It was as if someone turned on a light and all NASCAR fans saw the light, or actually the dirt. Suddenly they saw something that has been missing, all-out three and four wide racing. When Darrell Wallace Jr. took the checkered flag in the Mudsummer Classic, the crowd was on their feet.
Let’s rewind back to the early days of stock car racing when it was all about the drivers and the sponsors were second. When the competitors got into their cars and strapped in, they were not thinking of the sponsor or bringing the car home in one piece. The drivers were racers; there was no doubt about it. They got behind the wheel of their car and lined up for the race to start and everything else faded away. Suddenly all they could see was the green flag and the cars they needed to pass. If the car wasn’t banged up at the end of the race, the driver wasn’t racing.
Think back to the Alabama gang with the Allisons and drivers like Cale Yarborogh, Tim Richmond, Richard Petty, and Darrell Waltrip. They drove every lap like it was the last, it was all or nothing. As the saying goes,” Second place is just the first loser.”
They fought each other hard at every track. The fans knew that no matter what race they attended, it was going to be “on” and they would not go home disappointed. This was real racing from start to finish, drivers have at it. This is what made NASCAR popular. These are stories that many fans have never experienced but only hear about, as slowly things have changed. Many changes have been minor but gradually it has become more about sponsors and bringing the car back in one piece.
Wednesday night at Eldora Speedway, a simple dirt track reminded long time fans of how racing used to be and the newer fans got a taste of what they’ve been missing. They were enthralled by the competition, and asked themselves, “Where has this been all this time?” Fans were on the edge of their seats, eyes on the television. They didn’t want it to end. Last night the Camping World Truck Series reminded us what we need more of, pure racing. Every lap last night they were up against the wall or each other, they raced hard and the fans loved it. Today, this is what fans are talking about and some are already wondering if they can see more of this in the Cup or Nationwide series. All the fans know is that they want more.
One has to hope that NASCAR watched and listened to the fans. Each week the sport loses fans in the stands for the races, no matter the division. NASCAR keeps changing the Chase format and adding gimmicks to address the lack of interest. It’s a hard pill to swallow for fans knowing that none of the races made it into a recently released list of the top 50 most-watched sporting events of the year so far. Maybe the answer for NASCAR was right in front of them at Eldora. Maybe they are fixing things that aren’t broken.
NASCAR, the fans don’t really want anything fancy, they want great racing like they saw Wednesday night, the kind of racing where you don’t move away from the action because you don’t want to miss anything. Sometimes the answer is in your history. Last night was the kind of racing that made NASCAR so popular. Bring it back and the fans will follow.
