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Tidal Wave of Forces Affecting NASCAR

An Opinion



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June 27, 2009

By Brenda Benedict

Brenda Benedict



The world of NASCAR is being rocked by external forces over which they have little control.

News and rumors are spreading like wildfire about the effects caused by the loss of support from the automobile manufactures to NASCAR teams.

NASCAR teams have had lucrative relationships with Ford, General Motors, Chrysler and more recently Toyota. NASCAR received monetary support, technical help and even auto parts. Estimates are that General Motors may have been supporting NASCAR to the tune of over 30 million dollars a year.

The rumors circulating are quickly turning into solid news stories. These rumors have included word that Richard Petty is currently considering switching from Dodge to Toyota. Toyota has been looked down on by old-time NASCAR fans and now we see the King may be looking to them for a bailout.

General Motors has eliminated funding to the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series. There are reports that they are going to be severely cutting their support of the Sprint Cup Series also.

Remember the story about a little Dutch boy who stuck his finger in a leak in the dike that protected his land. He was hailed as a hero for saving his entire land. But to bring this story up to date, picture the boy standing by the dike and out in the ocean, a tidal wave is approaching. It will soon cover the little boy, the dike and all the surrounding land, buildings and even the windmills. The heroic actions of the boy are overshadowed and rendered useless by the tidal wave which was out to the little boy’s control.

That gives you a picture of what may be happening the world of NASCAR in the past week.

The NASCAR organization has been trying to make improvements to the sport. NASCAR teams and fans alike were encouraged when the NASCAR high and mighty held a town hall-style meeting last month. The purpose of the meeting was to give the stakeholders, mainly the teams and owners a voice in improving the sport. It felt as those NASCAR for asking for our opinions for making the competition more exciting and race day more fun.

Events of this spring, however, could very well overshadow any small improvements.

General Motors and Chrysler cutbacks are both abrupt and deep. Their support of NASCAR is being cut off very quickly. There has not been a gradual reduction in NASCAR spending. Bankruptcy does that to you. Government bailout has come with strings attached as government involvement always does.

Jerry Bonkowski’s blog on Monday explored the rumors that I mentioned and said the following, “We may soon be watching the implosion of NASCAR. What’s next? Cutting the schedule from 36 to 18 races? Cutting race fields from 43 cars to 20? I’m starting to get very worried, very quickly, about the sport and its future.”

Other media writers have not been so pessimistic about these changes but we know we are seeing major changes over which NASCAR has no control.

This situation reminds me of something I just read in Thomas Friedman’s book Hot, Flat and Crowded. Friedman talks about energy conservation efforts in the United States. He states that no matter how much we recycle and reuse, our efforts are not going to solve the pollution problem in the world because there are bigger forces over which we have no control. The emerging economies of China and India are beginning to become ‘American’ type consumers of energy and all our attempts to save energy won’t affect the global picture because of the huge size of China and India. Their huge populations may pollute at the same level as US consumers but its effect will be like a tidal wave.

My small contribution to a ‘green’ world is not changing the world and will be overshadowed by the tidal wave of forces out of our control.

NASCAR must be seeking ways to lessen these traumatic effects on the sport. But the changes in funding may require many major changes to the NASCAR we know right now.

You can follow me at Twitter @nascarfaithful




You can contact Brenda Benedict at .. Insider Racing News

You Can Read Other Articles By Brenda



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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