Being the off-season, it's been more difficult to find out what you, the fans, are thinking or saying. One quick look at Jayski's links to articles tells us that there aren't many of those to be seen either. Ah, but Christmas is still in the offing, which makes December tolerable. Wait until January, the only month of the year that has 90 days... or so it seems to a race fan. But there are a few things happening. Why, just a couple weeks back we had the awards banquet, way out in Las Vegas.
Umm... Mr. France Sir, we really need to talk about that. Dressing the drivers up in monkey suits and watching some of them completely befuddled as to how to follow a teleprompter is kinda fun, and we've done it for years. No complaints from here on that score. However, the things I'm hearing from the fans indicate a large amount of dissatisfaction with two things... location and host.
First of all... why Las Vegas? NASCAR is, by its very nature, a blue collar sport, while Las Vegas is decidedly a white collar, or perhaps no collar town. Either way, homey and down to earth it is not! Las Vegas hosts only one race a year, and caters to no other NASCAR functions I can bring to mind. Holding the banquet in New York City seemed like a big deal for a short while, but then wore a bit thin. It did however, reach for more than a modicum of class in its presentation on most occasions.
In that respect, I'm much afraid that you have been misled Sir. Though a large percentage of your fans do come from the working class, that is not to say they are without taste or class. One of the loudest and largest complaints I've heard to date is the choice of Howie Mandel as host of "our" awards banquet. Mr. Mandel's humor might be right for a daytime game show or a nighttime show on the Strip for the drinking crowd, but Mr. France, he knows less than nothing about stock car racing, and that Sir, produces a feeling of instant turn-off in race fans. I know, because I've spoken with and listened to a lot of them. You might want to try that as well Sir. Most of them will speak quite freely of their likes and dislikes.
Next year, I would humbly suggest that you find someone that is not merely promoting a new show of his own, and for goodness sake... someone that knows about the sport. Right there in the same room, you had Barney Hall and Mike Joy, both with far more announcing experience than Mr. Mandel could accumulate if he lives well past 100. Allen Bestwick was also in attendance, as was Krista Voda, the only female NASCAR should ever rely upon in a broadcast format. If for some reason, you eschew the use of one of the "regulars", then consider Mike Helton. I doubt you can find anyone around more knowledgeable concerning stock car racing than "Big Mike", and as they say, "He cleans up quite nicely." In short Mr. France, when it comes to hosting NASCAR, there is far more talent available within our own ranks than in all of Las Vegas.
One other point that needs noting Sir... it would behoove you to feed the award winners and their spouses before or after the show rather than during it. I have not heard from a single fan anywhere that was thrilled at the prospect of having tuned in for awards only to find that a two-hour segment directly in the center of the activities had been dedicated to being bored to tears by a bad comedian and a Cirque du Soleil performance that bore no rhyme or reason in the scheme of things that evening. Sometimes, less really is more!
As to location, I ask once again, "Why Las Vegas?" I'm quite sure you are aware of a suggestion proffered recently by fellow journalist Tom Higgins, that the banquet be held in the convention center next to the NASCAR Hall of Fame in downtown Charlotte NC. (Time Warner Cable Arena) At this juncture, I'm going to refrain from offering opinions or suggestions, as it is the purpose of this column to give a voice to the fans of NASCAR stock car racing. Hopefully, we can coax more than a few from their various hibernation caves and hear what they have to say. Rest assured though, I do have ideas and at some point, will be sharing them with you Mr. France, as always.
Next, we come to the recent Rasmussen poll defining America's favorite sports. I really wish they'd waited until after Christmas to release this study because it has put a damper on my Holiday season. Who would have believed 10 years ago, when NASCAR was second only to the NFL in the hearts of sports-minded Americans, that we'd now be lumped together at the bottom with others unable to glean a meager 5%, such as soccer, golf and tennis?
However, there is good news at hand. In seemingly inverse proportion to the Rasmussen poll and the noticeable drop in attendance and TV ratings in 2012 comes word this week from Sports Business Journal that on its list of the 50 most influential persons in the world of sports, NASCAR CEO Brian France has risen four positions since 2011 and now ranks 13th on their list.
From Sports Business Journal:
NASCAR’s TV ratings and viewership may have dipped in 2012, but its power as a media property was on full display when Fox paid $2.4 billion, a 33 percent increase, to lock up rights to the first 13 races of the season through 2022. France will try to build on that next year when NASCAR sells the rights to the season’s other 23 races.
Congratulations Mr. France, on your prowess as a media mogul... but it has to be time to promote the sport itself, else you will soon have no product to provide for said media. The fans are more than willing to leave the business side of things to you and those that assist you, but a wise ruler will always listen to the wishes and needs of his subjects. Give the fans a voice and hear that voice. I promise; you will not regret it Sir.
On a very pleasant note, the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame welcomes three new members to its ranks in 2013... Longtime NASCAR executive and former track president Jim Hunter, along with Pocono Raceway founder and patriarch, Dr. Joseph Mattioli, will sadly be inducted posthumously and will be joined by pioneer sportscaster Ken Squier as the new class entering the Hall. The Induction ceremony is to be held January 19, in Charlotte, N.C. Congratulations and a standing "O" to all three of those most deserving gentlemen, two of whom are sorely missed. Well done indeed!
And then on a not-so-pleasant note, some disturbing figures were brought to light last week by former sports car driver Jim Downing, now described as "Principal" of the HANS device. ( I take that to mean he is the HMWIC of the corporation... Head Man What's In Charge) Many have come to believe that on-track deaths have become all but non-existent following the death of Dale Earnhardt on February 18, 2001, but such is not the case. In figures released from a study done by The Charlotte Observer titled "Death at the Track", in the years 1991 to 2001 the total number of driver deaths from crashes was 144. During the ten-year period after Earnhardt’s death, the total rose to 171, an alarming increase of 27 driver fatalities due to racing accidents.
If I am reading correctly, both study and article point to a combination of short tracks and drag strips as being the largest contributors to these rather shocking figures. Please understand, with what I am about to opine, I mean no disrespect to anyone, nor am a intimating that anyone has been less than truthful over the time since Dale's death, but we... perhaps every one of us, including you, Mr. France, have been somewhat misled by omission. Following each and every spectacular, if that is the proper word, wreck in the higher series, it is pointed out that the driver "walked away." Thankfully, in most cases, that is true, though because of new awareness of head trauma or concussion, more are seeing down time or even hospital time.
As stated, that is in the upper or "elite" series... Cup, Nationwide and Trucks. Obviously, the same has not held true across the board, and at the smaller local tracks, drivers are dying in even greater numbers as if to make up for the "lack" of deaths in the televised series. Those of you that have read my rants for some time know that I am what might be called a safety "fanatic", though many settle for just "nut." Still, this problem seems almost insurmountable. I do understand that the cost of good equipment is high; higher than many or most can afford to pay... but the cost of even one human life is far greater.
Without jumping into the deep end on a subject I have not had time to research, I'd merely like to toss out a few "spur of the moment" ideas for consideration and discussion. (These address only the short tracks mentioned in the study. Drag racers have their own problems, but I am not familiar enough with them to discuss them here. Perhaps the gentlemen that have recently begun publishing Blogs here might chime in on that side.)
Would it not be possible to mandate at track level the use of HANS or the equivalent? I confess to not knowing what the harness specifications are in the lower series. (Please, no semantic games here; they are lower series) Do they run a 5-point, 6-point, 3-point (Heaven forbid) or is there even a rule as to which? Surely at least a 5-point could and should be mandated before a car rolls onto the track. Is there any sort of safety commission to set rules for track safety at the local tracks? If not, I believe there should be. What about contour seats... the ones that actually mold to the driver? SAFER barriers, unfortunately, though the best single safety feature available, are beyond the means of most track owners. I wish there were a way to defray that cost and make them the rule rather than the exception, but I haven't a clue what it might be.
Yes, I know I'm talking expense, which is why I'm including you in the conversation, Mr. France. These tracks are where the racers of tomorrow come from. They are, for lack of better words, your feeding ground. Would it not be in NASCAR's best interest for the sanctioning body to perhaps kick in for some of the safety measures mentioned, or others that I know will be proffered by the fans that read this? Not only would your assistance be more than welcome in these troubled economic times, but Sir, it would give you and NASCAR one heck of a "Look how much we really care" moment. At your next board meeting, maybe you could just toss that idea onto the table for discussion.
Those discouraging numbers, each of which represents the loss of a human life, aren't going to go away by themselves. It will take a lot of cooperation between track owners, various sanctioning bodies, car owners and drivers as well, but I see it is something that is far overdue. As I said, while blaming no one but perhaps circumstance, we have been led to believe that the opposite was true, and indeed, it is true, in the upper echelons of stock car racing... where safety measures have been standardized and mandated. Can we really do less for our young drivers... our children?
Well race fans, as usual, I got more than a little carried away when discussing driver safety. I had meant to touch on a couple other small points, one of which being that our new Cup Champion along with several other prominent drivers, is not eligible for whatever they decide to call the Shootout this year. So be it. Please... don't change the format again to accommodate a single driver. The race has been, with one notable exception that proved to be a failed experiment, a race among pole winners of the previous season. Let's keep it that way. We already have an All-Star race; it's held in May. Brad and the others will keep until the Daytona 500, and it's good incentive for them to concentrate more on qualifying in 2013.
Unless something really untoward occurs, this will be the last Voice For The Fans column before the Holidays, so allow me to take this occasion to wish all of my gentle readers a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful and prosperous New Year. I wish the same for you Mr. France, Mr. Helton, Mr. Pemberton, Mr. Darby and everyone else in Daytona Beach that might stop by to read.
Be well gentle readers, and remember to keep smiling. It looks so good on you!
~PattyKay
Email: nas3car@gmail.com
Twitter: @MamaPKL
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