Last weekend, many eyes were undoubtedly turned toward the sport of horse racing and the Belmont Stakes, where Big Brown had a chance to become the first winner of the Triple Crown since 1978. As it turned out, Big Brown had to be pulled up and fell short of winning. While history was not made, the race is still being talked about.
With all the attention that horse racing has collected the past few weeks with a pursuit of the Triple Crown, the question now must be raised: Is it time for NASCAR to have its own version of the Triple Crown? The answer is, without a doubt, yes.
In fact, NASCAR has had its version of the Triple Crown before. During R.J. Reynolds' sponsorship of NASCAR, company executives came up with the concept of The Winston Million in December of 1984. Drivers in what was then the Winston Cup Series were told that if any of them could win three of four races - the Daytona 500, the spring Talladega race, the Coca-Cola 600 and the Southern 500 - they would collect a bonus of $1 million.
Winning three of the four races was never seen as easy. It was so difficult, in fact, that R.J. Reynolds executives didn't even put the money to cover it into its budget for 1985. Let's just say that Bill Elliott put the company in a financial crunch that year when he won the Winston Million. Other than Elliott, only one other driver, Jeff Gordon, won the Winston Million before its format was changed in 1998.
Today, the Winston Million is obviously not around with R.J. Reynolds no longer being a sponsor. But there is no reason that NASCAR shouldn't have something similar to the Triple Crown. To be honest, the timing couldn't be much better than right now for bringing back something similar to the Winston Million. In this case, however, there would be only three races, not four that drivers would have to win to collect a massive bonus check. No one ever said collecting a big cash prize was meant to be easy.
In today's current NASCAR climate, the season's first 26 races are, to a degree, discounted with the importance being placed on the Chase for the championship. Having a bonus program in place would put a very heavy amount of emphasis on either winning one of the races of preventing another driver from winning. As if drivers needed any more incentive, a prize of more than a $1 million would be needed from the sponsor funding the bonus program. In this case, a check of about $4 million should suffice.
The biggest question, of course, is which three races should make up NASCAR's Triple Crown? Each of them would need to be non-Chase races as the 10- race playoff gets enough attention already. With that in mind, the three would be the Daytona 500, the May Darlington race and the Brickyard 400.
If a driver is able to win the first two legs of NASCAR's Triple Crown, it would automatically bring the sport even more publicity before the Chase begins.
One criticism of NASCAR is that too much emphasis is placed on the Chase. Having a Triple Crown would make a few races among the season's first 26 worth watching a little bit more.
Contact Brad Harrison at 744-4400 or bharrison@macon.com
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