July 20, 2010
By Allen Madding
A group of 75-100 drivers congregate around an old rusty 1978 model wrecker sitting in the infield of the 3/8-mile asphalt track as the sun is beginning to set in the South Georgia sky. The track flagman climbs onto the back of the wrecker and calls for the group’s attention. He begins to layout the schedule for the nights racing program. He reminds the drivers how the starts and restarts will be regulated, and then he repeats a message he gives every week.
“If you spin a guy, we are going to send you to the back of the pack for the restart”, he begins. “If you get spun out by someone, we will send them to the back. If you spin by yourself, we will send you to the back. And, if you spin by yourself three times, we will black flag you for the evening.”
This method of handling driver aggression is practically a universal rule shared by short tracks across America. Attend a race on a Sunday evening at Haubstadt, Indiana, and you will hear the same directive. Stand in the crowd for the drivers’ meeting at Pensacola, Florida, and you will hear the same procedure outlined.
The short tracks across our country are not competing for TV time or mentions on ESPN Sport Center. Instead, they are trying to fill grandstands with people who will loudly protest bullies and dirty driving. At the same time, the short track owners and promoters strive to control driver aggression out of concern for spectator and driver safety as well as concern for possible liability litigation that could arise if a spectator or driver was killed.
In the early days of NASCAR, stock car racing battled the perception by some that it was a brutal sport that should be outlawed. Newspapers ran pictures of drivers on fire, drivers dead, mangled bodies, pinned in crashed cars, and editorials that the sport was a death sport that should be outlawed.
The American Automobile Association sanctioned automobile racing beginning in 1902. AAA held champ cars and stock cars for several years and fought the same bad press that NASCAR dealt with during that period of history. After a horrific crash in Le Mans, AAA ceased sanctioning any racing events.
NASCAR continued to work diligently to provide the best image it could portray for stock car racing. The rule book continued to be updated to require better constructed cars for safety concerns, and the sanctioning body began to court the media in an attempt to dispel the brutal image the sport was getting.
But then television came along and NASCAR gained a great deal of media attention with the fist fight at Daytona. The fight was replayed multiple times on news broadcasts across the country, and NASCAR began to get more attention by the TV broadcast crews.
Over the past several years, NASCAR has struggled with empty grandstands and declining TV ratings. So the minds in Daytona began trying to figure out how to bring more drama on the track to regain the nation’s attention.
What NASCAR’s officers came up with was the Chase for the Cup to give the last few races on the schedule a “playoff feel”. When that did not fill the stands and had little impact on the TV ratings, NASCAR decided they needed more drama in each event. So, they addressed the drivers and told them they were going to relax their addressing of on-track incidents. “Have at it, Boys!” was the new NASCAR mantra. And they achieved exactly what they wanted, more drama, more clips being aired on ESPN Sports Center.
When Carl Edwards intentionally turned the race leader, Brad Keselowski into the outside wall on the last lap of the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Chicago Saturday night, a large contingent of people began to protest Edwards continued dirty driving techniques and NASCAR’s lack of response. Many recalled NASCAR’s soft-peddling Edwards flipping Keselowski at Atlanta in March with a meaningless probation period.
But Edwards is simply doing what NASCAR wanted. NASCAR has created the environment where if a second place driver cannot win a race, they simply need to turn the leader into the wall or flip them on their roof. NASCAR will then award them the big trophy and the purse money for their dirty driving habits. NASCAR will get extra media exposure showing cars being turned into the wall and multiple cars crashing into the carnage.
But is it worth it? Has allowing drivers to risk killing another driver made a huge improvement in attendance at the tracks? Has rewarding underhanded cheats increased the TV market share? Nothing seems to support it.
NASCAR spends a lot of effort proclaiming itself as a family sport. What does this latest marketing push teach children about competition? If a kid is running a 50-yard dash, is it ok to trip their competitor if they get mentioned in the local newspaper?
NASCAR is playing with fire. In the not too distant past, NASCAR has watched quietly as a driver was killed due to being turned into the wall by another driver on the last lap of a race. It did not increase NASCAR’s popularity. It did not put more people in the grandstands. And, it did not increase the TV market share.
NASCAR, in the last 10 years, has spent a lot of effort increasing driver safety. Now it is choosing to rely on the construction of the cars to keep the drivers safe as the bullies of the sport take chances with other drivers’ lives.
Do not blame Carl Edwards for his underhanded tactics. He is just taking advantage of the situation NASCAR has provided him. If NASCAR wants to see drivers employing dirty driving techniques to cheat their way to victory lane, drivers like Edwards will seize the opportunity.
Left unaddressed, one can count on the Chase for the Cup being brutal this year. NASCAR might want to consider doubling up the number of tow trucks it has on hand for the last ten events on the schedule.
The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.
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