Dear NASCAR,
First of all, greetings from one of your biggest fans. For the entirety of my 27+ years on this earth, you have been a major part of my life. My parents, both die-hard Bill Elliott fans, instilled the love of stock car racing into me before I was capable of intelligent thought. Growing up, I was "the NASCAR kid," those youngsters who could double as a walking program to the upcoming race. It was a reputation I relished. To me, NASCAR topped everything, which to a kid growing up in Georgia in the early 1990s entailed the Atlanta Braves, Batman, and the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers.
My love of NASCAR has grown as I have. The last Sprint Cup race I missed altogether - no TV, no radio, no grandstand ticket - was the 2003 Chevy Rock and Roll 400 at Richmond, which I skipped in favor of attending a Braves game with the assumption that the headset radio I had bought would let me listen to the race at the same time (it didn't). Difficult as it was to watch races go by without Tony Stewart - my favorite driver - in the field, I watched every televised lap of the last 15 races of the 2013 season. I did so because, while watching Tony race (and especially win) gives me the greatest joy, I am a proud fan of this sport as a whole and for me there was no option besides continuing to support it by tuning in.
Y'all love to talk about fan loyalty, well I am one of your guys. With very rare exceptions, I only buy and use products who are involved or have been involved in the sport in some capacity. I drive a Chevrolet because Tony drives one. If he drove a Yugo - and let's face it, he probably could and still win a race here or there - I'd be in one too. I am munching on Cheez-Its as I type these words because of their one-time associate sponsorship of Tony (in 2001) and the current deal with Carl Edwards. Tonight's supper will be barbecued Tyson chicken breasts, which to this day I associate with the No. 19 Ford Chad Little drove in 1991 (and, therefore, with NASCAR). Dessert will be a bowl of Cheerios, purchased because of their long-time association with this sport.
I have laid all of this out to illustrate the kind of fan you are potentially driving away if the reports about your planned "elimination-style" point system (particularly the final race "winner take all" aspect) prove true. What a contrived farce that would be, one that would further dilute the title of champion to the point that it would no longer be worthy of being mentioned in the same paragraph as the crowns won by Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, and so forth.
It is already diluted to the point that you can't put them in the same sentence. Once upon a time, top-level stock car racing championships were about being the best over the course of a grueling season that tested everything a man and his team had. Now they're about hitting a hot streak at the right time. "Champion" means about as much in Chase-era Sprint Cup racing as it does in the equally-contrived Major League Baseball playoffs, with their multiple wild cards and idiotic play-in game after a 162-game, series-based season. It is still huge to win it all, but it doesn't mean nearly as much as it used to.
Yes, your attempts to turn stock car racing into a stick-and-ball sport has created some great moments. The 2011 Ford 400 and the last weeks of that season in general remain chill-inducing for Tony fans. It helped, though, that his first two titles (won under the season-long and Chase, respectively formats) came in years that he scored the most points of any driver over 36 races. Were that his first championship, it would certainly have the same feel of an asterisk next to it that blemishes Kurt Busch's 2004 crown for longtime fans.
You can only manipulate so much before you reach people's breaking point. I have changed and changed and changed again as the format has, owing to my love of the sport. I can't change much more, though. If this is the direction you plan to go, then I doubt I can change any further. I'll continue to watch every race for as long as Tony decides to hang his helmet at Sprint Cup tracks. Once he rides off into the stock car racing sunset, I expect (fearfully so) that I will also, at least as the die-hard fan I have been my whole life to this point.
I nearly swore you off in 1997, when you cost Dale Jarrett the championship with an erroneous black flag at Watkins Glen (and the subsequent but not-at-all unexpected failure to rectify it like you had with the "other" Dale two years before at Rockingham). When Dan Marino waved the green flag for the 1998 Daytona 500, though, I was glued to the screen. I have been for nearly every lap of every single race since.
Sitting here this morning, with the 2014 edition of the Great American Race just over a month away, I find myself wondering how many more laps and how many more races remain in my windshield. Sadly, as things stand and appear to be heading, it is probably far, far, far less than those in my rear-view mirror.
Saturday, January 18, 2014
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Elliott, NAPA a dream pairing for Georgia race fans
As both a die-hard NASCAR fan and a proud Georgian, I could scarcely be more giddy over yesterday's announcement that Chase Elliott and NAPA Auto Parts will be partnering for a full slate of NASCAR Nationwide Series races this season.
The excitement meter over having an Elliott back racing full-time in one of the top series for the first time since 2003 is absolutely pegged. No one wants to put too high expectations on Chase, lest he become another prospect that doesn't pan out. Reed Sorenson has already filled that role for the Georgia racing faithful, though hope remains that somehow, some way, the Peachtree City native might eventually find his way back at least into a top-tier Nationwide ride. If most area fans were asked I'm sure they would much prefer Chase spend enough time in the Nationwide car to make sure he's fully ready to be thrust into the Sprint Cup Series, rather than being pushed far too soon as Chip Ganassi did with Sorenson (and may be repeating that sin with Kyle Larson, though only time will tell).
Still, it is hard not to be excited and hopeful that Chase will one day bring top-level racing glory back to the state and give local fans a reason to cheer that has been largely absent since Bill hung up his full-time racing shoes following that '03 campaign. Perhaps he can stand alongside McDonough's Jason Heyward - the Atlanta Braves right fielder who is on the verge of becoming one of baseball's elite - as Georgia's next great homegrown sporting talent.
To local fans, Chase has already stepped out from under the shadow of just being Bill Elliott's son. He is a tremendous racer in his own right, as evidenced by his dominance of short track racing's premier events over the last couple years and his great - though controversy-marred - NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win on the Mosport road course in Canada. It won't be long, I don't believe, before the rest of the country catches on and he begins to shed that title.
While everything pales in comparison to the fact that Chase will be driving full-time on the Nationwide tour, there is plenty of excitement to be had in the fact that NAPA is remaining in the sport after all. Times have been kind of lean for Georgian race enthusiasts in terms of our local sponsors. Coca-Cola, Aaron's, and Aflac remain committed to the sport, but UPS has announced they're pulling out at the end of this season, the Home Depot - once one of NASCAR's most-visible sponsors with a full-season presence - has cut down to fewer than ten races as a primary sponsor of Matt Kenseth's Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, and until yesterday it appeared that NAPA would be severing ties with NASCAR altogether.
It would be hard to blame them, given the embarrassment brought on them by the Michael Waltrip Racing/Richmond scandal. A lot of the anger in the aftermath of that whole debacle was resultant of the fact that a respected company like NAPA that stuck with Waltrip through some very lean times like the fiasco that was MWR's inaugural campaign in 2007, would be dragged through the mud like that. It would have been 100% understandable - though still just as disappointing - had they dropped their NASCAR program entirely.
Instead, after being bounced from one Chase last September, they have found what looks like a very bright future with another one.
It is a win-win situation for us Peaches. The son of perhaps our greatest sporting icon - a terrific racer in is own right - and one of our top companies are brought together with a beautiful blue and yellow Camaro that will no doubt be a hot diecast seller among collectors. The only thing that could make the story any better would be if Georgia's most-famous company got on board and Chase were to become a member of the Coca-Cola Racing Family and shed that Pepsi Max nonsense that appeared on his uniform last season.
The excitement meter over having an Elliott back racing full-time in one of the top series for the first time since 2003 is absolutely pegged. No one wants to put too high expectations on Chase, lest he become another prospect that doesn't pan out. Reed Sorenson has already filled that role for the Georgia racing faithful, though hope remains that somehow, some way, the Peachtree City native might eventually find his way back at least into a top-tier Nationwide ride. If most area fans were asked I'm sure they would much prefer Chase spend enough time in the Nationwide car to make sure he's fully ready to be thrust into the Sprint Cup Series, rather than being pushed far too soon as Chip Ganassi did with Sorenson (and may be repeating that sin with Kyle Larson, though only time will tell).
Still, it is hard not to be excited and hopeful that Chase will one day bring top-level racing glory back to the state and give local fans a reason to cheer that has been largely absent since Bill hung up his full-time racing shoes following that '03 campaign. Perhaps he can stand alongside McDonough's Jason Heyward - the Atlanta Braves right fielder who is on the verge of becoming one of baseball's elite - as Georgia's next great homegrown sporting talent.
To local fans, Chase has already stepped out from under the shadow of just being Bill Elliott's son. He is a tremendous racer in his own right, as evidenced by his dominance of short track racing's premier events over the last couple years and his great - though controversy-marred - NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win on the Mosport road course in Canada. It won't be long, I don't believe, before the rest of the country catches on and he begins to shed that title.
While everything pales in comparison to the fact that Chase will be driving full-time on the Nationwide tour, there is plenty of excitement to be had in the fact that NAPA is remaining in the sport after all. Times have been kind of lean for Georgian race enthusiasts in terms of our local sponsors. Coca-Cola, Aaron's, and Aflac remain committed to the sport, but UPS has announced they're pulling out at the end of this season, the Home Depot - once one of NASCAR's most-visible sponsors with a full-season presence - has cut down to fewer than ten races as a primary sponsor of Matt Kenseth's Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, and until yesterday it appeared that NAPA would be severing ties with NASCAR altogether.
It would be hard to blame them, given the embarrassment brought on them by the Michael Waltrip Racing/Richmond scandal. A lot of the anger in the aftermath of that whole debacle was resultant of the fact that a respected company like NAPA that stuck with Waltrip through some very lean times like the fiasco that was MWR's inaugural campaign in 2007, would be dragged through the mud like that. It would have been 100% understandable - though still just as disappointing - had they dropped their NASCAR program entirely.
Instead, after being bounced from one Chase last September, they have found what looks like a very bright future with another one.
It is a win-win situation for us Peaches. The son of perhaps our greatest sporting icon - a terrific racer in is own right - and one of our top companies are brought together with a beautiful blue and yellow Camaro that will no doubt be a hot diecast seller among collectors. The only thing that could make the story any better would be if Georgia's most-famous company got on board and Chase were to become a member of the Coca-Cola Racing Family and shed that Pepsi Max nonsense that appeared on his uniform last season.
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