The Texan wrote:

Maybe that's what it took for him to see the truth. It's time for him to step down as a driver and step up as an owner. I think Tony Stewart will find himself in that same boat, in just a couple of years.

MFinCA wrote:


Today NASCAR has become homogenized. The "SC" of NASCAR is supposed to stand for Stock Car. Back in the days of Richard Petty, I could tell when he was driving a Dodge--because it looked a lot like the car that was at the dealerships. I can remember the Ford Torino and the AMC Matador in races and could recognize it by the shape of the car.

Now the only way I can tell if it is a Toyota, Dodge, Chevrolet, or Ford is to look for the emblem on the hood. They all look the same to me. None of the current NASCAR models even remotely resemble anything at the dealerships.

I have a friend who swears he only watches the races to see the crashes. I'm totally different--I don't like to see anyone wreck. I watch it for the racing and the pit strategy.

I went to a fight once and a hockey game broke out.

Wrace wrote:


I'm well aware of nascars history, and your point above is exactly what I'm talking about. Without the Busch/Edwards curfluffle at the end of the race many people would have walked away from that race longing for the good old Bristol that was non stop beating and banging action.

All I'm saying is I believe the mainstream fan base has changed just as society has changed. Many of the current and upcoming generations have grown up being entertained almost 24/7. They were raised in a world of video games, computers, cellphones, and in-car cameras. They are not overly concerned with the technicality of the sport, or the history, or follow the leader "racing". Few people care about the technicalities of racing unless it can be explained in a 20 second soundbite using a cutaway car and simplistic jargon. Few people care that the cars are all the same these days, they want action and controversy between the drivers and teams because it helps keep them entertained. The whole win on Sunday buy on Monday deal was dead a long time ago.

Guys like Bruton Smith and Humpy Wheeler seem to understand this fundamental change in the motorsport fan psyche, and are constantly trying to improve the "entertainment product" for today's fan. Bruton Smith is building a four lane drag strip, not for us fans who like the technical and creative aspect of racing, but for today's fan base who needs to be entertained at higher and higher levels. More cars in action at once, more risk, more sound, more smoke, more flames, more potential for byproduct story lines, more, more, more...

720Deere wrote:

Thank God for that! Michael Waltrip is not a has been, he's a never was. He's a good pitch man but aside from a few victories in a 2 year span he has never been close to spectacular!