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Tag: Dale Earnhardt

  • The Final Word – Talladega Produces the 100th Cup Victory by an Earnhardt

    The Final Word – Talladega Produces the 100th Cup Victory by an Earnhardt

    Family. Why do we watch these races, even the most boring among them when there are so many other things we could be doing? It is our sense of family that keeps us tuning in.

    It is similar as to why fans of the Chicago Cubs endure the disappointment, year after year. That would be due to sticking with their beleaguered “family” members over the seasons. You know, such kin as Hack Wilson, Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Fergie Jenkins, Bruce Sutter, and Ron Santos, to name just a few from the past. Their highs and lows on the field were their fans’ highs and lows. They were all in it together. They still are.

    In NASCAR, it is also all about family. It was started by a family and has featured such families as the Pettys and Allisons. We were thrilled by their success and crushed by their tragedies. They were and remain a part of us.

    Thus, when Dale Earnhardt Jr. broke a decade-long drought at a track he once ruled to win his sixth race at Talladega on Sunday, one of our own had come through. This is a track on which his late father triumphed ten times and this is where his boy had a run of four in a row. When Dale Sr. died, a lot of fans adopted the lad as a son or brother. We mourned with him, we mourned for him, and we followed him. It just dawned on me that I am 18 years older than Junior, old enough to have been his dad. Not a good one, mind you, not at that age, but old enough. I would rather like to think I would have made one hell of an older brother.

    Family. When the car was not so good at Richmond, Greg Ives had some explaining to do. Not to Junior, not to owner Rick Hendrick, but to his eight-year-old daughter. She does not take such disappointments lightly. Last week, she suffered a bad break near her elbow, and the driver offered his crew chief a chance to fly home to be with her. However, a certain eight-year-old told her daddy to stay right where he was. Ives had a job to do, and on Sunday he and Junior completed the task by winning at Talladega. It was Ives’ first on the box, the 24th victory for the racer over his Cup career and, yes, the 100th Cup victory by an Earnhardt.

    It would seem that one of the toughest people associated with this team spent the weekend back in Charlotte mending and cheering on her favorite crew chief and driver. She no doubt will be doing the same this Saturday night when her daddy and his friend are in Kansas. That day also marks the 23rd anniversary of when I first met my wife, Amy, and on that day we will be celebrating my niece Katie’s third birthday. Yes, we will be spending Saturday following that good ole NASCAR tradition. We will be with our family here as we watch members of our other family race in Kansas.

  • The Final Word – Texas was all about Jimmie and Kevin with a Junior cameo

    The Final Word – Texas was all about Jimmie and Kevin with a Junior cameo

    Jimmie, and Kevin, and Dale, oh my. Jimmie, and Kevin, and Dale, oh my.

    Last Saturday night was a good one if you happened to be a fan of one of the above-mentioned drivers. Johnson was the class of the field, leading 128 laps, including the final one. It was his second win of the season and the 72nd of his career. Six-time rather likes the Texas track, having won the last three fall races, now four in his last six attempts, and his fifth win overall in Fort Worth. I am starting to think he likes the place.

    Kevin Harvick, also with a pair of victories this season along with four runner-up finishes, led 96 laps and came home second. Life must be good when finishing eighth at Martinsville represents a slump. As for Junior, well, Mr. Earnhardt led zero laps but he was close, closer still near the end, to claim third. If he could only get a mulligan for both Phoenix and Martinsville, for he has finished between third and sixth everywhere else.

    Another good day as well for the likes of Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski, as the Penske duo finished in the Top Five. Proof positive you can get away with being a two car operation if those teams actually matter. Same goes for single car outfits, as Martin Truex Jr. now has a Top Ten in each race of this season, a huge turnaround from a year ago. As for the likes of Tony Stewart and Sam Hornish Jr, nothing much to write home about regarding this race or this season. Maybe this weekend things will be different. Probably not.

    Maybe they could join the rest of us, experiencing success at home driving a video game version. Next month the new NASCAR ‘15 game comes out. Of course, for me, realism is being able to switch to indestructible mode in order to take out the entire field en route to victory. Hey, it could happen in real life. Having cars flying a hundred feet into the air, now that was unrealistic.

    Unrealistic, like me growing taller, or having my hair back, or holding out hope that one day I might actually become a Cup driver. If I could just shed 60 pounds and 40 years, I could be Erik Jones. You might as well become familiar with the 18-year-old, who is registered in the trucks. All he has done there is win four of his career 20 events, with 16 Top Tens. When he was 16 and 17, he ran ARCA, winning one of 14 with eight Top Tens. Oh, Jones also runs Xfinity, winning his first in nine attempts last weekend to go with six Top Tens. Joe Gibbs did not want to rush him into Cup, going with David Ragan instead of Jones to fill in for Kyle Busch. Even though Ragan sits 10th in the standings, maybe they might want to re-think that. The man child might be ready.

    We are always ready for a day at Bristol, where Jimmie and Kevin and Dale have all won. Once. Jimmie won it five years ago while 10 have gone by for the other two. Kurt Busch and Jeff Gordon each have five, but a few years have ticked by even for them.

    No, your best bet would be Carl Edwards. Winner of three, including the event one year ago, he did pick up his first Top Ten last Saturday. Maybe it is his time to shine this season though if he falters I am sure teammates Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin would be more than willing to pick up the slack. Both are also past Bristol winners.

    As for some Bristol trivia, there were 56 races run at that track between 1973 and 2000. Thirty of those, more than half, were won by Cale Yarborough (9), Darrell Waltrip (12), Dale Earnhardt (9), and Rusty Wallace (9). Hall of Famers all. Oh my, indeed.

  • Checkered Wings – A Poem by Michelle Lippold

    Checkered Wings – A Poem by Michelle Lippold

    I landed at the track that day and tucked away my checkered wings,

    So much going on around me, I was looking for just one thing.

    My son had grown into a man, and I felt such a sense of pride.

    I settled into his racecar, the past came rushing back to me,

    It felt so damn good to be there, I was taking in all I could.

    As I watched him driving his car, I loved every single minute,

    Relaxing I could hear his voice, it sounded so much like my own

    Time went by too fast in a blur; I never wanted it to end,

    I turned to see him look at me, holding back the tears in his eyes.

    “Dad, I should have won today, I’m sorry that I let you down.”

    Shocked, unaware he could see me, I said, “Son you did your best.”

    But he looked unsure and beaten, and that broke my heart to see.

    “I wasn’t the best Dad my son, you know racing was my life,

    I hope that now you understand all the things that I had to do.

    I wasn’t with you kids enough and now I can’t take that back,

    But even when you can’t see me, I am always there for you all.”

    I heard Davey, Neil and Alan calling me, ‘Son I have to go,

    I really hate leaving so soon but it’s time for me to go back.

    It seems I have some butts to kick, at the highest, baddest track.’”

  • The Final Word – After Chasing, Eliminating, and Winning, Kevin Harvick is the 2014 Cup Champion

    The Final Word – After Chasing, Eliminating, and Winning, Kevin Harvick is the 2014 Cup Champion

    Watching the Cup finale was like watching most Nationwide races. Few of the participants actually matter. You have your winner, you have those who actually are competing for the prize, and then you have the odd spectacular, special moment. Sunday’s race marked the end of ESPN’s run, which meant no more Allen, no more Dale, no more Andy, no more Rusty, no more Brad, and no more Nicole. A special moment, indeed.

    It could have been a special season for Jeff Gordon. He was best overall this year, just as he was the dominate wheel man for more than half the laps at Homestead. But it is no longer 2001, and at the end of the day he was 10th on the track and sixth in the official standings. In the old days only Joey Logano would have had a chance to catch Gordon in the final race. As pure a way of determining a champion it might have been, those days are gone forever.

    Logano’s day wound up being the pits. With 74 to go, he was riding fifth when they took time under caution to do a few repairs that dropped him to tenth. With 47 to go, he had worked his way back to fourth when he returned to the pits under caution, but a hung lug nut left him 11th on departure. No problem, if not for the pits. Another caution, another stop, another miscue as a dropped jack dropped Logano from sixth to 20th with 20 to go. Game, set, and match, as he finished 16th.

    Things seemed to be about to go Denny Hamlin’s way. They had the pit strategy, if only they could go green. They did not. The cautions allowed those with fresher tires to move past, and his title hopes went up in smoke over the final laps. Hamlin wound up seventh.

    That left two at the front. Ryan Newman had been the weak sister amongst the contenders for much of the race, but pit strategy gained them track position. The car was the best it was all night but only one problem remained.

    His name was Kevin Harvick. On the final restart, Harvick once again separated himself from the field, leaving Newman staring at a back bumper. The best finisher amongst the four would win the title, and you cannot do much better than winning the race to erase all doubt.

    Once we had a points system that rewarded consistency at the expense of wins over the course of a season. Then we got a 10 race playoff where only the top 10, or 12, or 13 were eligible for the crown after the initial 26 events. Now, we have a system where a win gets you into the Top 16 vying for the title in those final 10 races, where every three events they eliminate four contenders until you wind up with the best among the final four on the final day winning the title while racing 39 non-contenders.

    The records show that Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt won seven titles each using the original system, Jimmie Johnson won six through the Chase, and Kevin Harvick is the 2014 Cup champion through the elimination series. Each champion just as valid as the man who preceded him.

  • Kyle Larson Shares Rookie Lessons Learned

    Kyle Larson Shares Rookie Lessons Learned

    Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet and the likely Rookie of the Year, took a moment to reflect on rookie lessons learned as he met with the media at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the site of the last NASCAR racing of 2014.

    First and foremost, young Larson has learned quite a bit about respect, especially after last weekend’s hard racing with Ryan Newman, who was desperate to move Larson out of the way to make the Chase.

    “I think in the Cup Series, most people race with respect,” Larson said. “So, I think I’ve gotten a lot better with that throughout my career so far, last year in Nationwide and this year in Cup, I feel like I’ve gotten a lot better with give and take and things like that.”

    “With this new format, it kind of throws a little different curve into it, where in the Chase, each race is so important so you see people take chances like that.”

    Larson also learned a lesson about himself as well, that he can get over his upset on the track, such as the tangle he had with Newman last weekend, fairly quickly.

    “I didn’t want to kick his butt,” Larson said of his Newman encounter. “He called me this week and we talked. I told him I was upset for ten minutes then I realized what was on the line for him. I think there are a lot of people out here that probably would have done the same thing that he did. At least he is in the Chase; it would be a great move if he goes on to win the championship.”

    “Like I said, I get over things pretty quickly.”

    Larson has also learned the valuable but difficult lesson of patience as well, particularly at the short tracks, as he completes his rookie season.

    “I think my patience has gotten better throughout the year,” Larson said. “Then as a way of going back the other direction, but I think overall my patience has gotten better. They are longer races. Everything I grew up racing was 30 or 40 lap features.”

    “In the Nationwide stuff, you have to learn more patience there and Cup races are almost twice as long as those,” Larson continued. “You have to get better at that. The place where I feel like I need to get a lot better, if I want to contend for more wins and championships are definitely on the short tracks. I felt pretty good at Phoenix last week, but Martinsville and Richmond are probably my two worst tracks.”

    “I felt like I was decent on the road courses during the races and stuff but the short track stuff is where I struggled most.”

    At the end of this race weekend, Larson is in for some real learning, that of learning just what it is like to be the Sunoco Rookie of the Year. Larson will join the likes of the late Dale Earnhardt, who also secured that honor.

    “I mean it’s not official yet I guess, but it feels awesome,” Larson said. “I think everybody kind of picked Austin Dillon as a favorite going into the year and I don’t blame them. He has accomplished so much in his NASCAR career and even dirt career before that. I have only been in stock cars a couple of years, so it’s nice to prove some of the doubters wrong.”

    “It’s nice to see a lot of people who have won Rookie of the Year have gone on to win NASCAR Sprint Cup championships,” Larson continued. “I hope I’m another one of those guys that can do that. I feel like I’m with a great team that could win championships if we get ourselves in the Chase.”

    “I have enjoyed the whole season.”

    There is one lesson, however, that Larson does not want to learn. He emphatically does not want to be ‘that guy’ who influences the results of the Chase championship in any way, shape or form.

    ‘Hopefully I don’t get into any of them,” Larson said. “I got into Ty Dillon here a couple of years ago and he was going for a Truck championship and I felt horrible after that. I don’t want to go through that again.”

    “I’m going to try my best to get a win and if they are in front of me, I’m definitely going to try and pass them, but not do anything stupid or crazy to ruin their chances of winning a championship.”

    “Because none of them have won a championship, I know how much it means to them.”

    Larson is also learning lessons off the track, from how to be a new homeowner to what racing he will do during the holidays and his short off-season.

    “We spent our first night in the new house on Wednesday night,” Larson said. “We got the downstairs remodeled so there was a lot of construction going on. Nothing is in there yet but a bed, so there is still a lot to put in there.”

    “The furniture and all that should be delivered this coming week,” Larson continued. “I bought a lot of TVs so I’m excited to put those up.”

    “I’m going to Turkey night to race the midget at Perris (Auto Speedway) this year for Thanksgiving,” Larson said. “Usually in years past, at least since I’ve been alive and been going to Turkey night, it’s been at Irwindale Speedway and now they don’t go there anymore so they have been going to Perris the last handful of years.”

    “I’m going to go race the USAC midget at Perris,” Larson said. “I’m so excited to do that. I will eat some tacos at the pit shack there. They have good food in the infield.”

    In the meantime, instead of learning lessons, Kyle Larson has been teaching a few at Homestead-Miami Speedway. In fact, he schooled the field in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Ford EcoBoost 200, securing the pole with a speed of 167.431 miles per hour and a time of 32.252 seconds.

    Larson will continue learning his final rookie lessons by competing in not only the Truck Series, but also both the Nationwide and Cup Series races, the Ford EcoBoost 300 and the Ford EcoBoost 400 respectively.

     

     

  • The Final Word – At Phoenix we Learned Being Liked and Respected can Earn Forgiveness

    The Final Word – At Phoenix we Learned Being Liked and Respected can Earn Forgiveness

    There are drivers you like and there are drivers you do not. If a driver should be a whiney revisionist weasel who does his best to avoid cashing the checks his mouth keeps on writing, I am not a fan. This is how I once viewed Kurt Busch, and it is how I presently see Brad Keselowski. For him to not make the Chase finale came as a welcome conclusion to the activities at Phoenix.

    I love Kevin Harvick. He does what he does and if you do not like it, you know where you can find him. At Phoenix, that would have been up front. He dominated the Harvick 500 from start to finish and every restart to win his fourth of the season to punch his ticket into the final four.

    I am not a fan of Denny Hamlin or Joey Logano. To be honest, I cannot tell you the deep dark reasoning behind it. I guess I just need some black hats out there on the range to go with the cowboys in white. They finished fifth and sixth respectively and had enough in the bank to go through to the final round themselves. Only tough luck has kept Hamlin from taking a championship in the past, while the 24-year old Logano is a legitimate contender no matter what measurement one wishes to use. One day, I might even get excited when they take the checkered flag.

    Jeff Gordon has been outstanding in 2014, robbed of something better by Keselowski at Texas. Ryan Newman, whose eight win season in 2003 was trumped by Matt Kenseth’s title run, used Kyle Larson’s car as a buffer on the final turn on Sunday to pick up the spot that got him in. In doing so, he also put Gordon out. Fan reaction to that move, and the end result in the Chase standings, I dare say, is much different than if it were Keselowski bouncing off Larson to end the dream for Gordon.

    By in large, it comes down to one driver being basically liked while the other is essentially not. It is not a universal feeling, granted, but by enough that it matters. While it might affect how many t-shirts he sells, being liked by the fans is not as important as being respected by your peers. They do not have to love you, but they need to have an appreciation for you that, despite his unquestionable talent, Keselowski still appears to have failed to earn.

    What the boy needs is charm and the cojones to meet head on any challenges that comes his way. Sure, he might get shaken like a rag doll from time to time, but he won’t get punched, unless someone has the cash to spend. With his talent in the car and his gift of the gab outside of it, he has the tools to jaw and charm his way through damn near anything. J.R. Ewing did it. So did Dale Earnhardt. Why not Brad? Heck, he could even continue to wear the black hat.

    Why was Brad driving the winning Nationwide car at Phoenix on Saturday? Why are any Cup guys running that circuit enough to claim 21 of 32 events this season, and nine of the past 10? Maybe NASCAR just wants to kill the circuit and this is what they have come up with. Chase Elliott has already claimed the season crown, winning three races in Texas, Darlington and Chicago against Cup talent. The lad turns 19 at the end of this month. We need to see more young talented drivers in this circuit like Chase Elliott, and less of the likes of Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski.

    To see either in more than one race at Homestead is likely, but neither will be in the running for a title in the season finales. What we will have will be four drivers, each seeking this first Cup championship, and come Sunday one of them will be successful. Nothing to not like there.

    CHASE CHAMPIONSHIP FOUR…
    1 – Kevin Harvick – 1 WIN – 4102 Points
    2 – Denny Hamlin – 4112 Pts
    3 – Joey Logano – 4111 Pts
    4 – Ryan Newman – 4103 Pts

    FOUR SHOWN THE DOOR…
    5 – Jeff Gordon – 4102 Pts
    6 – Matt Kenseth – 4100 Pts
    7 – Brad Keselowski – 4095 Pts
    8 – Carl Edwards – 4088 Pts

  • ‘You got to learn how to be a good loser and it will make you a better winner.’ – Rex White

    ‘You got to learn how to be a good loser and it will make you a better winner.’ – Rex White

    Recently, I was honored to hear NASCAR Hall of Famers, 1960 Grand National champion Rex White and 1988 Winston Cup champion Bill Elliott, speak in the media center before the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. After the tumultuous events at the end of the race that resulted in behavioral penalties for Brad Keselowski and Tony Stewart, I couldn’t help but remember some timely words of advice from these two legends.

    “Any driver is going to lose more races than he wins, White said.  “You got to learn how to be a good loser and it will make you a better winner.”

    While today’s corporate sponsored NASCAR often bears little resemblance to its blue collar beginnings, the essence of racing remains unchanged.  There is only one goal; to win.  It’s that competitive passion that grabs you and doesn’t let go until the checkered flag waves. But therein lies the rub; there can be only one winner each race.

    Bill Elliott put it another way, saying, “Some days you just got to take your licks and go on to the next race.”

    But what does being a good loser mean?

    It’s a concept that most athletes and particularly racers, simply don’t understand. They are taught that winning is everything and in their minds, losing equals failure. Accepting a loss gracefully means acknowledging defeat. Or does it?

    Dale Earnhardt is famously quoted as saying that “second place is just the first loser.”

    The seven-time NASCAR champion, however, was no stranger to losing. Over the course of his Cup career he competed in 676 races, winning 76 times but losing 600. It took 20 attempts before he finally won the coveted Daytona 500 in 1998.

    Earnhardt earned the title of The Intimidator on the track and was arguably one of the most aggressive drivers in the history of the sport. No one hated losing more than him but he learned to accept the losses as a necessary evil and move forward once the checkered flag flew. A perfect example is his 19th heartbreaking loss of the Daytona 500.

    In 1997, Earnhardt was running second in the final laps of the Daytona 500 when he wrecked. Jeff Gordon, in third place, was trying to pass and Earnhardt made contact with the wall, got sideways and flipped his car in the chain reaction that ensued. After repairs, including taping the back deck onto the No. 3, Earnhardt was back in the car.

    “I got in the ambulance and I looked back at the car,” Earnhardt said, “and I said ‘man, the wheels are still on that thing.’ I got out of the ambulance and asked the guy inside the car that was hooking it up and said, ‘see if it will crank’ and he cranked it up and I said, ‘get out, give me the car back.’ So I drove it back around here and we taped it up.”

    “I don’t know that we could have won the Daytona 500,” Earnhardt continued, “but we was sitting there, ready for a shot. I think Gordon was a little impatient at that point but still he went on and won the race, he was running his race. That’s the way it goes.”

    The most passionate and successful champions in any sport refuse to be defined by their losses. Instead of placing blame on others they look inward, dig deeper and refuse to give up. No one expects these fierce competitors to accept losing gracefully but when a bad finish causes a driver to lose control of his emotions and engage in potentially dangerous behavior, it only compounds the significance of the loss.

    Michael Jordon, six-time NBA champion once said, “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

    Six-time Sprint Cup champ Jimmie Johnson, who has been eliminated from this year’s championship battle, echoed those sentiments, saying “I truly believe that those moments make you stronger.”

    “It’s great medicine for the 48,” he elaborated. “I don’t want to be in this position. But it’s great medicine to sit and watch this championship unfold. It’s going to motivate me, Chad (Knaus, crew chief) and the team, all of us on the 48 team. We’ll come back next year and be ready to roll.”

    Perhaps it’s all about perception. Loss is inevitable but it is also transitory. It can be viewed as failure or as an impetus to future success and that mindset is what truly separates the winners from the losers.

     

  • Hot 20 – Change Can be a Good Thing, as Long as we are Sure it Is

    Hot 20 – Change Can be a Good Thing, as Long as we are Sure it Is

    Change where change is necessary is a good thing. NASCAR wanted us to keep watching, so out went the system that determined a champion based on season long performance. Winning is big, but it was not big enough, so in came the automatic Chase bye to race winners who at least put in the time to challenge Danica Patrick in the standings. One bad race and one’s Chase ambitions came to an end, but now a win keeps one in.

    Change to create unpredictability has proven to be good. A driver got hot and drove off with the Chase, but that was addressed by dividing the Chase into four segments and a fresh slate of points for the survivors. Going into the final at Homestead, four will have an equal chance of taking the prize. It could come right down to a race to the line to determine things. Excitement, drama, unpredictability.

    Next season, more change and another attempt to create unpredictability. A car drives off into the sunset and the list of potential contenders for that event dwindle down, barring some unfortunate event. Reduce horsepower, make the cars more difficult to drive, and allow for more passing is one way to address the predictability factor. If I can watch a race and have two or four or more challenging for the win, all the better. If every track can produce the uncertainty of a Talladega without the carnage, who could possibility argue against such change?

    Quality racing deserves quality announcing. The broadcasters are there to enhance the action, to make us yearn to be there ourselves, but far too often they fail to even keep us in front of the tube. With 43 cars ramping it up to over 180 miles per hour, there is no such thing as a boring race, just boring, unskilled, uninspiring announcers. Hopefully this is another change that has been addressed for next season.

    Yes, change can be good. It can come in the form of new blood challenging and winning a championship, such as Brad Keselowski. A driver coming of age, like Joey Logano. A driver giving notice of what might be expected in the future, as Kyle Larson is doing. Change that sees what is old become new again, like Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. at or near the front.

    Still, it is good to recognize what we already have that is good, like Jimmie Johnson striving to match the title accomplishments of Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt. Our Hot 20, with our own twist of awarding 25 bonus points to race winners, showcases those stars who have shone most brightly this season.

    I like the win and you are in format, but I am not totally sold on having 31 non-contenders on the track at Kansas this weekend at the same time as the dozen who are vying for a championship. If only we could figure out a way to have a real playoff, maybe one that is reserved for only the top 20 to be a part of, that might be one more change to consider. I will leave it to you to ponder the merits of that.

    BOLD = Currently in the Chase

    HOT 20

    1 – Jeff Gordon – 4 Wins – 1110 Points
    2 – Brad Keselowski – 5 – 1068
    3 – Joey Logano – 4 – 1044
    4 – Dale Earnhardt, Jr. – 3 – 1044
    5 – Jimmie Johnson – 3 – 980
    6 – Kevin Harvick – 2 – 949
    7 – Carl Edwards – 2 – 906
    8 – Matt Kenseth – 0 – 894
    9 – Ryan Newman – 0 – 873
    10 – Kyle Larson – 0 – 859
    11 – Kasey Kahne – 1 – 833
    12 – Greg Biffle – 0 – 825
    13 – Kyle Busch – 1 – 817
    14 – Clint Bowyer – 0 – 817
    15 – Jamie McMurray – 0 – 805
    16 – Paul Menard – 0 – 781
    17 – Austin Dillon – 0 – 779
    18 – Denny Hamlin – 1 – 759
    19 – Kurt Busch – 1 – 743
    20 – Brian Vickers – 0 – 730

  • Our Drivers – So Close and Yet so Far Away

    Our Drivers – So Close and Yet so Far Away

    I grew up in a different era of NASCAR and I’ve recently realized how much things have changed while I wasn’t paying attention. It feels as though I have awoken from a deep sleep, like in a fairy tale, and nothing is the same.

    I look at my wall of autographs and I can almost feel the history behind the signatures.  When I close my eyes I can remember walking up to drivers like Alan Kulwicki, Ken Schrader, Dick Trickle, Jeff Gordon and Michael Waltrip; getting autographs and talking to them. They treated each fan, from the first to the last, as special and you felt appreciated. I was able to chat with drivers at local tracks, I learned so much and made friends with many.

    This was a time when drivers didn’t have any more money than the fans, they were just like us. That was the appeal; they didn’t see themselves as heroes, they were racers. We paid for a ticket and they thanked us by signing autographs until there were no more fans in line. Fans were the car owners, fans were the sponsors, fans were important.

    The NASCAR drivers sought out the fans, anxious to get their name out there. Along with winning races, that is what brought in the sponsors. Today the situation is reversed and the drivers are pretty much owned by the sponsors and their teams. NASCAR has become so commercialized, that the blue collar sport of yesterday has been lost.

    The point I am trying to make is this; the drivers were accessible. It isn’t like today where you run the risk of being trampled by 500 fans trying to get Jimmie Johnson’s autograph when he only has an hour before being rushed away by his sponsor to another event.

    I experienced this firsthand last year when I had a pass for a Nationwide race and thought I would see how hard it would be to get autographs. It was a frustrating experience to say the least. I was wearing a boot that went from my foot to my knee, due to an injury. I bravely stood in the area as drivers walked by and I assumed I would be given a little room because of my foot, I was wrong. Basically I was tackled more than Tony Romo on any given Sunday and I finally gave up. I got some autographs but it took me a week to recover from the ordeal.

    That is when I began to wonder how disabled fans get autographs? How do fans that can’t afford to go to a race get them? How do older fans that can’t stand in lines for hours to attend an autograph session get them? There has to be an easier way for those fans that want to meet their favorite driver but are restricted.

    Then it hit me. Perhaps I can submit an envelope with a picture and a self addressed envelope with postage already paid. Maybe that is now the best way to get an autograph. I did this years ago for a little boy who was unable to write to his hero; Dale Earnhardt Sr. Earnhardt not only sent him an autograph but other items as well.

    I was stunned to discover that it’s not that simple anymore. You can no longer just send in a picture or a hero card and request an autograph. Most major teams schedule driver autograph sessions or you can purchase autographed items from their stores.

    Pay for an autograph? Really? Something as simple as getting an autograph shouldn’t be so hard, should it?

    Autographs are as important to the sport as the fan that will stand in line for hours to obtain them. I understand that, yes, the drivers are pulled around from place to place and do the best they can, but the fans are losing out and it’s the fans who put these drivers in the cars. The fans are the heart of NASCAR and having to pay for an autograph is ludicrous. As it stands now, there is a disconnect between the drivers and their fans.

    I don’t think fans feel very important to NASCAR or the drivers today. Let’s get a show of hands. How many fans feel special these days? No show of hands needed, the empty seats say it all. Look at the stands now and then look at the stands back in the days of Tim Richmond, Harry Gant and Richard Petty. Where did the fans go?

    It saddens me to see those empty seats and I worry about the state of the sport in general. Fans need to feel engaged again, need to know that the sport they love will listen to them and believe that each and every one of them is important. NASCAR needs to remember that without the fans, there is no NASCAR.

     

  • Hot 20 – How bad did you have it, and wouldn’t NASCAR fans love to have it again?

    Hot 20 – How bad did you have it, and wouldn’t NASCAR fans love to have it again?

    Where is the passion? That is one area I have heard presented as to why NASCAR is not as red hot as it once was. There was a time a few members of my family would gather for some of the big races, or any race, to cheer and sneer at our favorites. A half dozen of us were in Daytona to see Kevin Harvick claim the race in 2007. Now, we do not gather, or even speak much of the race that was, or the one coming up. Some do not even watch that much anymore. What happened to the passion?

    Sadly, that lack of passion might go way beyond my family or yours. Do you remember those old “How bad have you got it” promos? Where did they go? What happened to those great commercials that featured NAPA and UPS and Allstate? Even one of those Enterprise commercials with Junior would be a welcome step back in time, and they once were the poor sisters of those classic productions. Did we all get bored with it, the fans, the sponsors, NASCAR itself and just said to hell with it?

    There has been change. The cars are not what they once were. We replaced what was with the Car of Tomorrow in March of 2007 and then the Gen 6 model last season. They were supposed to be safer and less costly, but also provide even better racing. The last model looks better, but I still do not think they got a handle on improving the racing and drumming up the drama. We so often hear how track position means everything, when we want it to be the better driver with the better car with the better team that determines the outcome.

    Obviously, the cars had to change. We lost Dale Earnhardt in 2001, and not a single driver since in Cup. However, without the changes, I firmly believe that would not have been the case. Sometimes change is good. Like the points system, where 43rd gets a point and first gets 43, plus one for leading, plus another for leading the most laps, and 3 more for winning. I prefer 25 for winning, but improvement is good as we seek perfection.

    The Chase is good. As a traditionalist, I would prefer to reward the best team, and I am sure the 2007 New England Patriots would agree with me. The New York Giants? Probably not so much. Things happen in the playoffs. A change I would make would be to reduce the regular season to 31 races, as it has been in the past, the last time in 1998. Then, I would institute a five race playoff, inviting only the best 20 in points, all starting fresh while everyone else goes home. One to 20 points for the contenders each race, with the winner getting a 12 point bonus, with the best after five races wining the title. If nothing else, it is a proposal that should provide somebody with something to argue about. Maybe even a spark of passion.

    By the way, the good old days were not always so great. Ned Jarrett winning the 1965 Southern 500 by 14 laps might be part of NASCAR lore, but imagine the nightmare that would be today. Rookie Buren Skeen died that day, one of 28 who we lost in the top tier in the fifty years from 1952 to 2001. Thank God and some engineering we have gone more than 13 years without another such tragedy in the division.

    In the end, it is up to NASCAR and its partners to return the passion. If fans can go berserk over watching a basketball game or a soccer match, surely they can present cars racing in close quarters up to and over 200 miles per hour in such a fashion that passion is rekindled. Where is the fun that was Inside Winston Cup, where three good ole boys invited us to listen to their views on the latest race, to tell their stories, to inform us, and make us laugh. Where is the successor to Ken Squier up in the broadcast booth painting a narrative of the action, almost allowing us to smell the smoke and the fuel? Where are the commercials that defied a fan to reach for the remote and not laugh at the twentieth time as the collector dumped the pieces of the 1990 Bristol car before Mikey’s wide eyes for signing? How bad did I have it? Bad enough to want it again.

    Even our little experiment of bumping the win bonus from three to 25 points would fail to keep us all gaping at the tube through to Homestead without some kind of reset. For example, Brad Keselowski has the same number of wins as Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr, but would sit a good 80 points back. While that might be indicative as to who is running the best this season, it might leave something to be desired if Gordon or Junior are not exactly your cup of tea. A real playoff for only playoff contenders might prove to be one of the solutions we seek.

    Your thoughts?
    1 – Jeff Gordon – 3 Wins – 881 Points
    2 – Dale Earnhardt, Jr. – 3 – 879
    3 – Brad Keselowski – 3 – 799
    4 – Joey Logano – 2 – 758
    5 – Jimmie Johnson – 3 – 752
    6 – Kevin Harvick – 2 – 731
    7 – Carl Edwards – 2 – 723
    8 – Matt Kenseth – 0 – 709
    9 – Ryan Newman – 0 – 679
    10 – Clint Bowyer – 0 – 672
    11 – Greg Biffle – 0 – 660
    12 – Kasey Kahne – 0 – 651
    13 – Kyle Busch – 1 – 642
    14 – Austin Dillon – 0 – 638
    15 – Kyle Larson – 0 – 636
    16 – Marcos Ambrose – 0 – 616
    17 – Paul Menard – 0 – 614
    18 – Denny Hamlin – 1 – 611
    19 – Brian Vickers – 0 – 598
    20 – Jamie McMurray – 0 – 596