But what are they actually upset about? Fond memories of days at the races, sure. But most are grieving the loss of truly great racing.

NASCAR claims they want to make the sport available to all race fans across the country. OK, fine. Isn't that what television accomplished?

Brian France feels that every fan should experience a race in person and therefore justifies moving races from what NASCAR feels is a saturated market to areas comprised mostly of locations in the West. Again, fine. But shouldn’t that racing be as great as the racing it replaced?

A number of years back, tracks started popping up like gopher holes, all headed toward the Pacific Ocean. Most opened to great fanfare touting the modern state of the art garage areas, high tech media centers, fan amenities, and dismal racing.

Imagine Auto Club Speedway and Rockingham, side by side, in sunny southern California. Or Las Vegas and Darlington, glittering next to each other in the desert sun. Suppose you had your choice of which race you’d attend, should both be offered on the same day? My guess is Fontana and Las Vegas would be reduced to satellite parking for the overflow crowds that chose Rockingham and Darlington. The problem wasn't the loss of the tracks, as much as it was the loss of great racing to venues that have historically produced abysmal racing.

Listening to Brian France reminds me of the scenes from the movie “The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas” where the news media is attempting to interview the governor, played wonderfully by Charles Durning. His answers to questions are so convoluted that if you allow him to just talk, he will ultimately come full circle with an opposite opinion.

Mr. France may be a fine businessman, but he’s not a racer. By condemning tracks such as North Wilkesboro, Rockingham, Darlington, and maybe even Martinsville, you’re swapping diamonds for simple glass. NASCAR didn’t slowly leave the South and its history making tracks; it ran, and at Talladega speeds, no less.

An excellent example of this comes from a column written by Mark Armijo back on May 21, 2004 in the Arizona Republic. It discussed the possibility of expanding the schedule past the 38-race season it currently runs. It says, “There reportedly has been some discussion regarding such an expansion between NASCAR and racing teams, but France said Wednesday in a conference call that the circuit’s schedule might be tapped out.” It went on to quote France as saying, “I don’t think that’s in our cards at all. We’re either at or near the end of new dates that we might award. We’re probably in a diluted situation if we go much beyond where we are today and 40 is out of the question.”

The article continued with, “ Last weekend at Richmond, VA. however, where NASCAR announced second race dates for Phoenix International Raceway and Texas Motor Speedway beginning with the 2005 season, France said an exception to the 36-race schedule would be made for New York City.” (Editor's note: the track mentioned here was at the time merely a proposal from ISC to build on Staten Island NY. That never happened)

The key phrase here is “new dates that we might award”. More than likely any dates awarded to other tracks would have to be at the detriment of a current venue. But then he also says “an exception to the 36-race schedule would be made.” I suppose this means a date can be added if NASCAR wishes or, again, be taken from somewhere else. It’s anyone’s guess who would suffer.

I didn't address the demoralizing economic impact to these regions. That’s a given.

It’s also telling that the New York City and Washington State deals dissolved without so much as a whimper.  And much to the delight of just about everyone, Rockingham is on the rebound.  If they want to take another huge step, they should bulldoze Fontana to oblivion and replace it with a one-half to three-quarter mile track like Richmond International Raceway.

It can’t go unnoticed that NASCAR has recently announced a “Classic” line of products.  Well, shoot I've got an huge line of “classic” memorabilia in my closet.  But they didn’t need to start a brand new line in order to figure out what’s happening in their own sport.  If someone, anyone, at any point in the past eight years had stopped, taken a deep breath, and asked themselves, “Why do you suppose the Saturday night races are so popular?” they could have come to the simple realization that the formula they decided is the be all and end all of marketing, stinks.  And they might, just might have come to the realization that the path they have decided upon is not only destroying the sport that has made them all so wealthy and successful, but more importantly, it’s very foundation.  The great weekend, Saturday night short track racing that is the very root of their entire infrastructure.

Point in fact, when NASCAR began televising so may Cup races on Saturday night, there was a minor uproar that holding so many big time races on Saturday night would be a detriment to the local weekly racing series.  A number of local tracks did actually “reschedule” or cancel their events because they feared their fans wouldn’t be able to attend.  And as we’ve seen, many local tracks are no more.

Sure, we love big time racing on Saturday nights, but how many of you feel a little lost the following day?  I would much rather attend my local short track on Saturday and still have the Cup race to look forward to on Sunday, be it in the daytime or nighttime.

The focus of this column is hopefully to explain to those who still don’t get the fervent, almost borderline insane reaction to decisions by NASCAR. The fans don’t just see it as witnessing the loss of racing. They see it as the death of racing.

~Carol

Email: bellestar63@aol.com

If you've enjoyed your visit so far, we invite you to check out the Stock Car RacersReunion site by clicking here. By simply creating a log-in you will have access to over 100,000 vintage racing photos and thousands of articles, stories and conversations, some with legendary participants whose names you will recognize.  As part of our racing family, you are free to enjoy the Chat Room and all Forums will be open for discussing your passion for racing with others of like mind. RacersReunion truly is where legends and fans unite.