October 22, 2010
By Rebecca Gladden
So, I've been thinking …
I've been thinking about something and I think it's time to share my thoughts with you.
What do I think?
I think it's time for everyone to stop telling NASCAR fans what to think.
Here's an example: Over the past few weeks, I have seen any number of writers and media pundits chastising fans for not being more enthusiastic and supportive about the possibility of a fifth straight Jimmie Johnson championship.
Fans are told -- no, lectured -- that they should be thrilled about witnessing history and are rebuked for not jumping on the Johnson bandwagon.
Despite a general perception that Johnson's personality is bland and his domination of both individual races and the Chase boring, it seems those who fail to feel the love for Mr. Four-Time are myopic at best -- and 'haters' at worst.
On the flip side, fans who continue to support Dale Earnhardt Jr. despite his performance shortcomings are admonished that this is simply erroneous thinking on their part. Earnhardt Jr. is either a has-been or a never-was who's ridden the coattails of his father's legacy to seven straight Most Popular Driver titles, despite his clear lack of driving talent on the race track.
Never mind those two Nationwide Series Championships, the 18 Sprint Cup wins, and the 223 top-10 finishes in Cup and Nationwide. That was during DEI's heyday and it was the car, not the driver, that led to those accomplishments. Dale Jr. is clearly a no-talent hack who would be doing oil changes at the Kannapolis Lube Shop if he had a different last name.
What? You don't think so?
I think that's the problem.
The 'experts' look at hard data on paper and attempt to categorize drivers with titles like "best ever" or "most overrated." The media and even other fans will try and tell you what you should think -- how you should feel -- about certain drivers and their achievements.
But statistics ignore the intangibles that attract (or turn off) fans to certain drivers. This is true not only in the case of Johnson and Earnhardt Jr., but all drivers.
One of NASCAR's greatest features is the fact that there is a driver for every taste, whether you prefer the humble hometown hero, the pugnacious punk, or someone in between.
Fans have a right to choose who to support and who to rebuff and should not be chastised for those choices, even if they seem to defy logic. Sports is as much about strong feelings as it is cold hard facts.
I think NASCAR fans are generally far more perceptive than some in the media give them credit for. You can spend all day telling fans what they 'should' think about Jimmie Johnson's accomplishments or how they 'should' feel about his domination in the sport.
But fans know what they think, what they see, what they feel. Right or wrong, it's what makes the sport compelling.
Perhaps it is unfair that certain drivers are stereotyped as the bore, the bully, the brat. But most of those labels have some basis in fact, at least from the perception of the viewers who see the drivers primarily at and on the race track. And, by and large, perception is reality.
It's just as unfair to stereotype NASCAR fans as uneducated dolts incapable of forming their own opinions.
You fans will reject or embrace who you want, regardless of what the pundits think you should be thinking.
At least, that's what I think.
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