Do Ya NASCAR?
Indulge me for a bit as share with you the
reality that I live in when I don’t have my diecast lined up on the coffee
table next to my beer, and my driver shirt du jour on, enjoying my favorite
sport of stock automobile and/or truck racing.
I spend twelve hours a day turning
automatic screw machines. Those in the trade know that there is nothing
automatic about them save for their ill tempers. The point is, a week doesn’t
go by that I don’t look quizzically at a coworker as we examine yet another
engineering brainchild and think, “Do they know what we do out here?”
In a similar vein, as I listen to my
favorite talk show on the drive in to work, (called Garage Logic, which has
nothing to do with racing with a name like that, go figure), a week doesn’t go
by where the host of the show needs to ask the producer, “Do ya ever listen to
the show?” This is due to lack of attention on the producers part.
So this begs the question to the folks
making the decisions at NASCAR, “Do ya know what the fans of this sport really
like?” It’s not really looking that way…
First, let’s look at the racing schedule
of the weekend of March 25. Cup and Busch at Bristol, the Tough Trucks at Mesa
Marin. Truly, bull ring heaven for race fans. Hold the phone. As a truck racing
fan since the first Winter Heat, I’m a little disturbed by all this. Didn’t
NASCAR tell us that they were going to put a push behind the Truck Series to
raise interest? Why then are the Tough Trucks running at Mesa, opposite the Cup
cars in this market I might add, when they could have had a triple treat weekend
at BMS? What makes even less sense, and a real thorn to all truck racing fans,
is the fact that NASCAR has removed BMS from the Truck schedule entirely. Some
of the now legendary Truck battles ever staged were at BMS. No more I guess. Not
sure how that will boost interest. I’m sure NASCAR does, however.
And how about that leveling of the field
in thing going on in Cup? It would appear that we are now headed towards a
common body template for all four manufacturers next season. Simply amazing what
a little whining from the sitting champion will produce, isn’t it? NASCAR
seems to forget who exactly is paying the bills on the 88 car, namely me, the
fan. Let me suggest a better way to level that playing field that will tighten
competition AND please the fans.
What would it mean to a Dave Marcis if he
didn’t have to show up at Daytona with one car while Hendrick, Childress,
Roush and Yates show up with a fleet? What if everyone had to actually race
their way in at all of the racing venues? How would the fans take to a
qualifying process of actual heat races to determine the starting grid? No
longer could the heavyweights off load their qualifying car and their race car.
Just like Dave, the car that rolls of the hauler on Friday is the same car that
races on Sunday. Furthermore, if you wreck that car during practice sessions or
qualifying heats, there will be no back up car-fix what you off loaded or go
home. Certainly, injecting an element of risk such as this would make the fans
happy as well as return a true spirit of Saturday Night Thunder to the sport.
And Mr. Jarrett may have to learn how to race a car with a less than perfect
aero package. If Lee Petty could do it so many years ago with lesser
technologies, maybe Mr. Jarrett could do so today. Maybe.
It appears that the common template
proposal is NASCAR’s attempt at to make for closer racing, or more accurately,
give us 34 IROC races a year. Why stop there? Give us a 40 car field every week
with ten #3s, ten #6s, ten #24s, and ten #88s. Now there’s some level
competition! It wouldn’t do much for the fans, but the competition would be
level, and that’s what we are after here, right?
So that begs the original question, “NASCAR,
do ya know what the fans really want?” It doesn’t look that way. The Chevy
guys whine, NASCAR responds. The Ford guys whine, NASCAR responds. The Pontiac
guys whine, NASCAR responds. Everham will whine and NASCAR will respond. Well
NASCAR, I’m a fan and I’m whining, and just like the sitting champion, I’m
telling you what I want. Will you respond to me as well?