Tuesday, November 19, 2013

NASCAR : future or yawn

Okay, so I'm really uninspired by Jimmy Johnson.  Sure, he's a good driver, just about driver says so.  He seems like a nice guy, which even for someone in his circumstances isn't a guarantee (ref a Busch brother, etc).  But he does drive a Chevy and France Jr likes him, so he's got an advantage that's, oh let's say, unquantifiable.

Can we talk?  Let's face it.  I'm a Ford guy.  I drive a Mustang.  I've owned a Ranger and two EXPs.  (Let's just say, Ford should have kept making the EXP.  It's a two-seater Escort.  I was getting 40 miles a gallon in a car back in 1988.  Take that all Prius fans!)  Also, I'm a Richard Petty fan.  He's about the only guy I've every really pulled for.  Petty didn't drive a Ford, but he wasn't a "chosen one" by France either.

So nothing in my NASCAR cred would lend me to pull for JJ.  I guess if I really thought that having yet another guaranteed champion would ensure NASCARs success, then I'd have to be a JJ fan.  Well, I never bought into the JG spiel, so don't think I'm into JJ.  In fact, everyone knows that a surety on decreasing audience share is to have a repeat, repeat, repeat champion.  So, let's face it, JJ winning doesn't help NASCAR.

Having been watching NASCAR races for the better part of over 40 years, I can't tell you when I have cared less for watching the races.  You know who is going to win.  One of Busch, Harvick, Johnson, Gordon is almost assured of winning.  I want the time back in my life that I spent watching the last Texas race because I thought Roush might win one.  Homestead would have been fun to watch except that after watching the first 50-60 laps, I got tired of hearing how JJ was going to win the whole thing and most likely win the race too.

So what could change to help NASCAR?  Stop penalizing the drivers for not expressing complete confidence in NASCAR, a ill word towards a reporter, or, gasp, an angry word at another driver.  I miss drivers with personality.  Oddly enough, I've become a Tony Stewart fan simply because he's not the cookie cutter driver.  There was a commercial a few years ago about Kenseth robots (I think it was Kenseth).  Well, that seems like most drivers.  Check out an interview with Ward Burton, classic gold.  Even Earnhardt was afraid to hit Jimmy Spencer, but if you didn't cross him, you didn't have to worry about it.

Seems like a Busch brother can drive around the track wrecking anyone, but if you appear to be the cause of them wrecking, it's off to the NASCAR official tent for you.  I'm not looking for a bunch of wrecks, I spent my childhood defending the sport and decrying the supposed love of wrecks.  In fact, I won't even watch Daytona or Talladega because all they are is a big wait for a wreck.

Still think France (doesn't matter what the suffix is) doesn't play favorites.  Check out Bill Elliott's career.  The guy won when no other Ford's could win, so what did NASCAR do?  Changed the template on the Ford to make the Chevy's more competitive.  A travesty was the way NASCAR fought to get JG his Winston million.

What do I think France X will do?  I think he'll try to buy more of the speedways.  Owning 33% of the tracks and the series isn't enough control for him.  Oh well!  I guess if I wasn't yawning over the last season, I could figure out a way to end this blog more interestingly.

1 comment:

  1. Favoritism can ruin a sport. Let everyone compete in equal ground.

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