With the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona on our doorstep, the 2001 racing season is set for yet another launch into limbo.
Hopes remain high.
Big bucks are in play, and with the economy in an uncertain state, the boys in Daytona Beach must deliver a sensational product to juice up ratings and pack grandstands. Hokey television will not counterbalance androgynous automobiles, restrictor plates, endless high-speed parade laps and drivers who behave like Prudential salesmen. As Ben Blake observed here last week, Winston Cup cars have been emasculated to perform about the same as Busch Series cars and Craftsman Trucks and are rapidly being transformed into spec racers without identity or uniqueness. That all must change if the sport is to attract new fans. But it may produce a distorted picture of about the health of sports car racing in America.