NASCAR May be Losing it’s “Soul”, One Track at a Time

March 27, 2008

By Brian Watkins

Brian Watkins

"Running under the lights at the local short track," says Greg Biffle "that feels like home."

So goes NASCAR’s ‘Home Tracks’ promotional campaign, launched in 2007, which on TV, in print ads and especially on satellite radio bills NASCAR short tracks as the “Soul of NASCAR”.

I find it ironic that as I heard this commercial on the radio, I was reading a news article about the closing of Wall Township Speedway; the only NASCAR ‘home track’ in New Jersey. It was one of the starting points for DEI racer Martin Truex, Jr. and that up-and-comer Ray Evernham.

The main page of the Wall Township Speedway website, whose banner reads “Racing at the Jersey Shore Since 1950”, features prominently a letter explaining the closing of the track (effective March 14th, 2008), the reasons behind the closing and to some degree the steps taken to try and prevent the closing. It’s a story that will continue to play out across the nation as urban sprawl encroaches on beasts of the four legged and four wheeled variety.

I have no history with this particular track. I’ve never seen a race there. But between reading the heartfelt letter from the track owners and browsing the site, it’s easy to feel a connection. It’s easy to feel because the stories behind the pictures and the names are very much the same stories that you’ll hear at short tracks across the country. The community connection, the family histories, the racing dynasties; stories that are so reminiscent of those we hear from NASCAR legends concerning their early days on short tracks. Days when a handful of family and friends served as pit crew, crew chief and sponsor. Days when the car was a combination of fenders from this friend, and engine from that and an entry fee paid with money from selling scrap metal and doing odd jobs. Stories of heroic wins, heartbreaking losses and tragic deaths tell the tale of short tracks across America. But as with Wall Stadium, the number of short tracks, both NASCAR sanctioned and not, is shrinking each year.

While the competition is as fierce as it’s ever been, the base from which the drivers are drawn from is becoming decidedly more well to do. There just aren’t many odd jobs anymore that will fund even a modest short track season, and fewer tracks than ever still run “Detroit Iron” and “Run-Whatcha-Brung” events, often the most affordable form of short track racing, and a good starting point for would-be Cup Champions. I can’t count the number of Friday and Saturday nights I spent with friends in the stands at Butler Speedway, the Southern Michigan 3/8 mile dirt track not far from my boyhood home.

My uncle had raced there when I was a kid and my earliest memories of racing were watching his yellow #95 turn laps with my fingers firmly planted in my ears and my face caked in dirt. I have long since moved from the area, and haven’t been back to the track since high school, but the memories and the impact continue.

In the Wall Stadium article, published by the New York Times, Jim Hunter, NASCAR VP of Communications for the NASCAR/Dodge weekly series, is quoted as saying “It is very difficult to make money at this time running a short track.” He continued “Racing a car is more expensive, and the guys who are driving have to buy their own gas, which has gone up.” While the cost of gas is certainly nothing to sneeze at, it’s only one of a number of issues facing both short track operators and short track racers. In fact, NASCAR may be inadvertently playing a role in the slow death of short track racing.

While the adage “Race on Sunday, Sell on Monday” reflects the traditional Sunday afternoon NASCAR event, almost 20% of this season's Cup races are held “under the lights” on a Saturday evening. Now that NASCAR enjoys flag to flag, nationwide coverage of all it’s races, small track operators are finding themselves in competition with one of the behemoths of professional sports as elevated viewing audiences for Saturday night NSCS events result in fewer fans under the lights at the same local tracks NASCAR is encouraging fans to find.

I don’t see this as an intentional move by NASCAR to squish the little guy, but at the same time, if short track racing and presumably the fans of short track racing are the “soul of NASCAR”, perhaps rethinking a few of the Saturday night events is in order.

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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