Money Will Always Trump Talent

November 26, 2007

By Brian Watkins

Brian Watkins

NASCAR fans and writers, myself included, spend a fair amount of time complaining about the way the sport is run, what it has become and how it can be fixed. The NASCAR channel on satellite radio is filled with callers who have the solution to all of the sports woes. A tweak here and a tweak there and things will be perfect, right? But for every suggested solution, a new crop of problems arise. Adjusting the new “greatest spectacle in motor sports” is a balancing act on every level. No matter what change is made, it will require adjustments, and it will anger this group or that group.

One of the biggest complaints I’ve heard is that NASCAR is all about the money. Well, you’re right, it is. NASCAR is first and foremost a business, as is any professional sport. Players and teams are shuffled around, salaries negotiated, and fans complain. Be it NASCAR or the NFL, purists will bemoan the changes, the sponsors and the salaries. Tracks, like teams, are closed when no longer profitable.

While it’s nice to think that everyone involved in racing is doing it for the love of the game, it is no more realistic to think the powers that be in NASCAR would continue to hold events if they were no longer profitable than it is to expect your employer to remain in business simply for the joy of handing out paychecks.

Would drivers continue in the series if they weren’t paid for it? This is not to say that the drivers don’t love racing for racing’s sake. But like you and I, it’s also a job. And no matter how much some of us enjoy our jobs, maybe even love them, none of us could long afford to simply give up a paycheck and continue showing up 40 hours a week.

When you look at the green aspect of racing (the money, NOT the environmental impact) many of the painful changes in NASCAR seem easier to understand if not to accept the changes. Love may make the world go round, but sponsors make cars go round, and NASCAR must make it worth the $10 to $20 million the big sponsors pay to see their names on the hoods and deck lids and fire suits on race weekends.

This responsibility to the sponsors explains why NASCAR initially instituted the top 35 lock-in. Big names were going home and taking their cars with them. However, that was then. The 2007 season saw the top 35 rule frequently send home big sponsors such as UPS and NAPA. The rule also adversely affected new to NASCAR manufacturer Toyota, not exactly a low budget investor in the sport.

So, for all my justifying many of the moves and changes made by NASCAR, I think it’s time to take another look at the top 35 rule. Not only because it flies in the face of traditional racing, but because it’s time has passed. The big sponsors and teams don’t need the protection they once did. The Johnsons and Gordons and Stewarts of the sport don’t need a mulligan, and the up and comers don’t need to be held back.

Financially, I don’t see a downside. UPS and NAPA didn’t jump ship when they were victims of the rule and I doubt they or any other sponsor will break a contract if their driver doesn’t make the cut once in a while. But, like I said, it’s about money and it’s the call of NASCAR, not me or you or anyone else; and money talks.

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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