Originally Posted by
Penguin
Yeah it was a sad scene. I watched a few laps at the beginning. Saw they were red flagged after dark hours later. Then I saw Hamlin on TV a few minutes later smiling so I guess he won...
NASCAR has changed.
It had already changed too much when I went to work down there in 2003. Trouble is the die was cast and there isn't any simple way to bring it back. Be honest, the racing is terribly boring. They built way too many tracks that are just like Charlotte, and the only reason people went to see a race at Charlotte was that the digs were nice and they got to see them go really fast. But the racing was almost always poor. After the switch from bias ply to radial tires even the racing on the short tracks was much more tame and boring.
And the presentation stinks to high heaven. Hell it used to be the only caution flags were when it was actually hazardous to continue racing. NASCAR didn't care whether you had time to make an adjustment or needed gas badly. That was your problem not theirs. And this stage racing foolishness? How drunk do you have to be to conceive of something so idiotic? If you were going to do it at least take a page from the old truck series or the dirt tracks and park the cars for 10 minutes and let the drivers and crew chiefs tell you how it is going and work on their cars.
Problem is that all of these problems take a lot of skill (which the current bunch of France's don't seem to have) and money (which NASCAR is definitely short of now). They were a fad sport 15 years ago and they made decisions which only made sense if all of those fad fans were permanent. In doing so they ran off the most rabid fan base in all of sports. Those guys don't watch anymore. They've migrated to college football or fishing. They are gone. Now the "Casual Race Fan" that NASCAR built its future around is gone as well. Now you've got empty grandstands, overpriced spec cars, pampered mama's boys for drivers, clowns like the Waltrips calling your sport on TV, and a sport that borders on unwatchable.
It makes me sad but there ain't no Harry Gants, or David Pearsons, or Cale Yarbroughs, or Bobby Allisons, or Dale Earnhardts on the horizon. I don't even know if NASCAR will be around in 10 years. I really don't.
Will
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