Nascar has a long and storied history, but it also has a past littered with “What If?” questions. Join author Mike Mackler as he takes a look back at stock car racing’s 100 most-intriguing hypotheticals in “100 Stock Car Racing ‘What Ifs’”, the book available on Amazon in both Paperback and Kindle formats. Here’s a preview of one of the one hundred “What If” questions asked throughout the book:
71. What if start-and-park operations were outlawed?
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| Blank white car--the uniform of the start-and-parker |
Background: By the mid-2000’s “field fillers” (teams that would only run a race if they were guaranteed a starting position due to a lack of entries) gave way to “start and park” operations—teams that would strive to qualify for a race, then intentionally drop out early on with spurious claims of mechanical issues.
What Actually Happened: Lower-rung teams—particularly in the Nationwide/Xfinity Series—realized that they could turn a bigger profit by running a small number of laps in a race, saving equipment for future races in which they could do the same. This was aided by a pay structure that saw little difference in the payouts for last place and mid-pack finishes.
What Could Have Been the Turning Point: What if Nascar put rules in place (say, a rule stating that any team had to complete more than 80% of a race three weeks in a row) to ban start-and-park teams from doing so?
What COULD Have Happened: Nascar would have likely been stuck with a number of short fields, especially in the Nationwide/Xfinity and Cup Series. Teams simply weren’t willing to burn through fuel, tires, and possibly other equipment like sheet metal and engines in order to make a few hundred dollars more on a race weekend, and would have likely just stayed home.
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| Jeff Green, nowhere near the lead |
And if THAT Happened…: Several drivers wouldn’t have become infamous as start-and-parkers. Joe Nemechek wouldn’t have been labeled “Last-Row Joe”, and Jeff Green would never have been able to exploit his past-champion’s provisional in the Nationwide/Xfinity Series. However…
What Else Could Have Happened: …NEMCO Motorsports, Leavine Family Racing, and others have funded themselves in their earliest years by start-and-parking, not just pocketing the money but using it to build their teams into more-legitimate full-time operations. NEMCO became a race-winning operation in the Truck Series, while LFR is one of the most-successful smaller teams in the Cup Series over the past few years. None of this may have been possible without the ability to start-and-park in their early days.
Why It Had to Turn Out The Way It Did: Whether it was due to TV commitments or to avoid embarrassment, Nascar was steadfastly against short fields for most of the 21st century, and was willing to look the other way when start-and-parkers would help them out.