The Evolution of a Fan

Fan Commentary by Grandstand Bob

Readers of this column know that I wasn’t born a NASCAR fan. Growing up in the Midwest, my familiarity with the sport was limited to occasional Daytona 500 coverage, The Dukes of Hazzard and Stroker Ace. It looked plenty thrilling to drive one of those cars, but I didn’t much see the point of watching a race.

Not until I was in my mid-20s and living in North Carolina did I catch the racing bug. Even after a year living within easy driving distance of several tracks, I still wasn’t interested in stock car racing. It was more fun to make fun of the sport than to spend an afternoon watching a race. Not until my father visited Daytona and talked me into taking him to a Busch race in Charlotte did I become a fan.

On that sweltering hot Memorial Day weekend, I swallowed the NASCAR lure and have been hooked ever since. We sat in the stands for nearly eight hours that day, watching everything from Bandelero racing to Winston Cup practice. I couldn’t get enough. Because I didn’t yet have cable at my house, I spent the next evening in a sports bar watching the Winston Cup coverage and wishing that I had sprang for the more expensive main-event tickets.

Fortunately for me, I lived in an area where racing opportunities abounded. When the circuit came back to the Southeast later that fall, I took two Fridays off of work to watch qualifying at Rockingham and Martinsville, and I attended my first Winston Cup race at Martinsville. Even though that race was rained out and I had to come back on Monday to watch it, my enthusiasm only grew. And, I got cable.

I read everything I could on racing. I bought tee shirts and die-casts, and I watched every event I could, from Craftsman Truck qualifying to Winston Cup races. I bought a scanner and compressed as much race education as I could into my mind, so I could be ready for my next trip to the track.

As I sat in traffic at the Kansas Speedway this past weekend, I thought about my early enthusiasm for racing and pondered ways that it has changed. I still follow the sport diligently all through the season, but since I no longer live near many tracks and my professional involvement with the sport has been scaled back drastically, I’m not as immersed in racing as I once was. I even began to question whether it was worth the long day at the track and all the dollars I spent on a race weekend.

On the other hand, I couldn’t imagine missing the first race within four hours of my home in over a year. I needed to dip into the well and get refreshed.

That’s really what attending a race will do for a long-time race fan. Yeah, it might be a little harder to get up at the crack of dawn and battle people for a parking space, and the traffic after the race might seem a little more oppressive, but while you’re at the track, you’re constantly reminded why you enjoy NASCAR racing.

There is still nothing like cold beer and hot bratwurst in the morning while talking about racing with people you never met before. Same with the drop of the green flag, the roar of the engines and the smells of the track – you don’t find that kind of excitement anywhere else.

I know many of us gripe a lot about how racing is changing, and how these changes are leaving us out in the cold, but maybe that’s a natural reaction as a fan evolves from insatiable newbie to cautious veteran. Maybe we’re just clinging to the past, because it all seemed so good in the beginning. Whatever the case, I’m convinced that fan dedication is tough to kill, and will continue to drive the sport for years to come.

Grandstand Bob Profile and Past Columns

note: This opinions expressed in this column are those of writer and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or positions of ARS Racing Outlet or its parent company, Beydler and Bell, LLC.