March 16th, 2009 
Journo Are you getting sick of the start and park discussion? If you said yes then I’m on board with you. But before we call it quits I figured I would write one more post about it.
Last August TC wrote a post on the matter; at the time it was something not too many people were talking about. He made the argument that they serve a purpose to fill fields and really only stink if they take a spot from a team who wants to run the whole race. I tend to agree with him.
Since that time, the economy has tanked, teams have closed their doors and the fields have shrank. This down economy though has created opportunity for teams to enter the sport’s highest levels, including those scary start and parkers. Fast forward to the Friday before Atlanta when NASCAR VP of Competition Robin Pemberton acknowledged the issue for the first time. Open the floodgates.
One of the more interesting things written this past week came from Frontstretch.com. The title of the article said that the practice was “threatening NASCAR’s future.” Enter the ominous music. In it they quote an anonymous Nationwide Series crew member who talks about NASCAR’s tv contract requiring 43 cars to be in the field (hence the need for start and park teams). Now TC is an anonymous NASCAR crew member and I know he doesn’t know a thing about NASCAR’s TV contract (to be frank I’m not all that familiar with the details). This among many other things makes me believe their anonymous crew member was only repeating rumors he has heard. Personally I have heard this is either a myth or an exaggeration. Either way it does not sound like it is a fact.
They go on to quote an anonymous Truck Series owner/driver who says that NASCAR had, in the past, called him and asked him to start and park for a race. Now him I believe; I have heard this tale myself.
The question with all of this though is, what is the big deal?
I know Randy Humphrey, Phil Parsons and their teams, MSRP and Prism Motorsports, have been easy targets for people (Parsons has in the past refused to acknowledge he owned the team), but what they and others like them are doing is really not that bad. While their business model may not be the traditional one, they are employing people and putting money into the community. After all they still have to buy parts, build racecars, transport them and house them somewhere.
Now enter Robin Pemberton. He said before Atlanta that they would begin scrutinizing teams believed to be taking part in this practice. Mike Helton and Jim Hunter, who by the way seem far less concerned about the matter, questioned how they would make sure teams weren’t doing this. They make a good point.
All teams have to do to get away with this is to run a few laps, come in with “fill-in-the-problem” and then spend the next several hours ‘diagnosing’ and ‘fixing’ the problem. They then go back out on track and run a few more laps.
NASCAR’s scrutiny could actually in turn help some of these teams make more money. If more cars dropout early on and the start and parkers go back out they may be able to improve their positions. The whole process is silly.
For teams like Tommy Baldwin Racing and Jeremy Mayfield Motorsports it does stink getting bumped from the field by one of these teams. I would prefer to see a field full of guys who want to complete the race. Ultimately though if you want to make a race, you need to qualify. If you can’t do that you can’t be in a race. That is just how things work.
When it all comes down to it these teams serve a purpose. They fill fields that won’t otherwise be full (look at the truck series as an example of this and yes I know this is not always true), they employ people and they make money (though you’re not going to get rich doing this). I promise they aren’t going to be the end of NASCAR nor are they threatening NASCAR’s future (they have been around for quite some time).
Most importantly competition is not being hurt by one or two of these teams making the field, and it won’t unless three quarters of the field decides this practice is worthwhile. And since we all know the money is in sponsorships don’t expect to see this happening any time soon.
So once again it’s your turn. What do you think of the controversial practice? Would you like to see it ended? How should NASCAR end it?
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All of this talk about start-n-park and locked in top 35 would be a moot point if NASCAR adopted a real and exciting qualifying process. No single car qualifying (has to be the most pathetically boring process in all of sports…with one exception it works on road courses), but qualifying heats (The Duels). The best advance and as you say above, “…If you can’t do that you can’t be in a race”.
IMO NACAR should have concentrated on making “every” week more exciting, instead of an attempt at creating a lock-in/lock-out chase only at the end of the season.
What is the problem with start and parkers? If those that want to run the entire race can’t out qualify them, they don’t deserve to be in the race. They would only be park and start later entries.
I think every car should have to qualify for each race. The only provisionals would be for those in the top 25 who wreck or blow an engine in qualifying.
I don’t care about the start & parkers , because once the race starts you don’t see them anyway. The lousy TV people are alot more irritating than any start & parker could ever be. Leave the guys alone. At least they take the trouble to get to the track & try to earn a buck or two. And by the way, it ain’t easy folks.
I agree with Zieke, what’s the big deal, we won’t see them… we generally don’t see much passed the Top 10!
There’s definitely a lot of ‘shady’ deals going on that the general public is not aware of. I was actually in a hauler during a rain delay when the owner and his driver were arranging a plan to wreck their primary car (this was a team that was definitely struggling financially). I won’t go into details of why they were doing that and it actually never did happen.
And we all know that a driver or two have intentionally caused cautions in the past.
Sorry, i’m touching on several different subjects! But I’m sure this type of thing is happening in one form or another in ALL sports.
What a great article. Inspired me to put a new entry in my blog. Normally I like the frontstretch but they really are wrong in that aritcle. NASCAR needs to worry about more than just these start and park people. I’m a huge fan but rarely watch a race. Why? For one I hardly ever see my fav drivers (Robby Gordon, Michael Waltrip) unless they do something wrong. What is really threatening the integrity of racing? Its the top 35 rule. And the chase but who really cares about that. Thanks for having such a great sight. keep up the good work.
It seems to me that if a team were required to buy 5 or 6 sets of tires if they qualified for a race on speed – and more than 43 cars shoup – then that might put an end to the start and parkers who have no intent on trying to compete.
There’s a great article in today’s (3/17) Charlotte Observer about a start-and-park team. There’s no way you could argue that with his dedication and love for racing, this guy is hurting NASCAR.
http://www.thatsracin.com/140/story/5298.html
Since when does the concept of right or wrong hinge on the number of people doing it. Start and parking is not racing, and any racing group that intentionally does so is being fraudulent to ever race fan that lays down their hard earned money to see a race. For what’s left of the integrity of Nascar racing, Nascar should come down hard on those who participate in this wrongful practice!
Start and park is OK when you have a couple teams doing it. But in Nationwide where you have about 8 cars doing it every week it is bad for the series. Nationwide is starting to look like ARCA. Easy fix is to lower the field to 36 in Nationwide and take the prize money they are wasting on start and park teams and pay the teams that are actually racing. Nationwide will never be able to put 43 good teams on the track on a consistent level so stop with the talk we have to have 43 cars. Love the 90 car, best finish 15 laps!
If NASCAR can’t find 43 competitive teams to start the race, they need to cut field down to 35. And if that doesn’t work, then cut it down to 25. I’m not interested in watching 15 cars capable of winning getting held up by 28 other cars who shouldn’t even be on the track. Especially at a short track. And there should be NO provisionals. You don’t qualify on time, you don’t make the show. End of story.
Cutting down the field would be fine with me. I think a better way would be to pay per lap based on the car’s finish so if a car ran only a few laps they would only get paid for those laps.