If Tradition Trumped Profit

Fan Commentary by Grandstand Bob

As readers of this column know, I am opposed to moving the Southern 500 away from Labor Day weekend at Darlington. As financially prudent as it may be, you just don’t screw with some traditions, and Labor Day weekend at Darlington is one of those. The track might be a challenge to both drivers and fans, but you gotta admit that it’s fun to watch the world’s greatest drivers slide around for 500 miles.

Like many others, the Darlington change got me thinking about tradition, and its role in this sport.

The opportunistic, business side of me wants to say that tradition is the old way of doing things, and to stay with the old way is to fall behind. After all, for 18 years, it was a tradition of mine to live under my parents’ roof and rely on them for my sustenance. Sooner, rather than later, my dad would have ended that tradition, but I recognized the fact that it was time to move on.

NASCAR has done the same thing with Darlington. If the track routinely attracted 150,000 people willing to let ISC dig into their pockets, there would be no argument. The Southern 500 would be at Darlington as long as it produced the kind of money that NASCAR>ISC would get at one of its other tracks that same weekend. Alas, it did not. 60,000 paying fans was often a reach for the track.

So, NASCAR>ISC, being the prolific profit-producing machine that it is, made the only decision that made sense to the bottom line – move the race to some place that will produce a greater profit. As will happen in our great capitalist society, financial motivation was more powerful than those nostalgic pangs we might have felt watching Terry Labonte take the checkered flag.

The bottom line is that NASCAR would be nowhere near where it is now, if it clung to tradition, like a lot of its fans would prefer. So, if you were NASCAR>ISC, would you cater to the relatively small legion of traditionalists or would you focus on bringing new people to the sport? If you wanted money, the answer would have to be the latter. Traditionalists are nice, but they don’t pay the bills.

But what if they did? What if tradition was held more sacred than dollars?

If NASCAR refused to seize opportunities for expansion, such as adding new race venues and expanding television coverage, the sport would have an entirely different flavor, mostly because it would have an entirely lower budget.

In the absence of big-time sponsors bankrolling big-time race team budgets, Petty Enterprises would still be competitive. You might even notice Kyle Petty on the track, because both the talent level and financial resources necessary to compete in the Winston Cup would be significantly lower. In fact, it would probably be the Winston Cup for years to come, because Nextel would want no part in a regional sport with a limited following.

That’s right, a limited following. If NASCAR clung to tradition, fewer people would follow the sport, mostly because fewer people would be exposed to it. Concentrated in small tracks in the Southeast, and with limited coverage, most of America’s exposure to the sport would be limited to “highlight” reels of spectacular crashes.

With fewer fans, tracks would limit expansion, and many would cling to the rustic bathrooms and wooden bleachers of yore. Ticket prices would be reasonable, and you would be able to tote pretty much whatever the hell you wanted into the race.

But you wouldn’t be cheering for Jeff Gordon, Ryan Newman or Kevin Harvick. Those guys would have flocked to greener pastures, where the cash flowed more freely. In their place would probably be more ruffians, unshackled by the inherent muzzle of big-time sponsorships. Maybe Kevin Harvick would indeed still be a stock car driver. In any case, you could look for characters like Junior Johnson to come back to the garage.

And restrictor plates, what restrictor plates? No one could afford to have a separate program for them anyway, so slingshot passes would return to Talladega and Daytona. It’s kind of starting to sound like the 70’s, isn’t it?

Anyway, as nice as it is to remember the good old days, there really is no applicable purpose for that, other than ESPN throwback shows. The sport is what it is, and it’s going to continue to grow, as long as cash continues to fuel 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.