The Shootout – Afterthoughts from Just A Fan’s View

Okay… now that you’ve had the time to think and listen to all the media input about it, what did you really think of “The Shootout” Saturday night in Daytona. Admittedly, it was eye-opening in many ways. Not only was it that way for the drivers and the crews, but also for the fans.

In some ways, (and in my opinion, of course), the Shootout was a very exciting race and if you listened to the drivers during and after, you found that there is a new way of racing even at a historic place like Daytona.

That new way is like nothing ever seen in the history of racing at Daytona, and now, it may be that racing will never be the same as it was, but it may be better than ever. That is, if the changes NASCAR is making after speeds of up to 206 mph on Saturday night (which is a little over the edge when it comes to what they already know about the safety of the drivers and the fans), don’t drastically change the intensity level of the racing.

The questions have already been raised and somewhat addressed by NASCAR, but the one question that remains unanswered is whether or not fans will want to watch a race with numerous groups of two cars hooked together and running that way for 500 miles. I have listened to many comments about the subject and the opinions are diverse amongst all NASCAR fans across the board.

What with the delay of practice at Daytona as I write this today (Wednesday), there are still a lot of unknowns about the changes made on Monday and how they will affect the racing tomorrow in the duels and the racing on Sunday afternoon, but as has been the case so far this week, time will definitely tell us all we need to know. (I just won’t be talking about it today.)

Personally, I don’t know the answer to the overall acceptance of the two-car draft over 500 miles, but I do know the drivers will do whatever they have to go fast (and going as fast as necessary at Daytona this year is hard unless you have someone to hook up with.)

See ya next time…

All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer

© February 16, 2011 – all rights reserved

Rusty Norman and Nascarfansview.com

All audio productions by www.podcastnorm.com and PodCastNorm Productions

Published by Rusty Norman

Rusty Norman is a writer, Big NASCAR Fan, Jesus believer, musician and former local Stock Car racer. singer, songwriter, author and blogger. He was born in Southern Illinois and moved to Florida with his parents in 1962. His first story was published in the 1968 school literary magazine when he was a junior at Cypress Lake High School in Fort Myers, FL. Although he didn't venture into writing immedately, he did begin writing regularly over twenty-five years ago. He has also been a sound technician over the last 40 plus years and produces, almost weekly blogcasts during the racing season on his Nascar websites as well as being involved in the media ministry at First Assembly of God in Fort Myers, FL. He maintains several websites, each with a different focus, and continues writing songs, poetry and short stories along with articles like those found in his "Living Life Notes" series. He has just released the first of three planned books in the Living Life Notes series. The second is expected to be released in the middle to late September of this year and the third is planned to be released sometime in 2015. He also has several other books and stories in the works as well,