NASCAR Should Have Read This 15 Years Ago - What Do You Think?

24 years ago - back in January 1990, I received a call in my Richmond International Raceway Public Relations/Marketing office from John Barker, who was covering motorsports for the Lakeland Ledger , down in Florida in RR member, Bill McPeek's neck of the woods.

John was excited about a local Lakeland, Florida driver named Joe Nemechek who was entering our February 1990 Richmond Busch Series race the week after Daytona. John was asking about credentials and hotels. He planned to take the train from Lakeland to Richmond to cover Joe's Richmond Busch series debut. Joe did well and we all know him today as "Front Row" Joe .

While looking for information about the race trains we used to take from Richmond to Rockingham back in the 60s, I came across a column by the same Lakeland writer written in 1999 - 15 years ago. He was concerned that NASCAR was turning its back on its short tracks and southern fan base.

I wish the powers that be and the powers that were at NASCAR had read his column back in 1999 and heeded his concerns before the grandstands became empty and the television ratings tanked.

What do you think? Did John have a pretty good crystal ball?

Please note... this column was written a full 2 years before Dale Earnhardt's death, a date many "experts" cite for some reason unknown to me as the beginning of NASCAR's demise.

Dave, It would have been a wonderful thing if nascar had read and listened to this great race writer. It's a bit weird to read your write up and all with the reference to the late Mr. Barker. I owned a business in Lakeland that was located on the Lakeland airport which is close to Joe Nemechek's original race shop. I used to read the Ledger every day and loved John Barker's articles. I used to see Mr. Barker quite often at lunch and always enjoyed chatting with him. Another strange co-incidence is the mention of your train trip to Richmond. When I read your write up I had just gotten off the R.I.R. web site where I was checking avail. and prices for the April 26th & 27th. I also checked the avail. and price of a round trip train ticket from Orlando to Richmond going up Friday and coming home Monday. Some friends of ours have been bugging us to take a train trip and I thought I could do this and get to see a race at a track that's on my bucket list. I don't know if the Motels/hotels in Richmond jack up the price during a race like they do in Daytona and was going to write you and ask if you knew a decent location. The Amtrak site showed two stations in Richmond so I assumed the first one would be the best deal time wise. I sure hope to pull this off and see a race Friday night and Sat. night.

Small world, Bill. Just sent you a note.

John's crystal ball sure was working when he wrote this article.

John was a prophet, for sure. At the time of his article, NASCAR would have definitely disregarded the warning, and they probably would now too. But if the resurgence of Junior don't right the ship, there a'int many silver bullets left.

By the way, we now have the television ratings in for the Waltrip brothers on FOX and their first three NASCAR telecasts of 2014:

EVENT TELEVISION RATING + OR - from 2013

Daytona Minus 43%

Phoenix Minus 3%

Las Vegas Minus 4%

You can only get so many minuses before you reach ZERO. I sure hope NASCAR's target 18 year olds are taking their eyes off their Smart Phones and XBox Ones long enough to watch the parades.

Wow! What a prophet is so right. Wasn't it someone like this who told Julius Caesar back in 44 B.C. to "beware the ides of March" which is today by the way? Julius didn't listen and look what happened to him. Can we substitute NASCAR for Caesar and the New York Marketers for Brutus and Cassius? Caesar died quickly. Unfortunately, NASCAR is suffering a slow and painful death. To make it worse, there are so many out here in race fan land who could revive the sport if NASCAR would only listen. Sometimes I think NASCAR does have ears and may listen to suggestions from time to time. Now is the time to be listening.

Ratings are looking so good!!!! What a great job the Waltrip Duo is doing for FOX. And it will only get worse, I'm sure.

"Beware the Ides of March!"

Now, Tim, you have gone and reminded me of the funny times we had watching the late southern humorist, Brother Dave Gardner perform at Green's Supper Club in Greensboro, NC.

Someone has posted on YouTube a performance of his "Julius Caesar" routine very late in his career - 1982 - in Shelby, NC. You Yankees may need a translator!