Bad sports, good sports: Potholes at the Daytona 500

Posted on February 15th, 2010 by Alan Spoll

I am a big NASCAR fan. Much to my wife’s chagrin, the 2010 season began on Sunday with this year’s running of the Daytona 500. I am always excited for the new season, but my enthusiasm is always tempered by two things: restrictor plates and misplaced hype.

At Daytona and Talladega, NASCAR’s two biggest tracks, restrictor plates are used to limit the airflow to the carburetor, slowing down the cars. This is done for safety reasons that I am sure are valid, but it makes for some really stupid races. The cars move around in big packs for the whole race, unable to really get away from the others. Sure, it’s exciting, particularly if you enjoy giant wrecks, which invariably occur during these races. I actually enjoy races where the best cars can actually get away from the worst cars, and where one bobble by a driver doesn’t take out half the field. So the Daytona 500 is never my cup of tea. Also, I have never understood why the motor sports world insists on referring to the Daytona 500 as the Super Bowl of stock car racing. It’s the first race of the season, people. It’s worth the exact same number of points as every other race of the season. It is in no way is analogous to the Super Bowl. I can deal with NASCAR making it its biggest event, with its history and pageantry, but it can only suffer from the Super Bowl comparison.

This year’s 500, though, had an extra complicating factor. Midway through the race, a pothole appeared on the track. That’s right… in the middle of what is supposed to be the biggest race of the season, with more people watching than any other race, the race was stopped twice for a total of roughly two and a half hours while track officials attempted to fix the hole. Instead of watching the race, we were subjected to endless awkward interviews and a lot of painful banter (and mangling of the English language) by the Fox commentators. I am not familiar with what is involved in keeping a 2.5 mile track in good shape, but I would have to imagine this was avoidable.

In the end, Jamie McMurray won the race and seemed quite thrilled to have done so. The 6 1/2 hour mess that got him there, though, was less than thrilling.

Bad sports, continued:

2) Evander Holyfield’s wife Candi has gotten a restraining order against him after he allegedly hit her during an altercation. And he always seemed like such a level-headed guy.

3) Athletes are brave. Some more than others, of course, but to get out and perform physical feats at a world-class level takes guts. In some cases, it must also take a certain amount of lunacy. Would you strap yourself to a tiny sled and slide down a track made of ice at 90+ miles per hour with very little protection? I know I wouldn’t. Georgian Luger Nodar Kumaritashvili died in a training run on Friday when he lost control and flew off the course, hitting an unpadded steel beam. The really crazy ones were the people who raced on the track after this occurred. No way.

Good sports:

1) In a move that is likely to be referred to as the “Tebow Rule,” the NCAA Rules Committee has opted to ban written phrases in the eye black of football players. If you watch ESPN at all, even if you don’t watch football, you have seen various Bible passages named underneath Tebow’s eyes during games. Now if we can only get NASCAR to leave out the Christian-specific prayers before each race (at least from the telecast), we’ll be getting somewhere.

2) For the first time since 1995, the America’s Cup champion is from the United States. Larry Ellison, also known as the CEO of Oracle, led the sailing team that brought home the trophy.

3) With his silver medal in the 1500 meter race, speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno tied Bonnie Blair for the most lifetime medals by an American in the Winter Olympics with six. Ohno recovered from an early contact with another skater that set him back, taking advantage of a slip that took out two other skaters on the final turn.

Bad Sports, Good Sports appears every Monday

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Alan Spoll

Alan Spoll is a software quality assurance director from the suburbs of Philadelphia where he lives with his wonderful wife and children. He has spent his entire life as a passionate fan of the Eagles, Phillies, Sixers, Flyers, and Penn State. Recent Phillies success aside, you will understand his natural negativity. Follow me on Twitter - @DocAlan02