Bruton wants Talladega 'fixed'

MountaineerTom · April 10, 2003

From Jayski's

The more Bruton Smiths talks, the more I dislike him. Notice the two parts I put in bold. That dosn't suprise me what Bruton said. Hmm, I wonder where he would move those races to. And I though what Jim hunter said was hilarious.

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Bruton wants Talladega 'fixed'

After a cut tire on his No. 12 Dodge triggered a 27-car wreck in Sunday's Aaron's 499, Winston Cup driver Ryan Newman offered his solution for preventing The Big Wreck in races at Talladega Superspeedway. "Don't come here," Newman said. "We've got other tracks we can go to." After a weekend that also included a 21-car crash in Saturday's Busch Series race, Newman isn't alone in questioning the 2.66-mile track with its 33-degree banked turns. "It was so destructive it just kind of makes you sick to watch it," rival track owner Bruton Smith said Tuesday. "Something should be done. I just really believe the track should be redesigned. Those dates would be moved quickly if Speedway Motorsports owned that track. NASCAR, the two people who own it, I think their conscience would say `We're not going back. You're going to have to do something to reconfigure this speedway or we're not coming back.' You're destroying too much equipment."

"Bruton's comments are obviously based on his primary objective, the financial betterment of himself. We believe his comments reflect his perspective," said Jim Hunter, NASCAR's vice president for communications. "I am just very, very concerned for our sport because of what could happen there," Smith said of Talladega. "You see that violent wreck on Sunday, and after it was over all of the drivers walked away. That was fantastic. But what if one of these days four or five of them don't walk away. What happens then? What happens to our sport? To me, it endangers the sport when we're putting all of these drivers' lives on the line when we drop that green flag down there. If I owned the speedway, I assure you I would change it. I would tear down the turns. I would shorten it and change it and I would hope the fans would like it. I just don't think stock-car fans are that blood-thirsty."

Grant Lynch, president of Talladega Superspeedway, said he feels his track is safe. "I think we've probably had as many caution-free races as any track, maybe more, in the past 10 years," Lynch said. The spring races in 1997 and 2001 and last year's fall race were run without yellow flags. "I think the quality of racing on the track certainly excites the fans," Lynch said. "Sunday's race was tremendous with 43 lead changes. There was a lot of drama and excitement. Talladega is a controversial place, you know, but we seem to have continued to bring the fans in. We're kind of happy with what goes on here."(see full story at the Charlotte Observer)

UPDATE: Smith offered $1 million to help get the track 'fixed' during an interview on XM Satellite- NASCAR Radio (Subscription Required)(4-9-2003)

Elwood · April 10, 2003

TROYROBO · April 10, 2003

i can fix it------throw that #### restrictor plate in the garbage

antig24 · April 11, 2003

They should restrict them like they do with the trucks, I know the trucks don't have plates but they restrict them some other way and it works good :thumb: