WHERE IS THE LINEUP?? Do they think we no longer care? They may be right
Stock Car Racing History
You'll have to get that report from Tim or Randy.
Forum Activity for @dave-fulton
Stock Car Racing History
WHERE IS THE LINEUP?? Do they think we no longer care? They may be right
Stock Car Racing History
It ain't difficult to print the AP agate at least, though. Maybe here in Charlotte the NASCAR Hall of Fame could put up one of those crawling digital news boards like they have in Times Square in New York and I could drive downtown(uptown) to see the lineup!
WHERE IS THE LINEUP?? Do they think we no longer care? They may be right
Stock Car Racing History
I got really dissed this morning.
Went out in a downpour to retrieve the morning paper. Opened my Charlotte Observer to check the starting lineup for today's Nationwide race at Daytona - the race with that name I can't seem to get straight.
There was a story and photo of Trevor Bayne earning the pole, but no starting lineup accompanied the article. Not to worry, I thought. I'll just turn to the back pages where they run what we in the trade refer to as "agate" - the various Associated Press boxscores and lineups and standings in that small agate typeface.
There was no lineup for the Daytona Nationwide race in the back pages either. Even in the days of Tom Higgins, the Charlotte paper only covered Cup racing. It always sucked at providing other race coverage. I was spoiled growing up in Richmond where we had two papers that covered the local tracks and the Modified and Late Model Sportsman Series, as well as a radio station that had several local racing shows all the way back in the early 60s.
Ok, I thought. I'll just go over to the "new" NASCAR.com (where I said I'd never go again) and get that Nationwide starting lineup. Did it pop right up? NO. I clicked on the Nationwide Series link. Did the race lineup pop up? No. I got a story on diversity in the Nationwide Series.
There is a race in Daytona this afternoon? Right?
Finally got the lineup at a different site. No, I didn't try the Daytona Speedway site. They and NASCAR.com seem to be only in business to sell tickets, not provide any information.
I thought back to the days in the 60s and 70s of the NASCAR Late Model Sportsman division when it was so wonderful to follow the heroes from all the different local, weekly tracks trying to make the Permatex 300 at Daytona.
Listening to the radio broadcast, each driver in the lineup would get a full bio.... this guy finished 2nd in points at Hickory, this guy was the Summerville track champ, this fellow races at Columbia, this one at Southside. This driver's dad was champ in Birmingham and this guy's brother at Hollywood. Don't try to race this fellow in Asheville or this guy at Jeffco.
Now... nothing. I can't even find out who is in the damned race without an effort. No wonder I care less and less.
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/16/16 07:54:05AM
If Herman Beam Had Been Sponsored by U.S. Post Office...
General
H. Clay Earles issued 500 new tickets to me. We had the section staked out with U.S. Postal Inspectors from Richmond & Henry County, Virginia Sheriff's deputies. No one single original ticket showed up.
If Herman Beam Had Been Sponsored by U.S. Post Office...
General
The U.S. Postal folks have yet to find a certain Certified Mail package containing 500 prime grandstand tickets to the 1981 Old Dominion 500 at Martinsville, Virginia that never arrived at my office in Greensboro, NC.
If Herman Beam Had Been Sponsored by U.S. Post Office...
General
Saw in today's paper a photo of Kyle Petty emceeing and introducing Richard Petty at a United States Postal Service news conference in Daytona to ballyhoo a new stamp series to commemorrate the American Muscle Car. They also had a winged Dodge Charger on hand.
The ole Post Office hasn't had too great of a time with its sponsorship reputation, i.e. Lance Armstrong.
But the thought did occur to me... if Herman Beam had been successful in getting the Post Office to sponsor his car back in the day, then today we'd be able to tell stories of The Turtle Carrying Snail Mail.
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:02:07PM
Sprint Unlimited TV Ratings Tanked... Huge Drop in Viewership
Current NASCAR
I can't blame the businessman you cite. I think getting the cars back to looking similar to the ones on the street is a step in the right direction. Now we need some great racing.
Sprint Unlimited TV Ratings Tanked... Huge Drop in Viewership
Current NASCAR
This report has been making the rounds the past several days from Associated Press:
Sprint Unlimited not a hit on TV
The 2013 NASCAR season got off to a rough start last weekend, at least when it came to TV ratings. The Sprint Unlimited, formerly Budweiser Shootout, earned a 3.3 overnight rating on Fox Saturday night, down 18 percent from last year (4.0) and down 15 percent from 2011 (3.9). It was by far the network's lowest overnight rating ever for the event.
Well, as ole Gomer would say.... "Surprise, Surprise!" NOT.
Since nobody, including the drivers knew what the heck was going on, is it surprising folks tuned out in droves?
I see Daytona announced yesterday that the Twin Qualifiers will be run at night next year. And Charlotte is ready to announce some of the format for the All-Star race.
My advice, folks: Quit messing with things that weren't broken until y'all started messing with them.
Maybe next year all the tweens and Generation Y & X can control the Gen6s with an XBox controller or something... kinda like that old Toyota racing commercial. Where are they finding the folks (besides the family) that keep thinking up the stupid things that are killing off NASCAR?
I hate to admit I had dozed during the first qualifier Thursday until I heard Joy or Waltrip or McReynolds or one of the shouting heads yelling about Hamlin being sideways.
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:04:08PM
Daytona Seeks Sales Tax Rebate to Finance Construction
Current NASCAR
Tim, I have to agree. While I don't support taxes funding these places, the racetracks have been very late getting to the trough. I remember issuing Richmond press releases touting NASCAR as the only professional sport where the fan paid for the seat in which he/she sat. No longer true. Here in Charlotte, our Carolina Panthers have their belly at the trough right now. Need about $262 Million in Stadium improvements.
Now that I think about it, since the team is named C- A- R - O - L - I - N - A, seems only appropriate that tou good folks down around Columbia ante up to the kitty!
Daytona Seeks Sales Tax Rebate to Finance Construction
Current NASCAR
Speedway unveils a true world class home' for racing
NOW : The Sprint Tower and grandstand backsides as they look today may warm the hearts of longtime race fans, but the image people see driving by on International Speedway Boulevard isn't the modern look that Speedway officials want for the front door to Daytona Beach. THE FUTURE : The Speedway's redesigned exterior will bring it into the 21st century of sports stadiums and look like nothing that has come before, with a curved modern faade and five massive gates linked to elevators, escalators, concourses with merchandise sales and refreshments, and all manner of new amenities for fans inside. As Speedway President Joie Chitwood put it: It's big. We're a big property. We want people to know how grand Daytona is. . .what's cool about Daytona. It's big from a history perspective. It's big in the fact that the legends have created their names on our property. And in a redevelopment we've got to make sure we're projecting this big feeling about our property. It is our Super Bowl. So it's got to have that feeling.
Daytona International Speedway / Jim TillerFriday, February 22, 2013 at 8:24 a.m.
DAYTONA BEACH Even Big Bill France Sr. would probably be wowed by the 21st century vision unveiled Friday for the race track he built in 1959.
The vision for Daytona International Speedway includes five massive entry gates with escalators and elevators that would feed throngs of fans into the world center of racing, 10 indoor concourses each the size of a football field where people could get a bite and take a break from a race, and a huge open space overlooking the track that would be part motorsports museum, part sports bar and part memorabilia shop.
At a press conference Friday morning packed with dozens of reporters in town for Sunday's Daytona 500, Speedway President Joie Chitwood shared a video narrated by actor Tom Selleck and new colorful renderings that show all those dreams and more.
Chitwood also announced that legislation could be filed in Tallahassee as early as today that would be aimed at enabling the Speedway to receive sales tax rebates for the first time, provided it invests at least $250 million in its proposed track overhaul.
The common thread running through the multimillion-dollar ideas for the Speedway is their magnitude.
It's big. We're a big property, Chitwood said. We want people to know how grand Daytona is. It's big from a history perspective. It's big in the fact that the legends have created their names on our property. And in a redevelopment we've got to make sure we're projecting this big feeling about our property. It is our Super Bowl. So it's got to have that feeling.
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:04:08PM