Time to put your big boy pants on because today I am ticked. I am going to post an editorial that will probably cost me readers. Good. If you’re a NASCAR fan after yesterday’s fiasco, I couldn’t care less if you read my site or not. It’s time to take a stand.
Don’t you dare call what goes on in NASCAR racing, or sport or anything of the kind. It’s not. It’s a joke. It’s a ruse. It’s shameful. It’s a disgrace. It should be banned. And any company associated with it should be boycotted.
The latest fracas on a NASCAR track was the tipping point for me. You can read about this Jerry Springer moment here – http://on.msnbc.com/SW0B2p
Personally, this doesn’t represent any kind of racing I know. Fist fights seem to be the mainstay of NASCAR. Bullying folks, calling them names, threatening them and beating them. That’s what NASCAR represents today. It’s devolved into something where so-called “professional race car drivers” intentionally crash into each other – endangering themselves, the fans, the crews and the sport. It’s absurd and it’s garbage and it has no place in motorsports. It reminds me of the old Demolition Derby. (I apologize to Demolition Derby fans. It was unfair of me to taint that with a connection to NASCAR!)
I grew up in Indianapolis. NASCAR was always looked down upon there. I thought it was unfair. To me, back then, racing was racing. I went over to Europe to photograph Formula One. They looked down on Indy-car racing and even more so on NASCAR. Again, I thought it was unfair. To me, back then, racing was racing. I didn’t care if you ran top fuel, midgets, karts, open wheel – whatever. If you raced – I respected you and what you did. I looked up to racers. I wanted to be a racer. But after watching the fiasco that has developed over at NASCAR these last few years, I am done considering what happens on a NASCAR track racing. It’s not. In my Constitutionally-protected opinion it’s a bunch of hopped-up redneck thugs who seem to think they are stars in a badly-scripted B-Movie. Grown men, acting like 13-year-olds trying to prove theirs is bigger than the next guy’s. There seems to be more fighting than driving in NASCAR these days and the event in Phoenix is the straw that broke the camel’s back.
So from now on – if you’re involved with NASCAR, don’t tell me you’re into racing, or cars or motorsports or anything of the sort. Tell me you’re into thugs acting like thugs, throwing cheap punches at a minor league hockey game, desperate for attention and bound to lose because that’s obviously easier than learning how to act like a professional and drive a race car in such a way as to bring honor and glory to a sport that deserves both. Tell me you’re a washed up professional wrestler. Heck tell me you do UFC fighting. But don’t you dare call yourself a racer. You don’t deserve that title. It’s reserved for honorable people who pursue motor sports with a degree of decorum and sportsmanship. NASCAR can’t claim anything close.
If you’re a television network broadcasting this pablum, shame on you. If you’re a NASCAR sponsor shame on you too. I won’t do business with you. If you’re a NASCAR fan and you let your kids watch this crap, you should be reported to child services. If you’re an aspiring driver and you think NASCAR is for you – go to boxing school instead of racing school because it appears that the thugs have taken over and the race car drivers have all checked out.
What a disgrace.
Car Loves 