Take away Junior & Danica and see how many more empty seats are in the already mostly-vacated grandstands...
Just a question...
Is it possible that us REAL race fans (you know, the ones who actually support our local tracks - and the ones that helped get NASCAR on national television weekly) vacated those seats when NASCAR invented the COT, the yellow line rule, the lucky dog, taking away racing back to the yellow, disposed of tracks with true character (North Wilkesboro and Rockingham), cut down our beloved Bristol and turned it into another Darlington, shoved washed up bands in our faces for pre-race entertainment, demanded no cussing on the radios and never to talk negatively about the sanctioning body, and insist we are seeing the nations best 43 drivers?
Just a thought...
How about we return to grass roots racing, where the REAL champion amasses points all season long to determine who gets bragging rights between Daytona 500's? Let's get the advertising dollars and sponsorships back by running an aggressive 36 week shedule, eliminate this chase for the championship crapola and give the product manufacturers back what they came for in the first place... something to be proud to be associated with. WWE/WWF/WTF or whatever you call it has no place in racing. We are beer drinking, deer hunting, women ogling, tobacco chewing, cigarette smoking, pickup truck driving, Harley riding rednecks. We attend local races and know that through hard work and determination, we COULD stand a chance at the big time.
Just a dream...
Forget the pretty girls and boys who
MAY appeal to a younger and diversified audience (bye bye DP and Junior). We want the days of old when Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison settled their indifferences on the apron of the Daytona 500 - not a spoiled rich kid taking out his foes intentionally on the track. That's not what made NASCAR what it was. We want hard nosed, balls out, blood and guts racing. We want the rivalries back... Earnhardt vs. Bodine, Waltrip vs. Wallace, Allison vs. Yarborough, Pearson vs. Petty, Irvan vs. Elliott. Let WWE/WWF/WTF or whatever you call it have the flash bombs, fireworks and loud music playing during introductions. We already know who the players are - - we watched them earn their way at the local dirt tracks and paved bull rings.