Stomping the Flavor Out of Racing
Fan Commentary by Grandstand Bob
Regardless of where you
stand on the Spencer vs. Busch issue, you have to admit that these characters and their
conflict add flavor to the sport. In a season already marred by fuel mileage and
follow-the-leader races, and by a virtually non-existent points race, a little flavor goes
a long way.
Yes, Busch is a brash, abrasive guy – the
kind most of us would like to punch if we competed against him, but as Kevin Harvick said,
“He can wheel a car.” Spencer very frequently is equally as brash and abrasive
as Busch, but he is nowhere near as good of a driver. If he were a little better behind
the wheel, he would likely be as obnoxious as Busch and earn as much fan resentment as his
rival.
Both of these guys could use a personality
overhaul, but I wouldn’t want to see racing without either of them, because they add to
the drama of the sport. Same with Harvick, Stewart, both Gordons, Rusty Wallace and
others. They are all competitors, and they are all as human as the rest of us when it
comes to controlling our emotions.
I don’t condone some of the ways that these
guys have expressed their emotions, like Spencer taking a poke at a defenseless Busch in
his car, but most of us have done things in the heat of the moment that we later regret.
Imagine yourself in Spencer’s shoes. This young kid, with whom you have had a series
of run-ins and who had called you a decrepit never-was, deliberately tries to crash in one
of your fenders. He then stops suddenly in front of your hauler, after you had just driven
400 hot and strenuous miles, and he mouths off at you. Spencer's reaction is maybe
inexcusable, but not unimaginable.
I understand why NASCAR fined and suspended
Spencer; they cling tightly to the squeaky clean image that the sponsors like, and that
will probably intensify with Nextel in the picture. As such, they can’t afford to
have drivers at each other’s throats after races, no matter how much entertainment
the post-race altercations can provide.
“We
know our fans love authentic, emotional, real drivers, and we want to maintain a lot of
those aspects. But in today's society we have to draw the line, and that line may be drawn
differently than it was in the past,” Roger VanDerSnick, NASCAR’s managing
director of brand and consumer marketing, recently said in response to the issue of driver
personalities.
In other
words, “Don’t look now NASCAR fans, political correctness is at the track.”
Some of us were already pretty sure that the PC plague had stricken our sport, but if
there was any doubt, this should put an end to it.
It’s
extremely ironic that a Daytona fight is largely credited with starting the sport’s
amazing rise to prominence. Back in those days, no one thought much of a little fighting
in the garage. Of course, no one thought twice of the Confederate flag and chugging beer
in victory lane. Now, a guy like Junior Johnson, a convicted felon, would be laughed out
of a garage if he tried to get a ride.
Though he
was probably the best driver the sport has ever seen, I sometimes wonder how welcome the
late Dale Earnhardt would be if he were trying to enter the top level of racing in today’s
climate. Yes, he had the lineage, but he was also a high school dropout, with a couple of
kids from two different wives, and his television personality was somewhat less than
smooth. Could incredible driving conquer all of that or would sponsors continue searching
for a Jimmy Johnson? I don’t know.
One thing I do know is that Winston Cup racing is losing some of its flavor,
as it becomes mainstream and targets larger dollars. I guess that’s inevitable, but I
don’t have to like it.
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. |
