Here comes another guilty pleasure blog. I love NASCAR Racing. Yes, I admit it; they say that’s the first step to getting help. We’ll see.
Kyle Bush has been labeled as the “Black Hat” this year; he’s the descendant of such great “Black Hats’ as Darrell Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt. These were people who would do whatever it took to win a race, they would race so hard that they would wreck or win. As they became veterans, and began to beat the establishment, these racers began to be hated by the fans. The fans felt that they didn’t show the proper respect for the established stars, they’d punt them off the track to get around them, they would fist fight in the pits if they felt wronged, whatever it took. The fans began to love them and root for them, they became fan favorites. People came to the races, just to see what would happen, it was never dull. Those were the “good old days.”
Today’s NASCAR is a corporate dream, and a fan’s nightmare. The drivers have become corporate spokesmen, and they can’t show any personality, or it may hurt the sponsor’s image. I really believe that part of the reason that Tony Stewart became an owner, was that he was tired of hearing his owner complain about his behavior. Now, he’ll only answer to himself.
Last week, at Bristol, Kyle Bush, and Carl Edwards had a great battle towards the end of the race, Edwards put the bumper to Kyle towards the end of the race to move him out of the way. After the race, Kyle drove in to the side of Edward’s car; Edwards retaliated, and drove in to the side of Kyle’s car. The fans went wild, ESPN has shown it every 20 minutes since, and I’ll bet attendance and TV ratings will be up his week at California. California has always been a tough sell for NASCAR, I bet the management is loving this controversy.
NASCAR turned around and fined the drivers and put them on probation. Obviously, warning everyone that they will brook no personality in the sport. They are wondering why attendance, and ratings, are dropping, well here’s a big reason. NASCAR has made the cars interchangeable so that you can no longer cheer for a car that you could buy; now they want to take all personality away from the drivers.
NASCAR’s history is a little like big time wrestling, the original drivers were moonshine drivers, bad boys who broke the law during the week, and raced on the weekend. They all had biographies that people knew and loved, and people went to see “their” driver. The cars were the same cars that they drove to the tracks; the drivers were accessible, and vocal. It was great, and it became one of the leading sports. Why mess with the formula that got them here.
I don’t want to see death matches, but what’s wrong with letting the drivers show their competitive spirit? Come on NASCAR lighten up, maybe even have someone write scripts like big time wrestling, Well, that may be a little too far.
GOOD LUCK
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