Sports Commentary September 26, 2005

B & G Imagination Junction


Still Searching ……………………..



Last Sunday-at North Loudon, New Hampshire the first of the ten playoff races to determine the 2005 NASCAR racing champion took place.

The New Hampshire International Speedway hosts two events during the major leagues of stock cars season—this was the second of the current campaign.

NHIS is a favorite stop for most in the NASCAR nation as it is a modern, demanding but fair circuit that is known for the hospitality showed by the track’s owners and people of the area. Throw in the beauty of New England and most need not force themselves to shows up at North Loudon.

New Hampshire is a state of small population—the two NASCAR events are, annually, the state’s largest big time athletic events.

NHIS has been a cursed track, as well, for racing deaths including that of Adam Petty five years ago. Adam was the grandson of NASCAR legend Richard Petty and son of veteran driver Kyle Petty.

Understandably, thus, this is not a favored track for Petty Enterprises—Kyle runs the races there but does not arrive until race day. Another driver qualifies his car.

Yet, all else look forward to the northern most stop on the thirty-six week tour.

NHIS opened in the 1980’s as one of NASCAR’s attempts to expand beyond its Southeastern United States fan base. Part of the boom of NASCAR into the incredible athletic and business success story that it has become, in the past fifteen years, had its roots in New England.

In a 2002 column I expounded on the incredible rise to power of NASCAR and how it moved from a strictly regional sport to become one of the top sports leagues in the country.

The rise was meteoric but I questioned whether NASCAR truly had a grip on, exactly, what it envisioned itself to be for the long-term as clearly there were signs of its past clashing with its present—image is everything but NASCAR was still searching for what it thought that its true image should be.

After last Sunday’s race, at North Loudon, this question must be visited once more.

The outcome, of the race, almost was secondary to the shenanigans and tomfoolery that occurred during the event.

That is a pity as Ryan Newman edged Tony Stewart in a terrific stretch run dual. Stewart, the race for the chase regular season champion still leads the points race. Newman, who just barely made the playoffs at number ten, jumped to third in the points.

Stewart, the 2002 series champion, has been known as one of NASCAR’s bad boys for past on and off track behavior—Newman has had his naughty on track moments especially lately after a Bristol, Tennessee two-step with another veteran driver Dale Jarrett.

Yet, last Sunday, both Stewart and Newman displayed choirboy manners and great racing.

The same could not be said for others.
In one incident Robbie Gordon, he of the big mouth and very short temper, felt that Michael Waltrip intentionally ran him off the road so he sought retaliation instead wrecking his own car and taking him out of the race.

During the caution period, to clean up the wreck, Gordon walked into passing vehicular traffic and threw his helmet at Waltrip’s car as it passed by.
After returning, to the infield, Gordon dropped the dreaded F bomb word in a live television interview.
Later, young Kasey Kahne felt that defending series champion Kurt Busch intentionally ran into his car so-during another caution period-he purposely veered into Busch’s car. Kahne is not eligible for this year’s championship but Busch is so this hurt the defender’s chances.

“Boys will be boys,” you say? In these two cases hardly because they occurred during caution periods. Cautions occur because of on-track accidents—rescue workers who, often, must be on foot to clean up the mess clear up these accidents.

Imagine an automobile accident in your neighborhood with the ambulance and its crew on the scene then passing motorists decides to act out road rage as they pass by the scene.
NASCAR fined Gordon $35,000 and took away fifty championship points while Kahne was lighter $25,000 and twenty-five points—neither driver was suspended.

All week racing fans have been debating whether the penalties went far enough but I, rather, see the New Hampshire melt downs as the biggest recent challenge to the dilemma of whatever NASCAR is trying to be.

Stock car racing began on dirt roads between less than sophisticated types that were racing not so much for the money but manhood—it was the eight-cylinder Hatfield and McCoy saga.

The fancy types of American auto racing were the open wheel and sports cars—all the others were Friday and Saturday nights at small and dimly lighted half mile ovals with earthy down to earth types both on the track and in the grandstands.

Then this culture went Madison Avenue and the five hundred pound gorilla was born.

Yet the basic character of most of the drivers and fans, of NASCAR, still is the same as those myriad dusty tracks that still dot the country.

NASCAR has the huge television contract and the biggest corporations trip over themselves to throw its money into sponsorships.
NASCAR promotes family entertainment and a God Bless America opening to every race with military aircraft flyovers, invocations and apple pie renditions of the national anthem.

Yet there are the movie stars, politicians, military heroes and CEO’s that jockey for photo shoots.

At each track the rich and famous sit in luxury suites but the infield and not as cheap as before seats are still populated by beer-guzzling fans that made the sport.

Down and dirty free-enterprise fuels the gorilla but its lifeline are still those southern rednecks.

I heard NASCAR sarcastically called this past week, by columnist Ed Hinton, as the National Association of Squeaky Clean Racing. Of course Hinton had his tongue in his cheek as he pointed out that even the best of families fight with each other and even drop the F bomb once in a while.
The race, at North Loudon last Sunday, was great theater and so much like we know stock car racing to be—yet, the bigwigs of NASCAR were not amused.

The penalties handed out were not as harsh as many would say that they could or should have been. Why is this, because NASCAR still is torn between where it has been and what it wants to be in the future.

Each week it seems that the major league of racing in America wrestles with these clashes of culture and desire. Each year we think that they will finally figure it out yet they still have not.

Very little of real life is squeaky clean and surely drivers running into each other at one hundred ninety miles per hour will never be as well.
The invocation is the last pious moment of Sunday in a Cup race so why be pretentious? The answer is because of all that corporate and television money floating about.

The golden goose is far from being on life support but please NASCAR do make up your collective minds what type of show do you really want to offer us.

If NASCAR president Mike Helton keeps pleading with the race teams to behave define good behavior then put teeth into the words. If it is every fire suit to itself then say that as well.

If you want your races to be Grey Poupon back it up—if it is still just plain mustard, a burger, a six-pack and Willie Nelson then let it be just that.

Is Robbie Gordon a plaque on the house or a delightful rogue?

I love you NASCAR but whether squeaky clean or down and dirty fess up or all of us fans might need to spend time with a corporate shrink at $500 an hour and frankly I would rather be at the track.

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