I picked up the Cars DVD on release day, been watching it repeatedly, i love all the details Pixar has stuffed into the film, the sheer realisim of suspension geometries, tire deformation, camber angles, realistic engine sounds and everything, it does an armchair gearhead good to see how much realism is in this film
however, i have a question about the NASCAR-based racing footage…
Chick Hicks seems to have a combative racing technique, he actively goes out of his way to CAUSE accidents, from what little i know of NASCAR rules, Chick should have been Black-Flagged in each of his races…
the opening race; he clearly impacts Lightning to throw him off , and later, deliberately causes a multi-car pileup, Chick clearly should have been black-flagged for the second crash he caused
the final race, Chick deliberately impacts Lightning 3 times, and causes Strip “The King” Weathers to suffer a catastrophic crash (apparently this was a frame-by-frame recreation of Richard Petty’s big NASCAR crash), not only is he not black-flagged, he’s not even stripped of his Piston Cup trophy
how is it possible that this disruptive car is allowed to continue racing, he’s clearly nothing but trouble on the track
NASCAR fans, if a NASCAR driver exhibited the same hyperagressive/combative driving style of Chick Hicks, how lonf would his racing carreer last?
Well, Dale Earnhardt, Sr. didn’t get the nickname “The Intimidator” from nowhere, and more recently Tony Stewart has earned considerable noteriety for dumping drivers who he feels are impeding his progress towards the front. NASCAR historically has been loath to overturn the results of a race, even where blatant cases of aggression have taken place, presumably because of potential fan reaction to such actions. Penalties may be assessed, however, and range in severity from warning the drivers involved by radio to back off, to putting the offender at the end of the longest line at the next restart, to black-flagging the offending driver for one lap, to, in the most severe cases, taking away the championship points earned during the race. Although NASCAR officials would never admit it, there also seems to be a tendency to let drivers take their own measures against offenders, as long as they don’t wreck the rest of the field : dump me at Atlanta, and I’ll dump you at Charlotte.
There may be cases where the winner was stripped of a win or temporarily suspended from driving because of an aggressive move that got him the lead, but I can’t think of any right now. The most recent example of NASCAR’s tolerance would be this year’s fall race at Talladega, when both Dale Earnhard Jr. and Jimmie Johnson, running 1-2, were spun out on the last lap by Johnson’s teammate Brian Vickers. Vicker’s contact with Johnson was judged to be ‘inadvertant’ by NASCAR, and the win stood.
My guess is that the sort of things done by Chick Hicks would have earned a one-lap penalty, after about the third such move in one race.