NASCAR Turns the (Wrong) Corner
From the Cheap Seats
by Chris Hahn
NASCAR has morphed from the ‘Good Old Boys’ of over a decade ago to the most attended sport in the United States. Much of this is thanks to the split of open-wheel racing leagues that allowed NASCAR to roll into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, pick up the pieces, and drive off with millions of more fans. But instead of learning from the events that helped it become what it is today, NASCAR seems set on the greed that is tearing up other mainstream sports.
During the rain delays of the Daytona 500, most of the drivers commented that it would be fun to finish the race under the lights. But Fox had a huge Sunday lineup planned that it had been promoting all week and throughout the race. It wouldn’t want to pre-empt the shows in favor of the race…yet how could it explain not showing the race if it did continue past dusk? With the uncertainty of Florida weather, why not take the chance that Mother Nature would change her mind? I doubt many fans attending the ‘Great American Race’ would have minded hanging around for a few more hours on the slim hope they might see some more racing. The fans…that’s what NASCAR built its popularity on, right?
These days NASCAR has become driven by the same greed and TV-network ties as other money-grabbing major sports. Major League Baseball held World Series games that didn’t end until well past midnight, and the NBA routinely stretches its playoff series so that the network can land big games in front of weekend viewers. Yet despite the millions of dollars rolling in from the television contracts these leagues bend over backwards to accommodate, we routinely hear about how much financial trouble these sports are in. Perhaps alienating fans, or at least making it more difficult for them to view the sports, isn’t helping their core revenue source grow?
Twenty years ago NASCAR would have waited the storm out, and perhaps even scheduled the finish for Monday. Its roots are in racing and not winning, money, and TV. But as the other mainstream sports have demonstrated throughout the ‘90’s and beginning of the 21st century, not much is about just the competition anymore. Michael Waltrip admitted as much in his winner’s circle interviews, telling reporters he was praying for rain so that the drivers wouldn’t be able to get back out on the track and race. Do you really think you ever would have heard Richard Petty or Dale Earnhardt say that, even if they’d been in the lead?
Perhaps NASCAR has built enough popularity and staying power to mix in enough greed to spread around. But how will drivers and car owners react if purses and promotional money start to dwindle instead? Probably much like the spoiled athletes of other major sports. I’m sure those making the decisions for NASCAR feel they are turning the right corners. The problem is that at Daytona, those were left turns.