This post is for my Uncle Rick, a lifelong race enthusiast who totally gets my thoughts on the state of NASCAR today.
I was born and raised an hour away from Darlington, South Carolina. Since I was a kid, I loved NASCAR and watched as many races as I could. My driver was Richard Petty, and then later Darrell Waltrip. Then, much later, Tony Stewart. Even though my Dad hated NASCAR and much preferred IHRA drag racing, I still continued to follow the sport and my drivers. There was a lot to love about NASCAR that made it different from other sports. NASCAR drivers had personality and were not afraid to show it, not even on nationally televised broadcasts. It was a sport of pure talent, from car builders to pit crew to drivers. Most of all, it was a sport of loyalty. If you were a fan of Dale Earnhardt, you were loyal to #3 and Chevrolet. If you were a fan of Mark Martin, you were loyal to Ford and the #6. NASCAR was born in the south and its tracks had character. They were also located in areas where there was little else going on, but right in the heart of its fan base.
As NASCAR gained in popularity, somewhere along the lines it decided it needed to change what made it profitable. It was a sport that dominated in the south, but the powers that be were looking beyond. They saw expansion of the season, new tracks, new drivers, new sponsors and more. The amount of money they were eyeing seemed immeasurable. And that, unfortunately, is why it pushed a lot of the hardcore fans like myself away. Little by little, year by year, change by change, the sport I once loved became less and less important to me. I used to try to watch every race, then every other race, then my favorite tracks, then just the super speedways. Now…I’ll be lucky if I can remember what day “Daytona Day” is on (what a gimmicky promotion).
It’s also not me. The other day I was visiting with my Uncle Rick, who not only used to be a huge NASCAR fan, he also used to run a local race team. He grew up in the heyday of Cale Yarborough, Bobby Allison, Richard Petty and the early days of Dale Earnhardt. He knows so much about the history of NASCAR, about how the cars are built, everything. Uncle Rick is the embodiment of what a true, hardcore, original fan of NASCAR used to be. Blue collar, southern, and loyal. Like me, his love of the sport has waned over the years with each passing change. We can talk for hours about the history of NASCAR and then about how much it has fallen off over the years. When I asked him if he was watching the Daytona 500 this year, his response was: “I guess. I don’t know. It used to be an event where I would have people over, we would cook out, drink beer and make a day of it. Now, if I do watch it, it will be just me in front of the TV falling asleep like I usually do.”
So where did it all go wrong for NASCAR?
The Earnhardt Saga
I like to think the death of Dale Earnhardt was the starting point. Big E was the most iconic figure of the sport. The Intimidator would not be trifled with on the track or by the powers that be. He was not afraid to move people out the way, flip them off, or give his two cents in his usual passive-aggressive manner. You just didn’t mess with the man and the bigwigs that ran NASCAR knew they couldn’t do anything to piss off the sport’s most popular driver (don’t let the “most popular driver award” voting fool you. Every so often you would see Bill Elliott or some other driver win it, but all you had to do was look in the stands at EVERY track. Nothing but black #3.) His death sent a shockwave through the sport that it still hasn’t recovered from. Imagine MJ going up for a dunk and then dying of a heart attack on the floor during a prime time NBA game. For NASCAR fans, that is about the closest equivalent I can think of.
Fans of the late dale Earnhardt immediately flocked over to his son, Dale, Jr. and the #8 Budweiser. Little E was a decent driver and he has done fairly well in his career, but as he approaches 40 his career record reads as thus: 595 races, 26 wins, 148 Top 5s, 242 Top 10s, 0 Cup championships. Compare that to his dad: 676 races, 76 wins, 281 Top 5s, 428 Top 10s, 7 Cup championships.
During the last couple of years with Dale Earnhardt, Inc., the team that Dale Jr. raced for, there was an incredible amount of tension between he and his stepmother, race team owner Teresa Earnhardt. Dale Jr. knew that he couldn’t take his talents to the next level with DEI and was looking for a better opportunity elsewhere. Every team in the garage wanted him. What did he do? He went to the enemy. He joined the team that, over the previous ten years, had become the antithesis of southern, blue collar racing. He joined Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson at Hendrick Motorsports.
Think about this: Say that you are a blue collar, god-fearing, southern man born and raised in the country, probably have never owned a tie in your life, and know what an honest day of hard work is. You love God, your mother, your moonshine, your hunting and by God you loved your NASCAR because it was a southern sport. It was a sport BY people like you and featured drivers who were like you. Suddenly, this driver from Indiana/California (whichever state he decides he wants to be from) comes along with a high-pitched voice, no southern accent, drives a car with rainbow colors on it and sounds like he’s ready to sell you vacuum cleaners. Even though he can drive the wheels off the race car, there was nothing about him that made him similar to you. Basically, he was seen as everything The Intimidator wasn’t. When Junior sat up there at the table with Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson for an introductory press conference, it was like being stabbed in the heart. Even if you didn’t pull for Dale Sr. in his racing days, you still respected the man and what he represented. To see Junior on that stage, looking more clean cut and corporate than hard working race car driver, it was a sight that made so many fans realize that the sport they once loved was moving in a whole new direction. Junior has stayed with the team since and has had his share of success, but it was that moment that the fans who once pulled for the Intimidator began to doubt their love for the sport.
Vanilla
Tony Stewart was my favorite driver during his entire NASCAR career. Although he was not from the south, he was everything I came to love about the sport. He was brash, not afraid to pick fights on and off the track, and drove like his life depended on it. During his career, those traits were being looked down upon more and more by the NASCAR powers that be. Suddenly we were getting drivers like Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, and Jimmie Johnson that made watching grass grow more exciting. Their post race comments were incredibly bland, they never seemed to get angry at anyone and talked more about their sponsors than any juicy tidbits. Listening to them speak was like hearing someone read an official statement. On the track, they certainly had talent. But not the brash, in-your-face talent. They just happened to be in the best equipment and right at the front at the end of the race. NASCAR loved it and wanted more of their drivers to sound more corporate and vanilla. The slightest bit of anger shown on or off the track would result in stiff penalties. Eventually, the drivers complained and NASCAR instituted the “have at it boys” policy that made things a little better, but the sport is still a long way from what it was 30 years ago.
Track Movement
Earlier I mentioned that NASCAR tracks used to be in areas where the fan bases were strongest. North Wilkesboro, Darlington, Rockingham…all tracks where fans flocked to. As the sport grew in popularity, the powers that be decided that they wanted a more national audience. And the only way to do that was to expand into areas where a fan base didn’t exist. Hell, it worked for hockey when they moved teams from cities in the snow to places like Miami, Phoenix and Carolina, right? NASCAR took races away from those tracks and expanded the season into Miami, California (for two races, and eventually back to one because, no one in California gives a shit about NASCAR and never will) and Chicago. The result? No one came. No one still comes. In an attempt to gain new fans, they pissed off the ones that had remained loyal to them for so long. To me, this was the most egregious act that NASCAR committed. The fall Darlington race, known for years as the Southern 500, was now a Labor Day race in California. That pissed off so many original fans that many never came back. Eventually things changed and Darlington’s one race was moved back to the fall, but the damage was done. How much did these track movements change and other changes effect attendance? For years, getting tickets to the Bristol night race required being put on a two-year waiting list. Now? You can get tickets to the race the night of, right at the ticket window.
Changing the Rules
I don’t even know how to write this section. There have been so many rule changes in NASCAR over the years that I can’t keep it all straight. In the old days it was very simple: The better you finished over the season, the less you ended the race with a DNF, the more likely you would contend for the championship. Did you need to win every race? Of course not, just ask Alan Kulwicki. You just needed to be consistent and the simple point system would take care of itself. And don’t put in highly illegal car parts when you do it. Now? the point system has been changed so much I can’t keep it straight. No one can, which is why NASCAR hopes you will tune in each week because only they can figure it out for you.
First they put in the race for the Chase, which meant taking the top ten drivers and resetting the points to where any of them could win the championship by the end. Three years later they expanded it to 12 drivers and awarded extra points for winning races. Four years after that, well I’ll let NASCAR explain it: After 26 “regular season” races, the top 10 drivers, as determined by points accumulated during the season, automatically advance to contend for the Cup championship. These drivers are joined by two “wild card” qualifiers, specifically the two drivers ranked from 11th through 20th in drivers’ points who have the most regular-season race wins. The 12 drivers’ championship points are reset to a base of 2,000 per driver. Each of the 10 automatic qualifiers receives a bonus of 3 points for each win during the regular season, while the two wild card qualifiers receive no bonus. Normal scoring applies during the Chase, with race winners earning 43 base points plus 3 bonus points, all drivers who lead a lap earning 1 bonus point, and the driver who leads the most laps earning 1 bonus point in addition to any other points earned.”
Three years later, a new system: A playoff system. 16 drivers are now in the chase and get in based on winning. So, you could be 20th in points, but if you won a race, you would be in the chase playoff. If fewer than 16 drivers have wins, the remaining drivers highest in points without a win enter the chase. Each round (named “Challenger,” “Contender,” and “Eliminator,”) has three races and the bottom four in points after those three races are eliminated. The “Championship” round at Miami determines the winner.
Now, three years later in 2017, another change to the point system. Again, I will let NASCAR describe this one better than I can: The previous championship format will be maintained for the 2017 season, but with changes. A revised regular-season points system will be adopted, splitting races into three stages. The top 10 drivers at the end of the first two stages each race will earn bonus points on top of the championship points awarded at the end of the race. Additionally, “playoff points” will be awarded during the regular season for winning stages, winning races, and finishing the regular season in the top 10 on the championship points standings. If a driver qualifies for the championship, these playoff points will be carried into their reset points totals until the final round. Oh, and they are also going to have a competition among the bottom Chase (now officially called “playoffs”) contenders to race for 5th place.
Did you get all that?
There were certainly other changes along the way that made the sport unwatchable (race packages that made it difficult for cars to pass, pre-race shows oozing of corporate sponsorship that lasted longer than the race itself, celebrities that obviously knew nothing of NASCAR being rolled out to try to make it seem cool, that f-cking Car of Tomorrow that looked like nothing more than a glorified Indy car, etc., etc. etc.). But instead of writing about them at length, I will just leave you with some images that will make any former NASCAR fan like myself scream.
RIP, NASCAR. You were once my favorite sport. Now, I look forward to baseball spring training, NBA games and Pawn Stars marathons more than I look forward to watching your product.
Take Me Out to the Holosuite 