[NASCAR] Speed Addicts

Archive

Speed Addicts: Volume XIX

ie The Day Speed Addict Lost It

For all you race fans out there, I bid you good tidings here at the conclusion of a really bleak week for yours truly. For you casual sports fans visiting us for the first time, I’m just a regular, rarely-visited personality here amongst a slew of ’em at Inside Pulse Sports. And for everyone else, welcome to the clubhouse. Normally, you’d get blasted with so much useless garbage, it’s not even funny. Not this week, though. If you regular readers click over to this column to be entertained by my dorky ways, then you need to hit the back button on your browser, because this isn’t going to be your cup of tea. For the rest of you, be aware that I’m not normally this bitchy or down on the sport which I was chosen to cover. For those that want an explanation for the absence of the promised RaceDay Pulse column and my absence from the site last week, you’d best be served to come back next Saturday, or stare at the IP Sports page all week. I don’t care either way.

Two weeks ago from Sunday, I set out on a little mini-quest of sorts to cover damn near 1,300 miles worth of auto racing, taking in Formula 1, Indy Racing League, and NASCAR action in the process. To say that I got a little burnt out after nearly eighteen hours of nothing but racing is redundant, but something else began to get my attention. After an unexpected week off from writing, I just so happened to pick up the sports section of the Gaston Gazette, my hometown newspaper, and in it was a rather touchy article regarding the recent fate of Rockingham, the much maligned Winston Cup destination that was butchered by the higher-ups in favor of California Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway, respectively. While it still sucks not to have racing at Rockingham, the thing that got me the most about the whole situation is when I read that the city of Rockingham, along with other locales within its county, are actually doing more business without NASCAR. For the record, allow me to describe what Rockingham is like for all you that don’t live in North Carolina. Rockingham holds two particular traits to those of us in North Carolina and upstate South Carolina. For one, it’s the site of a very popular (or once popular) race track nicknamed “the Rock” that NASCAR’s Grand National and Winston Cup series had been tearing up for decades. The town, much like Bristol and Darlington, would swell in population on race weekends, as people from Charlotte, Wilmington, and the rest of the Piedmont drove down for a weekend. The town that produced legendary NASCAR driver Benny Parsons was a sister to Darlington, Charlotte, and North Wilkesboro in the “Carolina Clique” of race towns.

The other trait that it holds? It alerts you to the fact that you’re officially a 1/4th of the way to Wilmington if you’re traveling down U.S. 74, or that you’re only an hour and a half away from Charlotte if you’re on the way back from the c. Hamlet is the halfway point, and Lumberton is the 3/4ths mark on the journey. The City of Lumberton actually holds some value to wrestling fans (none of it pleasant, though), as the city was the site of the plane crash that damn near took Ric Flair out of wrestling, not to mention taking his life. With no offense to the fine folks that live out in the Sandhills, Rockingham wasn’t even worth stopping in for a fill up or breakfast on the way to the beach (for those of you that live in this region of North Carolina, we actually prefer to stop in Hamlet, not Rockingham. Ponder that thought and despair). To see a little racing town like Rockingham not even put up a fight, but rather accept the post-NASCAR era in the town is almost like watching a Red Sox fan move to New York and not only accept living in enemy territory, but embracing the Yankees as your new favorite team. It’s just not kosher. Which brings me to my main focus of hostilities itself, the group that brought about this little tirade: the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, or NASCAR for our less-astute readers out there.

NASCAR is attempting to do what wrestling did in the 1980s: go national. For the better part of four years now, NASCAR has attempted (stress the world attempted) to shed its Southern roots/image in favor of a more contemporary, modern, “National” image. In order to achieve this, over the course of the past ten years or so, the organization has slowly begun to phase out a lot of the older, historically rich tracks in favor of brand spankin’ new tracks. North Wilkesboro, an even smaller version of Bristol with just as much excitement? Gone. Rockingham? Gone. The craterous Riverside? Gone. Darlington? Cut down to a solitary race in May that no one cares about. In the place of these tracks come circuits like California, Kansas, Chicagoland, and Texas, which with all due respect, are f*cking copies of other tracks! Texas has good racing, no? Well Hell, it ought to, since it’s a damn clone of Charlotte and Atlanta! You know, when you tune into a race, and have trouble distinguishing if you’re watching a race in California or Michigan, you’ve got a big ass problem. The problem with these tracks (and Las Vegas, don’t think I’m not looking at you either), is that they’re all the same, and none of them are so incredibly exciting that would necessitate tracks to be build just friggin’ like them. Kansas, Chicagoland, Las Vegas… it’s like the damn architects just lifted the damn designs from each other when they constructed these tracks, because outside of the scenery change, there’s not a damn bit of difference between them.

Here’s a hint. Rockingham was an exciting race that no one watched. California is a boring race that everyone watched. See the paradox here? If you need something to tie this all together, NASCAR is in what appears to be the Doughnut Age, where tracks are being built in the same fashion (the Doughnut was a popular term for those big, round multi-purpose stadiums that sprung up all over the place in the 1970’s). But if we look past the track design (and race quality) for a moment, you’ll notice what I’ve been preaching for months now. NASCAR has begun to migrate north and westward, and it’s obvious. When the new track in New York finally goes up, Darlington will be history. Martinsville may also be living on borrowed time, if only because Martinsville is straddling dangerous territory. It’s too small to be a worthwhile market for the new NASCAR, but it also lacks some sort of geographical feature that would save it. Tracks like Bristol are saved not only by the excitement of the race, but by it’s geographical setting, along with the fact that it’s a damn good race, and 190,000 people will fill the stands each week. Bristol has somehow managed to become a viable market, though how the Hell they were lucky enough to achieve such status is still a mystery. But back to Martinsville for a second; the track is situated in the middle of a rural county, and it’s already fighting for attention with the bigger (and genuinely superior) Richmond circuit. If you think Martinsville is untouchable, then you need to think again.

There’s only a handful of tracks that are genuinely safe. Daytona is one of them, though the thought of a Superspeedway in New York does put some fear into me, considering how much NASCAR loves the idea of being in New York. California is obviously safe, because it’s the closest you’re going to get to Los Angeles, and Hollywood appeals to NASCAR. The aforementioned Bristol is safe, because no other track draws like Bristol. After that, the list grows shorter. Charlotte may not be Daytona or Indianapolis, but we’re blessed with the business acumen of Humpy Wheeler, and with the state of North Carolina giving NASCAR everything short of a … insert your own perverted idea here … it will be hard to get away from Charlotte any time soon. Atlanta, on the other hand, has not had the best track record with attendance over the past few years. Scary thought, considering Atlanta joins Darlington, Charlotte and Daytona as being the cradle of NASCAR’s infancy.

Okay, so we’re trying to save the history and tradition of NASCAR. But we also have to expand the sport, because money is all that matters to anyone anymore. Don’t even contemplate it, because you know it’s true. So how do you let the sport grow without butchering your roots? The main problem is racing most tracks twice, sans the road courses. The solution would be to race only a couple of tracks twice, then everywhere else would grab a single race. Bristol, Phoenix, Charlotte, Richmond, and Daytona would grab two races, each. Every other track would get cut down to one race. Darlington would move back into the Labor Day Weekend spot, California would move back it’s original May slot, the road courses will remain in their spots. Atlanta and Homestead-Miami would switch, putting Atlanta back in the closer role. Indianapolis will stay, if only as the proverbial “f*ck you” to the IRL. Now then, with so many open slots to fill, where do we turn now? Well, here’s your chance to grow. Assuming that we blow up New Hampshire, Boston and New York could both use new tracks, since they’re such valuable markets. How about Toronto, to try and expand across international borders? Washington, St. Louis, and Seattle all have prime real estate that’s just itching for a track to be built. Hell, we’ll even thrown in North Wilkesboro and Rockingham for kicks. Riverside has unfortunately been demolished, but to be fair, that track (like North Wilkesboro now) was going to Hell in a hand basket anyways.

Of course, NASCAR is so firmly entrenched in the midst of a long-standing civil war between Speedway Motorsports and International Speedway Corporation, so this idea will never happen. To wit, Speedway Motorsports have control over Bristol, Atlanta, Infineon, Texas, Charlotte, and Las Vegas. ISC holds the rights to tracks including California, Daytona, Phoenix, Darlington, Watkins Glen, Talladega, and Richmond. Aside from the split ownership groups, you have to remember that track owners are not going to give up dates that will bring them the almighty dollar. God, what a world we live in, no?

Do you want to know why I’m so upset about this? Because NASCAR is traveling down a dangerous road, and no one seems to give a damn. Let’s not kid ourselves; NASCAR is a Southern cup of tea. To everyone else, it’s a really popular fad (witness how the Coke 600 got pulverized by the power of Danica Patrick, the next big thing). The NASCAR Hall of Fame should only go to one of two places: Daytona (the biggest track in NASCAR) or Charlotte (the home of NASCAR). But New York will grab the honors, along with a brand new track and two races while places like Darlington and Martinsville are butchered. NASCAR has done everything it can to change its image. Hell, it even abandoned Winston in favor of the more PC Friendly Nextel as its title sponsor, a sacrilegious move to most rednecks. What will eventually happen is that NASCAR will completely destroy the fan base that exists in the South in favor of the more contemporary North and West. Except the NASCAR bubble, like the wrestling bubble, can only last so long. Unlike baseball, basketball, or football, the NASCAR allure is in the excitement of the race, not necessarily the characters (though Dale Jr. is a popular negation of this statement). Unfortunately, with nothing but suck-ass tracks left, there’s a reason why races have sucked hard this year. The harder NASCAR tries to push away from its roots, the more it will alienate its largest fan base. It will eventually reach the point where the bubble will burst, and NASCAR wont be so popular anymore. And no one here or there will care, and that’s a tragedy. This isn’t jealousy over losing our sport; this is anger over the insanity that is running rampant. And everyone sees it, yet no one cares enough to correct it. So congratulations, NASCAR! You’re well on your way to wiping out your Southern roots in favor of being taken seriously by the rest of the free world! You apparently want to screw over your biggest fans at every turn, and more power to you. NASCAR, you’re a joke. Fuck you.

Enjoy Pocono, guys. I wont be watching. See you next week for another worthless addition for an increasingly worthless sport.