Tongue Rings vs. Chew Can Rings

Fan Commentary by Grandstand Bob

"I’ve watched in amazement as my son has grown during the past four years. The stocky kid who can count to twenty in Spanish and deliver a left hook that makes me see stars was not all that long ago, a eight-pound poop machine. Four years ago, he did little more than eat, scream, emit nauseating odors and sleep, not unlike my freshman year college roommate. Now, it’s hard to imagine him that little and helpless. It wasn’t been that long ago that we brought him home from the hospital.

It wasn’t that long ago. NASCAR fans will be saying the same thing in four years. It wasn’t that long ago, we could bring sandwiches into the track with us. It wasn’t that long ago, ticket prices didn’t prohibit bringing your kids to a race. It wasn’t that long ago, fans were more intrigued by the cars and racing than the stories and glitz.

I thought about all of these things as I recently sat in the stands of the Kansas Speedway on consecutive blistering hot days to watch the Craftsman Trucks and IRL. I also thought about how handy it would have been to have a cooler full of cold drinks, but that’s another topic altogether.

All around me were young adults, many of them obviously at their first race. Absent earplugs, much less headphones, extended trips to the concession stand for $6.50 beers were frequent, and several didn’t make halfway through the race before their seats were empty. It wasn’t much cooler the first time I saw a race. In Charlotte that day, I sat among entire families and large groups of guys who sat glued to the Busch action on the track. They were there for the racing, not because it was the cool thing to do.

I’m not knocking the fans at the Kansas Speedway. I met several dedicated fans throughout the weekend, and there are more than a few of us who are hungry for any kind of racing, because we are away from frequent racing venues. I have just noticed that the face of NASCAR has begun to change, and there are few places where this is more apparent than at one of the new ISC tracks.

With the coming of Nextel as the circuit’s title sponsor, NASCAR will finally be free to court the younger audience in ways that tobacco companies could not. That means that those kids with their pants clinging desperately to their hips will soon be sitting next to you at the race. In depth pre-race coverage will give way to overblown graphics and MTV-like clips of Dale Jr. and wrecks.

New race venues, like the Kansas Speedway, will also feed into the changing demographics. Prospective fans, lured by the coolness of the sport, will now have an opportunity to attend races, and much to the joy of NASCAR, they won’t complain about things like not being able to bring their coolers or about restrictor plate races. To them, everything is new and everything is cool.

Yep, in four years, you’ll see more tongue rings than chew can rings at the racetrack. Brooks and Dunn will give way to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and fewer and fewer fans will know that there once was a Petty who won races.