First my Negitive take on the sport.
When did NASCAR take a wrong turn in the progression of the sport, and are they really to blame? Could this have been avoided? As fans, we want to see the best show possible. But somewhere along the line this sport has taken a path that has led us to where we are today and I don't think many people are happy with the results. When I step back and look at the sport today, I'm amazed that the amount of money circulating in and around the sport, and the level of support and Technology required to compete. Gone are the days when a good hard working mechanic and a talented driver could WOW the fans and take pride in their efforts. Today's NASCAR is molded and formed in board rooms and crafted by advertising firms with the objective to draw attention to the image and the products shown in the adds that flood todays broadcast of each race. When NASCAR was first shown live on TV, it wasn't to sell products, but it was to show America this sport and the people that made it great. The excitement and spectical that was avaliable each week at tracks across this country. This is the image we all fell in love with.Soon after NASCAR found itself in a tough spot, the sport needed the exposure and the money that it brought, and the sponsors found they could demand much as long as the money to feed the beast was avaliable. With their hands on the checkbooks, CEO's and Corperate Managers now had a say in who drove the cars. To me, this was the beginning of the end of racing. With this being the estabished model, the sport has been pushed and molded into what we see today. A sport driven by competition, feed with corporate dollars and forced to enbrace technology, with the results being an homogenized portrayal of what it once was. Engineers are now the heartbeat of the top teams, and the drivers are only there to drink the colas on screen and mention all the corporate backers in the numerous interviews throughout the race weekend. All this isn't new but it happened so slowly that we failed to notice until it was too late.Could it have been avoided? Yes if we wanted it to. But who is to blame? Speaking for myself, I rejoiced at big money coming to this sport. Winston, STP, and Coca Cola were very welcome in my NASCAR. I was already a huge fan of the sport, and I veiwed the money and exposure as a way to show the folks that looked down on the sport that this was something to notice and pay attention to. NASCAR was for the masses just as much as football or baseball. But as the masses began to notice and pay attention, the Board Room's also noticed and wanted to be part of the spectical, and the spiral out of control began. So I'm just as much to blame as anyone. I welcomed the money and blindly bought my tickets and t-shirts and helped bring this sport down to it's present level. I am so glad I remember what NASCAR use to be and I will hang on to the memories and share them every chance I get. Do you feel guilty?
BT good observation, but, honestly, I don't feel guilty......betrayed or frustrated maybe, but not guilty. I attended the Grand National/Winston Cup series from 1962 until 1983. Listened on the radio, dreamed of TV/NASCAR coverage, and studied the old racing journals and magazines. Like you, I WANTED NASCAR to become a 'major league' entity.........I even remember the wistful..........."sport of the '70's...." and I was proud when Richard Petty was "signed" by STP. In those dark days of the early '70's, major non-Detroit backing was non-existent and I was sure STP's initiative represented the future.But, personally, I've always loved the local scene, and even in the early 1980's, Cup racing was just getting too crowded for me. Sure, I watched on TV and kept up with it everything N-CAR, but I did not return as a spectator until 1998. By the late '90's the sport was extremely healthy, but it was something I barely recognized, and didn't really care to personally pursue.I didn't buy the souvenirs, and the the die-casts and the breakfast cereals, and shop here and there all in the name of NASCAR. What could not have been predicted, was the great ship lost all sense of steering and internal direction. In a very short time, T. Wayne, Bill, Jr. and Dale, Sr. were gone. They could not be replaced, and were not. The sport's direction and guidance was "farmed out" to the outside...........the boardrooms, as you aptly refer, firms that may have known the marketing industry but they didn't and still don't, know NASCAR racing, or what it once was.Their collective decision was to change the product.........greener pastures awaited. The grand transformation was begun. NASCAR, like the culture at large, has spun their downfall every clever way that their money and their marketeer can fabricate. They've sash-shayed around the truth for some time, blaming this and that, but the bottom line is they failed to honor a time-tested axiom: "A Bird in the hand is worth two in the Bush" (no pun intended)
Good comments, good points.I can't say as I feel guilty, either. I grew up listening to races on MRN, back when you only got a handful of events on "broadcast" television. When I had the rare opportunity to meet my heroes back then, it was an absolutely incredible moment for me.I do feel something could have been done - the powers that be could have controlled the costs of racing instead of letting it run rampant. The original intent of NASCAR's 'strictly stock' division was to give everybody the same equal chance to race and to win as the other guy. Now the little guys can't even afford the price of ticket to the 'big show'.I don't feel guilty because the powers that be saw fit to cater to a rich, hipster crowd rather than to all the loyal people who got them where they are. Just like our heroes, we were used while we were needed, then we were thrown away.But I think it's about to come full circle. TV and ticket numbers are down. A good friend of mine told me fewer and fewer of the beat journalists are showing up for the races, meaning there's going to be less and less media coverage.Does that mean things will go back to the good old days? Ask yourself this - would Kyle Busch or Kevin Harvick sit on the tail gate of pick up after a race, eating Vienna Sausages and signing autographs for fans?Both questions have the same answer.
I don't know about the rest of you...............but I'd pay to see that!!
Like the rest of you I am not as thrilled with motorsport as I once was. But I think the point some of us are missing here is that everything changes all the time. What is "better" to someone has much to do with one's age and environment. In other words, my father may say that the true "golden age" of racing was the barnstorming guys with their Millers in the 30s. Most on this site lean toward the 60s and 70s.But what is "better"? The 30s guys mostly owned their cars and did all of their own work. The 60s and 70s brought an unmatched variety of equipment as racers experimented with aero and other technology. Nowdays motorsport is safer than ever and you get more, sometimes much more, than enough media coverage.Yeah I think racing was better in the 70s. But we were also losing 4 or 5 drivers a year, considering all of motorsport. Also the TV coverage amounted to 50 laps worth on Wide World of Sports.So in the end, I'll still watch racing, with all it's vanilla drivers and phantom debris cautions and drivers that whine about the possibility of getting hurt and stupid victory burnouts and outrageous fireworks and confetti. Because with all that and more it's still motorsport, and for me that's the main thing.We can all wish the Beatles were still making music, we can all wish we could stay forever young, but music changes, we grow old, and life goes on. The only choice we have is whetherto stay loyal despite the change, or reject it because of the change. The only thing bitchin about the change will do is make us jaded old men.
Thanks for all your comments. Very well thought out and all well put. I guess the bottom line is, as Bill says, are we gonna stay loyal to the sport as it is today or are we to reject it. For me I will continue to watch it but I'm afraid I will watch only with the enthusiasm I apply towards eposodes of Bill Dance.
Its all relative...things change...we all liked it better then than we do now...no matter what it is. I think thats normal. When you take something we were passionate about, such as our racing, the natural evolution is even harder to accept. But....today's racing has so much to offer to those willing to "accept" it. TV, talk radio 24/7, in-car video and audio give the fan of today more insight than we ever dreamed of. Its just different...with different players...different circustances...harder to accept for older fans.....a generational disconnect of sorts. I don't like the cars as much as I did in the 60s 70s...I don't relate to the driivers as much as I did in the 60s and 70s, but it is still racing, and I LOVE racing. If one does not take the time to realize what Jimmie Johnson is accomplishing right now, one is missing an opportunity to enjoy history in the making....not to mention what Tony Stewart has done. To me...seeing what he an Knaus have accomplished is amazing. Yea, its different...there are engineers involved, but there were some great engineering minds that were involved in the past, too...they just may not have had engineering degrees. How about Jake Elder....Aalan Kulwicki...Ralph Moody...or Herman Beam. You're right BT, we helped create the evolution that has occurred. We bought into it until our ages and the sport's evolution began to "disconnect". I enjoy the racing now, while remembering the "way it was". Its not going to change...and NASCAR is probably not going out of business any time soon. I certainly hope not...I have a lot of friends who make their living and care for their families from its existence.Good points fellas! Its theropy without the cost of a "theorpist"...lol.
Tim,Slim,Jim and the others that have reservations on what today vs yesterday means to us should best leave the pin alone on this subject because what has been posted above voices my concern of our second love,i still haul my car on an open trailer and yes there is a cooler in truck bed with"soft" drinks in it and if you look in the cab you may just find a loaf of bread and a big can of Viennas because they were there then and will be there tomorrow . Long live the dirt short track and that distinct smell . Thats what is called ------------------------------------------memories