nealy all the races have a caution period within 20 laps to go.
In sprint/midget/silver crown races caution laps do not count. If you are involved in an incident resulting in caution flag you go to back of the field. You qualify on time and through heat races, no gimmees for the top tier in points and no provisionals for past champions. There are rules pertaining to car specifications, but they don't have to be "aerodynamically equal" and are allowed to look different from the other makes. Gee, you actually have to race.  ;)

[Fly2e]

I agree with you though Ritter, with less than five or ten laps to go, the lap count should be frozen until the green is thrown again.

if you're in the last 5 laps of a race, and the caution flag MUST come out by all means throw it out there... but the lap count should be STOPPED with 5 laps to go, and the cars should have to line up double file behind the pace car, and force a double file restart when the green flag goes out.  

that way it is a true race all the way to the finish line... none if this you cant pass anyone for the remainder of the race, and you have to line up behind the pace car and hold 45 miles per hour... these fans want to see a balls to the wall 200+ MPH race, not grandma's sunday drive to Luby's cafeteria..

Especially on the superspeedways!

[expat]

That's supposedly why they introduced the Green-White-Checkered rule, so races wouldn't finish under caution, but I think Tony Stewart hit the nail on the head when he called NASCAR the WWF.  I agree with you though Ritter, with less than five or ten laps to go, the lap count should be frozen until the green is thrown again.

Maybe F1 should consider this, then it would not be possible to win a race in the pit lane

Matt

[rootbeer]

I don't watch NASCAR or any racing, for that matter. What happened at Talladega was poor sportsmanship by any measure. Sport is just that-- sport. It's fine to root for your favorite, but it's definitely a black eye to do what happened there. Trashing the track (or playing field) and throwing objects is behavior best left to big-city baseball fans, not the hoity-toity crowd you find at auto races...

[PlutonianEmpire]

I hate auto races, so I don't watch them anyway.

IIRC, some south american country has the worst, meanest, hooligans in the world...

[Craig.]

[quote][quote]That's supposedly why they introduced the Green-White-Checkered rule, so races wouldn't finish under caution, but I think Tony Stewart hit the nail on the head when he called NASCAR the WWF.

[C]

I can't help thinking, that along with Top Gear's visit to Alabama, this has put me off going there. Ever. It really doesn't say much for their hospitality and intellect at all. Shame really.

[C]

Until they do away with refueling (and yep it can be done) the race will always be won in the pits. Flavio recently suggested the idea of just tyres on the pit stops that way your only standing still 3 to 4 seconds tops and back out on track. Plus none of this stupid "oh he must be lighter on fuel because he was fastest in qualy, even though he's coming into the pits 2 or 3 laps later than anyone else" crap

Well, to be fair, F1 began to go down hill with the introduction of refuelling in the very early 90s. You also used to have a few more retirements by those who got it wrong...