Is NASCAR Betraying Mostly Conservative Fan Base?

I found an interesting article written about a month ago by JR Dieckmann. While I do not agree with everything Mr.Dieckmann writes in the article, he makes some excellent points.



NASCAR Turning Hard Left, And Not Just On The Track

By JR Dieckmann

First with Nascar’s "Drive for Diversity" program, created in 2004, and now with the introduction of EC-15 biofuel in Nascar racing, the organization seems to be moving toward the liberal agenda. I have been unable to find any evidence of the Soros-Obama administration putting pressure on Nascar but I am not convinced that it isn't happening. For one thing, government owned GM and Chrysler are major financial contributors to Nascar. In the Soros-Obama administration, the money comes with a price. Another thing that connects Nascar with Obama is a recent "anti-texting while driving campaign". Who could object to that?

If Nascar is not being threatened or pressured by the Soros-Obama administration, then the problem would seem to be with the current Nascar CEO, Brian France, son of Bill France Jr. and grandson of William France Sr., founder of Nascar in 1948. Brian France became Nascar CEO in 2003. Brian is a marketing genius who has taken the sport from the southeast to international status. But does he really understand the Nascar heritage and what Nascar fans want?

Apparently, Brian must be a liberal or a fool for green energy. He appears to have little or no understanding of the origins of Nascar and the founding principles of the racing organization. He appears to be trying to comply with the Obama agenda, which goes against everything Nascar has always stood for. On the other hand, maybe he’s just looking for a share of stimulus money, which is unlikely since he is worth billions between Nascar and his other business interests. France also owns Brandsense Partners, a Los Angeles based company whose clients include Halle Berry, Sheryl Crow, Jenny McCarthy, the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company.

The “Drive for Diversity” website states: “Drive for Diversity is the industry’s leading development program for minority and female drivers and crew members.” Why should minorities and women be given special opportunities in Nascar? Why is this competition not open to white men? If it was any other group being excluded, there would be all kinds of charges of discrimination. I can’t wait to see a woman tire changer or “jack-man” on someone’s crew. With all of the minority groups created by the left, the one minority group always ignored is the white male minority.

Stock car racing is a man's sport, not a fashion show. Women have no place on a Nascar track, yet today's Camping World Truck Series race has three women drivers, getting in the way of the male drivers. Danica Patrick has been a real failure in the Nascar Nationwide Series in spite of Nascar and the media making such a big deal about her attempt at stock car racing. In spite of all the hype, the fact is that when she gets out of the racecar without all the studio makeup, she really doesn't look so hot - more like a little girl.

Now we have the 29-year-old twin bleached blonde nieces of Derrike Cope making their debut in the truck series. I don't care if their last name is Cope; they belong on a fashion runway, not on the Nascar speedway. What are the chances that Mark Martin and Tony Stewart could be seen strutting down the fashion runway?

We remember when Cale Yarborough and Bobby Allison fought door to door on the track, and then got into a fistfight in the infield after they wrecked. It was one of the great moments in TV and racing. We remember when Nascar racers were real men, aggressively competing bumper to bumper for the win. There are places for women in this world but a Nascar track isn't one of them unless they are dressed like a cheerleader and carrying a trophy. Nascar is a man's sport, driven by men who can aggressively manhandle a car, or at least it was.

The earlier days of Nascar were the best after the sport grew out of hopped up Fords, Dodges, and Packards used for moonshine runs. Until the 1980s, most of the drivers owned and prepared their own cars for racing. The sport was dominated by middle age white men because they were the ones who wanted to race and had the money, experience, and ability to build their cars. Nascar had track rules and inspection requirements for safety, but that was about it. The starter would drop the green flag and let them have at it. The driver who could get to the finish line first won the purse.

Today, racecars are owned by corporations and driven by hired drivers. This has brought kids, some not even yet out of their teens, into Nascar racing, rather than seasoned drivers. Usually, they actually do quite well on the track but they just don't look like real Nascar drivers anymore.

Then one day, along came Jesse Jackson with his shakedown of Nascar, claiming the usual discrimination against blacks. After 3 years of donating to the Jackson racket, Nascar management showed him the door in 2003 and told him where he could stick his race-baiting tactics to find funding for his Rainbow Push organization. Nascar was one, if not the only organization to stand up to Jackson after demands by Nascar fans to stop giving into the race baiter.

Blacks have been involved in Nascar racing on the track and in the pits but they have never done well and don't last too long. In 1986, Jackson played a role in getting the Dr. Pepper team into Nascar with driver Willy T. Ribbs, but Ribbs only started in three races.

This is not basketball or track & field. If you don't put on a good show for the fans, you can't get sponsorship for your car. Without sponsorship, you can't afford to race unless you are independently very wealthy. This is a very expensive sport to participate in.

Starting with Juan Pablo Montoya of Colombia, Nascar recently began encouraging foreign drivers to join the organization. Now, in partnership with BET (Black Entertainment Television), they are actively searching for minority drivers in the "Drive for Diversity" program. Why? Wouldn't it be better to have drivers on the track who use their own initiative to gravitate toward stock car racing? Political correctness seems to have infiltrated the Nascar organization under the leadership of Brian France.

Nascar has now grown into a regulating bureaucracy that can be compared only to Obamacare. Nascar dictates every detail of how the cars are built which makes them all virtually the same. Team innovations to make their cars faster are not allowed. Every inch of the cars has to comply with the rulebook, and this includes even parts that have nothing to do with safety.

Excessive Nascar rules and regulations have stifled race team creativity, independence, and freedom. Nascar’s view is that it makes closer racing more fare and entertaining for the fans. What about the teams and the drivers?

The Nascar rules on the track became so overbearing - penalizing and fining drivers for being too aggressive; telling drivers when they can pass; when they can and cannot bump-draft; taking all driver decisions away from the drivers, etc. - that drivers revolted at Talladega a couple of years ago and didn't even attempt to pass for fear of violating some Nascar rule. Cars just circled the track in single file for nearly the entire race. It was the most boring race in history and everyone knew it. Where do drivers draw the line between being aggressive enough and being too aggressive?

After that demonstration, Nascar dropped the excessive track rules and told the drivers that they would no longer be responsible to Nascar for aggressive driving, but rather to their owners and sponsors from now on. The drivers got some of their freedom back and competition on the track resumed. Of course, track penalties were still in force for violations such as speeding on pit road and passing below the yellow line, but drivers would no longer be virtually arrested for aggressive driving unless they intentionally wrecked another car.

Since Obama took over the White House and with Brian France running Nascar, the organization has become more interested in liberal environmentalism, diversity, and political correctness. The latest unnecessary change to EC-15 biofuel appears to be nothing more than a politically correct acceptance of liberal environmentalism. The water in biofuel is going to cause problems for the teams’ engines and fuel handling equipment. Is Brian France a believer in global warming?

I have been a Nascar fan all of my life and find the direction in which Brian France is taking the sport very disturbing. As a marketing executive, Brian France is taking Nascar global, but is that really in the best interests of Nascar fans? I'm sure many other Nascar fans are bothered by this as well. We want Nascar drivers to look like Nascar drivers, not Formula 1 drivers.

Nascar has always been enjoyable for fans as a good-ole-southern-boy sport. That is the heritage of Nascar and I hope we don’t lose it in the same way we have been losing the heritage of America to radical left liberalism. Nascar is not Formula 1 and should never look like it. If France wants to lose the support of millions of fans, this is a sure way to do it. Nascar is an all-American sport and should remain that way or it may die a slow death just as all other liberal programs eventually do.

An Open Letter To Brian France

Dear Mr.France,

I am disturbed and disheartened by the direction NASCAR has taken in recent years.

To begin with,I have never liked the Chase. I knew it was a stupid idea from the beginning. I am even more convinced of that now than I was in 2004 when you,Mr.France,introduced it. It is not a fair system. In fact,five of its first seven years,the Chase has been won by the same driver and team. The Car of Tomorrow has also reduced competition and fighting for wins in NASCAR races. The COT has taken the excitement out of NASCAR and reinforces the arguments of those who consider watching cars circle a track a waste of time. If the Chase is an attempt to get TV viewers away from the NFL,it has failed in a big way. The NFL maintains its viewership while NASCAR ratings have declined. The idea of a playoff system in racing is ridiculous. No amount of "tweaking" will convince anybody the Chase is a good thing. Neither will it win over NFL fans. The Chase should be scrapped completely.

Also,there are many suspicious "debris cautions" that seem to favor the number 48 team. The crew chief of the number 48 team has repeatedly gotten away with cheating,while teams that have committed lesser infractions have been harshly penalized. NASCAR preaches consistency yet does not really practice it. NASCAR's top priorities nowadays are pleasing sponsors and team owners but not necessarily the fans. This shows in declining race attendance and falling TV ratings that will only fall farther unless NASCAR does something to win back the fans they have lost.

NASCAR today lacks the excitement of days gone by,when drivers could really "have at it",including bare knuckle confrontations on Pit Road (the 1979 Daytona 500 and the Allison brothers/Yarborough fight for example). Drivers said and did things from their hearts. Today,it is mostly scripted,politically correct pretty boys not allowed to speak their minds. Like a dictatorship, NASCAR punishes those who speak out,especially earlier this year when drivers Ryan Newman and Denny Hamlin received monetary fines for merely stating their opinions.

Why is the Nationwide series championship repeatedly won by Cup drivers? The purpose of the Nationwide series is developing up and coming talent for the Cup series. While I am not against having some Cup drivers in Nationwide races,it is still not right that nearly half the field in most Nationwide races are Cup drivers. That makes it much more difficult on new talent finding its way into NASCAR. NASCAR should limit how often Cup drivers race in the Nationwide series and how many per Nationwide race. Also, Cup drivers in Nationwide should not receive driver points,only team owner points.

All these factors,Mr.France,have made me essentially give up on NASCAR. NASCAR might have "crossed the rubicon" now and might never again be the great sport it was,the sport your father and grandfather worked so hard building and you are destroying. I will still watch as an outsider looking in and be a more casual observer,much like I was before becoming a die hard fan in 2003. I did not leave NASCAR,it left me.

I hope I am wrong. I hope NASCAR will again be the no holds barred gutsy sport it once was but unfortunately, I am not holding my breath.

Sincerely,

A Disgusted NASCAR Fan