I adored Nascar. I even got used to Jeff Gordon (the driver, not the commentator) after he won so many races. It first began to decline with electronic fuel injection. Then, all the cars had to fit into a certain frame. Then, political correctness. One of the last times I remember is when Michelle My Bell Obamba used ‘the children’ before the race. She was promoting some left-wing crap. It was at one of the big raceways. Before the start of the race, the announcer stated something akin to... “and here is the first Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama..” and 75% or more of the crowd boooooooooed. So very nice. You should have seen the look on her face. Priceless. They never tried that again.
The death knell for NASCAR was restrictor plates. Some mighr even argue roller chassises taking it further back. The continued restrictions and rule changes since the 1980s have been for the purpose of tughtening up the field to increase excitement and, coincidently, the number of pile ups.
Story: 1980 Daytona 500 Buddy Bakers team, Rainer Racing, had the last garage on on the left by the gate leading out to the track and pit road. They were pretty excited by the times the times the 28 car was turning. This was the famous Grey Ghost. After the final qualifier a representative of a new autowX wrangled an introduction to Waddel Wilson the crew chief. This guy claimed his wax would significantly reduce air friction on the car and that the wax was beinig used by some private pilots on aircraft. They decide to test the product. They waxed half the the hood and half the roof. Tested the wax by sliding various item across both waxed and unwaxed surfaces and in every instance the items just scooted across the waxed surface while barely moving on the unwaxed surface. Waddell was sold and they immediately started waxing the car. Now, i seem to recall the name of this wax was PolyPro (no quite sure) and polymer based waxes were new. Their slogan (which I definately remember) was “Rub it easy makes it hard”. They had box loads of T-shirts with the product name and slogan on it. Well every crew member had to have one. They ghought the shirts were hilarious for obvious reasons. The polymer company agreed to help sponsor the the car and paid $5,000 for a 1.5 square foot of ad space on the 28 car. Needless to say Buddy won setting and all time record for highest average race spped of 177.+, cN’t remember the fraction. The interesting thing was Buddy was two miles in the lead when he won. Converted to an overall percentage it matached the percentage of reduction in air friction the manufacturer was claiming. If you can find a post race picture of the 28 at that race you will see the ad decals on the car. There was a helluva party at Julian’s Restaurant in Ormand Beach on Sunday evening. Julian’s was Buddy favorite hangout in Daytona. Among the last of the good ol’ days.