Last year during the fall Bristol race I found myself in a house divided. My stepfather and a few others seemed uneasy with the race. It wasn’t the “old Bristol” and they weren’t happy. However, I was excited with what I was seeing. It wasn’t the “old Bristol”, but it was great racing.
I loved the beating and banging that Bristol had always given us. Sheet metal peeled back, panels crushed in, and cars looking like they’d tried speeding through a concrete forest. Rusty and Jeff, Dale and Terry, and countless other bump’n’run/beat’n’bang type races captivated me. I won’t lie, I missed some of that. However, I didn’t miss watching cars ride around for a third of the race under caution.
We also got something from the new surface that we’d never seen to this new extent. Passing. Bristol has always been a 1 ½ lane track at best, but this surface has made for legitimate 3 wide passing in the turns. No longer do you have to tune your car to 1 groove. A driver can search the track for the line that fits his current setup. Not only that, but as opposed to nearly wrecking the car in front of you in order to get around them you can pass. You can pass high. You can pass low. You can finally work the track.
Maybe there’s a happy medium. Maybe once the new surface gets a bit more seasoned we’ll see a compromise between passing and bumping that will please everyone. For now however, I’m just excited that we’ve got great short track racing to watch this Sunday.
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