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I love auto racing. Here's what I'd like to see happen in 2004:
* CART and the IRL merge into one organization. Call it IRL, because they're the more powerful organization right now. Divide it into two subseries--an IRL Speedway Series, which contests on oval tracks, and an IRL Road Series, which goes to road courses and temporary street courses. Drivers from either subseries can run the Indianapolis 500.
* NASCAR trashes its current points system in favor of this one: a. One point for leading at the green flag. b. One point for leading at the crossed flags--the halfway point. c. One point for winning the race. d. One point for leading any lap. (A driver who makes a last-lap pass and leads only the final lap receives two points: the point for winning the race and the point for leading a lap.) e. One point for leading the most laps. f. Position points: 1st place pays 43 points unless fewer than 43 drivers have entered. Last place pays one point. If fewer than 43 drivers are entered, 1st place pays points corresponding to the number of cars that qualified; if 40 cars started the race, 1st place pays 40 points. g. Point deductions: if you cause a wreck, you lose one point for every car involved in the accident, no matter how many of them ultimately return to the track. h. It is possible to go into negative figures using this system. If you finish the season in negative figures, you must reapply for your NASCAR driver's license.
* Stock cars run the other direction at Watkins Glen from what they do now, so you don't need to own two cars that can only be used there and you don't need to rehearse pit crew procedures for that one race. (The right side of the car is closest to the wall at Watkins Glen.)
* The Independence Day race at Daytona runs on the road course, not the oval.
* The International Race of Champions recognizes that not all motorsports champions drive things with wheels and invites Dave Villwock, driver of the unlimited hydroplane Miss Budweiser, to compete in their series.
* Modify the one-engine rule as follows: After qualifying is completed, all teams return to their garages and remove the engines from their cars. The engines will be placed in an impound area. The teams then install a practice engine for all practice sessions. After happy hour, the race engine will be returned to the teams. This way, they don't have to worry about killing the race engine in practice.
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