A Voice for the Fans ~ NASCAR Doesn’t Love Me Anymore
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I bid you welcome gentle readers, and extend the same
warm welcome to our assigned reader of all things NASCAR related. As editor
here on Race Fans Forever, it’s part of my “duties” to see and approve all
written content seen on our pages. That’s one of the reasons that I love my
job! We have such talented and well-informed folks writing for us that it’s
truly a pleasure to read their work, most of which doesn’t need editing by me
because they’re so good. A few days back, I
received an article from my long-time friend, Vivian Simons, and it took
my mind back to another time in racing… the time I’ve sometimes described as
“When it all began to unravel.”
As I read her thoughts from June of 2004, my mind took
flight and lit on a piece that I had written in January of that year, directly
after hearing the “State of the Sport” message delivered by Brian Z. France,
the “new” CEO of NASCAR after the retirement of his Dad, Bill France Jr. due to
failing health. If anyone among us is a true glutton for punishment, you can
read the transcript of that press conference in its entirety by simply clicking
somewhere around here.
With that said, and possibly read, I’d like everyone
to read at least one answer delivered during that conference by our new
“Leader.” As happens with pressers at times, the question asked was inaudible,
but the answer, given here word for word, speaks volumes… and begs for a
teleprompter and a ghost writer all in the same breath.
BRIAN FRANCE: We weren't in a position to share all the
details because we didn't have all the details, so as a consequence, anybody
who was thinking about what we were going to do, didn't know all the
facts. But that goes with the
territory. What also goes with the
territory is when you make changes, and I am no different as a sports fan or my
favorite restaurant or whatever it is, and you tell me you are going to change
it, I immediately get a little bit nervous.
But over time I will get comfortable with whatever changes there are and
so will our drivers, if it's the right thing to do, and it is, they are going
to get comfortable with it. Our fans are
going to love it because it's going to make racing even better than it is
today. So you know, while we look at
that, it's not something that deters us from moving ahead and doing the right
thing.
Yes, I think that explains the machinations of the
brain that conceived what I’ve always referred to as the “Chase for No
Sponsorship.” My alter-ego, The Lady in Black, christened it as such with her
very first article of 2004 and I’ve never argued for a minute with the veracity
or accuracy of that name.
Now, with the stage set, so to speak, here is my
article, which appeared 4 days after the Press Conference, January 24, 2004 on
the pages of Insider Racing News. When it ran that first time, there was music
playing softly in the background. The song then was Auld Land Syne.
If Weebly cooperates, the music today should be Faded Love.
NASCAR Doesn’t Love me Any More
By: PattyKay Lilley
I don’t think that NASCAR loves me
anymore. Now, what would give me that idea? It is simple logic combined with
telltale behavior. Do you remember your high school dating days? (Those of you
that are now out of high school) All of us, at one time or another, have had
someone break up with us.
About the time that you think that you
and your steady companion are destined to spend the ages together, he or she
slowly becomes less sensitive to your needs and wants. Finally, you hear those
dreaded words, “I think we should start seeing other people.” He or she tells
you that it is not your fault; that you are actually too good for them. They
try to convince you that it is being done for you and it will be a good thing
in the end. Shortly after that, you find yourself on the scrap heap of teenage
romance, while some flirtatious young thing is with your “used-to-be” and is
sporting the ring that you always dreamed of.
Well, that is exactly what I sense is
happening to my relationship with NASCAR. Considering that I live in Georgia
and have been hanging around with NASCAR for some fifty years, they see me as a
comfortable old shoe, but are interested in seeing other people.
Certainly, they have become insensitive
to my needs and wants. As a fan from the “old school”, when they asked my
opinion of some things they were contemplating, I gave it willingly, but it was
as if they never heard me.
They asked me about the “Gentlemen’s
agreement” and I told them that I thought it was ridiculous. There are no more
Ned Jarretts on the track. They listened to me that
time, after a nearly calamitous situation, and did away with the barbaric
practice of racing to the caution flag. Somehow, they forgot to ask me about
the new concept of “giving” laps back that is being referred to as the “Lucky
dog rule.” Instead, they just went ahead and did it, knowing all the while that
it would hurt my sensibilities.
They asked me about taking a race away
from storied old North Carolina Speedway and it made me cry but they took it
anyway. It’s not the first time that has happened either. They have taken away
Hickory, Bowman Gray, South Boston and of course, that granddaddy of all
short-tracks, North Wilkesboro.
They asked me about taking the Southern
500 from Darlington and moving it to the left coast. I told them that tradition
was worth more than money, but they didn’t listen. Then they asked me my
thoughts on the point system and I shared them willingly. I told them that most
of what had been discussed earlier was to my liking.
They talked of giving a point bonus to
the winner, so that he would outscore the second place finisher every time. I
liked that and suggested that it be a meaningful bonus that would make winning
something to strive for, 25 or even better, 50 points for a win. They
grudgingly granted 5 (F-I-V-E) points more to the winner, a lukewarm response
at best.
They talked of freezing points at the
rear of the field, which would have given the rolling wounded no reason to
crawl back onto the track. Perhaps because I liked that idea, they never
implemented it, opting instead to institute a minimum track speed to discourage
the rolling wrecks from coming back out. It was my impression that there always
was
a minimum track speed.
Then they asked me my thoughts on
something they must have dragged out from behind a goalpost somewhere. Someone
that sits in a high place (Are your ears ringing, Brian?) thought it would be a
wonderful idea to institute some sort of play-off scenario. I waited patiently
for an explanation, even when others were feeding the rumor mill with stories.
It was difficult for me to understand how one could have a play-off when there
is only one series. Play-offs in the stick and ball sports are used to
determine the best of several divisions. One does not play off against oneself.
When the explanation came, they told me
not to call it a play-off. It would be known as “The Chase for the
Championship.” That is a nice synonym for “disaster” in my book. They will take
the top ten drivers in the point race and anyone else that is lucky enough (or
good enough) to be within 400 points of the leader and rearrange their points,
so that they will be unreachable by the rest of the field. The leader will be
given 5050 points, the second place driver, 5045 and so on down the line, with
points diminishing in 5-point increments.
[Please note, these were the original rules of the
Chase]
One has to wonder why the leader or
anyone close to him over the summer would try very hard to extend a point lead
that will only be erased after Richmond. Have they simply then, given a reason
for “stroking” to move into a different time frame? Unless their particular
driver is in that precious top-ten, there will not be a happy sponsor in the
series. In reality, the only entity that will be enhanced by this format is
NBC, and that leads us to assume that despite statements to the contrary, they
are the puppeteer pulling the strings.
Then, they went on to tell me that in
the long run it would be good for me; that they were really doing it all for
me. Are you beginning to follow the logic in this? NASCAR is telling me, as
gently as possible, that we are breaking up. When I raised questions as to just
how it would benefit me in any way (or the drivers and sponsors, for that
matter), they merely told me, “It is what it is.”
Well, NASCAR, with full knowledge of “What the meaning of ‘is’ is’”, let
me tell you that what it is, is BS! I am reminded of
Popeye, with a pipe sticking out of the corner of his mouth, singing, “I yam
what I yam,” but this time he bears a strong resemblance to Mike Helton.
While all this was happening, NASCAR was
already seeing other people. What has caught their fickle eye now is no longer
the race-loving southerner that has been their bread and butter for all of
their years. It is a generation of youngsters that know nothing whatsoever of
the history and tradition of the sport, nor do they care.
Everything NASCAR does now is for them.
All of the shiny new stadiums are for them, while I remained content to visit
the ones with concrete bleachers and few working rest rooms. The music played
at on-track concerts is no longer of the Country genre, but a loud, coarse
sounding clamor having no understandable lyrics. At most of the newer tracks,
even the Star Spangled Banner has become an assault to the ears of the old
fans, with performers knowing neither the words nor the tune.
Out on the track, gone are the cars that
looked like they could have been driven from your garage to the track and then
entered in the race. In this new and more polished racing series, the “SC” in
NASCAR now stands for Standardized Chassis rather than Stock Car.
Gone too are the drivers with differing
personalities and almost all of the drivers that dare to have taken more than
forty turns around the sun. Today’s driver is a young, good-looking and
well-spoken little corporate soldier whose primary duty is to represent his
sponsor in a politically correct manner. If he can drive fast, that is even
better. Great drivers like Tiny Lund would not be welcome in today’s NASCAR,
nor would they fit into today’s cars.
It’s rather sad, but I think you will
agree that NASCAR doesn’t love me anymore. We are about to break up, but it is
not of my doing. Now, gentle readers, test your memories. How many of you have
any idea whatever happened to that lost puppy love that you used to know? How
many of you even care? There are not a lot of hands waving out there, but there
was a point to my question.
NASCAR, you can break up with me if you
think it’s for the best, but don’t think for a minute that I will still be
available when your young love dumps you for the next craze down the road. It
always hurts to feel unwanted, but the disease is no more fatal than a
hangnail. Your old fans will be just fine, with you or without you. Think it
over and choose wisely.
That final bit of sage advice is not part of the
original article, but something from my files that I believe made an apt signoff
for that treasured old piece that held and still holds so much of what I think
and feel. Throughout that year of 2004, this scribe wrote a large number of
articles on an equal amount of changes that the new regime brought about, and
not all of them were bad. More might have worked, had they not been based on
bad advice, given I’m sure at great expense, but wrong, nevertheless.
It was the feeling of folks in New York City
boardrooms that the “older generation”, now longingly referred to as “core
fans”, couldn’t hope to keep up with technology or life with computers and
smart phones, and so the target demographic became geared to the 18-35-year olds
and we old farts were quite rudely put out to pasture. Every step of the way
was exactly as I described above in likening my (Our) relationship with NASCAR
to a failed romance.
That, gentle readers, is where NASCAR got it so wrong.
This old fart is not allergic to change and in many cases has willingly and
happily accepted each new part of life as it came along. Today I am a 78-year
old female, well versed in technology, with my own website, 2 computers and a
smart phone, all of which I can and do put to use every single day. Along with
that, I stand as a proud member of the generation that has and uses the largest
amount of disposable income on planet Earth. That’s another thing that Brian
and the boys on the Beach overlooked when they tossed us cavalierly aside.
You’ve read the words written well over a decade ago,
and today you cannot help but see the empty grandstands and the well-published
and plummeting TV ratings. What say you gentle readers? Is this scribe just a
crotchety old woman, out of step with society, or did she have it right from
the start and has everything she predicted come to pass?
Today, I write only for the race fans. This lady is
not and never was a shill for NASCAR, and she has never seen their tyrannical
rulers as perfect. Quite the contrary, there have been some major missteps and
total blunders at the hands of the France family down through the years, but
NASCAR itself always survived and grew, either because of or in spite of them.
This third generation though, has taken what was a good thing and turned it
into merely a tax write-off for losses suffered.
That’s enough from me, for today, tomorrow, next week
and maybe next month. I’ll close by simply pointing out one more time that
there is a vast… astronomical… astounding [ feel free to add your own
superlative adjectives here] difference between being a race fan, which I have
always been and will always be, and being a NASCAR fan. As some tend to do,
there was a time when I might have confused the two, but since the ascension of
Emperor Brian to the throne, the difference has become abundantly clear.
Today gentle readers, our Country Classic Closeout
will consist of a single song. This is Patsy Cline, sharing with us her
hauntingly beautiful rendition of the old Bob Wills favorite, “Faded
Love”… so very stirringly lovely.
Be well gentle readers,
and remember to keep smiling. It looks so good on you!
~PattyKay
