Remember the hell of a genius Nintendo GameCube that moved a NASCAR racer being whipped at the end of a wild race in Virginia in late October? Yeah, well, the fun-killing schoolgirls who control the stock car rules said, “No, not more of that.”
Review: Ross Chastain, driving Trackhouse Racing’s #1 Chevy Camaro, was 10th at Martinsville, the shortest track in NASCAR, and needed a top 4 finish or he was out of the playoffs.
Chastain employed a move that he (and many others of his generation) used only in video games 20 years ago – the wall drive, in which he cornered at top speed and used the wall to slow his vehicle down and corner to drive. It worked: Chastain moved up from 10th to 4th at the final corner of a half mile route to stay alive in NASCAR’s playoff format and finished second overall in Phoenix the next weekend. It really is the stuff of legends.
And legend is where it appears to be staying. Per NASCAR reporter Zack AlbertChastain’s “wall-ride” maneuver is now considered a violation of Rule 10.5.2.6.A, which includes “any violation that endangers the safety of an event” or poses a risk to anyone attending or participating in it.
“As a general policy, we take seriously when there is an act that we believe may endanger the safety of our competitors, officials and spectators,” said Elton Swayer, NASCAR’s chief competition executive. “And we will punish this act in the future.”
So the NASCAR administration has made the law: there will be no more wallriding. Any attempt to do so will result in a lap or time penalty, thwarting any intention of the driver to go into the concrete.
Chastain admitted in October that it was a risky gamble. “But I was ready to do it,” he told NBC. He told a trackside reporter that the move was inspired by him NASCAR 2005 on GameCube, which he and his brother Chad played obsessively.
Given that the sport literally traces its legacy to smugglers selling whiskey in the 1950s, Chastain’s privateering spirit has to be applauded. But yeah, if the riders did a wall ride at the end of each race, the novelty would wear off – and someone would likely get hurt.
