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What Happened To Nascar?

A fan view

By Al RussellPublished 3 years ago 4 min read
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Michigan International Speedway June 2013

Home in my apartment and bored to death, I was flipping channels trying to find something to watch. I can’t remember if it was March 1986 or November 1986, but it was at Atlanta Motor Speedway. A Nascar race being broadcast live. I had stopped on that channel and began watching as this blue and yellow car was just passing other cars at will. In March this driver finished 2nd, in the November race he finished 1st. This was when I became a Nascar fan and Dale Earnhardt Sr became my favorite driver.

The Car that Caught my Attention

I had no idea who he was, but I enjoyed watching him as he drove. I had heard that he was going to be at a dealership signing autographs and asked for permission to leave work early to go. I got the permission and made it to the dealership. There was a long line waiting outside the dealership and I got in line. After about an hour a person came out and told the group that the line to see Earnhardt ended after this person. That person was ten people ahead of where I was standing. Drats, I’m not gonna be able to say hi. They allowed the rest of us to have a quick tour of his hauler and peer into his race car. As I was leaving and looking into the dealership, I saw Earnhardt and waved. Now I’m not sure if this happened, or I wanted to believe it did, but I will always believe that he waved back, even if he didn’t.

In 2010 coming home from a vacation in Florida, I made a detour to Welcome, North Carolina and visited the RCR Museum. RCR in case you didn’t know was the race team that Dale Earnhardt Sr drove for. There were cars spanning all the years that he drove that famous number three. Including that 1998 Daytona 500 winning car. I didn’t meet anyone that worked directly with Earnhardt, it was Darlington weekend and it was quite late on a Friday afternoon. Still a very awesome visit.

Daytona 500 1998 Winning Car

The Daytona 500 of 2001 was Michael Waltrip first win, now driving for Dale Earnhardt Inc, and the race that we lost Dale Earnhardt. Nascar would never be the same after that. Safety became a focus and a lot of great things were developed to help keep the drivers safer. I was disappointed when they no longer race down pit road but understood that the crew safety needed to be addressed. I also didn’t like that they no longer raced to the yellow flag. A lucky dog rule went into effect which ended several cars passing the lead car before the yellow flag at the flag stand to get that lap back. All done in an effort to gain more safety for the drivers and crew members.

Manufacturers changed too over the years. No more Buicks, Oldsmobile, Pontiacs and Mercury, Plymouths with Dodge jumping out and coming back to jump out again. Toyota found a way to enter in making it only Chevrolets, Ford and Toyotas. Personalities like Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr were slowly fading away with few to take their place.

Finding it harder and harder to watch without Earnhardt Sr tearing up the track, at least I still had Earnhardt Jr to watch. Beating his dad with Two Daytona 500 wins, he still never won a championship. His actions, much like that of Mark Martin (another great driver that didn’t win a championship) gain my respect. But that’s gone now, Jr retired and is now calling the race in the second half of the season.

Bristol March 1998

The season, another change to Nascar. Taking the old point system and changing it. They came up with a season and then a Playoff season consisting of the top 16 drivers and eliminating drivers as the complete the 10 race “Post Season”. Ok, it’s the same for all the racers and at least they are still running full races. Then the change that began me not watching as much to now not at all, segment racing. I understand that they are trying to get the drivers to go all out all the time adding bonus points for segment winners and such. But in my opinion, this is what killed it for me. Nascar was endurance racing. Running five hundred miles, not knowing when a caution is going to come out and try to place themselves in a position to win the race at the end. Now the teams know their will be a caution at certain points of the race and plan for them. It’s more like heat racing with a know opportunity to adjust the car instead of taking a chance when it was needed.

Spartan Speedway - Local Short Track Michigan

I was a fan of Nascar, Still a fan of Dale Earnhardt Jr, but I haven’t watched a race in a couple years now. It’s not as enjoyable to watch as it once was. Bring back the old tracks like Rockingham and run the 500 miles without segments. Get rid of the playoff system and let the most consistence driver wins the championship. Go ahead and give more points for the win, that might give the results of the champion having wins. Nascar has lost me, how many more have left? The local short track might see me more, those guys race.

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