Is is Racing or Wrestling? Is it Live or is it Memorex? Is it Spontaneous or Scripted? Is it a Sport or America ’s latest made-for-TV drama? Are we enjoying our favorite pastime or are we being taken to the cleaners by the France empire?
Regardless of your opinion – you KNOW you’ve asked yourselves the questions….
Tony Stewart has finally given public voice to a big issue in “stock” car racing – exemplified by the seemingly scripted and way-to-conveniently timed "competitition cautions" called by NASCAR Officials for alleged debris on the track. Smoke has certainly minced no words, and while it’s one thing to read such stinging, controversial opinions from the media and internet peanut galleries – it’s entirely another matter when one (or more) of NASCAR’s most talented drivers and 2-time Champions confirms these hypotheses out loud. NASCAR is fake and we’re all ignoramuses with open pocketbooks?
Ouch!
OK, so I’m not ready to put my TMS season tickets up on eBay yet. But I have grown past that stage of NASCAR naivete that many seem to cling to so longingly. This isn’t your father’s NASCAR – it’s a marketing-driven sports enterprise and a privately owned mega-corporation. While I don’t believe our sport is entirely “fixed” – I certainly believe it is manipulated for reasons OTHER than safety!
Regardless of your opinion – you KNOW you’ve asked yourselves the questions….
Tony Stewart has finally given public voice to a big issue in “stock” car racing – exemplified by the seemingly scripted and way-to-conveniently timed "competitition cautions" called by NASCAR Officials for alleged debris on the track. Smoke has certainly minced no words, and while it’s one thing to read such stinging, controversial opinions from the media and internet peanut galleries – it’s entirely another matter when one (or more) of NASCAR’s most talented drivers and 2-time Champions confirms these hypotheses out loud. NASCAR is fake and we’re all ignoramuses with open pocketbooks?
Ouch!
OK, so I’m not ready to put my TMS season tickets up on eBay yet. But I have grown past that stage of NASCAR naivete that many seem to cling to so longingly. This isn’t your father’s NASCAR – it’s a marketing-driven sports enterprise and a privately owned mega-corporation. While I don’t believe our sport is entirely “fixed” – I certainly believe it is manipulated for reasons OTHER than safety!
Show It or Throw It!
IF (and I use the conjunction delicately) these pesky “debris” cautions are indeed in response to a concern for safety….. (i.e. IF something has actually been observed on the track …) SHOW IT! NASCAR can put a camera on a red-hot brake rotor and a GPS that beams the car’s precise position to my PC. If a hotdog wrapper has created a safety issue – it’s a relatively simple matter to display (or at very least describe) the offending offal during a race broadcast. Give us a paragraph on Tuesday along with the penalty reports summarizing each of those “debris” cautions! I’d gladly give up the right to “vote in” a driver on Trackpass – if you’ll give me ONE channel of NASCAR Race Control on my PC each and every Sunday!
IF (and I use the conjunction delicately) these pesky “debris” cautions are indeed in response to a concern for safety….. (i.e. IF something has actually been observed on the track …) SHOW IT! NASCAR can put a camera on a red-hot brake rotor and a GPS that beams the car’s precise position to my PC. If a hotdog wrapper has created a safety issue – it’s a relatively simple matter to display (or at very least describe) the offending offal during a race broadcast. Give us a paragraph on Tuesday along with the penalty reports summarizing each of those “debris” cautions! I’d gladly give up the right to “vote in” a driver on Trackpass – if you’ll give me ONE channel of NASCAR Race Control on my PC each and every Sunday!
When an actual SAFETY issue occurs (like flaming cars skidding upside down across the track -- REGARDLESS of what lap we're on), THROW IT! It’s these inconsistencies that remove all credence from NASCAR’s “safety first” response to Tony’s rant.
NASCAR has within its power the ability to do some very constructive damage control -- and in the fans' eyes damage control is sorely needed! If the governing body wishes to reverse this perception of “scripted races” and redeem themselves (somewhat) in the eyes of the fans (and drivers), they can take the high road rather easily. If not – the manipulation will continue and even the most casual race fan will be lured into believing that we're simply watching a 4-wheeled version of WWF. Don’t take the road to Vagueville, Brian -- SHOW US that you don’t think we’re fools!
NASCAR has within its power the ability to do some very constructive damage control -- and in the fans' eyes damage control is sorely needed! If the governing body wishes to reverse this perception of “scripted races” and redeem themselves (somewhat) in the eyes of the fans (and drivers), they can take the high road rather easily. If not – the manipulation will continue and even the most casual race fan will be lured into believing that we're simply watching a 4-wheeled version of WWF. Don’t take the road to Vagueville, Brian -- SHOW US that you don’t think we’re fools!
While we're at it....
Want some REAL competition? Take the “actual” debris found on the track, show it on TV, and then put the scrap up on eBay! A heftybag that cost a major driver a race (and perhaps a Championship) ought to fetch a pretty penny from us morons!! You can use the money to put SAFER barriers ALL around the Great Wall in Daytona (safety is a priority -- just ask Jimmy Johnson or Jeff Fuller!)
And while you’re shopping in Bejing, Brian, you might want to let the PR folks know that it looks REALLY bad to us fans to have you running off to start a new series in China just as Kentucky Speedway is suing you for anti-trust violations!
Want some REAL competition? Take the “actual” debris found on the track, show it on TV, and then put the scrap up on eBay! A heftybag that cost a major driver a race (and perhaps a Championship) ought to fetch a pretty penny from us morons!! You can use the money to put SAFER barriers ALL around the Great Wall in Daytona (safety is a priority -- just ask Jimmy Johnson or Jeff Fuller!)
And while you’re shopping in Bejing, Brian, you might want to let the PR folks know that it looks REALLY bad to us fans to have you running off to start a new series in China just as Kentucky Speedway is suing you for anti-trust violations!
But we’re ignorant! What do we know?
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