BRISTOL RACINDEALS

THE ANTHEM: This is a pet
peeve of mine: the National Anthem is not a country song, it’s
not a jazz song, it’s not a rock and roll song, it’s not
something you "interpret". It’s a song that should be
performed the same each time. It bugs me when I hear someone
mangle the words (note to Billy Ray: it’s "oe’r" not
"for"), change the melody, or use the song as a way to
show off their vocal range.

The Anthem should be sung so that the fans
in attendance can sing along with it. Anything less does the song
and the nation a disservice.

DYING FOR RATINGS: Fox’s
NASCAR ratings just keep going through the roof. Why? Well, as
much as I hate to say it, I think it’s because Dale Earnhardt’s
death brought so much attention to the sport. For example, the
secretary where I work has watched every race this year. She
watched the Daytona 500 because it’s the Daytona 500. But then
she watched the next week, and the week after and the week after,
just to see what was happening.

I think that’s where most of the ratings
increases have come from. People are watching the races, not
necessarily for the racing, but to see what’s going on, and if
they’re lucky, another fatality. These are the type of people who
only watch hockey for the fights.

A CRIME SCENE?: It keeps
getting stupider and stupider. Now the Orlando paper is quoting a
fellow they say was the investigating detective of the "crime
scene", meaning the Daytona Speedway and the car Earnhardt
crashed in. Their latest ploy to sell newspapers is to continue
to accuse NASCAR of a conspiracy to hide the "real"
cause of Earnhardt’s death from the other drivers and from the
racing public.

Enough is enough.

It’s time now for a concerted effort to
show the Orlando paper that racing fans won’t put up with this
kind of "journalism". First thing, if you live in the
Orlando area, cancel your subscription to that rag. If you live
outside the Orlando area, and use the web to go to their site,
find another, better web site for news. And last, stop visiting
sites that carry the propaganda the Orlando paper is pushing (That’s
Racin’ comes to mind).

The Orlando paper’s "investigation"
is, at best, nothing more than a hit piece on NASCAR. I don’t
know why they think they’re the guardians of racing in the US,
but only the public can tell them how wrong they are.

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER:
Meant to write about this last week, but it kept slipping my mind.
With NASCAR ratings going through the roof, what’s the best way
to grab some temporary ratings on a talk show that’s been
slipping lately? Why, you have Jeff Gordon, Darrell Waltrip, and
Richard Petty on.

Larry King had those three on his CNN show
last week, and that was the first time I’d sat through more than
five minutes of his show in a long time. King didn’t have a clue
though. When one of the drivers mentioned that the next race was
in Bristol, King said "Connecticutt."

I guess because AOL Time Warner will be
cablecasting (not broadcasting) a handfull of races (and they’re
doing NASCAR’s web site), NASCAR (?) arranged for the three to be
guests. It would have been so much better if the host had known
what he was talking about.

RETIRING NUMBERS: We got a
great example Sunday of exactly why the #3 should not be
retired. When the #21 and #43 were battling for the lead, the
commentators said it brought back memories of David Pearson and
Richard Petty having the same battle.

Imagine in 10 years a #3 and a #5 battling
for the lead during a night race in Bristol, or a #3 and a #18
battling for the lead at Atlanta. With the number still running,
there’ll be a reminder every week about Earnhardt’s
accomplishments. With that number gone, new fans might never get
a chance to know exactly what Dale Earnhardt did for the sport.

SKIPPING TALLADEGA: Some
drivers are talking publically about skipping Talladega. I think
they should. As a matter of fact, they should probably retire
from racing altogether.

Jeff Burton said that if he were in charge,
he’d make the racing boring. I’m certainly glad he’s not in
charge. Fans pay their hard earned money to see exciting racing (notice
I said racing, not wrecks, or heaven forbid, fatalities). Put on
enough boring races and you’ll start seeing more and more empty
seats at the tracks and the ratings will disappear. When that
happens, big companies won’t be so willing to shell out $10 or $15
million to sponsor a team.

SAFETY IN NUMBERS?: Kirk
Shelmerdine, Dale Earnhardt’s former crew chief and current ARCA
driver, makes the most sense
I’ve seen to date about the speed debate. Basically he says that
the reason drivers are complaining is that the top teams are used
to running out front by themselves, and at Talladega and Daytona,
the underfunded teams run with them.

O BRUTON, WHERE ART THOU?:
Bruton Smith is at it again. Seems he wants to do a "North
Wilkesboro" on Darlington… in other words, buy the track
and transfer the dates to Las Vegas and Texas. Why doesn’t he
just buy up the ASA and be done with NASCAR?

DISSING THE ASA: So CBS
and ABC are making noises about doing another stock car racing
series to compete with NASCAR. Would someone please tell the
suits at CBS that they’re already televising an alternative to
NASCAR on their TNN cable outlet?

TO FX OR NOT TO FX: How
dare they? Fox will be broadcasting races on a network that no
one gets! Call your congressman, your senators, and Bill France!
Tell them that as loyal NASCAR fans we won’t stand for it! I need
another sentence to end with an exclamation point!!!

Give me a break. Fox did exactly the right
thing when they said you need to call the cable companies and
complain to them if you don’t get FX. How long have we known that
races were going to be on FX? Almost a year? And the people who
can’t get it are just now complaining?

Why, Fox should "simply" show the
races on their broadcast network, people say. I suspect that if
it were that simple, then they’d be doing it.

If you don’t get FX, call your cable
company. If your cable company provides FX on a different pricing
plan than you’ve got, you have a decision to make, don’t you?

Certainly you don’t think that having
NASCAR races on your TV is a right, do you?

HOW’D YOU FIND US?: Seems
like this site has been "black flagged" by some of the
sites on the ‘net. For the last couple of weeks, the columns I’ve
posted here haven’t been linked to from other sites that normally
link to racing news and columns. Hey, I’m not complaining, just
making an observation. The people who run those sites have
complete editorial control over who they link to and who
they don’t; that’s their right and perogative (kind of makes you
wonder what you’re misssing, doesn’t it?). For example, Michael
Daly’s excellent column on Bristol is
nowhere to be found on those portals.

But I’m curious as to how you came to find
this site. Are you one of the subscribers to the announcement
newsletter I send out everytime a new column is posted? Or did
you see the site one time when it was linked to from one of the
other sites and you just check back periodically? Either way, let
me know. Send me an email and help me figure where you’re coming from. While
you’ve got the email open, let me know what you think about the
site. Do you like it? Hate it? Am I too opinionated? Am I saying
things no one else is saying? Too negative? Let me have it.