Impound Rule Gone?!

[woodyjdh]

Man I hope this is true! I found this on the web:

"Prior to the season, Brian France joyfully trumpeted the new impound rule that would go into effect in 2005. It was designed to save teams money, give team members a bit more time off on race weekends and set the tone for more impound races in 2006 and beyond. As it turned out, teams realized little monetary savings, confusion reigned over which weekends were or weren't impound races, numerous teams were caught cheating during times their cars were not supposed to be worked on, and most race tracks reported a significant drop in concession revenue on impound weekends.

As a result, instead of expanding the impound rule next season, France recently quietly dropped the entire idea, proving once again that money talks. What was a good idea in theory proved to be a victim of its own execution."

*NASCAR NEXTEL CUP-selling themselves out one driver/race at a time!

[VMS]

yep...it's true.

This past year at the Michigan August race, they had the impound rule going, but lost a bunch of money on Friday. Fans would not pay the money to come and just see practice (even though there was an ASA race that day). Friday, things were dead...

I am glad it is gone as well. We bought pit passes and because of the impound rule, Busch teams qualified in the morning, and as the cup cars were qualifying, the busch teams were setting up. We couldn't get and decent pictures, no possibility of autographs for the kids, and you couldn't see anything. About the only Good thing is that I was able to get free gatorade :-)

It will be nice the rule is gone. Teams didn't save any money anyway. They were still there Friday, and all the teams did was sit around until race time. If anything, it cost the teams the same amount of money except the teams couldn't work on their cars. They got paid to sit around.

Steve

[JohnMickish]

I personally thought the rule was great, as it showed what teams had their stuff together and who didn't. I understand that it's all about the money and I'm sure this rule is done for.

[VMS]

Now if the tracks (ISC) were not owned by the major stakeholders in NASCAR itself, There might be a different argument to make... But like you said...money talks and if ISC can make more money, they will do it any way they can. So..the impound goes.

I didn't like it at Michigan, but I do like the idea. Set up the car to race.

I'd think if they wanted to guarantee money savings, then qualifiying would have to take place the day of the race.

Busch teams get the track friday afternoon for practice,then qualify and race saturday. Cup teams practice after busch race, qualify and race on Sunday. Then, both series are only at the track 2 days. Will probably never happen though...

Steve