by Darrell Waltrip

Around the track

Follow the action:

• Chicagoland practice speeds
• Chicagoland schedule, entries

Watch:

• Video Central

Picture perfect:

• Earnhardt at Goodwood
• 2010 Hall of Fame nominees

Read all about it:

• Dale Jr. would consider racing Indy 500
• Eury Jr.: Split with Junior was needed
• Mayfield won't race at Chicagoland

Analysis:

• Hammond: Battle Royale
• Larry Mac: Midseason report cards

So we started reminiscing about racing and he remembers back when we didn't have things like pit road speeds. Back then for a driver and the fans, it was pretty darn thrilling to come barreling off the corner, dive down pit road and stop that big ol' tank of a car on a dime in your pit box. In all honesty, I have to admit it was pretty dangerous too but you know what, it seems like we have just as many cars running over each other now on pit road as we did then.

Then we talked about how we used to race back to the caution. That was exciting. You would get a lap down and race your heart out trying to get back in front of the leader or at least try to keep yourself in striking distance and catch a caution at the right time. So racing back to the caution was pretty darn exciting because sometimes racing back to the caution would be the turning point in a race. Naturally that excitement is gone today. Today's excitement is after they freeze the field, then who gets the Lucky Dog — the free pass back around the leader. Heck, for that matter, you don't even have to be close to the leader to get one of those.

Then our conversation turned to caution flags. I was telling Rooster how we all used to come up with things to throw out of the car to get a caution. Water bottles, gloves, rollbar padding — heck, we would have thrown our helmet out of the car if we thought it would have gotten us a caution. Back in the day it took oil on the track or a wreck to bring out a caution. Heck, today isn't it exciting to watch a hot dog wrapper blow out onto the track or a spring rubber come out and immediately the caution flies?

Speaking of cautions, and this is something I have never been able to get my arms around, how can there be a caution for a piece of debris that no one can find and it takes eight caution laps to pick it up? Heck, for that matter, sometimes more. I am just not sure what that is all about. You sit and wait, wait, wait until finally the green comes back out.

The other thing I pointed out to Rooster was that the races today are shorter than they were back in the day. Back then, most of our races were 500 miles but we didn't waste so much time running the races then. We never had a red flag back then. You had to drive through the wall or have a car upside down on fire for them to throw a red flag back then and that's even before the advent of SAFER barriers. Now the red flag seems to come out when paint chips fly off the car and they have to bring everything to a screeching halt and blow off the track while everyone just sits there waiting.

So things are definitely different than they used to be. Who remembers a time when there weren't restrictor plates? I do. Remember the pole speeds at Talladega and Daytona being over 200 mph? I do. It sure was exciting and fun to watch because it was hard to believe that our big, heavy stock car could go that fast. Now you get to watch the cars go around with a restrictor plate on them and bunched up together and no one can get a clear advantage. That's a lot more exciting, huh?

While we were sitting there talking, we got tickled thinking about a wing and a splitter and how they are now essential to the race car. Back in the '70s a wing was a big ol' thing stuck up in the air on a Superbird and a splitter was what you used to make firewood for the winter. Now, this new car can't live without both those items.

I also reminded Rooster about how we used to have only one template that fit down the center of the car and that was pretty much it. Then later they came out with a couple more to go across the hood and trunk. Naturally that was back when the cars looked pretty stock — you know, living up to their name, stock cars? They raced pretty darn well and we sure didn't worry about spending time and boatloads of money taking them to the wind tunnel.

But I guess when it is all said and done, our cars back then were pretty simple and these new cars are pretty sophisticated. I guess you have to keep up with the times and so that's where we are today. I mean back then we never had a Chase. Back then we raced for 36 races or however many races were scheduled that year. Now we race for 26 and Chase for 10 races. So that's a little bit different too.

So it was just a couple of us old guys sitting around on a Sunday afternoon remembering how racing used to be and supposedly how much more exciting the racing is today and how luckily we have kept up with the times.

OH BY THE WAY — in all seriousness, in that same conversation we talked about how cars get wrecked now and they bring them in, tape them up, send them back out on the track and the first thing you know parts and pieces starting flying off them causing yet another caution. I would make a rule that if you wreck your car and it needs to be taped back together, then you can't go back on the track. If you wanted to go back out on the track, then you would have to weld it back together first.

OH BY THE WAY II — one of my big pet peeves is the Top 35 point carryover. I think it's fine if they roll into Daytona in February with the Top 35 from 2008 in place and those cars are guaranteed a spot. My point is, after the 500 they should switch over to 2009. However the cars finish in the 500 and the points they earn, well that's how they line up for the next race. I never could figure out why we race five races in the current year based on the previous year's points. It really makes it tough on new teams and drivers trying to get in the sport. Right now, we need folks coming to the sport, not creating barriers to keep them out.

OH BY THE WAY III — if it were up to me, we would only have one point system and that would be driver points. There wouldn't be this driver points and owner points system that we have now. I never have been able to get my arms around how they line up cars all year based on owner points and the driver points don't matter, but then we get to N.Y. for the banquet and a driver gets a $7 million check for finishing first in the driver points. So I guess those driver points we never hear about all season long really are important after all, huh? The other thing I would also outlaw is this swapping of points around to get cars in the Top 35. I never quite figured out why they should be allowed to do that.

OH BY THE WAY IV — have you noticed how in postgame interviews athletes in other sports talk about strategy, their thoughts at the time and how their plans worked or didn't work? Well, in our sport, we have to get through thanking all the sponsors on the car, thanking the boys back in the shop for working real hard, thanking the boys in the motor room for generating such great power and then getting chug points by taking a swallow from the soft drink of choice. Then with the 15 seconds of time left in the interview, we get to hear a little snippet of what their day was like. Wouldn't it be a lot more interesting and entertaining if we could do away with all the other stuff and really find out what it was like from the driver's perspective out on the track for 500 miles?