The Monday after the 2009 Daytona 500, I was listening to the “Mike and Mike in the Morning Show” on ESPN Radio when they asked the question: ‘Why did the Daytona 500 end early?’
I had to laugh at the question, not because they, admittedly, did not know much about racing, but because the hype-masters at Daytona were victims of their own hype.
NASCAR has always wanted to be mentioned at the same level as baseball, football, basketball, hockey, and any other ‘mainstream’ sports.
Well they have now got their wish, and I’m reminded of the idea of “Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it!”
Of course there is no such thing as a Super Bowl in auto racing, as championships are the result of a year's worth of performances, not just the result of one race.
The race was ended early because of a rule that has been around for decades. That rule is that if after a race passes the half-way point, the race can be considered a complete race if weather causes a stoppage.
Perhaps a look back at the history of motorsports can illuminate why or at least where, the half-way rule may have came from.
Motorsports in Europe followed the rules of horse racing as a model for their own procedures.
We see this even today as the area where the cars gather before the race is called the “paddock,” while the official who runs the race is called the “Clerk of the Course,” both of these are horse racing terms.
Horse racing in Europe was of a type we now call steeplechase. The races ran through the fields and forests of the large estates of the day, which the horses jumping over fences, hedges, and streams.
When auto racing began in Europe, they followed the steeplechase model racing from point-to-point. The steeplechase form of auto racing is still seen today as rallying.
Road Course racing began, first as the city-to-city races using the existing roads. This was possible due to the many paved roads on the continent. These improved roads dated back the National Routes of Napoleon and to the roads of the Romans.
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