NASCAR

I haven't watched NASCAR for years and years.  That's strange because there was a time when I followed the races every week.  I enjoyed the speed, the competition, the teamwork, and the engineering that would allow a car to run such high RPM's for such a long time.  It was a tradition for the "boys" in our family to go to The Brickyard.  The memories of sleeping in the motorhome the night before the race, the pre-race traditions, the long walk to the track, the smell of racing fuel, and the various sights and sounds at the track will always be etched in my mind.  One of my favorite things to do those days was to root against Dale Earnhardt.  I couldn't stand the guy.  It seemed to me that there was a set of rules for Dale Earnhardt and a completely different set of rules for all of the other racers.  He earned his nickname "The Intimidator".  Those were the days.  And then on February 18, 2001 everything changed.  In what seemed like a "minor" wreck on the last turn of the last lap of the race, blocking for his son, Dale Jr., he hit the wall and was gone.

In the 10 years since Earnhardt’s death, the sport has been on a mission to get the "good old days" back. Only it hasn’t been able to. And while NASCAR has been looking back, it hasn’t been able to move forward.  The result, at least in part, is a sport in decline. TV ratings are down and fans are in a state of constant furor – each of which has NASCAR’s front office searching for a magical fix that’s going to make it all better.

Through Earnhardt’s genius, both behind the wheel and as a master showman, he showed the NASCAR world what’s possible – the ideal, if you will. The results were the roaring ’90s for NASCAR, with Earnhardt battling Gordon for championships, bumping fenders with Terry Labonte at Bristol and finally winning that Daytona 500 in 1998. All those events elevated stock-car racing from regional curiosity to national phenomenon.

But the sport now seems "vanilla".  There is no villian.  And as much as I hate to admit it, I miss seeing "The Intimidator" bullying other drivers around the track.  Jimmy Johnson is so nice.  Jeff  Gordon has lost his winning ways.  The most enjoyable part of the races anymore is old D.W. commentating.  And funny this is, he's an old throwback to the good old days of racing himself.