"Ticket sales are flat or they are below [previous years]," (Lowes Motor Speedway’s H.A.) Wheeler said Thursday during the final stop of the annual NASCAR Sprint Media Tour. "And [TV] ratings are down, and it's not because we get 300 channels. It's because we need to get back to our roots. We need to make this car of tomorrow work ... [Do] whatever NASCAR's got to do to make it work, and get us back to racing, [to] where we were putting black donuts on the side of the cars and not making felony offenses out of 'em.
Good for you Humpy! Racing the last few years has become sanitized to the point where a friendly bump or hand wave brings down the six-figure wrath of NASCAR. I know these guys can afford the penalties, but that’s not the point.
Personality is lacking out there both on and off the track.
Fast cars, fast tempers and the occasional fisticuffs made NASCAR popular with fans over the last 50 years. There is a line between good racing and recklessness; between smart driving and stupidity. Most (I said MOST) drivers know where that lies.
NASCAR has gotten bor-ing in the six years I’ve been watching. I went to Bristol last season, a COT (yawn) race. All they did was zip around the track pretty much single file. It was kind of like watching Matchbox cars on a snap-together track. The only “personality” was Carl Edwards’ backflip after winning.
Humpy and his colleagues at Speedway Motorsports Inc. certainly should wield enough collective weight to influence the sport and CEO Brian France.
He says he’ll “stay on it” until something happens.
Also during the media tour, Tony Stewart addressed the personality issue with NASCAR.com’s Ron Lemasters Jr. for the weekly e-newsletter to the Official NASCAR Members Club folk.
RLJ: There's been a lot of talk, as there always is, about driver personalities and people that are boring and how they can show more personality and everything like that. Obviously you don't have a problem with that, but my question is, is it worth it for people to show their personalities given that there's such a firestorm sometimes when you do, if you make comments that people don't like?
TONY STEWART: Yeah, I don't think it's worth it to be honest. And the thing is most of the people you deal with on a weekly basis, nine out of the 10 get it and know what you mean, but the 10th person that doesn't get it or is trying to find an angle to make it the way they want it to come out makes it not worth it. It's just a lot easier just to be kind of plain-Jane and know that when you leave the track Sunday night you don't have to go to work Monday and Tuesday putting out fires.
Tony always makes it plain.
It’s 23 days to Daytona. Let’s see what this season holds.
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