Did we make enough noise about where short track racing is going?
Local and Regional Short Track Racing
The local-track issue is super complicated and multi- layered. Perhaps the most difficult to solve has been the cultural shift, which, to their credit, neither the racing community nor NASCAR hold responsibility. For a myriad of reasons, 16 year-olds no longer count the days until the awarding of their driver's license. Difficult to pin-point, but electro-gizmos like mTV, cell phones, the internet even 'monster-jam' are all factors. In post-war America, and through the adolescence of the baby-boomers, cars were king, Chevy vs. Ford vs. MoPar and Detroit was Mecca. But no more. Maybe the demise can be traced to the 1973 Arab oil embargo and Americans discovered a car named "Toyota". At any rate, life has never really been the same. Long/complicated story short, young Americans don't really care about cars or (worse) car competitions. The last of the baby-boomers were 40 years old in 2004, and that seems to more-or-less correlate to the dwindling-onset of motor sports.There were props, along the way, that seemed to indicate all was well. The rise of cable TV and ESPN, in the 1990's, introduced NASCAR and Dale Earnhardt to an eager national audience, only to be further stoked by the Jeff Gordon phenomena of the mid-to-late 90's. It was the good-ol-boys vs. the 'game boy' generation. Ratings went through the roof and tracks could not build seating fast enough. Sadly, the music died in February of 2001. The new and exponential-growth-curve sport of NASCAR was shaken to its very core, and as the 10 anniversary of Dale death approaches, all is not well. The experts all missed or mis-read the signs. The popularity of Earnhardt vs. Gordon was NOT the fact that Gordon was young and was from California, and had a phenom crew-chief, cut his teeth with dirt sprinters, and could make a slick TV-commercial...........no, it was none of that, it was a moment in time, and the culmination of a system that had created BOTH Dale and Jeff. Instead of further augmenting the system, all of racing set out and are STILL searching for the next Jeff Gordon.The system, of course, was the Saturday night short tracks, that had, after all CREATED auto racing. Stock cars in the south and open wheels in the north and mid-west. The south once had two levels of heroes: the 'cup drivers and Sam Ard, Butch Lindley, Jack Ingram, Mike Duval, and Buck Simmons. Local drivers that fans adored AND followed with a passion. With the no-end-in-sight growth of the 1990's, NASCAR made a calculated decision deeming the short tracks as (essentially) disposable. Let others worry with them and their razor-thin profit margins. But, that's not all, the Saturday night stars were integrated into the big-time performing on Saturdays at 'cup-land USA. Among other problems facing local racing, at least the paved versions, it has NO stars. Thank goodness, dirt racing does not suffer as badly with star-robbing and does have its Scott Blooomquists and Steve Kinsers.NASCAR made another tectonic decision, many years ago: Dirt is for farming. Asphalt is for racing. In the 1970's they strong-armed many long-time supporting tracks (Columbia, Myrtle Beach, Savannah, Fayetteville, Hickory, Greenville-Pickens..........) that pavement was the future. Fortunately (for them), RJR's money was still flowing, and Sam Ard was still filling the stands. In spite of their 60-year track record in such things, this may not be as true as they think. Local racing, instantly, was taken out of the lay-participant's hands, and finances (tires, tires, tires, and chassis) While not setting the (financial) woods on fire, dirt racing fans, in large numbers, are the ex-patriots of NASCAR, and the passion is still present. It's also a matter of physics, dirt racing is simply more fun to watch........cars power sliding, in unison, flipping, spinning it's a throw-back to the old days of NASCAR. The typical asphalt parade is just not as entertaining. There are exceptions, of course( BG-Stadium) but the old stalwarts of S.Boston and Hickory are but faint reminders of their past. There is a problem with the product.It's not about hot dogs and baloney burgers its about ENTERTAINMENT. Today's modern fan, if any exist, has to be sold on the concept. Cars running around in single file for 250 laps may impress the old guard, but won't do much for generation X'ers. At any rate, it's not happening, and the same can be extrapolated to big-time NASCAR. Without on-track action and sound entertainment value, endless plush amenities, concessions, and media coverage will not carry the sport to the next culturally-shifted generation. Like any commodity, the product must sell itself.If NASCAR, with all its prominence and clout, is not going to help solve the Saturday night crisis, who is? Well, others are starting to materialize, LUCAS, and the World of Outlaws groups, for example, are already getting their acts together (TV exposure etc.), and Bloomquist has indicated his belief that NASCAR 'Cuppers will be on his level sooner than later. NASCAR, obviously, has the most to gain and loose. They've got to DEVELOP the next Dale Earnhardt. Fans have got to KNOW him, along the way, and their must be a way, a Saturday night speedway...one that's exciting and fun and has good hot dogs.
