A Voice for the Fans ~ Where Have All the Fans Gone?


I bid you welcome gentle readers, and of course a warm welcome as well to our assigned reader of all things NASCAR, be you human or computer. By the end of the column, we usually have been upgraded to a human several steps up the ladder, so let’s get on with this one.

 

It’s Tuesday morning as I belly up to the keyboard, and the Martinsville overnight ratings have just come out. I think I’ll just go back to bed. How much more discouraging can it get? A 2.2, down 12% from last year’s 2.5… which was down 42% from 2014’s 3.8. That, gentle readers, is painful for me to read. For the current climate in NASCAR racing, which is frigid, to be sure, the crowd at the track looked quite good. Of course, since the numbers fell through the floor over the past few years, NASCAR no longer published attendance figures, much as they no longer publish monies won by drivers in any race. It’s all part of their new “transparency” policy, I guess.

 

OK race fans, I have to be missing something. As stated, the crowd at the track looked pretty good from my living room, yet the ratings are much like the ones for a pre-season Triple-A Baseball game. NASCAR has come through, albeit condescendingly, with a lower downforce set-up that has improved racing, especially at those snooze-fest 1.5-mile tracks that the sport is overrun with today.

 

Racing at Martinsville needs no help, and never has. She is a little world unto herself, and the racing is always good… never lacking for excitement… and the cameras seemed to do a better job of showing some of that this week, maybe because she’s only a half-mile around. Folks, educate this scribe please? What in the consarn cat-hair do you want? We have a race at the best track on the circuit; the weather is cool but beautiful, with bright sunshine all day long. Why, oh why, was no one watching?

 

Oh, I know the first thing I’ll hear in the comments is that it was boring because Kyle Busch led a lot of laps and won the race. NO! It was not boring, and besides, how would you know? You weren’t even watching! Kyle Busch won because he raced his a$$ off and earned it, and anyone that doesn’t like that is free to stop reading right now. He drives for a top team, Joe Gibbs Racing, and has a crackerjack pit crew as well. If his name were Dale Earnhardt Jr., you’d still be applauding… oh, but you weren’t watching, so your applause would have come later, on social media.

 

Gentle readers, this is a spiel such as I haven’t written since circa 2004, and at that time it was anyone even remotely associated with Brian Z. France that drew my wrath. Today, that is not the case. That man will never see racing in the same light as I do, but you… you call yourself race fans, and that title becomes more laughable by the minute. No, I’m not implying in any way that none of you are race fans. I’ll align myself with anyone still watching and enjoying stock car racing, but I no longer care to be associated with the hypocrites that walk among us.

 

There is a group of folks out there that cling to the title of “race fan” as though it were created for them alone, yet from the other side of their mouths spew words of derision and downright hate at times for any and all things related to racing today. That is never to be confused with racing “yesterday” or perhaps yesteryear would be a more appropriate word. These are folks that long for what used to be and cannot tolerate what is. They wouldn’t be happy if fed milk and honey from a golden spoon unless a driver from the distant past were administering the cocktail. Their greatest happiness comes from putting down others, and Kyle Busch seems to head that list of others at the moment. That will change; it always does, but they’ll be just as nasty and accusatory then as they are now, just toward some other unlucky recipient.

 

When Sunday’s race had ended, one of the cameras caught Kyle, alone for a moment or two with his baby son Brexton. Unaware that anyone was nearby with a camera, he was making googly faces for the baby and rubbing noses. Both father and son were laughing uproariously and obviously having the time of their lives playing with each other. Really folks, who can hate that? Remember, NASCAR is a “family sport” and has always been billed as such.

 

Another thing was caught on camera after the race. If you click right about here, you’ll be swept away to the pages of WCNC.com where a short video awaits you, filmed by Kyle’s wife, Samantha Busch. If more drivers treated their fans this way perhaps more of you might be watching… or not. I realize that words from me won’t change a single thing or convince a single one of you to turn on that TV. You feel it has become somehow “fashionable” to be anti-racing, or more to the point, anti-NASCAR, and vote with your TV tuner. That is fine; the choice will always be yours; but would you do the rest of us a huge favor and stop calling yourselves race fans?

 

I’ve been told many times that my love for racing comes through clearly in my words, and I hope more than at any other time, that is true today. This is not the article that was in my head as I went to bed. This is what came out as I started to type and slowly realized I was mad as that proverbial wet hen. Back in January, long before this season even began, I wrote a column entitled “Improving the Fan Experience”, which is NASCAR speak for telling the world they are doing it all for us, when in reality, they are doing it for money, and we are but a necessary nuisance.

 

In that column, I answered a question that was asked of me only a few days ago by someone that respects my thoughts and opinions concerning racing, both today and yesterday, but he had somehow missed it. This is an excerpt from that column that pertains to the cable TV ratings and why NASCAR signed a 10-year $8.2 Billion contract with them and then allows races to be shown on off-channels instead of the main broadcast channels, FOX and NBC.

 

Something even funnier by way of an excuse, and this is by no means only applicable to Richmond, but nationwide, is the idea that fans are not going to the tracks because “a lot of fans are choosing to watch it from the comfort of their own homes.” Oh, please allow an old lady to call BS on that one and scream it from a mountain top! One has only to follow the TV ratings to know that fans have turned away from stock car racing in vast numbers. The fans that remain are being used in an attempt to boost the ratings of a couple of Cable channels, FOX Sports 1 and NBCSN. While it’s true that airing races on those channels places them where many fans can’t even get the channel or don’t choose to pay exorbitant Cable prices for the privilege, it has still increased the channels’ viewership to a great degree. NBCSN is quite new in that format. It used to be VERSUS, and before that it lived a lonely life as the Outdoor Life Network. FOX FS1 did not exist until SPEED Channel disappeared from our TV sets, which makes it fairly easy to understand that their ratings as cable channels had nowhere to go but up.

 

That’s it in a nutshell, as they say… whoever “they” are. There is one more thing, or maybe two, that I’d like to point out while we’re here. NASCAR on TV became a reality with that much ballyhooed Daytona 500 on CBS way back in 1979. As it slowly grew in popularity through the 1980s and 1990s, races were carried on several channels… CBS kept rights to the Daytona 500 and ABC had the spring race at Atlanta. NBC wasn’t interested in racing back then, so as new tracks began to come on air, they were for the most part shown on ESPN, TBS and a bit later, TNN. Races on the main channels were very few compared to those on Cable. Remember… those were the times when everyone claimed to be a race fan, and I never heard one of them complain about races being on Cable. When our little back woods Cable Company in Toccoa finally got ESPN2, I took a single red rose in a pretty vase to the gal there that had worked so hard to get it for me. Back then, we wanted cable!

 

Today, all we hear is complain, complain, and complain. It’s time to realize that neither NASCAR nor the TV Networks are yours or mine; they are in business to make money, as hard as that seems to swallow for many. Everything they do is not necessarily mean or evil. This was a case of one hand helping the other. NASCAR came out of the deal with $8.2 Billion guaranteed over a 10-year period and the networks came away with a sure-fire way to build those budding babies they put on the air as fledgling cable networks.

 

While we’re on that subject, I hear over and over again that this or that person can’t get FS1, yet in many cases I know for a fact that person watched SPEED Channel religiously. Want to know a fun fact? It’s the SAME CHANNEL! When my Cable Company learned that SPEED would be leaving, they obligingly took it off the higher tier and put it down where it had always belonged, in my humble opinion. When the switch came, SPEED just faded away in the distance and FS1 was born; same bat time; same bat channel. If that didn’t happen for you, then you ought to be seeking a new Cable Company because yours is doing you wrong. Every channel involved in showing NASCAR this year should be on your lowest tier, and they include FS1, FOX, FS2 (no races, only side programming), NBC, NBCSN, CNBC and USA.

 

Well gentle readers, I guess that will do for defending my Pretty Little Martinsville for now. We’re off to Texas for one of those dreaded Saturday night races. I wonder how low the ratings will dive for that one. I have no stake in Texas other than a couple of friends that live within driving distance. It’s one heck of a commute from North Georgia, and a trip I won’t be making in this lifetime, but I still can’t believe the great number of you that didn’t watch Martinsville. That is truly heartbreaking to this old lady.

Time now for our Classic Country Closeout and we’re starting it out today with Johnny Paycheck singing one of his biggest hits, “Take This Job and Shove it!”

As soon as I put that music on, I recalled having written a parity version sometime back in 2014. Since then, I must say that most of the complaints contained within it have been answered since this was penned. That being the case, please consider coming back to racing. To quote Donnie Allison when asked for his thoughts on today’s racing, “You still go on green and race to the checkers. It’s still racing.”

 

C’mon, sing along and have some fun. For my part, I wrote this when things were different. Those things are on the mend and I hope to always be a race fan. Won’t you join me in that?

 

Take This Sport and Shove It

 

Take this sport and shove it; we ain't watchin' this no more.

Brian done come and killed all the reasons, we was racin' for.

Those empty seats gonna stay that way, 'cause we done slammed the door!

Take this sport and shove it; we ain't watchin' this no more!

 

Well, I been watchin' this racing thing, nigh on sixty-five years

All that time it's sure been fun, but also been a lot of tears.

Watched a lot of good men die; they didn't have to go that way.

Now it's time for the few fans left to stand right up and say...

 

Take this sport and shove it; we ain't watchin' this no more.

Brian done come and killed all the reasons we was racin' for.

Empty seats gonna stay that way, 'cause we done slammed the door!

Take this sport and shove it; we ain't watchin' this no more!

 

The President's just a "yes" man and the CEO's an ass!

How can anyone call it racin', when the cars can't even pass?

Parades are lots of fun to watch, on days like the 4th of July

But fans want to see real racin', and NASCAR doesn't even try!

 

Take this sport and shove it; we ain't watchin' this no more.

Brian done come and killed all the reasons we was racin' for.

Empty seats gonna stay that way, 'cause we done slammed the door!

Take this sport and shove it; we ain't watchin' this no more!

 

No more buyin' your tickets; no more watchin' on TV

There ain't no racin' to be had; there's nothing left to see.

You'll find us watching football or maybe playin' in the pool

But we won't be watching racin', 'cause we're tired of playin' the fool.

 

(So you can)

 

Take this sport and shove it; we ain't watchin' this no more.

Brian done come and killed all the reasons we was racin' for.

Empty seats gonna stay that way, 'cause we done slammed the door!

Take this sport and shove it; we ain't watchin' this no more!

 

 

 

Now, holding to my contention that NASCAR racing and Classic Country have always belonged together, here is a lovely video of George Jones doing “Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes?”

Next up here’s Conway Twitty with a song I’ve always loved to cry over, “That’s My Job.” Listen to the lyrics and imagine Kyle and Brexton.

Finally, one that I just felt like playing because I love both the song and the singer. This is Tex Ritter offering his version of “God Bless America Again.”

And… it is now Wednesday evening, and the entire world of Country Music is in mourning at the loss of one of our last truly Classic singers, Merle Haggard. I have no pretty words tonight, only tears. Merle was just a year older than I am; the big difference was, he could sing like an angel.

 

The minute I got the word that Hag had died, I knew exactly what song I would offer as my personal lament at his loss. Here then is the beautiful “Silver Wings.” Rest in Peace Hag. You will be missed forever, but you’ve moved on to be with some very great company.

 

Be well gentle readers, and remember to keep smiling. It looks so good on you!


~PattyKay