Having all this extra time on our hands, many folks, housebound because of the weather being too cold to venture out, turn to television. I have not really resorted, YET, to watching much more television than I normally do, but I admit that over the past weekend I spent a good part of my Saturday in the recliner alternating between naps and television shows. Yes, I watched about 3 hours of the Daytona practice sessions which I will address herein later. What I want to talk about initially is what is referred to as “Reality TV”. Let me first state, unequivocally, that I am not a fan of reality TV for various reasons but I do admit to watching the very first season of Survivor just because I thought it was interesting. Even so, it didn’t take me too long to figure out that the entire show was so preconceived and contrived as to entice folks who believe that Captain Kirk could actually pull off all those things in original Star Trek episodes to watch Survivor believing that what they were seeing was what was actually happening withOUT scripts or coaxing from the sidelines. I often wondered how many attempts the “actors” got to pull off those stunts which resulted in their being voted off the island. By the end of the first season, I knew I would not be returning to any episodes of survivor.

Having always been a fan of talent shows as I had participated in several, American Idol was a favorite for about two seasons. Talent, for the most part, was good, and I did learn how to be a curmudgeon of the first rank by watching Simon Cowell in action, but when a particular individual won over someone I thought had far superior talent, I decided even that show was “rigged” as to produce scripted outcomes. Ann enjoys Dancing with The Stars and I always try to watch the last 30 minutes of the show with her. I must admit total impatience when Tom Bergeron goes into the spiel about “and so leaving right now is………

….. as we wait out thirty seconds for him to make the announcement. I realize it’s done for dramatic effect, but really, Tom, I’m not a fan of that.

This brings me to commercials I have seen in the past couple weeks for such shows as “The Biggest Loser” and “The Bachelor”. While I admire the premise of the Biggest Loser and apparently it does work miraculous results, I still can’t help but wonder what goes on that we don’t see. Now, as for The Bachelor, and I do apologize to all you ladies listening who like this show, and to all the guys who watch it wishing it could be you surrounded by all those ladies for what I am about to say. I have never watched the show. But the commercials being run advertising the new season are some of the most disgusting television minutes I’ve ever watched. Thankfully, I have a wonderful and beautiful wife so I don’t have to be a part of such competition but I would offer these two observations:

1. If that poor guy is such a loser that he has to appear a SECOND time on this show, he seriously needs to consider becoming a priest or going into a monastery to intone chants.

2. Every one of those women shown in those commercials is in dire need of extensive psychological counseling at best, or, at worst, banished to the island from where the losers in the first Survivor series were removed one by one.

These are just my opinions and I’m sure there are many of you who don’t agree but I just had to speak my mind on that. Now for the reasoning behind all this.

Reality TV IS, in its essence, NASCAR racing. While many point out that the testing done at Daytona can’t be trusted to be indicative of what we will see when the drivers return in February, the fact remains that these are drivers and crews doing their best to find out what it is going to take to win the Great American Race. I can remember when the teams showed up from Speedweeks in 1964,the story I have always heard is that Ronnie Householder, director of Mopar Racing, told his guys to cool it for the first couple days. In 1963, the Mopars ran about 160 and the GM and Fords were running about 165. Early in Speedweeks, the Fords where running about 168 and the Mopars at 165. The Blue Oval Bunch were already planning their sweep of the 500 when Householder told the boys in the Plymouths and Dodges to “open those Hemis up”. Paul Goldsmith in a red Plymouth immediately ripped off a lap over 174 mph. I wish I could have seen John Holman and Ralph Moody’s faces when their stopwatches clicked off that lap. That, my friends, was reality tv.

We are just over a month away from OUR new season starting. I say “OUR” season as it is because of us that they will be racing at Daytona. Because of us gathered here, because of those fans who hang in there for the thrill of the sport. It is because of the members of the RacersReunion® Hall of Fame already inducted in The Memory Lane Musuem in Mooresville, and those yet to be inducted, that there will be a 54th Annual Daytona 500. It’s not the same racing as shown in the ABC Wide World of Sports video posted on the site of the 1962 Southern 500 which I have watched four times already. It was a different world then. What was reality then is now, for the most part, memories, sometimes seen only through the mist of a mind cluttered with day-to-day living. What is reality now is still subject to acceptance by many of us. For instance, tandem racing, or huge pack racing? Which do you prefer? The debate on that issue goes back and forth depending upon with whom I am discussing it.

Ok, why the discourse on reality? Let me tell you my point of view on what is reality:

My reality is that I have been around this sport for what will be 60 years come this September. Many of you here have been around it longer, many of you have been much more deeply involved in the professional levels of it than I, and some of you are new fans,or younger fans learning the sport (not you Cody, you already know so much of the history), but regardless of our age, time around the sport, or level of involvement, I would venture to say reality is the reason we have such an interest in the sport. Reality is seeing 43 colorful cars racing on the edge of control around speedways across the country. Reality is seeing the joy of victory whether it is in the face of young Trevor Bayne like last February or the face of Mark Martin, the elder stateman, whenever he wins. Reality is knowing that there are fans in the stands and infield from all walks of life and all across the country and, in some instances, from other countries, brought together by the love of racing, the love to speed, the thrill of danger. Reality is the last lap of the Daytona 500 in 2001. Yes, death is a reality in the sport but the drivers all know this. Racing is reality as true as it gets.

I will be settling in to watch all the events coming from Daytona next month. Trucks, Nationwide, Cup, practice, whatever. Reality is I don’t like everything NASCAR does but it is still my sport of choice. Reality is that whether it is tandem racing or pack racing, it is thrilling for me to watch races, especially at Daytona. Big Bill France had the vision to create reality out of dreams. The pioneers of the sport are no less to be honored than the pioneers that created the United States of America because both gave all they had to achieve the goals they set. Let’s try to remember that.

Also a part of the reality here is this coming weekend’s induction ceremony at The NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte. We all know there are many differences of opinion about the Hall, the exhibits, the management, and the inductees, but, for tonight, the reality focus should be that 60 years ago, what is happening in Charlotte this weekend and in Daytona next month are real, when 60 years ago those events probably weren’t even dreams. It is reality TV at his best, purest, and simplest. It is reality, period. Sit back and enjoy, or if you’re going to Daytona, raise your voice in cheers when the green flag falls. Reality? Yep, as much as I like to dream and to imagine things that will probably never come to pass, racing is a reality I accept full on. I expect no less from my sport.

E-mail me at: legendtim83@yahoo.com or follow me on twitter at: legendtim83