New Start N Park Rule

Having followed Ol Wingtips for decades, I can tell you that life mid-pack and back is not easy. Dave worked his tail off make races, and to simply survive doing the only thing he knew how. The old guy never was a start n parker, but if he happened to be the first car out of the race next Sunday, that $30G's would kill him. I mean dang, years back one of his crew members slept under the car on an open trailer to get to the race at Riverside. And another time, he pulled his race motor out of the car in a grocery store parking lot to put it in his truck so he could get to the track.

This new rule is indeed going to make it harder on small teams to even make races, and it will solidify the stranglehold that the mega-teams have on the sport.

Take Kirk and his Racing For Jesus thing. Everything about his operation is on the cheap. From vollunteer crew members to pounded out and puddied up bodies. Here's a guy who if he happens to finish last simply won't won't have the money to have his motor rebuilt. Nope, he and his friends will probably just put it back together as is. And for the next race? My guess is that he'll pull out another used and abused car and motor to try to make the show.

Thing about shoestrings is this....They break. And you can only tie knots in them for so long before ya just gotta throw them away. Does a guy like Kirk (and the kids he brings with him) deserve to be forced out for making do with what they got? Not in my opinion.

But as always, your mileage and opinions may vary :-)

Well that is it. What Marcis did isn't doable now. The sport is too big, but in a sense, he would have been just as well off if not better off by starting and parking. The fact he didn't is to his credit, but in this era a Dave Marcis would be starting and parking or he wouldn't be there sponsorless. The cost of just showing up is high enough. If NASCAR wants these guys to race, up the purse. You put a gun to their heads, they wont go. It wont make sense, and the sport will lose.

Start and Park isnt' what people set out to do, it is what economic necessity dictates.

Going to be really interesting when NASCAR doesn't have 43 cars trying to qualify. So much for full fields.

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Originally Posted by beachgirl

Going to be really interesting when NASCAR doesn't have 43 cars trying to qualify. So much for full fields.

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outside some big races, there maybe are 45-46 entrants,

and 9 of those are start and parks. Nascar put themselves in a bad position, as like Mark said, they don;t have the sponsors to survive the whole race, otherwise they could, they dont have the money to buy tires and fuel and a crew for a full race.

this might just officially kill off 43 car fields, might start going down to 38-40 cars

If a team has the funds to pay the entry fee and get their equipment to the track they have every right to race. If they don't have at least some TV coverage they have no chance of ever getting a sponsor. NASCAR's new rule will probably put most of them out of business by adding a possible expense that they can't afford to chance. Just another dumb rule from the powers-that-be. Ugh.

The thing is, it isn't the 43 cars I care about. 43 is just a number ( a great number if you are driving the car with it ) but the fact is those teams cant get traction if they cannot afford to even show up. AT some point, all this talk about controlling the large teams and to encourage new investors falls apart. TRG last year was start and park until mid season. They had no owners points, but they saw an opportunity by contraction and jumped into Cup racing. By the end of the season, they had sponsors and the services of Bobby Labonte. Tell me how they could do that under the current climate. TRG could be 10 years from now be where Roush or RCR will be, because lets face it, Roush, Gibbs and Childress are all run by men in their 60's. They wont be there maybe in 10 years. New teams have to be able to get on that first rung. I could care less about the 43 guarnteed cars in the field, I care about the reality about new teams getting into the sport and coming forward to fill the void when the current top dogs fade away or get broken up.

So coming in first or last results in a $30,000 bill? Umm ya that makes a lot of sense.

Mark....on the topic of local sponsorship......

Out at Riverside one year, Dave had a local sponsor on the quarterpanel of his Chevrolet.

Warren-Anderson Ford.

And one of the things Dave's wife always told him...paraphrased...You start losing money at it, and you're done.

Let's be honest.....life at the back is break even at best. Adding 30G's a race to the cost WILL disable more than a few teams. Shucks, just the extra set of tires needed to run another 10 laps so ya won't be the last place car might put some of these teams over the edge.

And, there is no way this side of Cucamonga that this will in any way improve the racing. And, since there won't be a 43rd place car, the 30G's will be charged to the 42nd. And so on and so on untill it starts eating up the budgets of teams that are not, and never will be, considered start n parkers.

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Originally Posted by 71Fan

Mark....on the topic of local sponsorship......

Out at Riverside one year, Dave had a local sponsor on the quarterpanel of his Chevrolet.

Warren-Anderson Ford.

And one of the things Dave's wife always told him...paraphrased...You start losing money at it, and you're done.

Let's be honest.....life at the back is break even at best. Adding 30G's a race to the cost WILL disable more than a few teams. Shucks, just the extra set of tires needed to run another 10 laps so ya won't be the last place car might put some of these teams over the edge.

And, there is no way this side of Cucamonga that this will in any way improve the racing. And, since there won't be a 43rd place car, the 30G's will be charged to the 42nd. And so on and so on untill it starts eating up the budgets of teams that are not, and never will be, considered start n parkers.

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I agree. I used to think NASCAR management was doing a good job, but they are listening to the wrong people on this one. Many fans hate the start and park thing, but the fans don't see the business side of this. NASCAR should...

Yea.....If only they would play by rules, none of this would've ever happened. Oh yea, my rules are simple.


1. Run what ya brung. (as long as your car passes a safety inspection)
2. Go fast or go home.
3. If you are lapped, you re-start in the back.
4. No yellow flag pit stops.
5. Races are for the designated distance. No exceptions.
6. Seatbelts, helmets, HANS Devices, all other designated safety devices, and a spotter are mandatory.
7. There will be no stopping of races due to rain or darkness. (see rule #5)
8. Speeding on Pit Road will be a 2 lap penalty.
9. Intentionally hitting another car on Pit Road will result in a last place finish and a 1 race suspension.
10. All driver disputes will be settled with 16 ounce gloves and headgear.

Yup, think that about covers it.....Let's go racin' boys!