Turn 2

I'm not a big fan of the Car of Today.

But I am growing tired of race fans with short memories complaining that the COT makes for boring races because one car jumps out for a four-to-five second lead.

"I want racing like it was," they whine. "Like the classic NASCAR days."

Okay.

Time was, leaders led by multiple laps, not multiple seconds.

Watch the replays of old races on ESPN, or better yet, catch an episode of "Back in the Day."

Heck, in 1973, Yarborough and Petty lapped the field three times at Charlotte before Cale won the race . In '72, A.J. Foyt won the Daytona 500 by five miles.

Many other Cup races recorded drivers winning by multiple laps.

Then again, in '75, Bobby Allison was two laps back at Darlington when leaders David Pearson and Benny Parsons crashed with 40 laps to go--that race ended with Allison beating Darrell Waltrip by just one car length.

Those examples are all from a time most races fans now call the era of "real racing."

Maybe it's this generation's video-game mentality--they want to see a leader change every few minutes or they lose interest.

Whatever the reason, saying the COT races aren't as exciting as the old days because the front-runners take such a big lead just isn't true.