By Popular Bob Christ

I conducted an independent survey this week that probably isn't statistically significant, but I stand by my work.

I polled four race fans regarding last Sunday's Talladega 500, and if NASCAR is listening, the results might horrify them. Exactly 100 percent of the respondents said the race severely sapped their viewing energy long before the last of the 188 laps on the 2.66-mile oval. One guy said he purposely missed the first 90 minutes.

"If I watched from the beginning, I probably wouldn't have been able to stay awake the whole way," said an auto parts store manager who sold me the miracle wax that will bring my rusty hood back to life. "They just run around together — fall to the back, go to the front, fall to the back — and it doesn't mean anything until the end anyway."

Geez, just what Winston Cup needs, to be compared to the NBA.

Maddeningly, just like in pro basketball, some of the competitors don't even seem to take the early portion of the event seriously, being satisfied to hang behind the maniacal three-wide pack while coasting with the Buckshot Joneses of the world. Dale Jarrett, for one, has mastered this technique. The reward of moving forward probably isn't worth the risk.

And, since the drivers almost universally despise driving at Talladega because of the inherent danger of running 30-40 cars in a pack at 190 mph, why isn't something more drastic done than merely tinkering with aerodynamics and engines performance? Mark Martin, driver of the No. 6 Viagra Taurus, sees NASCAR's efforts as fruitless.

"I applaud them for what they're trying to do on one hand," Martin said, "but it would almost be safer if we were racing at 220 mph, because there certainly wouldn't be a 38-car draft and there being 500 miles without a yellow flag. Race cars are just capable of doing a lot more than 25 years ago and 30 years ago (when Talladega was built).

"You don't want to get into a situation where you are restricting the cars, because when you do it it's like putting on the cruise control and everyone is doing 65 down the interstate. Everything's fine, you can run three lanes wide, four lanes wide, but then when you run up on road construction and the lanes keep going straight and you have to turn, you get nervous all of a sudden. And if one person does the wrong thing, you all wreck."

And that's what he said it's like at Daytona and Talladega.

Martin speaks from experience of his dislike for those tracks. His performance in four races there in 1998 cost him a legitimate shot at winning his first driving championship.

Martin had a career year with seven victories and six seconds, but finished second, 364 points behind Jeff Gordon in his sensational 13-victory season. Of that point differential, Gordon out-totaled Martin by 331 points in the four restrictor-plate races.

"We lost points then because we got wrecked in 50 percent of the races," Martin said. "We may have gotten wrecked in three-fourths of them if we hadn't had broken a rear-end gear at Daytona."

At least Martin offers constructive criticism. He suggests reconfiguring the track to ease the 33-degree banking, thus eliminating the need for the plates. Tony Stewart, on the other hand, has a habit of turning tracks he doesn't like into championship bass lakes.

Martin, however, concedes that the drivers won't be boycotting any races or making an extra big deal about their fear of driving in massive packs. It's because of fan interest.

"The problem is that separating the cars to some degree is not good for ticket sales and it's not good for TV ratings, which are very important in this sport."

He apparently said that before reading the results of my poll.

ONE MORE THING: It's too late now, but had you known you could have raced in today's Busch Series event at California Speedway, would you have been interested?

Unlike in Winston Cup, when every week two or three race teams are left from the field, the Busch circuit will run this race with only 39 cars, four short of the maximum. Perhaps that long trip isn't worth the effort if you're not in the points race.

Bob Christ writes a weekly column on professional auto racing for The Daily Star.