Give NASCAR officials credit for thinking outside the box … or outside the tank, as it were. They have been struggling to come up with a way to avoid “The Big One,” the wild crash which occurs once or twice in almost every race at Talladega and Daytona.

Many drivers complain that the carburetor restrictor plates required at the two big tracks are to blame for the circumstances that lead to TBO. They say that the plates, intended to hold down speeds and make accidental impacts less forceful, equalize the cars so that they stay together in large packs.

When one or two cars in a large pack get squirrelly, everyone else is there to get involved.

Ben Blake of speedtv.com reports that NASCAR will try to break up the large pack into smaller ones.

According to his story, smaller fuel boxes will be required on cars running in the Talladega race on October 5th. Normally, the fuel boxes are 33” by 17” by 9.25”. Inside is a bladder and foam sponge holding 22 gallons of fuel. The experimental boxes will be 20” by 17” by 9.75”, half an inch thicker and 13 inches shorter.

As a result, they will hold just 12.5 gallons of fuel. The intent is to force teams to pit every 25 to 30 laps instead of every 50 laps. NASCAR expects this will lead to several smaller packs of cars.

Blake reports that some unnamed observers doubt it will work. He says they expect cars will continue to pit together in order to maintain the draft created by the large packs of cars.

I guess we’ll see what happens.

CART chose its gathering at Mid-Ohio last weekend to announce its schedule for next season. Speedtv.com’s David Phillips reports the slate will include 20 events, including a new event in St. Petersburg, FL.

The track will run along the St. Petersburg waterfront and include airport runways and city streets. Should be spectacular.

The St. Pete race will be the season opener, held on Feb 23rd, the week after NASCAR’s Daytona 500.

A month later, the teams will be in Monterrey, Mexico and a month after that in Europe. The exact location of the Europe race has yet to be determined.

A race also is planned for the Chicago market, the third largest in the U.S. But just where is unknown. The oval track in Joliet may be for sale.

Phillips said Pook announced some exciting possibilities for the series appearance in Cleveland.

Pook said they are very interested in running a night race at Cleveland’s Burke Lakefront Airport on July 4th weekend, complete with a concert, music and fireworks.

The CART season will end at Fontana, CA on November 2nd. The Mid-Ohio race is set for August 10th.