2001 . . . An Odyssey Indeed

The death of a seven-time champ . . .

The last day of what, at least in my
humble opinion, was a horrible, yet memorable, year is indeed welcome,
Performing my ‘usual’ routine of reading news/sports stories on the Internet,
it’s plain to see there’s not much going on in the NASCAR motorsports world at
the moment save exclaiming that the death of Dale Earnhardt in February topped
all sports stories in 2001.

Proclaiming that the seven-time champion’s
untimely, and most likely unnecessary, demise will bring even more attention to
safety issues in NASCAR racing remains to be seen. At least in my eyes.

As a fan since the mid-60’s, I’ve
seen/read about a lot of deaths in all forms of motorsports. All tragic, all
equally important to loved ones and friends of the deceased . . . and all due to
safety issues in a sport that literally defies death every time a driver straps
in and starts the engine.

Especially at NASCAR’s restrictor plate
tracks – Talladega Superspeedway and Daytona International Speedway. Earnhardt
was outspoken about the danger of restrictor plate racing, even though he was,
without doubt, a master of the draft.

"Get the hell out of the race car
if you’ve got feathers on your butt."

Typical Earnhardt retort to the publicized
complaints of some other, some younger, drivers. After Adam Petty and Kenny
Irwin were killed at New Hampshire International Speedway, there were rumblings
of a driver no-show at the track’s 2000 Fall event. Safety issues were at the
forefront, and while some drivers openly expressed their fear of what was
possibly a defect of some kind in Turn 3, Earnhardt was vocal about the fact
they all had a "job" to do.

I’ll be honest and say that I never liked
Earnhardt at all until he won at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March 1996 – the last
win before he finally took his first, and only, Daytona 500 victory in February
1998 some 59 events later. Covering the event for Racing Information Systems, I
was in the Press Box when a man who I had cursed under my breath more than
several times appeared for his winner’s interview.

Much to my surprise, Earnhardt was not the
same persona I had watched over the years competing on the track. And I’ll never
forget the twinkle in his eye, and the grin on his face, as he talked about
having raced the very same car he won the NAPA 500 with in November 1995, and
lost his bid at an eighth championship by a mere 34 points to Jeff Gordon. Nor
was he the same man that beat Mark Martin ("my" driver) at
then-Charlotte Motor Speedway’s all-star ‘The Winston’ in May 1993 — a night
when he rattled Martin’s concentration by jumping the green flag in the final
segment and causing a complete restart.

Yes, Earnhardt’s gone and racing
continues. However, despite how hard NASCAR and it’s anointed journalistic
partners try, he will never "be replaced." There’s simply no driver
worthy of being annointed ‘The Intimidator.’

Beg to differ, David . . .

On December 30, I read David Poole’s
column – What
about the biggest non-stories in racing? – and was more or less unaffected
until I got to this statement:

" . . . NBC’s work in the second
half of the season was better than anything ESPN – the sainted martyr of
television in the eyes of many disgruntled fans – ever did, and NBC’s work still
looked lackluster compared with the new standard set for the sport by Fox in the
season’s first half.

How can anyone possibly make the
statement, with such certainty, that what NBC did in half a season "was
better than anything ESPN . . . ever did" yet came across
not-as-spectacular as the Fox productions? Gee, maybe NBC should just sell their
rights to Fox and get it over with, and ESPN should consider not giving NASCAR
any ‘press’ at all. Talk about a proverbial slap in the face.

And Poole’s equally ridiculous statement:

"Some people actually sit in front of
the television with a stopwatch, measuring the amount of commercial time during
a race broadcast. You can tell them all you want to that the amount of
advertising time in a race is no different from the time in a half-hour or
one-hour prime-time show, but they won’t listen."

Hello . . . David . . . since when is a
NASCAR Winston Cup Series event the same as a prime time television show?? Of
course viewers will complain about five-minutes of commercials during pit stops,
and missing most green flag restarts. These races are not NFL games where
commercial breaks can conveniently be ‘inserted’ while the players catch their
collective breaths. Nor is it "The X Files" where viewers are able to
sit in suspense until the storyline resumes after the words from the sponsors or
station identification.

I’m certain we all know that money is what
makes the world go around, but it’s certainly irritating to continuously watch
on-track incidents on replays when said incidents occurred while the same
commercial was running for the umpteenth time in an afternoon.

And while "the networks lost at least
$100 million on the deal this year," all I can say is that’s what happens
when greed becomes the driving force in anything. Sure, the television deal cost
billions, but just who bid on it driving the price up. Then, started off the
season by virtually ‘dissing those team sponsors who didn’t belly up to the cash
register of the network marketing department with even more millions for paid
advertising. A lot of fans would say the networks placed too much value on the
coveted NASCAR broadcasting.

Memories aren’t so short that the hoopla
touted at the end of the 1999 season telling fans that with the networks taking
over the coverage reins, we wouldn’t have to be searching week-in and week-out
to find the races.

Count this household in among the many who
were unable to watch qualifying on CNNSI because of non-digital cable providers.
Or, how about the countless fans who weren’t successful in ‘strong arming’ their
cable companies to carry FX. Also, why was the NBC/TBS partnership changed to
TNT after the big announcement?

Oh yes, why is it that nearly every darn
broadcast on TNT, including the awards show, filled with squiggly lines due to a
weak signal from the originator of the broadcast leaving them virtually
unviewable? No, this wasn’t the only house in Northern Virginia that had the
problem. Evidently the local NBC station was able to boost the signal leaving
just irritating flickers rather than total washouts on the television screen.

Come to think of it, the last couple of
years TNN had broadcast rights, the same thing happened. Seems ESPN and Fox were
somehow able to overcome any signal degradation whatsoever, while other
providers weren’t.

For whatever reasons.

Finally, the suggestion that viewers want
"no commercials" but don’t want to pay to watch races is a telling
statement. It’s not a "no commercials" issue here, it’s where the
commercials are always placed. That’s the issue. As far as paying to watch races
on television, I know it wouldn’t be a regularly scheduled expense item on the
household budget here. With a monthly cable bill that hovers around $70 for
top-tier accessibility and HBO/Cinemax, paying for 2, 3 or 4 NASCAR events each
month would cause a big deficit in the ol’ checkbook.

The rich get richer . . . and most of us
"regular" working class types can find something else to do, most
likely for free.

Looking to 2002 . . .

Who will win the championship next season?
The reason fans start clamoring for NASCAR nearly as soon as the last checkered
flag waves. Likely suspects for the honor will be Jeff Gordon, of course, Kevin
Harvick, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Tony Stewart . . . .

If ‘we’ could make it to the last event,
which will now be Homestead-Miami Speedway, and have at least a top-5 so close
it could be anybody’s ‘game,’ well folks, that would be exciting. To be able to
see Robby Gordon’s name up there in the top rankings vying for the trophy, after
he received so much bad press in his earlier Winston Cup attempts, would rank
right up there with memories of seasons’ past. Or, how about Sterling Marlin,
Ward Burton, Jeremy Mayfield, Jeff Burton. Someone new, someone less
predictable.

If the high cost of racing continues to
spiral upward, we might not be watching 43-car fields any longer. Sure, sponsors
get camera time which can equal millions of dollars in advertising value, but
not with the new rules which evidently don’t concern those high in the Daytona
Beach tower who disavowed any knowledge of the "fine print" in the new
television contracts. Those hell-bent on beating the NFL in the ratings game and
obviously the $$ game.

Maybe someday someone down South will be
quick enough to figure out that there’s a big difference between sporting events
that take around two hours to complete (which includes races sanctioned by the
American Speed Association) and NASCAR Winston Cup Series events that, depending
upon whether Mother Nature cooperates, can take 3 to 4 hours, or two days. The
old adage about getting more flies with honey than vinegar is appropriate. And
so, while I’ll be happy when the engines rev for another season of NASCAR and
racing in general, the previous years’ completely-at-a-loss-without-it
feeling/attitude is gone.

The event of February 18 and the
never-ending attempts at making race fans forget and refocus elsewhere, along
with the enormously egregious events of September 11, have cured me of that.
There is a real life to be lived, and enjoyed.

Happy New Year to all. God Bless.