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Restrictor plates in Chase are unsettling

There is still some debate among NASCAR drivers whether a restrictor-plate track should be part of the 10-race Chase for the Nextel Cup championship.

Associated Press
Published September 29, 2005

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The carburetor restrictor plates are used only at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway, NASCAR's longest and fastest ovals, to sap horsepower and keep the cars under 200 mph in the interest of driver and spectator safety.

Before the plates came into use in 1987, race speeds at Talladega had climbed to 210 mph and longtime star Bobby Allison came through a terrifying crash in which his car hurtled high into the air, tore down yards of fencing and nearly went into the packed main grandstand at the Alabama track.

The downside of the plates is they tend to make all the cars equal, bunching the field, slowing accelerator response and creating a situation in which huge multicar crashes have become almost routine at the two tracks.

Daytona has its season-opening 500-mile race and a 400-mile event in July, while Talladega's first race each year is in late April or early May. But it is the second Talladega race, coming up Sunday on the 2.66-mile, high-banked oval, that is part of the Chase for the championship.

"In our sport, there are so many risks involved that you learn to deal with it in some ways and try to keep an open eye while you're on the track to avoid potential problems," said Jimmie Johnson, who took the points lead with a victory at Dover in the second race of the Chase. "Talladega is a huge risk. But (the half-mile track at) Martinsville is a risk, too.

"I think everybody is real nervous about Talladega and, hopefully, everybody drives that way and we don't have any big pileups. But, again, we're out there racing and trying to do our jobs at a high rate of speed and, sometimes, things happen."

RESTRICTOR PLATES AT CHARLOTTE?: With less than rave reviews of the ever-changing track surface at Lowe's Motor Speedway from Chasers Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle and Mark Martin after a test last week, NASCAR officials are considering running restrictor plates on the cars in the October 15 race at Charlotte. Stewart and Biffle wrecked two cars apiece during the tests.

S. Korea race canceled

The Champ Car World Series called off its Grand Prix of Ansan, scheduled for Oct.16 in South Korea, a blow for a series struggling to regain its place in the top echelon of racing.

But series executive vice president Joe Chrnelich said dropping the race, even two weeks before the race, is not a big setback for the American-based open-wheel series.

"At first blush it would appear to be a step backward, but what it really demonstrates is that we are going to do whatever it takes to ensure that every Champ Car race is a world-class event," he said. "It sends a message to our future promoter prospects that we will not settle for anything less than their best effort, which long term will make Champ Car even stronger."

The open-wheel series will finish its 2005 season with races Oct.23 in Queensland, Australia, and Nov.6 in Mexico City.

ARCA: Tampa native Aric Almirola will make his ARCA debut Friday at Talladega Superspeedway. A full-time driver in Joe Gibbs Racing's diversity program, Almirola, 21, has five wins and 13 top-10s in the NASCAR Weekly Series driving Late Models. He has two top-10s in three NASCAR truck series starts this season in preparation for a possible full-time campaign in 2006.

Shaver Motorsports will field the ARCA entry. The series uses stock cars with the same basic specifications as Nextel Cup.

--Times staff writer Brant James contributed to this report.

[Last modified September 29, 2005, 01:20:09]

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