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After watching last week's Auto Club 500 at California, many NASCAR fans were reminded just how much they really miss the races held at the North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham, North Carolina. Unfortunately, Rockingham no longer holds a place in today's NASCAR.
Just two short years ago, most of the NASCAR world was talking about the exhilarating finish we witnessed at Rockingham. You remember that race- the 2003 Nextel Cup Champion Matt Kenseth battling door-to-door with NASCAR rookie sensation Kasey Kahne on the final lap of the Subway 400! Ultimately, Kenseth would edge out Kahne by just 0.10 second. It was a memorable finish and the perfect way to end the Rockingham tradition. Now, two years later, the NASCAR world seems concerned after the sleep-inducing race we observed at California last Sunday. Nowadays, the races held at the 2-mile venue are almost excruciating to watch. At one point during Sunday's Auto Club 500, Greg Biffle had built up a lead of more than thirteen seconds over second-place driver Matt Kenseth. Thirteen seconds- that's almost a quarter of a minute! If that were Bristol, then Biffle would have been just car lengths away from lapping the second place driver. Even the green-white-checkered finish seemed rather humdrum. And race fans, it doesn't get much better next week when we head to Las Vegas. While the racing at Las Vegas is more tolerable than California, it's only a marginal upgrade. Because NASCAR has materialized into a marketing powerhouse, it was a coherent decision to replace not only Rockingham, but also the Labor Day classic at Darlington known as the Southern 500. Now, the 500 -miler in Darlington, South Carolina is held on Mother's Day weekend and is no longer identified as the Southern 500. It's now the Dodge Charger 500! Fontana, California is NASCAR's closest locality to Hollywood. It's a massive TV market and celebrities of all types commonly make fashionable appearances during race weekend. I seriously doubt that we would see Hillary Duff make a special appearance in Rockingham, North Carolina. And that's exactly what NASCAR wants, the national attention from pop culture. Unfortunately, the quality of racing has been sacrificed. While many fans understand why NASCAR desires to be near the Los Angeles market, it's no secret that most would prefer the two distinctive and historical Carolina racetracks. Not only do those two tracks define the roots of NASCAR, but also Rockingham and Darlington have produced some of the most intense finishes in the sport's history. It was at Rockingham in 2001 when Steve Park edged out Bobby Labonte by a mere 0.138 second just a week after his mentor Dale Earnhardt was tragically killed at Daytona. It was at Darlington in 2003 when Ricky Craven crossed the finish line just 0.002 second ahead of Kurt Busch, in which is arguably considered the best finish in the sport's rich history! Since California's inception on to the NASCAR schedule in 1997, the average margin of victory is 2.0495 seconds compared to Rockingham's 1.295 seconds average margin of victory.
The copyright of the article Rockingham vs California in Auto Racing is owned by Jeremy Dunn. Permission to republish Rockingham vs California in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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