Darlington Chick

These Are The Good Old Days

2011-12-03T14:07:00.007-05:00

I just wrapped up watching the NASCAR Sprint Cup Awards Banquet. As much as I am not looking forward to a race-less weekend, a deep breath is in order, I think. Good wine, great food, a wonderful lover... certain things need to be contemplated, savored, and enjoyed. For adoring fans of the sport like me, the 2011 NASCAR season is certainly worth taking time to contemplate fondly.

If you're resilient enough (and bored enough) to look back over the few things I've written since 2004, you'll see an interesting retrospective on the health of the sport. It begins with my very first blog, Business School For Nascar, which prophesies, oddly enough, troubles that actually began surfacing in 2008. A busy and stressful couple of years has kept me from writing a lot, but I was completely thrilled at the 2011 season opener, but a touch concerned, and asked for NASCAR faithful's help in Let's Take Care of Trevor.

Lots of folks have talked about the 2011 season being the greatest ever. Most of the time, I chuckle at the "greatest (insert noun here) ever", because, honestly the comparisons are usually silly, short-sighted, useless, and disrespectful of history. I'm not going to support the argument that 2011 was "the greatest season ever". I will say, though, the NASCAR 2011 season is my 'Good Old Days'.

Prior to the beginning of the 2011 season, I participated in a fan panel for a national sports business publication. One of the other fans who was involved consistently complained about the current 'lack of competition' in NASCAR. He was opining for the "good old days". I disagreed, but it wasn't a debate, so I addressed it as indirectly as I could. The warped lens of time through which he viewed reality was worriesome, but his reference to that expression stuck with me. I adore history; I love facts even more, and the fact of the matter is, whatever may have been lacking recently in NASCAR, level of competition is not on that list.

Full disclosure: my guy finished second. I'm an Edwards fan, an Osborne fan, a Hedleski fan, a Ford fan. I'll caveat that by saying I'm a bigger fan of the sport than I am of any individual team; which is why most of the time I wear track stuff, not driver stuff. Do I wish the 99 team had pulled it off? Hell, yes. Does it really matter to fans who adore the sport? Not so much; what matters to us is the the health of the sport, the safety of the competitors, and the level of competition and intrigue that's built into each event. In 2011, the spirit of the sport was reborn; therefore, the health of the sport is revived.

I sent this tweet to NASCAR fans before the green flag fell at Homestead: "Enjoy this. Enjoy the resurgence of our sport, the changing if the guard, the competition." If you love racing, even the ridiculous antics of the Busch brothers are valuable in that you can use them to illustrate to your kids that a lack of sportsmanship, class, and self control will destroy a lot of people's hard work. If you love racing, you love the brotherhood that exists that allows a five time champ to be respectful of his successor, humourous, and self-deprecating in defeat. If you love racing, the images, sounds, and moments of the 2011 NASCAR season are firmly planted in your memory and already make you smile.

If you love NASCAR, you didn't need me to tell you in the last line of my pre-Homestead Tweet: "These are the Good Old Days."

Let's Take Care of Trevor

2011-02-26T16:53:00.003-05:00

With the Daytona 500 in the rear view mirror, and the desert sun in our eyes, it's time to get the "sane season" underway.

From now on, whenever someone asks me, "NASCAR??? Why do you love NASCAR?" I will point to the 53rd Daytona 500. We honored our hero, our soul, on lap 3. On lap 200, we embraced our future, simultaneously paying homage to our sacred past, when the famous Wood Brothers 21 took the checkers with the oh-so-worthy, oh-so-baby-faced Trevor Bayne at the wheel.

There were so many things about that day I will never forget. My house was full of dear friends, two of whom drove more than two hours to be with us (for something on television... are you kidding me???) The silent lap 3. The sight of those full grandstands. The great racing, the driver-to-driver communication, the bizarre Noah's Ark drafting. When Trevor crossed that finish line in first place, I was standing up in my living room, surrounded by people I love, screaming with unashamed, unmitigated joy. One of my best friends was fishing on our pond with his son. He heard me; he didn't know who won, but he knew it was precious to me; and although not a NASCAR fan himself, he smiled to know that my friends and I were so thrilled. As for me, it was cathartic. I knew, I just knew, NASCAR has emerged from the abyss. We're okay... we have survived The Dark Days.

I spent most of the week travelling back & forth to work, listening to NASCAR fans on Sirius. Although it was just a couple of hours per day, I heard no one, NO ONE, disappointed or upset about this win. Fans love the Wood Brothers, and they love an underdog. To say that Trevor is a breath of fresh air is a shameless use of cliché, but... deal with it.

Here's my challenge to the media and to the NASCAR faithful, and the sponsors that we support. Let us not pull a Casey Atwood on this worthy young man. Let us honor his accomplishment, the passionate joy he has brought us, acheived by confidence and patience, by awarding him the same. He will, in all likelihood, not win again in in the Cup series in 2011. Perhaps he will not win in the Cup series until late in 2012 or even early 2013. This is fine with me. Please, let it be fine with you. Don't be disappointed, disenfranchised, or bitter no matter what happens over the next several months. This is the future of our delicate sport, that relies so much on the economy, on television, and on the inexplicable emotional whims of fans.

That this fine young man, driving for a legendary team, won this race essentially dedicated to Dale Earnhardt, is no coincidence. It is a message: Snap out of it. Respect the past, but embrace the future. Ralph Earnhardt was a hero to Dale Earnhardt. Dale Earnhardt was a hero to Jeff Gordon. Jeff Gordon is a hero to Trevor Bayne. This is what makes racing more special than any other sport on the planet. This young man, in six days, has given us so much. Don't pressure him for more; let us be selfless, for a change. Trevor's young, he's learning; to him, Joey Logano is a veteran!

As fans, let us understand: It's not Trevor, so much as what Trevor brings to us; the spirit of Trevor. Let us thank him going forward for showing us, with that sweet, amazing smile, out of The Dark Days, by letting him slowly become the champion we all know he is, the champion we all know he will be if we allow him. Let's thank him by taking care of him... and he will, in return I'm sure, take good care of NASCAR.

The Problem With NASCAR

2010-11-13T15:26:00.009-05:00

Hang in with me. This is not another doctoral thesis on how to "fix" NASCAR.

2010 has been, I think, a great year for NASCAR racing. An exciting points battle, some controversy, great racing, interesting rivalries, pregnancy watches, etc. I've enjoyed it tremendously. One thing I haven't particularly enjoyed the ceaseless discussion about dropping ratings, the TV shots of empty grandstands, the views of sponsor-less hoods and quarter panels, and dramatic stories about millions in unpaid debt.

The drop in track attendance and the sponsor issues I'm actually not too fired up about. Those situations impact the viability of the sport and are certainly cause for concern. Cause for panic? I don't think so. I think it's the normal course of a business cycle. Has there been a fall off in the fan base and the television ratings? Absolutely. But what are we comparing to? As part of my old job, I used to perform a rather tedious exercise each month known as a variance analysis. One thing I learned pretty quickly is that the current numbers don't mean much if you compare them to something that's essentially not relevant. It's old "apples and oranges" conundrum. Perhaps when people discuss 2009 and 2010 ratings and attendance against NASCAR's peak years, say, 2004 through 2007, they're comparing it to meaningless numbers. Perhaps they're comparing the base with the bubble. Perhaps the comparison should be with, say, 1999, which I think probably represents the natural size of the sport.

NASCAR's popularity seems to have reached it zenith in the early 2000's on the heels, unfortunately, of the tragic death of Dale Earnhardt. Earnhardt's death and the news stories it generated created a sort of macabre interest among 'casual fans' curious to understand why several thousand people would flock to Kannapolis, NC to stand sobbing in the cold for days. Pretty quickly, NASCAR started catering to new fans and thumbing their noses at their true fan base, and that's been pointed out ad nauseum by people like me. But I think we're dealing with something much simpler than core fan alienation.

The problem with racing is, it's filled with hard working, incredibly intelligent, intensely competitive people who generally don't have wrap sheets as long as your arm. They respect their parents, they love their grandparents, and even though they may work 7 days a week, most of them have a deep love of family. They're expected to be articulate, witty, show good leadership, and have major testicular fortitude.

The problem with racing is, as a young person making your way in the sport, your best friend in the pits may be your mom, or your dad, or a brother who has supported you (in all meanings of the word) in your passion since it began.

The problem with racing is, it's a true team sport that requires participants to be amazing athletes, have astounding mental toughness and a level of commitment that most people can't even understand, much less actually exhibit.

The problem with racing is, events are held at a different venue each week that has unique characteristics which negate last week's triumphs and failures, and change the complexion of the competition every weekend.

The problem with racing is, a race isn't won by something as simple as a touchdown or home run every event. One week it may be the mathematics of gas mileage; the next it might be total domination borne of superior engineering; another week it might be a flawless pit stop when your competition makes a tiny error. The next it may be a thrilling door to door battle. The most excitement may not come from the leaders, but from intense racing mid-pack.

The problem is, all if this is way too much for many people to understand. Which makes me think the problem isn't with racing.

Strike Two

2010-03-10T21:27:00.003-05:00

I'm an Edwards fan, and have been since 2006. We had a house full of Canadian friends for the October races when my dad got the "this is not a drill" call for his lung transplant. I went to Manhattan to be with my family, and my husband stayed behind to host our friends who had chosen to spend their annual vacation with us. Knowing that my dad was a big Edwards fan, my husband stood in line with his arms full of goodies to be signed. At the time, we had no idea whether my dad would survive this extremely complicated process to ever enjoy the hat, photo and die-cast. When Edwards heard my husband's story of who the items were for, he stopped chatting and joking with the crowd and focused solely on my husband, having a real conversation with him for a few minutes about my dad. Edwards showed one of his fans, my dad, some serious respect with those few minutes.

Concrete Carl used to be a term of endearment referencing Edwards' proficiency on concrete tracks like Bristol and Dover. What I'm realizing now is the nickname has another meaning as well, referencing the gray matter between his ears.

I was a little freaked out about the Kenseth thing at Martinsville; however, I don't walk around with huge levels of testosterone in my body, and I don't do my job in front of millions of people each week. It seemed beyond bizarre, but, despite the media frenzy that occurs when this type of thing happens, there's always a couple of angles to the truth that the public doesn't hear. I'm a loyal person, and I stayed true, but it was duly noted: Strike One.

The incident early in the race this past Sunday was mostly Edwards' own doing. Replays made that clear. Lost in all the debate is one point I'd like to make: what Keselowski did not have from Carl (or would not have from several other drivers that could have easily been in Carl's shoes on Sunday) is the benefit of the doubt. Keselowski didn't have the benefit of the doubt because so far he has revealed himself to be essentially unworthy of it. If it had been a different driver, one who races a little cleaner, one who gives a little slack when it's called for, Edwards might have shrugged it off, or at least made an effort to find out exactly what happened while he sat on a tire in the garage watching his guys fix his car. Obviously he didn't use any of that time to cool off or think through the ramifications of the revenge he was plotting. The concrete was set, you might say.

I am not a Keselowski fan per se, but I do not like these nasty wrecks, and vividly remember the heartbreak of Adam, Dale, Tony and Kenny. No matter who it is, it's scary to me and I sit and wait for the window net to go down or some grunting on the radio. Of course, Edwards did not mean to flip him, and we all know that if the 12 car had just gone sliding through the grass and created some serious divots on the race logo, the likelihood is there would be no uproar, at least from those not paying attention closely.

One thing about wearing grown up pants is learning from your mistakes, and this is a great opportunity to do that. Another is realizing that sometimes the actions you take have unexpected or unintended consequences. That a winged COT tagged from the rear at a high speed flipped end over end in the air and smashed roof down on the pavement is not, after Newman's wreck last year, what I would call unexpected. Carl, on behalf of Edwards nation, which includes numerous friends and family, let me point out another an unintended consequence of your behavior on Sunday, which I don't think your concrete gray matter allowed for:

Strike two, buddy.

The Other Hole

2010-02-15T18:24:00.001-05:00

After a long, cold, icy, snowy and nasty winter here in the Carolinas, it was with much anticipation that I awoke Sunday to the promise of a thrilling Daytona 500. While I did not have the fortune (or misfortune, as it would have become) to be in person at the track, I had my day fairly well planned. Pre-race TV on in the background while doing chores around the house, some quality time with the NASCAR widower hubby, and then a fun afternoon with my big screen on mute, my laptop screaming scanner traffic and scrolling Twitter, and my surround sound pumping out MRN. A sort of NASCAR chick meets audio-visual geek thing. All of this in the company of my sweet Norwich Terrier, with the hubby checking in every 30 laps or so to see how it was going.

As race time approached, I switched my receiver over to the local FM station who has for years been carrying the races. Music. Nothing to worry about, it was still before 1 PM. Perhaps the station had elected not to carry all the pre-race hoopla. A little odd, I thought, given that it was the Daytona 500. Honestly, the possibility of the reality I was about to face didn't even cross my mind. But when it got to be about ten minutes after one, and I still was listening to Carrie Underwood and Kenny Chesney, rather than Barney Hall and Joe Moore, I started searching the FM tuner to find the race. Stations switch up this sort of thing often, I was thinking. I checked the MRN website, which still had the original station listed as an affiliate. Old info. No worries. It's just a matter of locating it.

After ten minutes of desperate tuning, and a frantic call to my hubby for help, I got the tweet from Doug Rice that rocked my little race day world. Try 610 a.m., he wrote.

A.M.? As in, amplitude modulation? As in, the broadcast medium of the 1959 Daytona 500? As in, fuzzy, crackly, fading in and out, my home receiver doesn't even have an antenna for it A.M.???? Surely, you jest. This can't be happening. My heart started pounding, and literally I had tears in my eyes.

Suffice it to say, for reasons probably different than many of you, my Daytona 500 was miserable. I was able to put the radio broadcast on the laptop, but the unavoidable delay versus the television picture was very distracting. I tried it for a half hour or so, but then realized I had no idea what was going on in the race. It just didn't work.

For years, at the track and at home, I have been enjoying the MRN and PRN broadcasts tremendously. If you've read my blogs before, you know I am an enormous fan of Barney Hall, Doug Rice, and all the personalities on both radio networks. At the track, you can hear the production chatter, and it's fun, it's honest, and it's from the heart of people who love this sport as much as I do. The broadcast itself is very enjoyable, the full field gets covered, and there is no resume reading, no pompous opinions, and almost no sentences starting with the word "I".

We've been hearing about teams shutting down, poor television ratings, evaporating sponsorships. We've heard the tales of talented drivers, mechanics and pit crew members on the wrong side of team consolidations. To me, while much of it was cause for concern, and certainly some of it very sad, it all seemed part of the ebb and flow of a business cycle, a normal correction to the NASCAR bubble that little Brian was blowing before it popped in all our faces. Things would get better, it just might take a while.

However, the radio station in the Charlotte area that has been broadcasting races for years has decided that it makes better sense to stick with their regular programming instead. This smells of something that will take a little longer to recover. The fact that a race fan, living well within broadcast distance of Charlotte, North Carolina, the self-proclaimed backyard of NASCAR, is unable to listen to an FM radio broadcast of the biggest race of the year is not a good sign for the health of our sport.

Not to mention that the loss of my radio guys has left a pit in my stomach and a huge hole in my heart. Congrats, Jamie. I enjoyed your win, but without Barney Hall, it just wasn't all it could have been for me.

The Hands That Feed NASCAR

2009-11-14T08:06:00.007-05:00

Over the past few weeks, since NASCAR’s announcement that they will be going to consistent starting times in 2010, I’ve been thinking about how things are coming back around to haunt our friends in Daytona Beach. I started contemplating this after hearing little Brian France use the term “core fan” in the press conference announcing the reversion to 1PM starting times. (I like to call him “little Brian” because he’s so much the opposite of “big Bill”.) I realized when he said it that I couldn’t remember the last time he mentioned being concerned about the opinions of the core fans.

It seems like ever since little Brian has been making his mark on the business of NASCAR, the sanctioning body has developed a very dangerous habit of chomping the hands that feed it.

First it was the ridiculous denial of media credentials for ESPN in the early days of the “network” TV deal. Remember Mike Massaro reporting from the parking lots with the racetracks in the background? How soon we forget that ESPN pioneered racing broadcasts and for a number of years was the major distribution media for stock car racing. Easy to dump the girl who waited tables to put you through school once you’ve got the degree, isn’t it?

As television ratings soared and the sport increased in popularity, fans were gouged by spiraling ticket prices and the restriction of full season ticket packages. September 11th was used as an excuse by ISC tracks to limit the size of coolers and quantity of bags brought into the track. This created a logistical nightmare for those of us who have the nerve to want to bring a scanner, binoculars and a sweatshirt as well as a few beers into the track. I’m sure it also increased concession revenue substantially. SMI tracks and the few private tracks in existence at the time somehow managed the security risk without these blatantly self-serving restrictions.

Shortly after that, it was the silly notion of “realignment”, schedule upheaval, and the perpetual wining and dining of “new fans”. This period for me will always be symbolized by the dissolution of the Labor Day Southern 500 weekend, the oldest and arguably most sacred of stock car racing traditions. While fans in the upper Midwest and the prairie benefited, perhaps rightly so, the people of southern California continued to focus on the Oscars in late February and wisely stayed inside in the air conditioning in late summer. New ISC tracks such as Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Chicagoland Speedway don’t allow coolers in the grandstands, in a not very subtle attempt at a revenue generating culture change.

Then it was time to screw the mid-pack sponsors, the mid-pack teams, and the old school fans with the introduction of The Chase. I was dead set against it at the time, and while I grumpily admit to enjoying it, I am still not convinced that it has accomplished whatever the goal was. At the end of 2009, we will have had 6 seasons of Chase format with only three different champions. The old system would have yielded four different champions in five years, with Tony Stewart currently leading the legacy points in 2009. Sponsors were so displeased that NASCAR was forced to guarantee the top 35 in owner’s points a starting spot on the grid. Core fans felt the message to them from NASCAR was, “let us tell you what you want”. Really? When was the last time that worked well? New Coke, perhaps?

Finally, it was time to stick it to everyone, most notably the manufacturers, by the introduction of the tediously monikered “car of tomorrow”. No one can convince me that the safety features that were ostensibly the purpose of the redesign of the car could not be incorporated into a better driving vehicle that is reasonably recognizable as an Impala or Fusion.

All along the way, inconsistent rule enforcement and penalty assessment have continually eroded credibility of the sanctioning body. NASCAR can’t even effectively formalize and enforce a substance abuse policy, something that thousands of companies and sanctioning bodies have accomplished with little difficulty. There are countless incidents and occasions in between. Why is Robin Pemberton, John Darby, or Mike Helton on my television each week defending or explaining something that NASCAR has done? Why does there seem to be some major, mid-season rule change each year? When was the last time you saw an executive from the NFL, NBA, NHL or MLB hashing over an event? Why do competitors and fans continually feel the need to call NASCAR out on various issues? Why can’t these guys get their act together and become invisible, the ultimate proof of their success?

It speaks to the continual turmoil our sport has been in for over ten years.

NASCAR is all about change, but there's one major change that's occurred over the years that they've ignored at their peril. NASCAR used to pride itself on being more important as a whole than the individuals. I'm not sure that was ever the case anyway, but certainly it has become less so with the increased exposure earlier in the decade. Their ignorance of this has cost them. "My NASCAR" isn't Brian France. "My NASCAR" is Richard Childress, Carl Edwards, Ryan Newman, Juan Pablo Montoya, Pat Tryson, Bobby Labonte, and Greg Zipadelli. My NASCAR is the competitors, not David Hoots.

A couple of years ago when NASCAR was sitting on top of the world with high ratings and numerous sold out events, they made no bones about taking on the NFL and major league baseball in competition for fans. There are glaring differences that will prevent this competition from becoming a threat to football and baseball: the ridiculous pace of directed change in NASCAR, the continued credibility issues that NASCAR creates for itself, and the disasterous strategic decisions that negatively impact the competitors, the fans, and the sponsors. NASCAR has such an enormous ego it even allowed itself to be inducted into its own hall of fame, rather than creating a separate founder’s hall. Clearly, it’s all about them.

I love this sport and have for many, many years. I want to enjoy it, I want it to be successful, and I don’t want to be disgruntled each week. NASCAR is scrambling to figure out why the audiences are smaller, and here it is, quick and dirty: Old fans feel betrayed, new fans are confused, and both have become annoyed with how NASCAR treats our teams and our drivers. We're exhausted and decided to spend our time and money somewhere else.

When you continually bite the hands that feed you, there’s a good chance you’ll get smacked in the mouth. Who's feeling the pain now, little Brian?

The Road Less Travelled

2009-08-30T09:00:00.001-04:00

With the Nationwide Series in Montreal this weekend, we’re going to hear grumbling from some fans about road courses and the quality of racing on those circuits with left and right turns. Lots of fans feel there’s no place for road courses in stock car racing. Many of these are the same fans that consider themselves “old school” or purists”.

I don’t understand what all the fuss is about.

When Junior Johnson was hightailing it from the cops with a trunk full of shine, he wasn’t driving in circles in a parking lot somewhere. He was running the dirt back roads up and down the steep hills of western North Carolina, executing hairpin turns and drifting through treacherous mountainside corners. The law enforcement suckers trying to catch him snagged little more than his dust or the debris flying in the windows as they sailed off the road and into some brush.

When you were a kid and finally comfortable with your own expertise behind the wheel, you took your mom’s car, filled with a bunch of your goofy friends, and raced your other goofy friends in their car to town or to the movies or to the lake. Perhaps you were bold and found some straightaway somewhere and did a little drag racing. Guaranteed, you didn’t challenge each other to go around in circles in a parking lot, unless you were making some donuts.

I suppose an argument could have been made prior to double-file restarts that the narrowness of the road courses NASCAR visited made for a Pied Piper progression through the event, but to me that’s a pessimist’s view and not necessarily reality. I’ve been to Watkins Glen a couple of times, back before the double file restarts, and even at the track where your visibility is limited to the front stretch, turns one, and up the esses on the hill (if you score the best seats at the bottom of turn one), the race was just as thrilling as at any other venue. In some ways it can be even more exciting because drivers don’t always take several laps to set up for a pass; they pounce in a split second on an error made by a competitor, and lo and behold, the entire complexion of the race changes. Plus, I’m one of those geeky fans who love strategy races where weather, fuel mileage and pit sequence influence the outcome and keep me guessing.

Don’t get me wrong, nothing annoys me more than an ignorant person asking me if racing isn’t just cars going around in circles. I will say though, that for me, road courses are the purest form of legal racing venue there is, although I can respect a protest from my NHRA pals.

My love of stock car road racing didn’t start with going to Watkins Glen in the late 90’s, or double file restarts in 2009, or even watching old tapes of Tim Richmond kicking ass at Riverside. It started the first time my dad let me take the pickup truck to town by myself and I sailed around Rankin’s corner (downhill turn about 70 degrees and banked wrong) at about 80 mph and the damn thing stuck like glue. I got to town about a minute and a half before the neighbor who had left three minutes ahead of me.

Guess he must have been an “ovals only” fan and was swinging through a parking lot somewhere!

Why It's Still Bristol, Baby!

2009-08-24T09:09:00.000-04:00

We pulled into our camping spot on Wednesday around noon, and left it on Sunday around noon. I don't regret a single hour of the 96 spent there, and a single dollar of the quite a few spent to get there and spent while there. Rowdians, if you have not been to a race, and you're contemplating a once-in-a-lifetime splurge, you should seriously consider Bristol. Let me tell you some things you might not be able to learn about Thunder Valley just doing internet style research:

1. Don't let the "sold out" bs stop you from just driving into town whenever you can. There are plenty of honest people trying to sell extra tickets right there on the bridge over Beaver Creek. You'll pay face value or less. I guarentee it. Shoot for Kulwicki Terrace, section I, anywhere in rows 7-11. You look straight ahead at the entire track and don't even have to turn your head.

2. The atmosphere, the excitement, the electricity, blah, blah, blah. You hear it over & over again on television to a point where you don't really believe it. Believe it. There's something about being with 159,999 other people that love something as much as you do. It's really not something you can put into words.

3. Don't buy into "the new surface has made the race boring" complaints. There is two and three wide racing throughout the field, everywhere you look on the track. Television can't possibly show it all, and the radio guys can't possibly describe it all. The new surface has created the ability to pass almost anywhere. This was true Saturday night, even on a totally green track that got almost 1-1/2 inches of rain at 4 a.m. on raceday. Incidents still happen, they still happen lightning fast and when you least expect it.

4. No one puts on a show like an SMI track. Bruton does it right. The pre-race ceremonies are moving, thrilling, and designed for people who love their race car drivers, their country, and their kids. After the race, there's a fireworks show that rivals any July 4th celebration anywhere. This is true at both Bristol and Charlotte.

5. The one negative is if you're trying to make it a one day, in and out thing, it would be very difficult. They hold the traffic for pedestrians (think about it, it's 160,000 people all leaving a little arena at one time, there's no other way to do it!!!). Plan on snoozing in your vehicle for a few hours and then taking off. You'll probably get home around the same time. Whatever you do, DON'T leave the grandstands until the checkered flag falls. You'll have denied yourself and saved zero time.

6. If time and expense is an issue, consider the truck or Nationwide race. Honestly, the truck race is absolutely thrilling, you will get your race fix, get your Bristol racing experience, and get home at a reasonable hour. See you in 2010!!!

They Nailed It

2009-07-01T16:58:00.001-04:00

Today, Jeremy Mayfield won an injunction against NASCAR's suspension of him in Federal Court, and Mayfield will be allowed to race this weekend if he presents himself.

Wow, did I ever blow it. As a passionate NASCAR fan, working in Charlotte, I should have taken the opportunity to walk a few blocks to the federal courthouse and witness what had to be a colossal fiasco for myself.
Because clearly, one of two things came to light today. Either NASCAR totally screwed up the administration of their drug policy, or the legal system in this country is beyond repair and protecting the wrong people, instead of the wronged people.

Neither of which is something that I can accept.

I should have been there to see it myself, so I can understand why the risk to our drivers' lives just went up exponentially at one of the most dangerous events of the year. Then, perhaps later I could have said, "I was there to witness in person the hammering of the final nail in the coffin of NASCAR's credibility".

Don't Drag Me Down

2009-06-28T22:01:00.002-04:00

As I’ve noted previously, to be successful in racing, you need your body, your team, your cajones, and mother nature. Auto racing is a sophisticated team sport. In a nutshell, here is its essence: The team puts the driver in position to win by virtue of a great car off the truck, good pit stops, and excellent strategy. It’s up to the driver to hold and advance that position, and thereby facilitate the win. When mother nature interferes, you better be ready. Is some of it luck? Of course. But luck is one ingredient in a complicated mix that results in a win…. or not. In order to pull a fuel mileage or rain win off, you have to made the most of the circumstances thrown at you during the course of the event, and have made either intelligent or gutsy decisions. Some would argue that if you’ve made it past halfway in an event in this level of competition, you are by definition one of the finest in the world anyway.

I enjoy drag racing. I don’t know much about it, don’t necessarily look for it, but find it interesting to watch when I stumble upon it. For those who believe that drag racing is down and dirty, the truest, purest form of the racing, I respect your opinion, and certainly wouldn’t dispute it. It’s a very straightforward form of competition (excuse the pun). The fastest car wins. There may be some strategy involved, I’m not even sure. If there is any beyond lane selection, it’s certainly not obvious to the casual observer.

Stock car racing, my friends, is not drag racing. The fastest car doesn’t always, and shouldn’t always, win. Strategy, circumstance, and the dynamics of being on the playing field with 42 other competitors contribute to the outcome. In dissing wins obtained in rain shortened races, we forget something about the uncontrollable weather.

It influences every race, every weekend.

Catch a cloud in qualifying? You’ll probably go faster than the guy who went before you in the blazing sun. Hot and steamy? Your driver better have plenty of stamina to last 500 miles in humid weather and be able to wheel his car on a slick track. Cool and cloudy? You’ll probably have a fast track with lots of grip. Twilight race at Phoenix? Guess what, the sun is going to blind you for a number of laps. Daytona in February? A gust of wind may slow you up as you torque your way down the superstretch.

If you truly believe and defend the concept that NASCAR is much more than cars going around in circles, then you have to understand, respect, and embrace the various ways a team can capture those elusive wins. Heaven help the first person who says to me, “yeah, but Joey’s first win was in the rain”. I will defend any team, any year, any time their bragging rights to a rain win.

This is a complicated sport, kids. Those with a short attention span and deep-seeded need for instant gratification are going to be sorely disappointed watching NASCAR. If you don’t like fuel mileage races, don’t like road courses, don’t like rain wins, and don’t like a points system that rewards consistency, then I truly feel badly for you. You’re really missing something incredibly interesting that is the very definition of unpredictability and complexity.
If you can’t accept that auto racing is more than cars going around in circles, that’s fine, but please, be on your way. Tell Ashley Force I said “hey

What's the Point(s)?

2009-06-05T14:20:00.002-04:00

I’ve got a couple of observations about Tony Stewart taking the points lead last week after Dover. First off, it’s great to see Tony beaming, truly beaming, instead of scowling or smirking. It’s also really fun to see Ryan Newman running up front again. Let’s hope he hangs on to the “Rocket Man” nickname.

Secondly, I thought it was an interesting observation that when Tony took the points lead, it was the first time an owner/driver has held the points lead since Alan Kulwicki won the Cup championship in 1992. However, to go on and start making comparisons between Alan’s efforts and Tony’s is a bit of a stretch at worst, and doesn’t do either champion justice at best. I just don’t understand the point of these comparisons. To me this ranks right up there with trying to decide who is the “best ever”. Sure, it’s fun for a while, but then someone gets hurt. News flash: “Ever” keeps changing. It’s not possible to fairly compare the talents of Richard Petty and Kyle Busch in a meaningful way. It’s apples to road apples.

As usual, our need to make comparisons has resulted in us getting carried away at the expense of the facts when it comes to Stewart and Kulwicki. Tony Stewart purchased an existing entity that he was able to quickly transform into a well-funded team that purchases engines and chassis from one of the most successful organizations in NASCAR. Stewart had no issues attracting talent and has an army of highly experienced mechanics and engineers fine-tuning world-class equipment. Alan Kulwicki, running his team out of his own shallow pocket at the start, was viewed as somewhat of an oddball and was consistently understaffed. He earned his Hooters sponsor in 1991 through solid finishes that he derived largely from his own gray matter and late nights. Kulwicki did have the help of a then much less experienced team, including Paul Andrews. This is not to take anything away from Stewart, who has done something tremendous in the post-modern era of NASCAR, and earned his sponsors through 11 years of hard racing. For the record, I feel more SHR more closely compares (if forced to compare) to Michael Waltrip’s efforts, not Kulwicki’s.

Lastly, given that Tony has the unbelievable gall to be leading the points without benefit of a win, I’m sure it will only be a few short weeks, should he happen not to secure that win, before we start hearing from the peanut gallery about the blasphemous points system that allows for a team to capture the points lead absent a trip to victory lane. Let me try to nip this one in the bud. The NASCAR points system is built on a basic premise: the team that beats most of the field most of the time is your championship team. Inasmuch as I will put on my gloves to throw a punch at NASCAR when I feel it’s deserved, I truly think the points system as it exists today is appropriate, and the only manageable way to chose a champion in a sport which by the nature of its structure can’t use brackets or eliminations. Each competitor is going to be in each event, otherwise the event ceases to be an event. The championship team, almost always in the NASCAR, is the team with the most top-fives and fewest DNF’s. Think about it… if someone can go fast at most tracks but can’t navigate Darlington, Daytona or Atlanta without wrecking, do you really think he’s a champion? If an engine builder creates a piece with 20 more horsepower than everyone else, but they blow up three or four times a year, is that really a championship engine builder?

The only time history has made me wonder about the viability of the points system is in the anomaly that is 1996. That year, Terry Labonte and Jeff Gordon had the exact same number of top-fives and top-tens. Jeff Gordon had ten wins and Terry Labonte had only two. Why did Terry take home the trophy? He had three DNF’s against Jeff’s five. The good news is, our current system of awarding 10 more points to the winner (without the impact of the Chase) would have more than taken care of the odd way that year finished.

Of course, the Chase has made the timing of the top-fives and DNF’s more critical than in the past, but the general spirit remains the same: the team that beats most of the field most of the time should be the championship team.

That, my friends, is the point(s).

Junior Wins!!! (The REAL Championship)

2009-05-30T09:01:00.001-04:00

Let me say that I don’t beat the Junior drum. I don’t wear his gear, I don’t name him as my favorite driver, and I didn’t have to add an extra eight to any tattoos at the beginning of last year. Having said that, I will say that he is a tiki torch, and I find it completely impossible not to like him. He is certainly on the top of my list of drivers I’d love to have a few beers with. There is something about him that is totally and strangely irresistible.

There was a part of Dale Jr.’s press conference on Friday that I found really intriguing, and that’s the comments Junior made regarding pressure to live up to “his father’s name”, and “live up to his wins”. I find this interesting, given how intensely loyal NASCAR fans tend to be, and what appears to drive their affection for a given driver. When it’s time to declare whom their favorite is, NASCAR fans rarely go for the driver who’s winning all the time. After close to ten years, it’s easily forgotten that while he was alive, Dale Sr. was NOT the most popular driver; during the years Dale Sr. was winning, the popularity contest (both figurative and literal), was being won by Bill Elliott, and it was Dale Sr. who was booed very heavily at driver introductions. As a matter of a fact, winning all the time is probably the least effective method of becoming popular – just ask Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch, who receive increasing number of boos in proportion to their number of wins.

I don’t think there are many Dale Jr. fans that really expect him to end his career with an excess of seven championships and 76 wins, and yet, that seems to be what Dale Jr. expects of himself. Obviously, a win now and then would be great, and one or two championships would certainly make looking back on a long career more rewarding. I don’t know about you, but I truly felt for him watching Friday’s press conference. Once again, he feels he has the world on his shoulders. Members of the media continually maintain that he’s “carrying the weight of the sport”. If I were able to counsel him, what I would ask Dale Jr. to remember by way of helping to ease the agita is that the fans like him, for him. Sure, lots of fans flocked to him originally because he was Dale Sr’s kid. I guarantee you if he was as obnoxious as Kyle Busch, it would have been a very short-lived phenomenon. However, in the long run, after the grieving subsided, Junior proved himself worthy of the transfer of affection due to his great sense of humor, his class, his ability to be just enough of a bad boy, his loyalty to his family, and his philanthropy. His fans are no longer his dad’s fans, they are Junior fans, plain and simple. They love him because he has a deep love and respect for our sport and its history, and therefore it’s easy to feel a kinship with him. They love him because when he smiles, a true, heartfelt smile, for some inexplicable reason, the world seems to be a better place.

As parents, we always say we want our kids to be happy. We want them to achieve their definition of success and lead a life that fulfills them. As children, we want our parents to be proud of us and would like to think that we bring them more joy than pain. Outside of the public spotlight, Junior could be the biggest ass on the planet. Who knows, maybe he is. From my view and against my yardstick, he more than qualifies as a champion person.

Quit Breaking Bread - and Leave the Grape Juice Alone!

2009-05-14T16:01:00.001-04:00

I’ve officially had enough of the ridiculous assertions that Joey Logano “isn’t showing us anything” or that he’s been a “disappointment”. Even worse, hollow threats from powerless people that “he better start performing”, blah, blah, blah.

Enough. Up to and including Darlington in 2009, Joey has had 12 starts in 14 attempts. He has had one, count it, ONE, DNF because of a crash, and that was Daytona, which was a classic example of getting caught up in someone else’s wreck. Honestly, wrecking in your first race in your first full season probably crumbled his confidence. (As usual pun completetly intended.)

Have you thought about how you would coach this kid if you were his crew chief or his car owner? Let’s think about the overwhelming responsibility they have in taking this young talent and shepherding him through these first critical years of his career, knowing that you are setting the stage for his entire professional life with your advice, critique, and support. Given that Joey was thrown into this situation so early, it is the obligation of Joe Gibbs Racing to handle this right, to develop this talent in a way that will benefit the driver, the organization, and the sponsor, for a long time to come.

What would you say?

Follow talented drivers. Get used to the feel of the car. Learn how to communicate with your crew chief. Get the feel for entering each pit road. Figure out how to stop perfectly in pit stalls that are different dimensions each week. Learn how to navigate in tight quarters at the most challenging tracks in the world, some of which you will only see once a year. Build up your mental and physical stamina so you can make it through races that are two and three times the length that you’re familiar with. Log laps and soak it all in. Talk with experienced drivers.
Master all the things that will lose you races, and then you’ll be ready to win, and win often. It looks to me like that's what Joey has been doing so far.

Perhaps Joe Gibbs, in his decades of dealing with young and/or immature athletes learned some things that others have missed, and has set one 2009 goal for his young superstar-to-be: Finish every race. Isn’t that the hard lesson Mark Martin talked about in his Darlington press conference? How come it’s dogma one day but forgotten the next? Perhaps Home Depot is looking for the type of franchise representative that their biggest competitor, Lowe’s, has in Jimmie Johnson. This is not easily found, or created. This takes time. Perhaps Joey is something even more special than Sliced Bread. Perhaps he’s Grape Juice that will soon be victory lane champagne.

Keep shrugging it off, Joey. Lovers of the sport support you, understand there is a grand plan here, and have confidence that you’re going to live up to it all. When you do, there will be many a crow sandwich being eaten in NASCAR nation, with many a race win bottle popped and sprayed in your honor!

My Darlin' Darlington

2009-05-14T15:54:00.003-04:00

While waiting for the Southern 500 early Saturday afternoon and watching all the activities in the campground, listening to the helicopters coming and going, kids laughing, old timers complaining, I jotted this down and have been polishing it up over the last couple of days.

You’ve been to the rest, some too lame to name,
Now we’re here at Darlington, Too Tough To Tame.
Realignment came, what would happen, we wondered;
Please little Brian, keep our Southern Five Hundred!
The name took a break for a couple of years,
While a few sellouts did wonders to ease all our fears.

Now history and tradition welcome the “new” NASCAR;
Don’t care where you go, but don’t forget who you are.
She’s a survivor, a matriarch, with a new proud tradition:
Bring Mom to the race, “here’s what you’ve been missin’!”

She has only one master, with name Pearson,
To most of the rest, she’s rather quite fearsome.
Cale came and showed Joey, “son, here’s how it’s done,”
What do you know, the kid darn near won.
Terry started and finished a stellar career,
First win and last both happened right here.
Gordon a defender, Earnhardt a lover,
She’s been pretty sweet to both Burton brothers.
Closest finish on record, taken by Craven,
Each year there are thrills, and we're all still raving!

So the next hot day with a refreshing thundershower
Think of those great seats in Tyler tower,
And how they wait for your annual return
For racing at its best, then you’ll no longer yearn!
Darlingtonchick (TBK)

My Ratings Take

2009-05-06T15:50:00.000-04:00

There's been a lot of discussion recently on the 2009 NASCAR ratings nose dive. I do agree that a big lump of the drop is likely the attrition of people who started watching racing in 2001 when the networks began the national broadcasts, and have simply lost interest. I don’t the perennial argument about the length of the race broadcasts, because there are a lot football fans who basically make a full day on Sunday of watching their sport. NASCAR fans have no problem devoting four days to racing. Four hours is no big deal. Having said that, I will say, that for hard working NASCAR fans, the night races are a bit more challenging to hang in there for.
Overall though, with regard to falling ratings, I think there are some very specific reasons:
1. Fox broadcasts are painful. The excellent camera work, quick recall on replays, excellent video analysis on incidents, etc, all are completely overshadowed by the horrible, non-value add commentary from Darrell Waltrip, who continues, eight years later, to be more concerned with reading us his resume than anything else. In addition, the nails-on-a-chalkboard interaction of Chris Myers, who clearly does not give a damn about racing, and Jeff Hammond, is exhausting and tedious. I love Larry McReynolds, and he’s got excellent input, but he’s just not ready for a national, non-core fan audience, and never will be. Mike Joy is a treasure of the sport, and all the pit reporters are phenomenal. If the broadcast used the pit reporters’ talents more, it would be a higher quality experience. In contrast, the Nationwide races are a pleasure to both watch and listen to. Jerry Punch, Andy Petree and DJ are short on the egos, and have enormous lifelong passion for the sport and solid expertise. Their broadcast is about the competition, not about them, and it’s a pleasure to watch.
2. We have God knows how many cameras at the race track, and yet still, we never see what’s going on in the full field unless there’s a wreck. Because of this, when there is a wreck, we often don’t get the whole picture of how it developed because the broadcast is overly tilted toward the top five and/or Dale, Jr. We don’t need to see continuous shots of a leader that’s 2 seconds in front of the field when there is a heated battle for 10th and 11th going on. Both radio broadcasts do a great job of doing full field rundowns as well as highlighting the racing on the track, wherever it happens to be taking place. Oddly enough, it’s clear from listening to DW that he is focused on other areas of the track, because he often blurts out something about an incident back in the field before the guys in the booth switch over to it. Fox is better at this than a couple of years ago, but there is still a lot of room for improvement. How they turn such an exciting sport into something so agonizingly boring is fascinating to me. If it weren’t for the mute button, I’d probably not even bother to turn the television on – chances are, I’d still know more about what’s happening at the track with the television completely off.
3. Expanding on point two above, there needs to be more substantive reporting on the myriad of stories, developments, pit situations, etc. that are taking place with all of the competitors. Honestly, I could care less what Jeff Hammond is wearing. It’s funny, I guess, but I think to fans who really care what’s going on with the drivers, the crew chiefs and the teams, particularly those who don’t get the benefit of the Speed broadcasts, it just isn’t compelling.
4. I do agree that there’s something to the theory that if Dale, Jr. was doing better, the ratings would be better. Personally, I’d rather see a different winner each week, and even when my guy Carl was cleaning up late last year it got old. I don’t have any interest in Junior (or anyone else) winning six or seven races a year, but if he were consistently in the top five and battling for a win, I’m sure we’d see an improvement in viewership. If more than half the people watching feel lousy at the end of the race because Junior finished 30th, guess what? They’re not going to subject themselves to that pain week after week, and will find something better to do with their four hours.
I’d like to know if the Arbitron radio ratings are seeing the same decline, because honestly, while Fox is at the helm, that’s where the quality fan experience can be found.

The Merry, Merry Month of May

2009-05-03T15:48:00.000-04:00

Welcome, race fans, to the merry, merry month of May! We open this wonderful month of May with Racing Perfection at RIR, a phenomenal little track that drivers, crews and fans all love. Excellent side by side racing mixed up with the unpredictability of the short track experience. The first Cup race I ever attended was in Richmond in 1996, and I was hooked for good! This weekend didn’t disappoint, with great racing throughout the field. Thankfully, the excitement during the races at Richmond was a great antidote to two days of forced overdosing on Kyle Busch.
Next up, spine tingling excitement at my favorite place, The Lady In Black, the track Too Tough To Tame, my Darlin’ Darlington. Wow, just walking up to those huge stairs to Tyler tower on the front stretch gives me goose bumps, thinking about the heroes who loved it, cursed it, and fooled themselves that they conquered it. Ned Jarrett once won Darlington by 14 laps, and Ricky Craven won by .002 seconds. Darlington is home to Terry Labonte’s first and final Cup win, which I was fortunate enough to witness in 2003. At that time, it was a win as popular as Mark Martin’s recent victory at Phoenix. This year, it will be fun to see how rookies Joey Logano and Scott Speed fare at my tricky little vixen. Joey probably has the advantage given the tutoring session he received a couple of weeks ago from Cale Yarborough. Best seats? A toss up between the Pearson grandstands that hug turn four and showcase the sparks flying off the wall between turns three and four or the new Brasington stands that curve around turn one. From Brasington your view is straight up the front stretch – fun to watch the sun sink into the horizon while the cars scream toward you. This year we’ll have the added mystery of a full moon over the Pee Dee on race night… most excellent!
On to everyone’s home track, and all the fun activities in the Charlotte area leading up to the All Star race and the Coca-Cola 600. If you’re in the area and have never been to the Pit Crew Challenge, it makes for a very cool evening in uptown Charlotte, a good value, and an excellent family-oriented event.
If you have friends that have never been to a race, convert them quickly by taking them to the All-Star race, a perfect showcase for all things NASCAR. There’s more fun, electricity and fireworks (literal and figurative) there than can be imagined by non-fans. They’ll never refer to racing as “cars going around in circles” again.
Lowe’s is a great track, and the only one at which I can fathom attending a 600 lap race. There’s lots of action in and coming out of turn two heading into the backstretch, and plenty of side by side racing off of turn four and through the quad-oval. Something always seems to be happening on pit road, and the track is so hyper-sensitive to temperature change that the complexion of the race is continually evolving as the afternoon wanes and dusk turns to dark. Listening to teams try to keep up with it is very interesting, and for me showcases the talent of crew chief and driver like nothing else.
My apologies to those who aren’t able to take advantage of the merry, merry month of May in person with us in the Carolinas. Thankfully, the next several weeks also make for great racing on the radio and television. As for Darlington Chick, I’ve got my scanner, my cooler and my sunscreen. See you in June!

My Talladega Tirade

2009-05-02T15:45:00.000-04:00

It's frightening that people were hurt in the grandstands at Talladega. As always, there are things that could have been, and still can be, done better. I do not agree with Gluck that what happened on Sunday is no big deal. Clearly, we cannot tolerate fans being endangered at the track. As for the rest, honestly, we're racing cars here. Let's be realistic and honest with ourselves about why these guys race and why we watch them race. Many of us complain about “boring” races held at wide, sweeping venues such as Michigan and Homestead, and kid ourselves that the lack of lead changes is why we think it’s dull. Lots of fans grumble about Bristol being boring since they laid down new concrete, despite the fact that there is so much two- and three-wide racing going on that if you’re in the grandstands you can’t even keep up with it.
It is fascinating to me that everyone has largely ignored one of the most dangerous moments in Carl Edwards’ wreck at Talladega. I’m referring to how close Ryan Newman came to having a 3,400 lb race car in his lap. I am no defender of NASCAR, but honestly, if it were not for numerous safety improvements made to the cars over the last fifteen years, we wouldn’t have seen Carl ripping off his radio wires and trot across the finish line, Ricky Bobby style. We also would not have seen Ryan Newman in the media center after the race with that Cheshire cat grin of his. To me, the most vulnerable part of the car is the windshield area, and even with the many improvements made over the years, it will probably always be that way. We’re auto racing fans, folks, not tank racing fans.
Nonetheless, we will learn things from this incident, and there will be improvements. One thing that immediately comes to mind would be to remove the signs attached to the inside of the catch fence, as they can clearly be seen becoming detached from the fence and sailing into the grandstands. Certainly, if it’s not already being done, frequent inspections of the catchfences around the tracks should be accomplished. Reinforcements should be considered to ensure that the fence does an even better job of protecting the fans. When all is said and done, however, the safety work accomplished at the expense of Bobby Allison, Geoff Bodine, Richard Petty and all the fans involved in those incidents kept everyone reasonably safe. The fence held, the 99 car was bounced back onto the track.
Maybe I’m being simplistic, but I’m thinking that if I took my Dad’s 4 cylinder Cobalt to Talladega and ran around there wide open, I don’t think I’d make it much over 120 MPH. I’m going to come right out and say I know very little about racing engines. Still, it seems to me the answer might be painfully obvious. Why don’t we just can the restrictor plates and run an entirely smaller engine at Talladega that provides for “great racing” but does not allow speeds at which a vehicle can become airborne?
NASCAR has done a good job REACTING to explicit dangers throughout its history, and I think the outcome of Edwards' Talladega wreck proves that, no disrespect to the lady with the broken jaw. What it has not been good at, is ANTICIPATING risks and solving for the unexpected. The fence will bounce one car back onto the track... will it bounce back two?

Get Out The Vote, Part II

2009-04-22T15:40:00.000-04:00

Who gets your click for this year’s All-Star race? There’s quite a selection of candidates to choose from. Let’s take a look at those candidates not discussed in Get Out The Vote, Part I.
Jamie McMurray has had two wins and 77 top-tens in 230 starts. Winning in his second start at Charlotte, Jamie created quite a stir when he entered the cup series, but has never been able to live up to the expectations created by that early win. He’s spent much of his time at Roush Fenway dealing with fan and media questions as to whether he’s going to keep his job. Uncertainty is swirling around him again this year, as in 2010 his owner will theoretically be forced to cut back to four teams. It might be fun to see if a fan vote of confidence can breathe life into his team.
The Said Heads could come out of the woodwork and vote Boris in, although I’m not sure if he would have a team to field a car for him in that unlikely event. Despite cult fan support, with no wins and no starts since Watkins Glen of last year, Boris may not be too click-worthy.
Casey Mears drives a mean dune buggy. He’s got a smile that will warm your heart, and some very successful friends. Unfortunately for Casey, he’s turning into an example of how racing talent doesn’t necessarily come from DNA or rub off on you from being around famous racers since birth. I hope something happens in 2009 to turn that example upside down. For now, not sure a vote for Casey is something about which to raise your glass, and after contact with the sport's favorite driver at Phoenix, yours may be the only vote he gets.
Michael Waltrip has long been a fan favorite. He’s got three Cup wins and is a two-time Daytona 500 champ. He can poke fun at himself and is willing to do so on repetitious national commercials. He is the owner of one of the best All-Star memories, after racing his way in to the headlining event in 1996 and then winning. He’s hinted that this might be his last year in Cup, and if so, it might be your last chance to see him create some sparks.
Juan Pablo Montoya is fairly well the definition of potential energy. He’s been on the verge of a breakthrough for quite a while, a problem that many Ganassi Cup drivers seem to have. I am beginning to suspect this has less to do with the drivers and teams and more to do with the leadership style of the team’s owner. The same is true for Reed Sorenson, whose career path seems to be paralleling that of Michael Waltrip, who went whopping 462 starts before realizing his first win. More startling than the lack of wins for Reed is that in 117 starts, he’s had only five top tens. I’m not sure that type of performance can survive NASCAR of the 21st century. Those aren’t exactly All-Star stats. Thumbs up for Juan on this one.
If a sense of humor, the courage to jump into the mosh pit on Trackside during Speedweeks, and a charming southeastern Virginia accent are what you’re after, then Elliott Sadler will win your vote. Elliott has got to be a sponsor’s dream, and I’m pretty sure the fans would enjoy seeing him compete in the All-Star battle. Anybody who fights as hard for his job as he did this winter deserves the acknowledgment of his fan base.
There are other candidates on the list, which you can check out here. Vote early and often!!

Get Out The Vote!!

2009-04-19T11:55:00.003-04:00

Who gets your click for the All-Star race? In checking out the eligible drivers, I’m faced with quite the dilemma. Last year, to most of us, the choice was obvious, as Kasey Kahne was clearly the most worthy of the “vote in” population. His absence in the field would have been, well, a little silly.

I think this year it’s a little tougher to make a choice. Granted, you don’t really have to choose, because you can vote as often as you like for who ever you like. I prefer to stick with a modified “one man, one vote” philosophy and just vote for one driver as often as I think of it. This way if my guy gets in, I can take some measure of credit for making it happen.

If you go the “Most Improved” route, your choice clearly will be David Reutimann. However, if you’re a purist and feel like All-Star = At Least One Win in Your Cup Career, then there’s an issue. I think the guy deserves to be in simply for having whatever it is you need to have to be able to work for Michael Waltrip. With Talladega, Richmond and Darlington between now and the All-Star event in May, there’s a good chance that he will by virtue of a win, be a write-in. Let’s hope so.

The “Surviving Bizarre Team Ownership Situations” vote has to go to Martin Truex. He only has one cup win, but I really wonder what his record would be like if he had had an organization behind him that was not beset with continual distractions and controversy. He’s got a solid racing pedigree and a great sense of humor. I think there is a champion in there somewhere under that big fish on his chest, and all that’s needed is the racing equivalent of sunlight and gentle rain for him to grow.

Marcos Ambrose gets the click for “Happiest to Be Here”. I just love the guy. He’s an amazing driver, and without a doubt of all the underdogs we have each week, Ambrose is the one I pull for the hardest. I hope he’s able to have a long and respectable career in Cup. No wins is a knock, but if you don’t think that’s a disqualifier, he could be your man.

Sentimentality will probably get Bill Elliott quite a few votes, for him and also for the Wood Brothers. If you recall, before Dale Jr. came on the scene, Bill was voted Most Popular Driver for several years in a row. I would also argue that if you're "active" enough to be eligible for a vote by virtue of recent starts, and you're a former Cup champion, then you're an All-Star and should be in the race anyway.

The “Takes a Licking But Keeps on Ticking” nod absolutely has to go to Robby Gordon. I don’t know how that guy does it. Year after year he’s back with his single car team that he himself owns and secures sponsorship for. He receives very little recognition from the media and is a non-entity to most fans. Sure, he’s a little abrasive at times, but he has to be one of the hardest working guys in the garage, and he is a racer’s racer, who loves competition and can race anything, any time, anywhere. He is one tough dude.

David Ragan gets the “Well Spoken, Sponsor’s Dream” vote. Ragan is a close runner-up for the “Most Improved” check box, although from an equipment perspective I think he started in a better place than Reutimann did. I have no idea why I like Ragan so much, but I really do. Perhaps it’s because he weathered all the heat he took for his disastrous Cup debut with such poise. He is articulate and thoughtful without being plastic (although I just realized, he does look a bit like a Ken doll). He has drastically improved as he’s become accustomed to the cars and the tracks. Like Truex, I really feel like there is a champion in that package. There is that matter of a win, though…

Brian Vickers has one Cup win, earned in dramatic fashion on the backstretch at Talladega in 2006. Whatever your driver allegiances are, you have got to give the guy credit for having what a Ken doll is missing and going for that win. It’s nice to have things shaken up every now and then.

Nothing against Joey Logano or Scott Speed, but come on, it’s called “All-Star” Race. Rookies need not apply. I know they have to be eligible because of the sponsor thing, but patience, people. Let’s not pull a Casey Atwood on poor Joey. His turn will come, I’m certain. If either one of them belong in the race, let them earn it in the Open.

Whoever gets voted in, this year’s race is shaping up to be one of the most exciting in recent memory. We’ll check out the other noteworthies in a future blog. In the meantime, vote early and often!

Who gets your click for the All-Star race? In checking out the eligible drivers, I’m faced with quite the dilemma. Last year, to most of us, the choice was obvious, as Kasey Kahne was clearly the most worthy of the “vote in” population. His absence in the field would have been, well, a little silly.

I think this year it’s a little tougher to make a choice. Granted, you don’t really have to choose, because you can vote as often as you like for who ever you like. I prefer to stick with a modified “one man, one vote” philosophy and just vote for one driver as often as I think of it. This way if my guy gets in, I can take some measure of credit for making it happen.

If you go the “Most Improved” route, your choice clearly will be David Reutimann. However, if you’re a purist and feel like All-Star = At Least One Win in Your Cup Career, then there’s an issue. I think the guy deserves to be in simply for having whatever it is you need to have to be able to work for Michael Waltrip. With Talladega, Richmond and Darlington between now and the All-Star event in May, there’s a good chance that he will by virtue of a win, be a write-in. Let’s hope so.

The “Surviving Bizarre Team Ownership Situations” vote has to go to Martin Truex. He only has one cup win, but I really wonder what his record would be like if he had had an organization behind him that was not beset with continual distractions and controversy. He’s got a solid racing pedigree and a great sense of humor. I think there is a champion in there somewhere under that big fish on his chest, and all that’s needed is the racing equivalent of sunlight and gentle rain for him to grow.

Marcos Ambrose gets the click for “Happiest to Be Here”. I just love the guy. He’s an amazing driver, and without a doubt of all the underdogs we have each week, Ambrose is the one I pull for the hardest. I hope he’s able to have a long and respectable career in Cup. No wins is a knock, but if you don’t think that’s a disqualifier, he could be your man.

Sentimentality will probably get Bill Elliott quite a few votes, for him and also for the Wood Brothers. If you recall, before Dale Jr. came on the scene, Bill was voted Most Popular Driver for several years in a row. I would also argue that if you're "active" enough to be eligible for a vote by virtue of recent starts, and you're a former Cup champion, then you're an All-Star and should be in the race anyway.

The “Takes a Licking But Keeps on Ticking” nod absolutely has to go to Robby Gordon. I don’t know how that guy does it. Year after year he’s back with his single car team that he himself owns and secures sponsorship for. He receives very little recognition from the media and is a non-entity to most fans. Sure, he’s a little abrasive at times, but he has to be one of the hardest working guys in the garage, and he is a racer’s racer, who loves competition and can race anything, any time, anywhere. He is one tough dude.

David Ragan gets the “Well Spoken, Sponsor’s Dream” vote. Ragan is a close runner-up for the “Most Improved” check box, although from an equipment perspective I think he started in a better place than Reutimann did. I have no idea why I like Ragan so much, but I really do. Perhaps it’s because he weathered all the heat he took for his disastrous Cup debut with such poise. He is articulate and thoughtful without being plastic (although I just realized, he does look a bit like a Ken doll). He has drastically improved as he’s become accustomed to the cars and the tracks. Like Truex, I really feel like there is a champion in that package. There is that matter of a win, though…

Brian Vickers has one Cup win, earned in dramatic fashion on the backstretch at Talladega in 2006. Whatever your driver allegiances are, you have got to give the guy credit for having what a Ken doll is missing and going for that win. It’s nice to have things shaken up every now and then.

Nothing against Joey Logano or Scott Speed, but come on, it’s called “All-Star” Race. Rookies need not apply. I know they have to be eligible because of the sponsor thing, but patience, people. Let’s not pull a Casey Atwood on poor Joey. His turn will come, I’m certain. If either one of them belong in the race, let them earn it in the Open.

Whoever gets voted in, this year’s race is shaping up to be one of the most exciting in recent memory. We’ll check out the other noteworthies in a future blog. In the meantime, vote early and often!

2009 All-Star Vote

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Darlington....

2007-04-07T11:13:00.000-04:00

I used to have a normal job and a little free time on my hands to adequately plan and prepare for race weekends. I used to have time to write fun columns on NASCAR and my beloved little Darlington Raceway. I used to take ticket availability of my favorite track for granted, thinking I knew something others didn’t. When they put in the lights, I was hopeful that a night race would turn things around, but the Mother’s Day weekend scheduling made me skeptical of ISC intentions. So, I was certain that I would always be able to sit where I pleased at my home away from home, until the powers that be chose to pull a North Wilkesboro on us.

The news in March about the re-paving stunned me at first, because I was concerned they would ruin the uniqueness of the this old place. While we were at Bristol a few weekends ago, someone told me they were going to concrete Darlington, which just about sent me into anaphylactic shock. Thankfully, thoughtful friends reminded me that capital investment of this magnitude is a very good thing. My right brain, in panic, was soon soothed by my left brain, which recalled familiar project decisioning concepts. After a quick discounted cash flow analysis of a $10 million investment and the discovery that the concrete thing appears to be a rumor (or a mean joke), I became a passionate believer in a repaving effort. I adore Dover, but please, no concrete at the Lady In Black.

Last year, we had a full house for Darlington, eight out of town family members and my husband and I. So when the renewal came, I knew I wanted different seats for 2007, and I certainly didn’t need 10 tickets again. So I didn’t send in the renewal, thinking it would be easier to just call in January and get my tickets in Pearson section B, row 35 or so, like I’ve done for the past several years.

Well, January turned into February, February to March, (you know the rest). I cannot explain why I didn’t call earlier. It’s not like going to Darlington is optional. For all lovers of the sport, Darlington is required. It is the homeland. It is all things holy to the devout. Attending races there is a pilgrimage. Well, a funny thing happened on the way to Darlington. When I finally had a chance to call the track on April 4, I became aware of a bittersweet reality.

My tickets were sold to someone else! NO tickets available in Pearson grandstand, that wraps around turn four and provides thrilling views of turn three action. NO tickets available in the new Brasington grandstand, that hugs turn one and provides excellent views of side by side racing down the front straightaway, the battles off pit road, and many a Darlington stripe born in turn two.

The lady on the phone was stunned when I said, “are you kidding me, there’s nothing available in Pearson?? Nothing in Brasington?? That’s AWESOME!!” She laughed at me…. but the fact of the matter is, it’s the best bad news I’ve heard in a while. It bodes well for the true spirit of the NASCAR faithful, struggling to be heard over the din of marketing executives, greedy speedway corporations, and local politicians who foolishly shun what they don’t understand and can’t be bothered to educate themselves about.

I happily paid for my fifth row Wallace tower seats, while promising myself to call Darlington back the Monday after the race to inquire about when 2008 seats go on sale. I have learned my lesson!

Further conversation with the ticket lady brought out the little tidbit that she expected a sellout “within a couple of weeks”. That and $10 million spent properly will get you a damn fine race track for the next few years.

Tony's Been Stewing

2004-05-18T11:09:00.000-04:00

Well I guess now we know what Tony Stewart was doing instead of taking his mother out to brunch for Mother’s Day. Apparently, he was watching tapes of the past few weeks’ FOX broadcasts and has been stewing ever since. The pot boiled over every time someone put a microphone in front of him on Saturday night. Before and after the race, Tony took every opportunity to slam the guys in the booth, particularly Darrell Waltrip, for what he seems to feel is too much negative attention paid to his driving style. He should have taken my advice from a couple of months ago and listened to tapes of the radio broadcasts instead.

I will confess, Darrell Waltrip really gets on my nerves. I know there are a lot of fans who enjoy his contribution to the shows and during the first couple of years of the new TV deal, I enjoyed him myself. As time goes by, though, I find him increasingly boorish and annoying. He does have some good insight and he can be very funny, but with the obvious encouragement of FOX, he consistently makes the broadcast about him instead of about the race and the racers. Did you ever walk in on someone who was standing in front of a mirror singing into a hairbrush? That’s what I feel like watching a television program with Darrell on it… like he doesn’t realize this is real, and he’s singing into a hairbrush. I enjoy MacReynolds, except when he says “hisself”, and Mike Joy is harmless.

Usually, I take what the drivers say after race incidents with a grain of salt and for the most part, I don’t get too upset about any obnoxious comments they make. They are fierce competitors, and to have someone stick a microphone in your face three minutes after getting your butt kicked into the wall by one of your peers has to be fairly annoying, even if it is SOP. Logically, you can’t expect tempers to have readjusted back to normal in that interval. Most of the time, I find their comments fairly amusing, and although I do not watch WWE, I can appreciate that sort of humor. Kevin Harvick, in particular, has mastered this art. Tony’s comments this weekend, directed not at his peers but at the folks in the broadcast booth, were not made in the heat of the moment. They were clearly planned diatribes. I’m reserving the salt.

Although I don’t always succeed, I try to give people (especially anyone in the public eye, because honestly, you just never have the whole story) the benefit of the doubt. Tony’s benefits are hereby cancelled.

Tony reminds me of an insecure teenage boy, and believe me, I am in a position to know all about them. Unable to accept his own mistakes and character flaws, not to mention the fact that we all make them and have them, Tony is quick to point out the shortcomings of others in hope of redirecting the attention away from his own errors. The cheap shots he took at Darrell, bringing up the latter’s repeated use of the champion’s provisional during the last couple of years of his career, were childish, malicious and unnecessary. It was very obvious that Tony was intentionally trying to personally hurt Darrell’s feelings and embarrass him on national television.

I don’t have a problem with Tony’s driving style, as long as he’s willing to take it as good as he can give it, which so far he hasn’t been able to do. He’s definitely exciting to watch on the track, but there’s not much risk of his talent following him out of the race car and manifesting itself as eloquence, now is there?

Hey, Tony has the right, once they shove the cameras in his path and the microphone in his face, to say what he wants and respond when he feels he’s been given unfair press. I don’t dispute that, and if he really feels he has been done wrong, then he has certainly said his piece. I don’t think he has got his facts in order insofar as the fans’ and drivers’ complaints are concerned – I saw plenty of both. Unfortunately, in the course of what he probably feels is defending himself, he came off as a humorless, nasty, thin-skinned brat who can dish it out but gets a belly ache when it’s time to take the plateful he asked for. At least Darrell had the class to try to laugh it off, although Chris Myers used the incident to read us Darrell’s resume (as if we didn’t already know). I did find Larry MacReynolds’ casual use of the nickname “common denominator” in reference to Tony pretty damn funny. Careful, Tony, with “inator” in the last three syllables, that one might stick!

Tony is talented and handsome. He has won a championship, he’s got a great sponsor (for now). Fans will always appreciate someone with his guts and determination. He is where thousands of Saturday night short track drivers wish they could be. I don’t want Stepford Drivers – distinct personalities are an integral part of NASCAR’s appeal to fans. Even so, after all this time, it’s surprising Tony hasn’t developed at least half the duck’s back one needs in order to survive the spotlight without getting all wet. I’m no expert, but it seems to me that happy sponsors and respect of your colleagues in the garage are essential to long-term success in NASCAR.

Tony, there’s still time to put the stew on the back burner. Don’t let it boil over – you’ll end up burned for sure. Let it simmer instead. It will leave a better taste in your mouth.

Graduation and Getting Old

2004-05-15T11:07:00.000-04:00

My oldest daughter graduated college this week. When she came into my life, she was a gangly, quiet but stubborn 12 year old whose world revolved around her five year old brother, her sister who is sixteen months her junior, and her vast Barbie doll collection. She was smart, funny, and artistic with an infectious laugh. She was uncertain about what to do with this new strange person in her life, but somehow we were able to become family. We had growing pains (both of us), of course. We had times we disagreed, we had times with uncomfortable silences. As a teenager, she was typical: unruly, selfish, sometimes downright hurtful, but I loved her nonetheless. Remind you of anything?

Tuesday night, watching her laugh and wave at me from deep in the rows of excited graduates, I realized what an incredible woman she is, what a wonderful person she has grown up to be. The gangly, quiet and stubborn little girl is gone. She is graceful, well spoken, and confident. She’s in the big leagues now, baby, and she’s going places.

At the risk of sounding like I have no life and a really warped sense of what’s important, I’m going to confess that I thought of her again today. I thought of her while I was listening to all the hubbub about the 2005 schedule, the endless (and frankly, a little tiresome) talk of growth and NASCAR. It dawned on me that while my Katie has grown, her soul is the same. She still has the qualities that make her special, that make her Katie: smart, funny, and artistic with an infectious laugh that will keep her young no matter her age.

I wrote a piece in February mourning my decision to go to Daytona instead of Rockingham this year. In that piece, I referred to the 2004 Rockingham race as “The One That Got Away”. My fears were realized and I do regret not attending at least one race at that track where the racing was unique, exciting and fun. That being said, the fact that the grandstands hadn’t been filled in years fairly sealed the fate of the Rockingham fans. This is growth – leaving behind the gangly, quiet and stubborn.

During NASCAR’s press conference today, Brian France mentioned “reaching new fans” several times. I wonder if there has been any thought given to the fact that the races on these new tracks in these new markets, while exciting for those fans in attendance, can be tedious for television viewers. Frankly, for those of us in the living room, it can get old. My home track, New Hampshire International Speedway, suffers from this problem. While events held there can be snoozers on the small screen, it manages to be a very exciting show from the grandstands (Really!). This has a lot to do with the quality of the television coverage, of course, but that’s a whole other column.

Seeing an event in person does firm up the fan base and does create new fans. I’m happy for the fans at Texas and Phoenix, but I’m concerned about the ability of races at these and similar facilities being able to hold the long term attention of television viewers over the course of the coming years. If I were a sponsor, I’d rather have 5 million people watching on television and 65,000 people in the grandstands than 150,000 people in the grandstands and 1 million people watching on television. NASCAR needs to grow, but it also needs to remain what it still is for the most part: exciting in person and in the living room, with varied venues and thrilling, close competition that keeps both viewers and tailgaters hooked.

I make no bones about, and no apologies for, my love of Darlington. Mostly it is because of the track and the racing, but I do love that part of the country and look forward to the day when I can call it home once again. I regret that NASCAR’s latest move will have an enormous impact on the precarious economy of the Pee Dee region. That being said, I fully understand and am willing to accept the loss of one Darlington date, in the interest of growing the sport, in the interest of reaching new fans. Note to Brian France: this understanding does not extend to the loss of Darlington’s remaining date, which I promise you, will happen simultaneously with my complete abandonment of everything that is NASCAR.

NASCAR needs to grow, it needs to graduate to the big leagues and go places. It also needs to retain its soul to stay young. It needs to keep in mind the result of uncontrollable growth:

Getting old.

The X Factor

2004-05-06T11:01:00.000-04:00

One of the reasons why I absolutely love racing is because there is just no telling what’s going to happen. Each week, even though some things are predictable, a certain set of circumstances develops that would have been impossible to foresee. I understand that a fuel mileage battle is not necessarily a surprise at a big, wide flat track like California Speedway. It’s been some time since we’ve had to deal with a fuel mileage race, and I know that a lot of fans find a race decided by fuel mileage almost as distasteful as one decided under the yellow. When several seconds separate each race for position on the track, though, I’ll take my excitement in any form it presents itself. Like most fans, I would prefer a fender-to-fender battle coming off turn four every week. Common sense, which I like to employ every now and then, dictates that simply isn’t possible. I have no interest in fuel mileage being the most influential factor driving the cars to Victory Lane each week. But, to be honest, there’s something to be said for the low-key but intense drama of a good, old fashioned, Michigan Speedway style fuel-mileage nail biter. Although I would have really enjoyed seeing Bobby Labonte catch the 24 and take the win, watching him make a classy move (one of the aforementioned predictable things) by chasing down Jeff Gordon on foot and congratulating him on pit road made up for the heartbreak of Bobby running out of gas. Sort of.

I’m pleased for fans in the southern California area that they have an opportunity to see two Nextel Cup events each year now without the annoyance and expense of traveling back east. It was great to see the grandstands filled up. I must say I did chuckle to myself each time one of the announcers mentioned the temperature. Was it Michael Waltrip who said something last year about the heat of Darlington in late August being a good reason to move that date to California? As Homer Simpson would say, D’OH! I enjoyed Sunday’s race, but I’m not anxious for more 2 mile D-shaped ovals to be added to the circuit. Despite there being two to three racing grooves and plenty of “room to race”, it seemed to me more often than not, the “racing” was a bit hard to find at California.

A number of things make our sport unique, and better, than other professional sports.

NASCAR drivers are personal to us; after all, there are fewer full time competitors in the Cup series than there are regular season roster members on one NFL team. Yeah, racing is a team sport, but drivers are more than quarterbacks. The intense focus is on the drivers, and rightly so. Matt is calm, cool and collected, but he’s no pushover. Tony is a hothead, but he can make fun of himself, (remember his championship acceptance speech?) and can be incredibly charming. We empathize with Zippy and hope he hangs in there. Most of the time we refer to drivers by their first name only, but we have two Kenny's, so we call one Herman. The other Kenny pretty much goes through life with some manner of a race car strapped to his body. We know Robby races the Baja and Indy. We know Joe has the ultimate race mom, Mark’s son is already a racer and Ryan is a newlywed who likes to fish. Junior is hilarious. Rusty is the eternal optimist.

The level of competition makes NASCAR exciting. The long hours put in by the teams ensure that on any given weekend, any one of maybe thirty teams can snag the pole or race for the win. The margin of victory can be as close as .002 seconds. One-half second at Bristol is the difference between qualifying on the pole or having to take a provisional.

Stick, ball and puck sports have their share of distinct personalities (some positive influences, others not so positive) representing them. These sports also offer a somewhat intense level of competition, although there seem to be more Super Bowl blowouts than battles. The fact that baseball’s championship is decided via a series rather than one game diminishes the excitement in my opinion, and anyway, baseball is far to tedious to hold my attention for one game, let alone seven. A hockey game breaking out in a fight is fairly predictable, too. At least you can bet on who’s going to throw the first punch.

Although race teams face essentially the same competitors week in and week out, there’s one element that kicks the excitement and intensity up a notch, that ensures each week’s contest is substantially different from the prior week’s. What makes racing truly special. What makes racing, racing.

The Track.

Sure, playing football at Lambeau Field in early December is a little different than playing in New Orleans in late September, and maybe at this field you have turf and at that field you have grass. A hit that’s barely long enough to be a home run at Coor’s Field would not only exit Fenway, but would probably break the windshield of a car parked on Lansdowne Street. In all these sports, the field of play is basically consistent from venue to venue. All football fields measure 100 yards by 160 feet. All first base lines are 90 feet long, and all pitchers’ mounds are 60’6” from home plate. All hockey rinks are….. slippery.

In the top three NASCAR series, competitors visit 39 different tracks throughout the season. Each track presents a unique set of challenges to the teams. Daytona: 2-1/2 mile asphalt, 33 degrees of banking - restrictor plates, drafting, handling, seagulls. Rockingham: 1 mile asphalt, 22 degrees of banking - tires, side by side racing, close finishes. Darlington: 1.33 mile egg-shaped asphalt track with 25 and 23 degrees of banking – narrow, fast, managing the stripes, tire wear. Martinsville: ½ mile asphalt and concrete track with 12 degrees of banking - brakes, gear, brakes, heat, brakes. Bristol: ½ mile asphalt track, banked a whopping 36 degrees in the turns - fenders, patience, fenders, tempers. Watkins Glen, Sonoma: Right turn, Clyde! Dover: 1 mile concrete oval with 24 degrees of banking - shock packages. Pocono: 2.5 mile triangle - gear, sustained RPMs, rabbits, deer. I could go on, but… you get the picture.

Those are the old school tracks. Let’s review the interesting characteristics of the newer tracks. Chicagoland: 1.5 mile trioval, 18 degree banking in the turns, special characteristics? Hmm, not sure. Kansas: 1.5 mile tri-oval, 15 degree banking in the turns; uniqueness? Wow, don’t really recall. Las Vegas: 1.5 mile tri-oval, 12 degree banking in the turns. Distinct features? Hell-LO, it’s Vegas, for heaven’s sake. Texas: 1.5 mile oval with 24 degree banking in the turns. What makes it special? Hey, it finally stopped raining! The drivers and crew chiefs say that despite their similarities, these tracks do have differences. The setups and the feel of each track are different. I take their word for it but from a fan’s perspective, especially on television, they’re remarkably similar. More to the point, they produce remarkably similar types of racing. In the quest to produce an entertainment product, one basic idea seems to be getting lost. Great racing is great entertainment, and doesn’t need to be dressed up with dopey skits and silly broadcasters in costumes. Distinct tracks with characteristics particular to that venue create an environment for great racing that will keep the fans tuning in and showing up week after week, year after year. They create the unknown element, the unpredictable circumstance: the X factor.

Don’t misinterpret me. Chicago, Kansas, and Vegas are great cities that deserve to have a NASCAR venue. Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington are also deserving. New York, the corporate capital of the world, is the ultimate market. Expansion into these areas will not only ensure the growth of our sport, but more importantly, it will cement the fan base that already exists. There’s also something else these and other markets deserve: Unique tracks that are all their own, that offer a distinct brand of racing that can’t be found anywhere else. Let’s build tracks that local fans can be proud of, and tracks fans from all around the country can’t wait to get to. Even though New Hampshire International Speedway is less than two hours from my house, there’s no way you could keep me from going to Darlington each year – unless of course, if someone shuts it down. If I could swing Bristol tickets, I’d drive all Friday night from Cape Cod to Tennessee. I make the trek to The Glen whenever I can. If they build a track as interesting in Portland or in Seattle, baby, I’m there, five hour plane ride be damned.

The spectacular skyboxes and hospitality areas can still be built, roomy state of the art garage facilities should still be erected. Pit roads should be long and wide. Don’t scrimp on the restrooms, please, and let’s get the infrastructure engineered properly so we can get home before Tuesday noon. All the things that make the newer tracks “amazing facilities” need to be included. But let’s use some imagination, folks. Let’s make these new tracks truly amazing. Let’s include the X factor.

2004-04-26T10:46:00.001-04:00

Ah, Sunday’s Aaron’s 494 at Talladega. What a mess, both figuratively and literally. Regardless if you’re a Jeff Gordon or a Dale Earnhardt, Jr. fan, you should not be satisfied with the results of Sunday’s race. I’ve been mum on the recent scoring issues that NASCAR has been experiencing because, to be honest, I really expected them to resolve these problems before now. That this continues to be a problem is ridiculous, even by NASCAR standards of excruciatingly slow decision making and issue resolution. I’m completely and totally in favor of NASCAR freezing the field the moment the yellow is put out. However, their continuing inability to re-set the field and get back to green within a reasonable amount of time is getting annoying. I was feeling optimistic about this situation throughout most of the race, because it seemed like we were going back to green quicker than in recent history. My optimism faded at the end of the race. If they can produce the data for Trackpass on my computer at home, which refreshes itself several times during a lap, surely they can hire an out of work computer programmer or two to link the transponder data to the switch that turns on the yellow lights at the track so the position of the cars can be determined in seconds, not years. If track segment data has to be used, then they need to develop a methodology of saving the segment data and reverting back to it quickly when necessary. Whatever the method, it’s clear that the current process is not satisfactory. Time to re-invest some of that cash into product innovation, guys. Let’s put some technology to work and move forward to the next crisis. There is certain to be another one developing on the horizon.

It’s also interesting how despite having umpteen cameras on the leaders at any given time, FOX chose not to run any footage that would absolutely confirm or deny the positioning of the top ten at the point the yellow was thrown. Either they didn’t have it, which seems amazing, or they just didn’t bother to show it, which frankly, seems more likely. Chris Myers referenced video “clearly showing” Gordon was ahead of Earnhardt. That footage must have been on the super-secret double probation version of the broadcast, because despite rewinding my VCR several times, I didn’t see it. If you taped the race, take a good hard look at it. Trust me, it’s not there. In the shot shown of the 8 and the 24 from the bumper cam of the 24, it did show that the 24 was ahead with Junior coming fast on the outside; however, it is impossible to determine from any video I saw if the 24 was able to hold his position ahead of the 8 prior to the yellow being thrown or the lights coming on. In the video from the in-car camera on Sauter’s car as well as from the camera in the middle of turn four, the 24 and the 8 are too far up ahead on the track for the viewer to tell their position in relation to each other. Darrell Waltrip and Mike Joy indicated the 24 was half a car length ahead of the 8, and he probably was. Thanks, but as much as I’m sure they can be trusted, I’d like to see it for myself.

As far as I know, NASCAR’s reasoning for not employing the green/white/checker strategy for race finishes in the premier series has something to do with adhering to the “published” length of the race. Whether this is for consistency’s sake or the record books, I’m not really sure. I wish someone would explain it to me, because considering the amount of money fans spend to see a race, and the amount of my Sunday I give up to watch one, I think we at least deserve a logical explanation as to why they simply refuse to make this change. To say that green/white/checkers in this situation is asking for disaster, particularly at a place like Talladega, doesn’t make sense when you consider that any given lap run at top speed could end in disaster.

At the risk of wearing holes in my goody two shoes, I’m going to admonish those fans who felt it was necessary to throw beer cans and other trash on the racetrack in response to the race results and/or the lack of a restart. This was another great race tarnished once again by questionable decision making and I understand the dissatisfaction of not going back green under these circumstances. I wasn’t at Talladega, and I have no idea when the trashing of the track began, but unless it was covered with beer cans with three to go, it seems like they should have been able to get going back under green. I was screaming foul at my unresponsive television, which is rather like screaming at NASCAR, don’t you think? You get the same basic response. But try an e-mail. Try a letter. Try not buying a ticket to the race next year. Have some class. These teams pour their hearts and souls into building these race cars, and these drivers put their lives on the line every second for this sport that we love. After one of the most amazing races this year, with 57 lead changes among 23 drivers and edge of the seat tension every second, throwing beer cans in the paths of these spectacular machines is childish, and diminishes the value of the fans’ opinions. Remember Howard Dean? No one takes a screaming banshee seriously. Dale Jr.’s comments to Speed Channel endorsing the fans for this behavior were disappointing.

Time to end the madness. Let’s streamline the field reset process. Let’s implement green/white/checkers in the Nextel Cup Series. Let’s clean up the mess, and hopefully we can avoid having to clear beer cans out from wheel wells at California.

Thank God for the Radio

2004-03-29T10:40:00.004-05:00

While watching the Bristol race on Sunday, that old Kendall’s song “Thank God For The Radio” came to mind. I found myself humming it happily. Why is that, you ask?It is because even though I was watching the race on Fox, I actually knew what was going on! How can this be, you wonder? After all, the live broadcast missed the Jamie McMurray - Kasey Kahne incident, and the drop of the green flag on the subsequent restart. There was a good battle between Junior and Jeff Gordon shortly after that which was only shown in a brief replay.

On about lap 150, the television director was not able to anticipate Rusty taking the lead from Greg Biffle, and so we were watching several seconds of replays rather than a live lead change. Later, there was a three-way battle for the lead between Sterling, Rusty and Junior, five seconds of which made the replays an hour after it happened. When Junior had troubles late in the race, he got together with Johnny Sauter near the entrance of pit road. If you were relying solely on the television broadcast, you had no idea this even happened.

How is it that I know all of this? Was I at Bristol, in a luxury box, washing shrimp down with champagne, watching the track with one eye and the television with another? Unfortunately, I was not. But I might as well have been, because even though I was watching the race on television in my living room, I was listening to the race on the radio.

Last weekend I had a houseful of friends visiting for the Darlington race. They were shocked at first when the green flag fell and I switched the receiver over to the radio. It didn’t take long for them to realize the benefits of this strategy. A few minutes into the race, while we were staring blindly at a commercial, we were listening to an exciting description of Michael Waltrip’s troubles. After the commercials and the promos, we did get to see a live shot of a stressed Mikey sitting in his car in the garage, so that was timely.

A few laps later, while staring at a commercial involving overweight men dancing, (you know, the one for Viagra), we were listening to a thrilling description of Tony Stewart wearing out Andy Hillenburg, who then spun in front of Jeff Gordon and got T-boned. It was another commercial involving an overweight man dancing (Stacker2) and a set of promos before we got to see pictures of the aftermath and make our own judgments about what happened. Later, as the race went on and various contests for position throughout the field were being described to us by MRN, it was clear to my friends just how much they had been missing on television, and not just because of the commercials. There are several times when even though we were watching the race live, incidents were missed.

There is one other minor tidbit. While they were running commercials on TV following the drop of the checkers at Bristol, the radio folks were talking to Junior who basically admitted that he did spin on purpose to get a much-needed yellow flag. Granted, this was something I suspected, but I was amazed he said it out loud, pretty much daring NASCAR to do something about it. You may be one of those people that feel television focuses too much on Junior, and I will concede that point, but this is a story that Fox completely missed. But hey! We saw almost every second of that long red flag run! There’s some consolation in that, right?

I understand television producers have schedules, obligations, and restrictions. I understand the commercials allow them to bring us the race, and believe me, I understand that sponsors are critical to our sport. That being said, the commercial time could be managed much better. My harsh judgment is surely exacerbated by my ignorance of the complexity of the situation; however, these broadcasts are becoming a little, well, pointless. These crews work very hard and the camera work, when we get to see it, is excellent. No one expects the cameras to catch every contact made at Bristol, but it is obvious week in and week out that the director is having a tough time finding the track action to which the announcers are referring.

In contrast to the television programming, both radio networks, PRN and MRN, do a wonderful, wonderful job of broadcasting these races. It is partly due to the nature of the medium, of course. They can’t keep saying over and over, “Rusty is in the lead, Rusty is in the lead, Rusty is in the lead,” in the same way the TV folks can keep showing the first place car and neglect to show the best racing which might be for 6th, 17th, or even for the Lucky Dog. After all, what the TV audience does not know, they certainly will not miss. The nature of the radio broadcast demands that the announcers describe the interesting things going on, and for that reason, it is much more exciting. The lack of graphics demands that they do a full field rundown fairly frequently, which gives them an opportunity to give the listener a quick update on each competitor. It is not only that there are fewer commercials; there is more common sense and intuition employed in planning the breaks. I don’t recall them missing very many restarts, either.

The nature of the medium is only part of the story. Doug Rice and Mark Garrow of PRN along with Barney Hall, Jim Phillips and Winston Kelley of MRN are all entertaining and informative. They know racing, they are easy to listen to, and they almost never start a sentence with the word “I”. Occasionally, they are downright hilarious. Pit reporters for both teams do a fine job chasing down stories, and they give as many pit stop times as possible. They have all been doing this a long time, and their professionalism is evident. Editorializing is kept to a minimum, but somehow we get the benefit of their insight. Errors, although minimal, are corrected quickly. They don’t mind calling the Lucky Dog the Lucky Dog, even though they didn’t come up with the nickname. The broadcast is about the race, not about the broadcasters. What a novel idea!

As a long time fan, the disappointing behavior of NASCAR management and the poor television coverage have been lately dampening my enthusiasm for this sport I love. My local FM affiliate will help to keep the old flame burning, as will Seekonk Speedway in a few more weeks. Surprisingly enough, NASCAR owns MRN. These days, it seems like it is one of the few things they are doing right. Let’s all try to keep this our little secret so they don’t screw it up on us, okay?

If you really want to enjoy the race in Texas next week, and you are not going to the track (or even if you are), give my method a shot. You may find yourself saying, Thank God For The Radio…. and Crank It Up, would you?

Redneck Junk Is Becoming Yuppie Refuse

2004-03-26T10:38:00.001-05:00

I’ve been following NASCAR closely for over ten years. My folks took me to Lebanon Valley Speedway a time or two when I was very young, and we watched Winston Cup racing whenever it was on one of the three television channels we got when I was a kid. (If it’s the premier series, and it happened prior to 2004, I’m sorry, it’s Winston Cup.) Then when I first left home, my dad would call me faithfully every Sunday night, just to say hi. With him not being a particularly talkative guy, sometimes the conversations were more work than fun. When I found out he was watching racing on Sundays on ESPN, I started watching them too so that we could chat about it every week. I went to a race at Richmond. I was hooked pretty quickly, and I can honestly say that today I’m probably a bigger fan than he is.

This is supposed to be enjoyable. Fun. Exciting. Relaxing. A way to get away from the trials and tribulations of the real world and be entertained by extraordinarily talented people with thrilling competitive passions who possess skills that I envy tremendously. I love the wide range of personalities – how Bobby Labonte can’t ever really say what he means, how Dale Jarrett always mentions his kids or someone he knows who’s having a tough time; how Jeff Gordon always seems so stiff, and Junior always looks like he just heard a really funny joke that he would be too embarrassed to repeat. I love how Mike Skinner can save a sideways racecar (these days it’s a truck, of course). I enjoy Tony’s passion, Kevin’s sense of humor and Sterling’s accent. I love Daytona for its excitement, Atlanta for its speed, Bristol for its unpredictability and Darlington because, well, because it’s Darlington.

I have to say, I’m not having fun this year. Amazing, isn’t it? After all, I was fortunate enough to go to Daytona for the first time. I’ve seen the IMAX movie. I’ll be at Loudon for both races. There’s a chance I’ll go to Richmond. I’m going to freeze my butt off on the galvanized metal seats at Darlington in November, and will be very happy to do so. From a fan perspective, this should be a good year. But it’s not. Why do you think that is?

Let me count the ways:

1. Chase for the Championship – I don’t care how bad the economy is, this is having an impact all its own on sponsorship availability. I will believe it until someone provides me with empirical data to the contrary. Not to mention the fact that it shuts out eleventh and lower from improving their points standings and “making it to the stage” for the hideous banquet. Don’t even get me started on the series of public relations screw-ups surrounding its announcement in January.

2. Darlington / Rockingham demise – Enough already. Make the decision and let’s move on. I’m tired of the non-stop talk of the shutting down of the Lady In Black and the knot that it makes in my stomach. The latest rumor regarding the sale of Darlington and Rockingham to SMI and the subsequent alternate year plan for those two tracks is lunacy. I’ve long since accepted that Darlington will come to have only one event per year. It should be the Southern 500 and it should be on Labor Day weekend. Period. Besides, it makes absolutely no business sense whatsoever to carry the expense of maintaining two facilities so that one of them can host an event every 24 months or so. By the way, if this ridiculous story becomes true, I’m going to take up curling on Sundays. (You know, with the ice and the stone?)

3. The Redneckjunk.com debacle – You have got to be kidding me. The #50 Dodge finally secures a sponsor and NASCAR runs them off like a Colorado rancher chasing a coyote. I know plenty of rednecks. I am a redneck. From conversations that I’ve had with fans, there are a lot more people who are offended by Levitra ads and the Viagra car than there are people offended by the word “redneck”. My redneck friends were certainly more offended at how NASCAR ruined a sponsorship opportunity for a hard working race team. Here’s the rub: NASCAR wasn’t concerned with offending rednecks. They were concerned with offending the people who are offended by rednecks.

4. Johnny Sauter / Scott Wimmer – The bizarre inconsistencies in which actions are “detrimental to stock car racing” and which actions get the wait and see treatment.

5. Under-funded teams being blamed for just being there. Note to Jeff Gordon: they’re trying to get enough exposure to secure a sponsor so they can kick your butt someday. Tell your spotter to wake up and let you know when the yellow is thrown and when there’s a wreck in front of you. I understand things happen very quickly in those situations but you were still truckin’ along pretty fast, there, pal. Also: we don’t want to hear that you’re too good to be racing these guys. Get over yourself. While you’re at it, tell your buddy Tony to quit pushing people around. If you’re going to blame someone, let’s discuss the inadequate minimum speed requirements that NASCAR has in place. This is the Redneck Junk NASCAR should be concerned about.

6. Darrell Waltrip. He is driving me crazy. I know more about his racing career than I do about anyone else’s, and I don’t even want to know. It gets repeated ad nauseam every time he’s near a television camera. When are he and his broadcast buddies going to stop telling us how wonderful he is? Here’s a tip: if you’re really terrific, you don’t need to keep telling people. They figure it out on their own. The only person on planet Earth who doesn’t know how many wins and how many championships he has (I refuse to repeat it) is a 94 year old illiterate woman in Siberia who was born deaf. She’s probably the only person who can’t hear him screaming all during the broadcast, too. Poor thing has no idea just how fortunate she is. I used to be the one defending him because he does have a good sense of humor. Now he’s just wearing me out.

This isn’t even the complete list. I left off the confusion over penalties, the struggles to position the Lucky Dog properly, and the horrible television coverage that will never be the reason a solid new fan base will be built. What about the Las Vegas snoozefest? In a couple more years, new fans will catch on that these dull races are going to be the norm, not the exception. They won’t pay $100 to fall asleep sitting up once a year, let alone twice a year.

Do you see the pattern here? Most of the problems I’ve listed above are a direct result of this frantic push for growth. It’s just so much Yuppie Refuse, to put it in the now requisite upscale terminology. NASCAR is getting in over their heads and turning this season into a nightmare. They fancy themselves world class business people but they make a routine of being condescending to their biggest demographic. I’m not the only one who’s disappointed, either. Take a look at the TV ratings. We need visionaries to guide our sport, not reactionaries. We want racers, not politically correct drones who all have huge endorsement contracts. We want racing, not markets. We want fun and Redneck Junk. Take your stressful Yuppie Refuse to the football stadium.

Are You SAFER, My Darling?

2004-03-16T10:27:00.001-05:00

She is old. She has a funny shape. She eats tires all afternoon. She flirts with you, then smacks you around. She sits in the middle of cotton and soybean fields, in a countryside dotted with modest homes, farms and small businesses. She is at once a driver’s worst nightmare, and his sweetest fantasy. If you race her (instead of your competitors) and win, you’ve met her challenge and you can call yourself one of the best without argument from anyone. She’s the Lady In Black. She’s Too Tough To Tame. She’s Darlington. And I’m completely in love with her.

Because she’s so complicated, you might think that she bestows most favors on veterans like Terry Labonte, who kissed the real Southern 500 goodbye with its final win last fall. A quick look back on history reveals that it is not necessarily an experienced hand that charms her, but more often raw talent and racing courage that claims her heart. Surprisingly, she reserves a special place in Victory Lane for youngsters, as Terry can attest to, winning his first race there in 1980 at the age of 23. Brian Vickers claimed a Busch series victory there in September at the ripe old age of 19.

She is faithful to a selected few, although she is fickle as well. In the previous twenty contests covering the last ten year history of Darlington, Jeff Gordon has been her master six times, and Dale Jarrett three times. Before those three victories, she gave Jarrett a million reasons to scorn her in 1996. Four little words heard so often at this track, “I’m in the wall,” denied DJ the big payday earned for the first time by Bill Elliott some eleven years before. From the late sixties through the 70’s, she played favorites with David Pearson, who won 10 times. In the late eighties and early nineties, she was most loyal to Dale Earnhardt, who earned 9 victories, including three in a row. She has worked with Mother Nature twice in the Cup series and once in the Busch series to shower her affection on Jeff Burton.

As you’ve probably noticed, all attempts to be impartial and unbiased when writing about this place are so futile that I don’t even bother. My first visit to Darlington was in the fall of 2000. The first sound I remember hearing as I walked across the grassy parking lot toward the track on Friday morning was that of screeching tires and crunching sheet metal. As it turned out, it was the sound of Bobby Labonte making contact with the wall between turns three and four. The Lady In Black would play tag with Thor all day the following Sunday to create the most thrilling weather influenced event I’ve ever seen. The threat of rain and it’s failure to make a convincing appearance made for last lap every lap racing from the halfway point on. Finally, Darlington apologized to Bobby for her wicked Friday behavior with a well timed downpour with only 53 laps to go.

Discussions of “Realignment 2004 and Beyond” make it clear that the lady I love is in danger. When the decision was made last year to move the Southern 500 from steamy Labor Day weekend to the often comfort-challenged mid-November time frame, I cringed, thinking we were trading in one set of weather demons for another. However, climate considerations aside, efforts are being made in hopes of keeping at least one Nextel Cup date on the schedule for stock car racing’s first superspeedway. Lights are up, and the fall Craftsman Truck Series race will be run under them on a Friday night. The 2004 Southern 500 will be a day into night affair, which sounds like a great way to boost attendance. Television ads are produced using footage of nail-biting finishes. SAFER barriers are being installed a full year before NASCAR’s target date for tracks of Race Day, 2005. With the exception of lowering ticket prices by $20 or so to lure more local fans to the track on race day, it seems like a good faith effort is being put forth to secure Darlington’s future on the Nextel Cup schedule. Well, don’t make your hotel reservations yet, fans.

Darlington shares the same spring weather woes with Rockingham, and now it’s assumed the Rock’s autumn weather risks. A truck race at night at a track where grazing the wall each lap is the norm seems like it would be thrilling, until you realize the race is going to be held one day prior to the average first frost. A day into night Cup race at such a challenging track should have the allure of Bristol, until it dawns on you that it will be held on a Sunday evening, a week and a half before Thanksgiving. Very convenient for shivering fans to get back home, thawed out, and off to work on Monday, don’t you think? I can’t decide if they’re trying to save her or trying to sink her.

Installation of SAFER barriers at any facility is a positive move toward protecting our drivers. I’m in favor of it and most all recent NASCAR efforts to increase the safety of everyone present at the track. That being said, I’m hoping that while saving injuries and lives, the SAFER barrier doesn’t end up being the final nail in the coffin of my favorite race track.

Tracks with narrow racing grooves are notorious for follow the leader racing, boring television broadcasts, and grandstands of devoted but snoozing fans. Darlington has been a place of excitement despite a narrow groove through the corners because whether it’s weather, wall, or tire wear, you just cannot predict what happens next. Passes made on the relatively wide frontstretch or backstretch can be negated by the slightest driver error through the turns at either end of the track. Prior to the installation of the SAFER barriers, it was possible for Darlington masters to execute an outside pass between turns one and two, forcing an opponent to turn into two harder than desired and slowing him down. Even if the passing driver doesn’t turn a Stripe into a Slam, he can just as easily drive the tires off his piece and end up on pit road 15 laps earlier than planned.

With the shaving off of the racing surface anywhere from 26” to 34”, depending on which source you choose to believe, it’s going to be very interesting to see how drivers adjust. What is a virtually unnoticeable change at most tracks (until contact is made, of course) amounts to an enormous encroachment into the preferred racing line at Darlington. In a recent issue of Dick Berggren’s Speedway Illustrated magazine, the drivers rated turns one and two the toughest in NASCAR. An already treacherous set of turns is now even tighter. An already narrow racing groove is going to be even narrower.

There could be good news for Darlington lovers. Ricky Craven visited the track recently after completion of the SAFER installation. On Monday’s Inside Nextel Cup on Speed Channel, he was a bit elusive regarding how the racing was going to be affected. I trust his opinion, and although none of his comments were what I would call definitive, he didn’t seem particularly concerned about the quality of racing to come. He used the word “interesting”, a word which will be interpreted one way by pessimists and one way by optimists. Kenny Schrader hinted that the barrier did not extend out of turn two to the point where cars customarily slide against the wall. The bottom line is, absent a walkabout on the track or a few minutes in the first row of the Brasington grandstand during Friday morning practice, all we can do is wait and see.

Until that first visit, I had never been so happy to be caught in such a deluge. I’ve been to visit her several times since. I have always gotten chills at the first site of her. I have always been loathe to leave, and desperate to return. One thing is certain, with the new barriers installed, the drivers will be SAFER. Only time and ticket sales will tell if this thrilling old lady will be too.

Filled In

2004-03-06T10:21:00.000-05:00

To the new or casual NASCAR fan, the names Kirk Shelmerdine and Andy Hillenburg may not mean too much. The phrase “field filler” may even come to mind, thanks to a few of our less charitable media friends. Let me take a few minutes of your time to give y’all some larnin’ and (excuse the poor joke) fill you in.

When I hear the term field filler used to describe Kirk, I’m instantly insulted and offended on behalf of him and several other guys who, for whatever reason, have not seen their NASCAR dreams completely fulfilled. Maybe these guys haven’t had the breaks. Maybe despite years of hard work, hard licks and strained relationships with family, friends and creditors, things just haven’t panned out the way they’ve hoped. Or maybe the people using that nasty little expression field filler just have no idea what they’re talking about.

Trust me when I say that Kirk Shelmerdine is no field filler. Hearing him described this way makes me start wondering where I left my boxing gloves. Despite what you think you know about him, he’s had some dreams come true in NASCAR’s premier series.

Let me throw some facts your way.

44 Winston Cup wins and 4 Winston Cup Championships. Not from behind the wheel, but from behind the pit wall, as a crew chief. Crew chief, you ask? Crew chief for whom?

Crew chief for Dale Earnhardt.

Kirk Shelmerdine is a racer… Robbie Reiser in reverse. He was the youngest crew chief to win a Winston Cup race in 1983 at the age of 25. Kirk followed that accomplishment up with Cup championships from on top of a Richard Childress Racing pit box in 1986, 1987, 1990 and 1991. Despite the possibility of becoming the best crew chief in NASCAR history, he traded in his clipboard for driving gloves to pursue his dreams from a different angle. He has been fighting for it ever since.

At first glance, Kirk’s NASCAR stats may lead you to question his driving talent: 4 Cup starts, 12 Busch series starts and 2 truck series starts, of which the highlight was a 26th place finish in the spring race at Talladega in 1994 along with a 17th place finish at Daytona in a Busch car that same year. Not impressed? I am. There are plenty of guys who call themselves race car drivers who couldn’t get through turns 1 and 2 on lap one at Talladega, much less finish the entire race with their vehicle still drivable. If that doesn’t convince you this guy has talent, take a look at Kirk’s ARCA stats: In only 49 ACRA/Remax Series starts, Kirk can boast of 25 top tens, 14 top fives and 3 wins.

How about Andy Hillenburg? Think he’s a field filler?

The only year he ever filled the field fulltime in the ARCA series, in 1995, Andy won that series’ championship. In 59 ARCA career starts, Andy has 38 top tens, 17 top fives and 3 wins. If you do the math, you will discover that Andy finishes in the top ten of an ARCA race almost two thirds of the time. Another little fact about Andy: In 2000 he qualified for the Indianapolis 500. Although he scored a DNF, he completed 91 laps before being forced to retire with mechanical problems.

Carl Long’s misfortune at Rockingham may have well been the best thing to happen to him in years, having earned him a chance to race another day in Vegas this weekend. This stand up guy gave up his ride in the first Cup race he ever qualified for, the 2000 Coca-Cola 600, so that Darrell Waltrip could run the race. DW had failed to qualify and had exhausted his provisionals. The fact that DW should have graciously declined Carl’s amazing offer aside, it shows something about the kind of guy the media is calling a field filler.

Joe Ruttman is also a talented driver, with 13 Craftsman Truck Series wins and a USAC championship on his resume’. Unfortunately, he has proved he really is a field filler, showing up at Rockingham a couple of weeks ago without a crew. Say what you want to say about the integrity of that maneuver and his willingness to embarrass himself, but he might be the only guy in years to get a laugh at NASCAR’s expense as he drove out of the infield and off to the bank with fifty four thousand dollars.

One interesting development of the sponsor woes of Nextel Cup teams in the 21st century is the opportunity for guys like Andy, Kirk and Carl to compete. They don’t have the deep pockets of a millionaire owner or multinational corporate sponsor to fund full schedules. These guys aren’t in it for the money (although that would be nice), the chance to shoot some commercials or sign some autographs. They’re in it because they love racing and dream of having one, just one, Cup series win to their credit. And if that miracle ever happens, you can bet there will be no asterisk next to their name with the words “field filler” below in small print. You can also bet that the grandstands will be rockin’, because no one loves an underdog like NASCAR fans.

The next time you hear one of these guys referred to with a snicker as a field filler, you can chuckle to yourself with the knowledge that yes, the field is filled in.

It’s filled in with racers.

Main & Madison

2004-02-24T10:17:00.002-05:00

It was a valiant effort. I did my best. I wanted to stay impartial, independent, aloof. I did not want to succumb to the mob mentality, be pulled in, and end up just another one of the blind moths fluttering in a frenzied swarm around the tiki torch that is Dale Jr.

I’ve failed. And it’s Larry King’s fault.

Now mind you, I’m neither a fan nor a detractor of Jeff Gordon. I have nothing against him, and feel a little uncomfortable when fans near me in the grandstands diss him in what I consider to be an inappropriate fashion. Let’s face it; he’s a very talented race car driver with the speech patterns that Hollywood and board room types lust after. His contribution to our sport from an exposure standpoint cannot be argued. That being said, sometimes he comes off like a crooked mayor from Connecticut that you’re not really sure you can trust. He has that nervous B-movie laugh which just doesn’t seem natural. I give him a pass on it with the realization that there is no way in hell that I could survive the non-stop attention he receives and still have any sanity left intact.

It is not surprising that the old-guard Dale Sr. fans gravitated toward ‘Little E’ after the death of their hero. It is an understandable and natural response to what was a heartbreaking event for even the most casual of NASCAR fans. I would not call myself a big fan of Dale Sr.; sometimes he ticked me off, but most of the time he just made me laugh. I wanted his kid to succeed…well, just because. But, …to become a Junior fan? …one of the millions? Nah…. What’s the fun in that?

One of the biggest battles a writer fights is the temptation to use clichés. While watching Larry King Live last night, with Junior on the left and Jeff on the right, all I could think of was “spit and polish,” with Spit on the left and Polish on the right. The fact that Larry used this expression himself to describe Jeff makes my reference here all the more lame. But hey, I thought it before he said it. You trust me, right?

I can’t imagine sitting in front of a television camera for a solid hour, having to keep the non-speaking news anchor look on my face, while responding to the silly “how are you” question for the sixth time. Call-in shows are inherently embarrassing and cause me to squirm in my chair with an unexplainable bizarre uneasiness that we all encounter periodically. While Jeff appeared to be relatively relaxed, just another day at the interview, Junior’s expression reflected my discomfort – he looked like I felt. For the umpteenth time, he responded to a situation in a way that I completely identified with, understood, and respected.

If NASCAR is hometown USA, then certainly these two drivers represent critical avenues that map the roads to the long-term success of our sport. Jeff, with his movie star face and great hair (well, maybe by the Coke 600 he’ll have great hair again) is Madison Avenue, giving polished, predictable and politically correct answers to questions. Junior, who did ten years worth of growing up in ten days, who seems so incredibly real, with a glint of mischief in his eye and a natural sense of humor, is Main Street. He is grounded, down to earth, (ack – more clichés) and normal. He talks, walks, and acts like your neighbor’s kid: respectful (at least when you’re looking), polite (well, most of the time), and aware of the fine line between fun and too much fun. He does not give a non-answer response to the question of ‘who his favorite driver is?’, but spits out an actual answer with almost no hesitation. Just like you or I would have. Granted, he takes plenty of strolls down Madison Avenue, but he’s more comfortable on Main Street. Sometimes, he even looks like a total goofball, just like you and me. I guess I’m now a full-fledged moth.

With the increased popularity of NASCAR in recent years, fans like me have become concerned that the polished Madison Avenue is going to become a six lane highway that completely paves over the spit of Main Street. Thanks to Dale Jr., I think we’re going to be looking at the good old-fashioned four-cornered intersection of Main & Madison for at least a few more years.

The One That Got Away

2004-02-22T10:13:00.000-05:00

Having never been to the North Carolina Speedway, I cannot speak first hand about the facilities, the comfort of the grandstands, the fan to restroom ratio, or the traffic situation after the race. Unfortunately, to date all I can speak to is what is shown on television.

While today's race did contain several long green flag runs and quite a bit of follow the leader racing, from what I could see during another mediocre let's-keep-the-camera-on-the-leader broadcast, there was plenty of side by side mid pack racing and several lead changes. Certainly, no one can dispute the build up of excitement from the last caution flag to the finish with a margin of victory of 0.01 seconds. There were enough storylines to hold the interest of even the most casual fan. Would McMurray clean up in the Cup race as he had in the Busch race? Is DJ really back? Would Junior escape the Rock still in the points lead? Would Carl Long be able to finish the event?

Strange, isn't it, that the two tracks (Darlington and Rockingham)with some of the best racing on the circuit are the two tracks that seem to be always fighting for Realignment survival?

My racing budget is currently between 4 and 5 races per year, which is probably about 3 to 4 races per year more than I would attend if my dislike of debt exceeded my love of NASCAR Nextel Cup racing. To be perfectly honest, I cannot imagine being a NASCAR fan living within a 300 mile radius of The Rock and not beating a path there whenever the Cup haulers roll in.

Rockingham was on my list this year, until I got an opportunity to go to Daytona. While I had an incredible time at Daytona, and I'm thrilled I was witness to Junior's incredible pass on Tony for his first 500 win, I sure hope I didn't make a huge mistake. I sure hope when the Nextel Cup schedule for 2005 is released, I get a chance to see my guys race at The Rock. I sure hope going to a race at Rockingham doesn't turn out to be "the one that got away" for me.

You Blew It

2004-02-17T10:08:00.000-05:00

There’s nothing like a good dose of life-and-death reality to really put things in perspective. You thought the Chase for the Championship was the worst decision NASCAR has made in years. Not so fast! They trumped it in less than a month.

I have to admit, this Wimmer thing is making me nuts. I assumed that it would be dealt with appropriately in a similar fashion to the Shane Hmiel incident of last year. I figured we would all wish him well, perhaps mention him in our prayers, and hope he would be able to return to racing some time in the near future after getting some help. I forgot that consistency is completely gone from the vocabulary of NASCAR management. Of course, nothing irritates me more than being wrong, so I’ve been stewing for a few days. The pot is now overflowing onto my keyboard.

There is absolutely no basis in logic or common sense for how the Wimmer situation has been handled by NASCAR. Good grief, Kurt Busch was put on probation and lost his hard credentials basically for being disrespectful. What in heaven’s name is more disrespectful, to humanity as a whole, than driving while drunk? Please give me an example of any action that is more “detrimental to stock car racing” than driving under the influence!

According to media reports, Wimmer was driving a Bill Davis company-owned vehicle on a public thoroughfare when he lost control. He wrecked the vehicle, during the course of which I would imagine there was some additional destruction of private and/or public property; he fled the scene of the accident; he failed to report the accident; he didn’t come to the door when the cops came to his house, which to me qualifies as resisting arrest; and then after all of this he blew a 0.15 on the Breathalyzer? How much time passed between him wrecking the vehicle and the cops hunting him down and administering the Breathalyzer? A half hour? Forty five minutes? If he had been given the Breathalyzer at the scene, what would the results have been?

Failing the Breathalyzer in North Carolina triggered an immediate 30 day suspension of Wimmer’s driver’s license. As far as the State is concerned, the only thing Wimmer should be driving is on Playstation 2. What’s NASCAR’s response? Yeah, Scott, we know you can’t drive to the corner store to get some Twinkies, and there’s warning stickers on your sponsor’s product about operating machinery under the influence, but go ahead, you can drive in the Daytona 500. Here’s my question: Forget about what Wimmer was drinking. What are they drinking in Daytona Beach? What possible explanation can there be for their blasé attitude on this matter? Does this kid have pictures of Brian France sharing a laugh and a cigar with Fidel Castro? Or worse, did the truck have empty Budweiser cans in it? And what are they thinking at Caterpillar? This has to violate corporate policy even in the most general sense, and while I understand he’s not an employee, he should be held to at least the same standards as employees.

Tell me this: What would be the consequences if this incident had culminated in a multi-car wreck, with injuries to another person? Would NASCAR still issue the get out of jail free card, pending a court date? Does Wimmer get the it’s okay, Scottie, let’s see what the judge says treatment solely on the basis that he didn’t hurt anybody? Would we still be operating in the “allow the judicial process to move forward” mode under the innocent until proven guilty mantra, or would the dead bodies in the morgue be proof enough for NASCAR? Perhaps Wimmer is a slow learner. What if he gets off with a judicial slap on the wrist (like most first offenders do), and proceeds to kill someone later on this year, perhaps 2 or 3 hours after celebrating his first Nextel Cup win?A veteran, a legend’s son who is under incredible pressures day in and day out, and a Winston Cup champion all have (I assume) unlimited access to free alcoholic beverages courtesy of their sponsors. What do suppose the reaction would be if one of them was involved in a similar incident?

The judicial system in a democracy is designed to be fair in most circumstances to most people, and that is appropriate for the judicial system. However, as we’ve heard Bill France himself say, NASCAR is not a democracy; and we know Scott Wimmer is not most people. If you’re going to take the money, the opportunity, and the applause, you better have your act together, and act like you deserve the money, the opportunity, and the applause. Yes, you are held to a higher standard, as all highly paid professional people are, by the way. You were given an opportunity to be held to a higher standard that hundreds of young drivers, and several not so young drivers, (check out the Truck and Busch series entry lists, folks) would love to have. It’s called responsibility. There are millions of people in this country who would immediately lose their jobs if they were arrested (not convicted) for DUI. Almost everyone who drives a vehicle for a living would be immediately terminated in these circumstances. No three strikes, no second chance, no waiting for the verdict, you blew it (excuse the pun) GET OUT. These policies have little to do with the problems of substance abuse, and a lot to do with character and decision making ability expected of those associated with the company.

Wimmer indicated Thursday that he’s made one mistake in 28 years. My, my, that is truly amazing. The ONE time he drinks and drives he gets caught? Hey, if his luck is that bad, I don’t want him handling a vehicle going 190 MPH five inches away from Bill Elliott’s fender, do you?

This is not to say Wimmer’s life should be ruined, that he should be unemployed forever, or that he should have to wear some type of scarlet letter. He’s probably a fine young man and a decent person. He is entitled to due process of the law and he should receive it like everyone else. If he has a problem, I hope he gets help and I hope he makes his way to recovery. If he has a problem, he shouldn’t be driving a race car. We all know that driving under some level of influence is something that most people have done at least once. Most people also agree it’s not very responsible. If Wimmer is not very responsible, he should not be driving a race car.

Wimmer should be suspended indefinitely and immediately from NASCAR sanctioned events, pending satisfactory completion of a treatment program. You blew it, GET OUT. If reinstated, he should be subject to random testing for the remainder of his career. His family, his friends and his lawyer should be in charge of his second chances, not NASCAR, and certainly not the minivan full of kids driving in his direction down the street.

SOS

2004-01-31T10:05:00.000-05:00

As a NASCAR fan, January is always hell. The first few weeks after the last race of the season are occupied with Thanksgiving, which is incredibly enjoyable. Then come the other holidays and their associated stress and hectic schedules. Late November through the new year most of us are busy enough with family and friends that The Void isn’t all that noticeable.

Once New Year’s is past, however, no matter how much we try not to let it happen, the mood changes. During this time of year, many people suffer from SAD, or seasonal affective disorder, the clinical term for a serious malady that is literally caused by the decrease in daylight that we experience in the fall and winter.

I suffer from SOS, which is not a clinical term or a medical condition. It’s Severe Offseason Syndrome. Although I’m aware that January has the normal amount of 31 days, nonetheless it seems to last six months. It’s endless, interminable… like the movie “Groundhog Day”. There’s the bittersweet “countdown” to Daytona that all the websites have. We all want to know how many days until the 500 but we secretly loathe knowing because the number is never low enough, and takes what seems to be a lifetime to get to single digits.

This year has been a particularly tough bout with SOS, for a couple of reasons. First, the weather in the Northeast has been much colder than normal. We’re on something like our millionth day in a row below freezing.

Secondly, I live and work within 15 miles of Foxboro Stadium. Simultaneously, I’m in New England Patriots heaven, and NASCAR Fan Hell. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy football very much, particularly from Thanksgiving through the Superbowl, and I’m proud of our Patriots and I love Teddy Bruschi, Ty Law, and Tom Brady. I want my friends to be happy, and if the Patriots win, they’ll feel like I felt when Terry Labonte won the 2003 Southern 500. But….

The major Boston area sports radio station (there are at least two) is broadcasting from Houston all this week. For the first time, I actually heard the word “NASCAR” spoken over the airwaves from a Boston media outlet. Certainly, it was not in the spirit for which I had hoped. In addition to the expected good natured downplay of the Panthers’ talents, and understandable bias toward the Patriots, the morning team, Dennis & Callahan, were discussing their encounters with their contemporaries in the Carolina press corps. They maintained that these conversations were like being in an endless NASCAR recruiting session. They compared NASCAR faithful to a certain religious group who has a reputation for approaching strangers and aggressively trying to promote their ideas – with similar results, by the way. One point that was made is that these “NASCAR football players” can’t win a Superbowl, because they think the Daytona 500 is the Superbowl. Basically, they were using the stereotype of a NASCAR fan in a way such as to enforce their own stereotype of being obnoxious and generally unpleasant. Suffice it to say that after talking to reporters from the Charlotte Observer, the Boston media will not suddenly rush to watch the Daytona 500 this year, which by the way suits me just fine. I don’t particularly want these clowns covering MY sport. (Sorry, Brian!) My feeling is this – SOS also stands for Save Our Sport (from people who don’t deserve it!)

The nature of NASCAR is totally different from other sports. Millions of years ago, humans started living together in groups for safety and convenience. This evolved into a need for a sense of community. People in large metropolitan areas feel isolated and lack a sense of community. Following a nationally recognized team with a local base gives us that sense of community that is missing in the modern world. Football and baseball provide us with a sense of community. NASCAR provides us with a sense of individuality (unless you’re a Jr. fan, of course!) because we all root for a different favorite and this fosters our sense of competition. We want to be part of the community, but we want to be individuals as well.

If NASCAR wants to do some valuable research into the hearts and minds of sports fans in an effort to develop strategies to appeal to their need for individuality, they need to spend some time in Patriots Nation (which transforms itself into Red Sox Nation in the summer). A few weeks in late September during the pennant race or in early January prior to the AFC championship will cure him of any fantasies he has of winning these fans over. If there is any hope at all, it’s for February through the end of March when neither football or baseball is in action. Oops--- I forgot about the Bruins, the Celtics, and a little thing called March Madness. (Although I attended a Bruins game recently and it was extremely painful.) Oh, well. I can’t speak to any other areas in the country, but imagining these fans suffering from SOS is fairly impossible. There are those who feel my pain, however. Call the ticket office at Loudon and try to get a Cup ticket for either race. You’ll get laughed off the phone the same way you would if you called Bristol and asked them for a ticket to a night race. Fans also show a very strong presence at the Busch race and other companion events at Loudon. Maybe I need to start an underground internet support group for Northeast Race Fans – we can alternate names between the Severe Offseason Syndrome sufferers and the Save Our Sport soundboard.

Dennis & Callahan made it clear that the opinions of any NASCAR fan are not to be taken seriously, and I’m sure they care not a whit for the effect their comments had on me. I owe them thanks for renewing my interest in the Superbowl, snapping me out of Severe Offseason Syndrome, and rekindling my Save Our Sport spirit. Because although I’m not sure it’s going to happen, and my life next week will be more pleasant if it doesn’t, I will tell you this:

I hope the Panthers kick ass on Sunday!

The Busch Push

2004-01-26T10:01:00.000-05:00

Rob Faiella of insidethepitbox.com wrote a very interesting article a week or so ago regarding the relationship between realignment and changes to the points system. To paraphrase, he indicated that he along with an unnamed race team employee have decided that the presentation of a segmented championship season is part of a long term plan and is a precursor to splitting the major NASCAR series into divisions. When viewed in the context of separate divisions, the Chase for the Championship does make sense, particularly if you have competitors racing against each other for the first time in a season.
I thought Rob’s ideas were insightful, and if his suspicions are correct or even close to the mark, it would go a long way to explaining some of the executive decisions coming out of Daytona Beach lately. Rob seemed to feel that the split would be predicated on the increase in the number of venues that is hoped for in the next ten years, and hinted that the split might have a geographic element to it, i.e., East and West. If new tracks are built in areas like New York, New England or the Pacific northwest, NASCAR is going to want to move into those markets quickly. The problem is, with teams and expenses already close to exhaustion, and with sellouts or near sellouts at most venues currently fielding an event, there seems to be little room on the Cup schedule for new tracks.

This article really got me to thinking, and he might be right about many things, but I wonder if it might happen faster and for slightly different reasons than what he outlined. Keep in mind that my musings are pure speculation.

I can’t see NASCAR going with mundane names for its divisions like “East” and “West”. How about the “Busch” Division and the “Nextel” Division?

Think about it. At least 13 Cup drivers who began the 2003 Winston Cup season and who want to be full time Cup drivers are currently without full time Nextel Cup rides, for various reasons. I don’t want to get into a debate regarding the talent level of the different drivers; they made it to the premier NASCAR series, so for purposes of my argument let’s assume that they are all capable of winning given the proper circumstances. After all, someone who knows much more about it than me saw talent and made the decision to put them in their car.

So what are the proper circumstances? Great equipment backed up by a great team, funded by a deep-pocketed sponsor. Maybe this is a sponsor who recognizes the lack of an exposure differential between consistently running 20th in Nextel Cup vs. consistent top ten appearances in the Busch Series. It’s a great argument for funding a Busch team rather than a Cup team. If you can get a driver like Johnny Benson, who has finished in the top 10 more than 20% of the time in his Cup career, and who is recognized, appreciated and generally liked by fans, it’s a pretty good deal. I bet if Jeff Burton was of a mind to go back to the Busch series, there would be more than one sponsorship opportunity available to him.

NASCAR fans are noted in the marketing industry for being intensely loyal to drivers and sponsors. If seats in Nextel Cup rides continue to be available only through a revolving door, more talented drivers with loyal fan bases may find themselves in the Busch Series. Fans will step up their already increasing interest in the Busch Series, which is currently fueled in part by frequent appearances of full time Cup drivers.Here’s where it gets ugly. Rather than making two visits per year to large market tracks, Busch and Cup Series will each make one visit, which will be an attempt to give credibility to the idea of parity between the two series. NASCAR will be able to force the divisional concept, cut the eligibility requirement to the top 5 of each division rather than top 10 of one series, and faster than you can say Chase for the Championship you’ve got a divisional battle for stock car racing’s big crown. This shifting of dates is already largely in process, as you know. Of the 23 tracks currently on the Cup circuit, only 13 of them have repeat dates. The only ‘new’ second date to be added recently is California, and I’m sure that occurred because it’s the only viable option in that geographical area at the moment, and NASCAR is in a rush to fill that market demand.

Frequently, I employ business terminology in my essays to illustrate a point. I feel comfortable in doing so since I’m concerned NASCAR is tipping the balance too far toward business and away from sport. If the business is the sport, we need to strike a balance. There’s a concept known as sustainable growth, which is a level of growth a business can experience and still keep customers, investors, employees and vendors happy and coming back for more. The key to having sustainable growth is knowing your market, and knowing the limitations of your market as well as the limitations of your ability to produce a quality product. In other words, if the bubble grows too fast it won’t have proper support and it will burst.

The system I’ve outlined, if more reality than fantasy, could be an added incentive for mid-pack Cup drivers to move to the Busch Division, where initially they might have an opportunity to improve on their finishes sufficiently to qualify for the Chase. It could be as effective a strategy as renaming two football leagues into conferences that form the NFL. If implemented at the wrong time, it could also be the unmitigated disaster that is IRL and CART. There are a couple of problems with the Divisional scenario. If there are limited sponsorships available to the premier series, why would there suddenly be enough available to support twice as many teams in two divisions? Would the size of the fields be reduced? The other problem that would exist in the early years of this system is that fans with limited budgets, wanting to see certain drivers compete, might be put in the position of choosing between a June Busch Division race at Pocono and a July Nextel Division race at Pocono. Frustrated at not being able to see all their favorites, they choose neither. The sport would go flat faster than an improperly poured Busch beer.

If we see a big marketing push of the Busch Series over the next couple of years, we might have a pretty good idea why. I’m just hoping the France family sense of timing is still flawless, that Brian France’s street savvy and marketing instincts remain sharp, and that someone once told him about sustainable growth.

2004-01-21T09:54:00.000-05:00

Well, here we are. Past the Point of No Return. We’re now in the “post-modern” era of NASCAR. That’s correct, isn’t it? I didn’t get the “post-modern era” moniker cleared with the powers that be in Daytona Beach. I found out on Tuesday that they know what’s good for me and I should trust them. I’m relying on my education and intuition, so hopefully that will be enough for them, although it certainly hasn’t been so far. “Post” means “after”, and we’re certainly not in the same era we were in a few months ago when Matt Kenseth and friends took his big can of Whup Butt off the shelf and used it to take his competition to Championship School all last year.

I thought for a while that NASCAR had done the impossible. I thought that it had accomplished what two husbands, a father, a sibling, several co-workers and a few in-laws have failed to do over these past years. NASCAR almost managed to shut me up. After watching Tuesday’s press conference, my reaction at first was: What’s left to say? As Mike Helton put it, “It is what it is.” One generally uses that expression in an effort to nicely tell the listener to be quiet. There really is no effective rejoinder to “it is what it is”, so for a few hours, I was speechless.

Except……. What, exactly, is it? Is it racing? Is it a ‘product’? Helton used that word in the very first minutes of his remarks on Tuesday, as I knew he would. (I really dislike having a sport and the drivers and teams I care so much about referred to with the same terminology used to describe toilet bowl cleaner and hair gel, by the way.) I know a lot of football fans, and I never hear any of them refer to their favorite sport as a ‘product’. It’s something they’ve followed all their lives, and even if you’re not a fan, you can’t deny that it is part of our culture. It’s something to enjoy with Dad, a topic of conversation at work, or a way to break the ice with someone you were just introduced to at your spouse’s company picnic. As NASCAR fans, we’re constantly being reminded that we’re not quite the ideal demographic and that what’s really of interest to management is winning over fans of other sports. Brian France even said on Tuesday that drivers “want the ball with two minutes left in the game”. No, Brian, the drivers do not want the ball, they want the steering wheel. They want to be able to pass the leader with a half lap to go at Talladega.

Except……. What, exactly, is it? Is it racing? Is it a ‘product’? Helton used that word in the very first minutes of his remarks on Tuesday, as I knew he would. (I really dislike having a sport and the drivers and teams I care so much about referred to with the same terminology used to describe toilet bowl cleaner and hair gel, by the way.) I know a lot of football fans, and I never hear any of them refer to their favorite sport as a ‘product’. It’s something they’ve followed all their lives, and even if you’re not a fan, you can’t deny that it is part of our culture. It’s something to enjoy with Dad, a topic of conversation at work, or a way to break the ice with someone you were just introduced to at your spouse’s company picnic. As NASCAR fans, we’re constantly being reminded that we’re not quite the ideal demographic and that what’s really of interest to management is winning over fans of other sports. Brian France even said on Tuesday that drivers “want the ball with two minutes left in the game”. No, Brian, the drivers do not want the ball, they want the steering wheel. They want to be able to pass the leader with a half lap to go at Talladega.

Presenting a concept to a constituency that is overwhelmingly against that concept is a tricky thing. NASCAR prides itself on its marketing prowess but from a marketing standpoint, I think yesterday’s announcement was a disaster, an enormous missed opportunity. Trust me, I do not want to be an angry fan. I WANT to be convinced, I want to believe this is going to be an ideal scenario in which to wrap up our season and crown a champion. So convince me with an upbeat, friendly, “we-have-only-the-fans-in-mind” attitude. Listening to the dour and unemotional Helton lay out the plan was painful. Having a defensive and arrogant Brian France follow was not helpful. I’m a long time fan. I don’t feel courted, I don’t feel special. I feel like I had cod liver oil shoved down my throat by an evil great-aunt. I’m getting a little tired of being reminded that the $1200 a year or so I spend just on race tickets isn’t quite green enough, and the four to five hours per week of television viewing isn’t adequate. Hey, I’m a business person, and I know damn well that the televised race I’m watching is a ‘product’. But it should never be presented that way to me.

I wasn’t convinced that this system is going to benefit me, the sponsors, and all the teams that work so hard in this sport. I was just told that this is the way it is and that I would eventually be thankful for it. I’m very concerned that mid-pack sponsors are going to abandon the sport. Prove to me they won’t. Let’s bring some of their representatives on stage during the press conference in support of the concept. There were also undertones that if I didn’t like it, oh, well, there’s plenty of other new fans that might. Maybe, maybe not. This was the lead story on most non-specific sports websites yesterday even in the Northeast, and my football fan friends still aren’t knocking down my door asking me for copies of the 2004 schedule.

I know that NASCAR racing (unfortunately) is now a ‘product’. If NASCAR is going to be successful in the way that it has declared it wants to be, it needs to move beyond the ‘product’, beyond The Point of No Return and become part of the culture. Repeatedly offending a loyal fan base is not going to accomplish that goal.

Daytona Daydreams

2004-01-16T09:51:00.000-05:00

Do you remember as a kid the way you started to feel a few days after Thanksgiving? It was delightful anticipation, perpetual butterflies, a feeling of complete happiness and excitement that consumed you for almost the entire month of December. It’s been a while since I felt the holiday spirit quite that strongly, and I suspect that’s common as we grow older. In the last couple of days, though, I’ve been experiencing that similar slow build up of inexplicable joy, the kind that comes all too infrequently in life but that we continually search for.

You guessed it, race fans. I’m going to Daytona!

Having never been to this Mecca of the stock car racing world, having never seen those high banks on which Bill France Sr., perched in a folding chair in that famous photo, I know that by the time the first week in February rolls around I’m going to be as giddy as a schoolgirl at a Backstreet Boys concert. 24 hours a day. I’m sure my husband will miss me while I’m gone, but I’m also sure that he’s going to be so exhausted by my ceaseless prattle and boundless energy during those last few days that he’d gladly hire a stretch limo driven by a Chippendale dancer to take me to the airport. (Wow, wouldn’t that be fun?)

I’ve been fortunate to have attended several races, having been to Richmond, Watkins Glen, New Hampshire and Pocono. Stepping out from under the grandstands to the spectacle of the racetrack laid out in front of you is always a rush, and even at Loudon, which is my home track and where I go twice each year, that feeling is still a glorious natural intoxicant each day of race weekend.

And of course there is Darlington, which I firmly believe should be mandatory attendance for any self-respecting fan who claims to be a NASCAR die-hard. I will never forget that first long walk toward that track, across the mostly empty grassy parking lot that would be full of vehicles two days later (it would also be full of water two days later, but that’s another essay). It was Friday morning, about 9:45, and we were rushing a bit because practice had begun at 9:30. The track up ahead was shrouded in a mist that is typical in the Pee Dee region that time of year, looming up over the surrounding countryside, a bizarre spectacle sprung out of a farm field like an alien ship coming strangely from below rather than above. And then suddenly there was that sound – the roar of engines echoing off the empty grandstands, the fluctuating timbre of the rumble as the cars came off turn two and sped past the wood floors and tin roof of Brasington grandstand, toward us down the backstretch, along side us through turns three and four, and then away from us down the frontstretch. We weren’t even in view of race cars yet but my heart was pounding.

I cannot even imagine the rush that I’m going to feel when I hear that sound at Daytona.

Leading up to the Pepsi 400 in July of 2001, there were interviews done with several of the drivers in which they were asked about their feelings on returning to the track that had so recently claimed the life of Dale Earnhardt. Despite the devastating outcome of their last visit, they did not hold a grudge against this place that had taken the man who was hero to his peers as well as his fans. They still adored it and respected it, as Dale had after losing Neil Bonnett there years before. It would surprise newcomers to our sport to hear them say that although it would be difficult, nonetheless they were glad to return. “When you come up through that tunnel..…” was how many of them began their responses. I recall being amazed at that phrase, as I recognized those feelings from when I walk out from under the grandstands. Listening to Dale Earnhardt, Jr. express his affection for this place where he had spent so many childhood days made me an instant fan of him, and solidified the mystique of Daytona for me.

My co-workers and neighbors are chatting about the Patriots and debating strategies to beat the Colts and get to the Superbowl. It’s 14 degrees outside, with a dusting of snow on my brown lawn and a strong wind blowing through the naked trees along my driveway. It used to be visions of sugar plums that accompanied this light headed, carefree feeling during this type of weather. But now it’s daydreams of the checkered grandstands, the vast lawn of the tri-oval, and the glistening Lake Lloyd that dominate my thoughts and get me through a long winter’s day.

Business School for NASCAR

2004-01-15T09:47:00.001-05:00

For the past several years, NASCAR faithful have been subjected to endless narratives and editorials regarding various strategies and tactics of growing the sport, with goals of bringing it to new fans in new markets, and expanding the reach of NASCAR. More and more, we’ve been hearing about the business and marketing of NASCAR.

Having been in bed with big business since the early 70’s, and finally in the past few years reaping the rewards from the efforts of RJR and other key sponsors, and theoretically as a means to accomplish their idea of expansion, NASCAR began an initiative termed “realignment”. In the past few weeks we’ve been made aware that realignment includes not only the burial of the Southern 500 on Labor Day, but an overhaul of the points system to incorporate something akin to a playoff. Devout race fans (whether they’ve been following the sport for twenty years or twenty months) are starting to get antsy, wondering if this realignment plastic surgery is going to makeover Charlize Theron into Pamela Sue Anderson.

At this point, now that NASCAR has decided to leave behind the Richard Petty Driving Experience in lieu of Harvard Business School, I thought a business vocabulary primer might be in order.

Investor: The people who have the dough. In NASCAR lingo, this would be the SPONSOR. They make an investment, and expect a return, which of course in this case is increased sales of their products and services. NASCAR fans going to Home Depot or Lowe’s, where while talking on their Cingular or Nextel phones, purchase DeWalt tools. On the way home in their Intrepid, Taurus or Monte Carlo, they drop into NAPA, followed by a stop at the grocery store, where they pick up some Corn Flakes, milk, Tide and Stacker 2. You get the picture because you obviously do it quite frequently.Managers: The people who organize the employees, use the investor’s funds to provide them with the resources necessary to deliver the goods and get the job done. Previously the Big Red Truck, now the White Elephant. The John Darbys, Brian Frances, and Mike Heltons.

Employee: The people who deliver the goods. Read: RACE TEAMS.

Customer: Well duh. The race fan.

Now, most people will tell you the customer is number one. That’s a very effective marketing phrase that really isn’t true. The customer isn’t the most important part of the equation, rather, it’s a marriage of convenience of sorts between the customer and the investor. It is the realized return to the investor that stimulates a willingness of the investor to keep re-investing so the return will continue. It’s the funding the investor provides that makes it possible for the employees to produce the product that the customer seeks. Making the customer think he’s the most important part of the equation keeps the customer coming back, and that keeps the return flowing to the investor, and that, boys and girls, makes for a successful business venture. It STARTS with the customer being happy, ENDS with the investor being happy. If either one of these two entities ceases to be happy, the product cycle comes to an end and both the customer and the investor search for another way to obtain the satisfaction they’re seeking.

In general, telling the customer what they want doesn’t work. Remember “new” Coke? Telling fans that the points system that has resulted in the championships of Alan Kulwicki, Dale Earnhardt, and Richard Petty has suddenly lost its merit and needs to be changed isn’t much different from removing old Coke from the shelves, and replacing it with something not only significantly different, but significantly inferior.

This column is not about the moronic, ludicrous and blasphemous idea of playoff system, which frankly is so ridiculous I refuse to even argue about it. This column is about the fact that the overwhelming majority of fans do not want a playoff system, just like the majority of fans didn’t want the Southern 500 to be ripped off their Labor Day agendas. I have no information regarding sponsor sentiment on the matter, but frankly I don’t see how the majority of them will benefit, and it seems to me we risk having even more mid-pack teams lose primary sponsorship because of further lack of attention paid to the 11th through 15th places after September. Limiting the playoff to ten teams may not be necessary if that’s all the teams you have all year long anyway.

The drivers have weighed in, and with the exception of Michael Waltrip who almost always sings the management tune, they appear less than enamored of the plan.

But here’s a quick summary of your introductory business school education.

You want to be big business, well that’s okay. NASCAR, you’re pretty good at enforcing rules. So are we. We are the customer, and we don’t want a playoff system. Rule #1 of business is the customer is always right. That is an effective marketing phrase that really is true.

We The People

2004-01-10T09:39:00.003-05:00

I’d like to thank all those folks clamoring for more points to be awarded to the winner of the race for our present predicament of dealing with a ludicrous “playoff” season. Don’t see the connection? Let me shed some light.

NASCAR has been under pressure from fans and drivers for several years to award more points to the winner of the race, and doing so is, on its surface, very logical. It’s also been under pressure to get the rolling junkyards off the track by holding constant the points awarded to say, positions 35 and below. But couple those two logical goals with the desire and pressure to make (or keep) the race for the championship exciting and competitive throughout the season and we have a problem. Awarding more points to the winner of the race while awarding the same points from 30th or 35th on down will most likely cause the championship to be won by an even larger margin than has previously existed. It will just be won by a different team, and most likely less deserving team.

Here’s why: The trend is for one driver in each year to have at least two more wins than his competitors:
2003: Ryan Newman with 8 wins, 4 more than Kurt Busch. Newman’s DNF’s = 7.

2002: Matt Kenseth with 5 wins, 2 more than Gordon, Johnson & Stewart each with 3. Kenseth’s DNF’s=3.

2001: Jeff Gordon* with 6 wins, 2 more than Dale Jarrett with 4. Gordon’s DNF’s=2. Jarrett’s DNF’s=4.

2000: Tony Stewart with 6 wins, 2 more than Bobby Labonte and Dale Earnhardt each with 4. Stewart’s DNF’s=5. Bobby’s DNF’s=0, Earnhardt’s DNF’s=0, Bobby wins the championship with 6 more top 5’s than Earnhardt.

1999: Jeff Gordon with 7, 2 more than Bobby Labonte with 5. Gordon’s DNF’s=7. Bobby DNF’s=1. Championship: Jarrett with 4 wins, 1 DNF, and 3 more top 10’s than Bobby.
*Championship winner

What keeps the driver who wins the most races from winning the championship is a quantity of poor finishes and/or DNF’s. Take away the points penalty associated with having three or four DNFs and finishing in the high 30’s or 40’s, coupled with more points for winning more races, and you’ve got yourself a good old fashioned runaway snooze fest from late August right through to November. It would be no more entertaining than the all too common Superbowl blowout, it would just last a few weeks longer. In 2003 and 1999, you could have had "champions" (Ryan Newman and Jeff Gordon) who failed to be running at the finish in roughly one out of every five races!

Winning a race has its glory, and rightly so. Sometimes it’s talent, sometimes it’s horsepower, sometimes it’s teamwork, most of the time, it’s all of them plus some astonishing luck (good for the winner or bad for someone else). One of the appealing and unique things about NASCAR and its current system is that it DOESN’T rely on the performance of one race, or a certain subset of races. It’s about beating most of your competition, most of the time.

Only one time in the last six years has the driver with the most top 10’s not won the championship, and that was in 2002. Tony Stewart had 21 top 10’s and Mark Martin and Ryan Newman both had 22. However, Tony had three more top 5’s than Mark, and Ryan had 5 DNF's against Mark's 3. Finishing in the top ten a majority of the time means having overall superiority (driving talent, mechanics, teamwork). Beating the majority of your competition the majority of the time (as in over the course of ALL the races) in the complex world of NASCAR competition also had its glory.

It used to be called the Winston Cup Championship.

In seeking to implement the seemingly logical changes regarding points awarded to the winner and the staggering of points below a certain finishing position, NASCAR must have recognized the problem this would create. To head off the ensuing uproar over runaway championship seasons that would surely result, it was forced (probably by the networks) to further fix the unbroken by conjuring up the bizarre and completely inappropriate playoff season.

Unfortunately, the playoff system will not only fail in its implied goal of luring more fans to the sport, but may very well succeed in alienating sponsors as well as existing fans. Where does NASCAR think these new fans come from? Wellington Yuppie III doesn’t see a NBC promo and suddenly decide to give up an afternoon of golf to watch or attend a race by himself. He gets invited by a neighbor who suddenly has an extra ticket because someone’s mother-in-law passed away. Or perhaps a couple of his co-workers routinely talk enthusiastically on Monday about the previous day’s race, and discuss qualifying results on Friday afternoon. He thinks, “wow, this must be something. Let me check it out and find out what everyone’s so excited about.” NASCAR is forgetting about the word of mouth factor, whereby excited fans talk their friends into watching or attending races. Angry fans who feel betrayed by NASCAR and have to talk themselves into spending thousands (yes, it is thousands) of dollars for a long weekend at the track, or whose favorite driver is in 11th position or lower at the end of September (and losing their sponsor as a result of not making the "playoffs")aren’t going to coax their friends into joining them. They’ll probably go to the club with Wellington on Sunday afternoons and play golf.

The NASCAR points system is a bit like the Constitution, (no e-mails, I said a bit), albeit slightly less important to our general well being. Both have flaws. Both are more perfect than any of the alternatives. Neither should be discarded unceremoniously, but amended gradually as necessary, after considerable thought and debate.