Kurt Busch attempting The Double

[champcarray]

I'm happy to see Kurt give it a try. I'm just old enough to remember when drivers commonly raced in multiple series with some regularity -- and not just the 24 Hours of Daytona! The news item on Indycar.com included a summary of previous "Double" drives (Tony Steward, John Andretti, and Robby Gordon) and the old days when the Indy 500 and Coca Cola 600 were held on different days:

1967: The World 600 is held on Sunday, May 28, and the Indy 500 is scheduled for Tuesday, May 30. Cale Yarborough becomes the first driver to compete in both races in the same year. He finished 41st at Charlotte and 17th at Indy.

1968: The World 600 is held on Sunday, May 26, and the Indy 500 is held Thursday, May 30. Jerry Grant becomes the second driver to compete in both races in the same year. He finished 12th at Charlotte and 23rd at Indy.

1969: The World 600 is held on Sunday, May 25, and the Indy 500 is held Friday, May 30. NASCAR driver Lee Roy Yarbrough won the race at Charlotte, and at Indy, he finished 23rd.

1970: The World 600 is held on Sunday, May 24, and the Indy 500 is held Saturday, May 30. NASCAR driver Donnie Allison won the race at Charlotte, and finished fourth at Indy. To date, it is the best combined performance for both races. Lee Roy Yarbrough also competed in both events. He finished 29th at Charlotte and 19th at Indy.

1971: Memorial Day is moved to Monday, and the Indy 500 is held Saturday, May 29. The World 600 is held the next day. NASCAR driver Donnie Allison finished sixth at Indy on Saturday, and finished second at the race at Charlotte.

1979: NASCAR regular Neil Bonnett entered at Indy looking to qualify. He was up to speed, however, he suffered a blown engine on the morning of pole qualifying. The following weekend, rain complicated his schedule, and he decided to withdraw from Indy.

[R.Lee]

I won't lie, I am not in favor of this, for a number of reasons. I am a NASCAR fan, always have been, always will be, I think drivers should consentrate on the series they run in, not dilute their efforts trying to run a different race and different form of racing in the same day.

Another reason is safety. It is a LONG day to go through all of the pre-race activities, then run a 500 mile race, but then, add a helicoptor flight, an airplane flight for a couple of hours, then another helicopter flight, then hurry to the car and drive another race, this on 600 miles. By the time this is over the driver will have been awake for close to 24 hours. That is just too much for one day and a huge safety issue! Perhaps if these two races were on different days, like they were years ago, it might be different, but it is not and is a huge safety issue. I have allot of other reasons but these two should surffice.

[Starter]

I won't lie, I am not in favor of this, for a number of reasons. I am a NASCAR fan, always have been, always will be, I think drivers should consentrate on the series they run in, not dilute their efforts trying to run a different race and different form of racing in the same day.

Another reason is safety. It is a LONG day to go through all of the pre-race activities, then run a 500 mile race, but then, add a helicoptor flight, an airplane flight for a couple of hours, then another helicopter flight, then hurry to the car and drive another race, this on 600 miles. By the time this is over the driver will have been awake for close to 24 hours. That is just too much for one day and a huge safety issue! Perhaps if these two races were on different days, like they were years ago, it might be different, but it is not and is a huge safety issue. I have allot of other reasons but these two should surffice.
A good argument could be made for today's drivers being a bunch of wusses because they only drive in one series. The greats like Mario, AJ, Gurney, etc. could get in any car and win. It didn't make any difference if it was a sprint car, stock car, Indy car, midget, enduro (sports) car, CanAm or F1. By the way, I'm not saying just the NASCAR guys are wusses. I'm saying ALL of them are.
(Busy ducking now. :D )

[R.Lee]

A good argument could be made for today's drivers being a bunch of wusses because they only drive in one series. The greats like Mario, AJ, Gurney, etc. could get in any car and win. It didn't make any difference if it was a sprint car, stock car, Indy car, midget, enduro (sports) car, CanAm or F1. By the way, I'm not saying just the NASCAR guys are wusses. I'm saying ALL of them are.
(Busy ducking now. :D )
No need to duck, just a discussion. I'll have to disagree on this point. Today's drivers are not "wusses". No one that straps into a car and drives it at the speeds that they go, at the various race tracks, can or should be called a "wuss"! Note, that, that applies to all tracks, not just the big tracks. Running at max speed in a 1/2 mile "bullring" is quite dangerous, don't believe me, ask Tony Stewart about that! Several things come to mind. One, this is not the 1960s or 70s anymore. Racing has become FAR MORE specialized. Back in those days, what was required, i.e., the specialized skills, specific to the different types of race cars was not so wide a gulf as it is now a days. In those days, it was a whole lot easier for a driver to hoo from one kind of car, to another and quickly adjust/adapt. Today, the different types of cars as so dissimilar, that skills from one kind do not readly transfer to another type of car and in many cases, will actually make a different car far more possible to adjust/adapt to, or even to drive at all.

A second reason, schedule demands. Take NASCAR, for instance. In the 60s and 70s, there were allot of gaps in the schedule, where as today, there are only two weekends off during the entire season. The NASCAR drivers do not have a whole lot of time on their hands. Between team meetings/post race debriefings on Monday, Sponsor obligations, Tue through Thu, practice, qualifying and the race Fri thru Sun, they have EXTREAMLY full plates! They have little time for anything else. There is also a WHOLE LOT at stake. You pretty much have to run all of the races (and do well in the majority of them) if you want a shot at the championship. This leaves little time for anything else.

Sponsor obligations is a third reason. Sponsors are dedicated to a series and a team, in many cases. They do not want their sponsored driver/team running in another series, especially if that other series happens to be sponsored by a competitor of theirs. Car manufacturers, in most cases DO NOT want their drivers/teams driving a competitor's brand.

These are just three of numerous reasons why it is difficult to impossible for today's drivers to jump around from series to series today, like some did back in the 60s and 70s. The drivers are not "wusses", it's just a different world that they are in today, they are limited in many cases, by obligations and they simply do not have the time that drivers in the 60s and 70s had.