For the many, many of us who were the fans so ardent in years past, it was our fathers, uncles, older brothers or someone else who introduced us to the sport. It was NOT the blinding, deafening commercials with which you inundate our television. It was NOT Jimmie Johnson, Dale, Jr., or Kyle Busch telling us how great the sport is. It was by the aforementioned folks taking us first to the local short track to introduce us to the spectacle of sound and sight which to this day we all remember as a time that was a changing of direction in our respective lives. It was through the introduction by these individuals in our lives that we began to follow a sport which, at the time was in its infancy and was having growing pains as it sought its place among the major sports of the Country. As surely as the sport became of age through the sacrifices and efforts of the heroic drivers and crewmen, team owners, wives and children involved so it did through the dedication of we assembled fans who traveled to see our favorites race. Survey the group gathered here, Mr. Phelps, and ask about the trips which involved working all day at our “day job”, then driving all night to see a race and then driving half the night to get home to return to work the next day. Ask us about the times when we slept in our cars, in tents, on the ground after driving all night to Daytona and parking against the infield fence in turn three to see our driver go flashing by approximately every 50 something seconds. We lived the sport with our favorite. What he drove, we drove, what he ate, we ate, what he wore, we wore and that was in the days before the t-shirts with the multicolored screen print ever existed. We made our own car flags and banners.
You say your goal is to enrapture the 18 to 34 year old male demographic. My friend, if that is where you’re planning your assault, run to the Apple Store and get you an IPhone, Macbook, and any other device which is used for communication in that generation these days. It would be safe to suppose you already have at least one of those items so you already know that. Just felt it was necessary to mention that fact. But, you know what? Many of us here have found that the real tool to communicating with that group is to involve them in OUR lives and in OUR memories of the days when racing was a far cry from what it is now. It seems when we are face-to-face and eye to eye with these folks (most of whom have wives or girl friends Mr. Phelps) the communication is much deeper than text messages, e-mails, or tweets.
Now we will address your question by question response in the interview, if our group here may be so bold as to do so.
1. You address the issue of “building individual brands of drivers”. Of all the statements I’ve ever heard uttered by someone in a position of authority, that has to be one of the least thought through responses ever. You say you aren’t going to concentrate ONLY on the stars of today but go diligently into the local tracks around the country looking for those 16 year olds with the charisma and other qualities to move to the next level. Mr. Phelps, that is sick! The current drivers have already been so molded into robots and personalities by their sponsors, Madison Avenue, and NASCAR, that there is little else you can do with them. What you currently have in place is what you’re stuck with. You folks at NASCAR created those robots, deal with it. But leave the 16 year olds at the local tracks alone. As for the charisma and talent needed to promote the sport, two kids from a few years ago, Jake and Justin Hobgood, were as good as you could ever find. Did you help them? No! Today, without even looking, there is Austin Leitner and Jordan Anderson, along with several others we here have watched who have all those things you SAY you’re looking for. Does NASCAR have an official eye doctor? If not, it may behoove you to check with EyeMart or H. Rubin. You say you are in ROUND 2 of this process and that you have two people in the field checking out all these youngsters coming “through the ranks”. Why does that come across to those of us gathered here as somewhat of a useless process?
2. Of particular interest in your response to the issue of how your digital and social strategy will shift going forward. To quote you, you “are hiring someone new to retrain an entire industry on social”. Mr.Phelps this is just another effort by NASCAR to homogenize individuals into a mold subject to replication by NASCAR and NASCAR only. You are taking control, or attempting to take control, of everything involved in the sport including the total personality and make up of every individual involved in the sport from the guy who sweeps the floor back at the shop to the highest ranking corporate officer in the boxes on top of the grandstands. Good luck with that. Wasn’t there a book written about that once? The book was 1984 and although you’re a few years late, that is, in essence, what you’re talking about. You folks have already removed the brand identity and brand loyalty from the sport with that Car of Tomorrow. Now you’re going to give us 43 robotic personalities on the track each weekend. Do we get a vote as to which personality we would prefer using as the template?
3. You say you want to improve the “event experience”. You go on to say that you sent non descript teams to events to experience what went on and report back. Who thought that up? If you want to know about event experience, ask some of the fans gathered here tonight to come experience the event and let you know what we think. I assure you it will be far different than the selected individuals NASCAR sought out and paid to experience the event. For, you see, those of us here are FANS. We know what the event experience is supposed to be. The reason most of us watch on TV, if even that, is that the event experience has become an exercise in being abused by everyone at the track from the parking lot attendants to the concession stands to the far too small seating areas. Even infield parking is now so regulated, not to mention expensive, that it is prohibitive to most. It is less expensive to buy a plot in the local cemetery than it is to park for a week at Daytona in February. How does that stack up on your “event experience” scale?
4. You next address your desire, or the desire of NASCAR to attract a multi-cultural audience. You lament the fact that there is a lack of availability of Spanish in many areas of the sport. HEAR THIS MR. PHELPS: This is the United States of America. Those of us gathered here speak ENGLISH. It takes very little translation to see who is winning a race or crashing out and any fan that wants to experience the sport to its fullest needs to learn the language of the sport. Either learn the language, or go back and play soccer. Juan Pablo Montonya knows the language, including words NASCAR wishes he didn’t know, so get off the Latina kick. As for other cultures, think back to the day when Wendell Scott was a fixture in NASCAR. Sure, society was different then and a black man in the sport was not really looked upon as a positive thing. BUT THINK OF THIS: Is Wendell Scott on the list to be enshrined in the NASCAR Hall of Fame? Didn’t think so. Yet, folks like D.W. are going in. Sure Wendell won only ONE Cup race in his career, but what he did for the sport far exceeds the contributions of certain individuals who continue to garner the attention of the Hall of Fame. Wendell was the initial opportunity for NASCAR to become multi-cultural. At the time, it was not an acceptable thing to have him in the sport. What is your excuse now?
Mr. Phelps, this letter was not a mean-spirited attempt to justify the feelings of we fans who have so long supported the sport but an effort to let you, and the rest of NASCAR know that we are still around and we would like to help. You keep slapping us down or sweeping us under the rug. It was our kids we tried to get interested in the sport and, at first, they were. Then through the constant abuse from Daytona Beach, our interest began to wane and, consequently, so did the interest of our kids. Now our grandkids know their grandparents were big race fans with most of us still retaining our collection of books, programs or whatever, which are viewed by the grandkids as some ancient form of sport that exists no longer. When we try to sit with the grandkids to watch a race of TV we are subjected to personalities more enamoured with “HISSELF” than anything going on in the race. The kids are subjected to commercial after commercial, many for products questionable as to the value to a general audience of race fans to begin with.
Our grandkids, if at all, are more likely to pick their favorite by the color or logo on the cars than knowing anything about the driver. We have no more personalities like David Pearson, Bobby Allison, Richard Petty, Rex White or Cale Yarborough. We have no more colorful nicknames like Fireball, Buck, Tiny, Speedy or Little Joe. We have, instead, manufactured personalities there for the purpose of selling whatever product adorns their car that weekend. We have scripted responses so well memorized they become repetitive to the point of insult.
Finally, look at, really look at what you’re doing. NASCAR makes rules so easily circumvented as to be farcical. For instance, remember the rule about ONE owner could have no more than four teams? Every Ford in the race is almost directly owned and operated by Rousch-Fenway. Every Chevy is a product of Hendrick. Toyota is all Gibbes. Dodge, God bless ‘em, is, at least abiding by the rules. Where does this leave those 120 young drivers you’ve sent your two reps out to examine? It leaves them in the sights of either Jack Rousch, Rick Hendrick or Joe Gibbes if they are to have a shot. There is virtually no chance for an independent young driver to come into the sport unless he or she attracts the attention of one of their three gentlemen. It is easier to attract the attention for the aforementioned gentlemen if the drive has multi-million dollar sponsor connections. NASCAR, you caused that and continue to allow it. Shame!
So, Mr. Phelps, check out some of the folks here at Racers Reunion and let’s have a serious and meaningful conversation. We are not against you, we are completely in your corner. It is WE who built this sport through our dedication to our drivers. It was OUR money buying tickets, programs, concessions and souvenirs. It was OUR support of the brand sponsors in those days that enticed the big corporations to come into the sport. It was OUR dedication to the sport that made it possible to grow even beyond the bounds we imagined or even wanted, really. We don’t deserve to be overlooked, thrown under the bus, or put out to pasture. Tradition is important. If not, why celebrate each Fourth of July?
