December 31, 2008
By Joe Foster
Joe Foster
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OK, I’ll come back if I can have that corner office. Those cubicles tend to restrict my thought patterns. My ego doesn’t fit within a cube. I require space, and maybe some of those plastic plants.
Oh, Hi Folks. I didn’t see you there.
Coerced from retirement I find it necessary to step in to straighten out a few issues floating around the world of NASCAR.
Would I rather be in the shop working on a tech article about the latest hot-rod mustang project? You Bet -- but there again who else has the guts to tell the real story of NASCAR?
There’s nothing worse than asking and answering your own questions.
Let’s have a look at a couple of recent NASCAR news articles -- which spin the facts and take full advantage of current economic events creating a crutch against reality.
The first article speaks to a lack of interest from corporate entities, whereas ticket sales at the Bristol Motor Speedway are concerned. Hold the boat folks -- I thought we were waiting for people to die in order to obtain the golden ticket of a lifetime. I thought tickets were sold out for the next seventy-three years, not to mention forces of a leap year -- with noted influence from the Mayan calendar.
The Truth is:
The Bristol racing groove, that gave us those extended ticket possibilities, has been completely ruined and no hard card carrying media clown has the guts to say that. The story being told by toddler sized, binky sucking, NASCAR media members is one of hope. They hope that someday a race will break out on the new Bristol surface so they can justify their over-blown words of praise for NASCAR.
This is what we hear from Bristol: “It’s great for the drivers” and “The drivers love the track - I’m not sure what the fans thought”.
Folks, if this sport was designed to be easy on a driver my ex-wife would be a seven-time champion.
Let me go ahead and summarize what the fans thought about Bristol: “IT SUCKED” and "I waited for Jim to die so I could get tickets for this"?
The build up and promotion of racing at Bristol out-weighed action on the track by leaps and bounds. It's all show and no go. That’s what NASCAR is becoming. We re-live the historical past while watching a futuristic blunder.
When we wrap another article into the mix we begin to witness trends and consequences -- unlike truth or consequences which you will never see in NASCAR.
I blew a gasket while reading an article claiming “Accidents Down in 2008”.
I don’t care who wrote it -- we all know the NASCAR media was bought and paid for with the advent of the illusive hard-card. It’s just another reason for you to write what Jim Hunter likes, or face a future of having to write the drive-through menus for Taco Bell.
The article interview promoted the brilliant skills of Robin Pemberton and attempts made by NASCAR in their multi-million dollar state of the art research and development center. The cars are safer, NASCAR is safer -- and I feel safer just knowing Robin Pemberton is calling the shots.
The article was the biggest goat and pony show bunch of crap I have reviewed in forty years of living this sport on a day-to-day basis.
Accidents were down in 2008 because the over-paid ballet show wearing drivers have decided the general public will pay to see anything -- and in fact do nothing but ride around until the race has twenty laps to go -- then decide it's time earn a living.
That description doesn’t apply to Kyle Busch whom appears as a rattle snake during all portions of the event. Maybe he’s the only guy who gets it.
Why even have a middle portion of the race? Why not just have the pace car log four hundred and fifty miles -- while the drivers retire to their million dollar motor homes, drinking mint juleps, and thanking the boys back at the shop -- then come out and race the remaining twenty laps?
You can’t have an accident if there isn’t any racing going on. The fans are being led down this road, whereas a fuel derby with cars running ten miles an hour off the pace while finishing with a rats thimble full of gas is an exciting event. I’ve seen better racing in the Piggly Wiggly parking lot on two-for-one milk day.
And oh yes, let's not forget the economy and how the sport is being down-sized due to economic pressures.
The truth is NASCAR romanced major sponsors away from team opportunities, and has emerged as the biggest money sucking problem in the sport. It’s tough to find a sponsor when your biggest competition is the sanctioning body.
Why sponsor a car when in fact you can be the official this or that of NASCAR?
NASCAR should have picked VISA as the sports replacement of Winston, but OH NO! We had to go with a cell phone outfit. The single most volatile industry around and in fact forced similar sponsors to walk away from the sport.
When we look at greed within the sanctioning body, it’s not too hard to see why the races last long enough for Tony Stewart to be forced to shave at the half-way point. The longer the goat and pony show runs in circles with everybody riding around -- the more revenue is produced with regard to paying for an out-of-control TV package.
So please! Don’t tell me about how safe the sport is -- while relating those facts to reasons why we didn’t have accidents in 2008. Don’t stand on a soap-box proclaiming ticket sales at Bristol are down because the economy is driving corporations away. That’s the sugar coated version of the story.
Fans are tired of being roped into the hoopla only to find the race isn’t really a race. The title to both of those articles should be: “NASCAR Hurricane Downgraded to Depression”. That’s what we can expect if we don’t see some actual racing in 2009.
It's funny, you very rarely hear someone blasting the National Football League. But there again, the NFL isn’t a dictatorship -- with a King and Royal Family.
Ok that’s it; I’m headed back to write about hot-rod Mustangs and the people who love them. You can count on me dropping in from time-to-time when the real story needs to be told.
Joseph Foster
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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