Ill start this off by saying that Im an old school fan but, I still love the sport today. Maybe Im not as passionate about it as I once wasbut I love NASCAR racing. But, some of what I see happening in the sport right now is down right disturbing. The personality of the sport seems to be vanishing. It is becoming more and more corporate. Going or gone are the characters, the personalities, the good old boys that attracted us (we, the older generation fan) in the first place.Ive gotten used to (reluctantly) the new vanilla cars. Ive seen the drivers become more like polished corporate spokes people, but I cant get used to what is happening to the sports personality, for lack of a better word. It seems like the fans may be loosing touch with that aspect of the sport. Nowadays it appears there are more and more people who just want to be a fan and really dont know the players. One might look at this on the surface and think this could be a good thing. With all the drama, especially now with all the economic woes, drivers are bouncing around, some good ones dont have rides and the sponsorship scenario is changing from year-to-year.The concern I have has to do with something that has set NASCAR racing apart from other arenas for advertisers for a long time. Brand loyalty has long been something that made this sport special. NASCAR fans by the products represented by their favorite driver. So what happens in a sport when the personalities are gone? What happens to brand loyalty when a favorite driver no longer has long-term sponsorship association? What happens when the fans care more about the party and less about the drivers? Will the fans still buy the products they see advertised at the race track and on TV? Will they still be the brand loyal fans of the past? What happens too brand loyalty without driver loyalty?Writing this, I cant help but think about all the characters that have come through this sport and left their mark. Curtis Pops Turner, the Fabulous Flock brothers, Fireball Roberts, Junior Johnson, Fearless Fred Lorenzen, Little bud Moore, Tiny Lund, Buck and Buddy Baker, Gentleman Ned, the King, the Intimidator, Handsome Harry, Rusty, and many more. NASCAR fans of old used to pick a driver and remain a fan of that driver even after he retired.A couple of weeks ago I heard representatives from Ford, Chevy, Chrysler, and Toyota say they want to continue supporting the sport because they sell more cars to that demographic than others. I also heard a couple of them say the old occurrence of what wins on Sunday sells on Monday is something of the past. But that was backed up by saying they do get more clicks on their web sites when they win.We can only hope for less drama and the continued development of this new style of polished, politically correct, well-spoken driver of tomorrow. Perhaps in their own way they can create a loyal fan base to buy their sponsors products well into the future. But, with the new all-corporate attitude of some of the teams, who are responding to the pressure to win from the high-dollar sponsors of today, the drivers of tomorrow have a tough road ahead. They have to win, never show their anger, allow us to listen to their team radio conversations, fulfill all their sponsor requirements, and somehow attract base of loyal fans. All this... without even a proper nickname.