Soap Box: A Way Out Of The NA$CAR Corner

Editor’s Note: One of things I’ve truly treasured about doing this blog is the friends I’ve made with people I’ve never met. Through it, I’ve met a former NASCAR team mechanic, a rescue worker with a love of NASCAR history and an “old school” mindset, a young lady with a knack for weaving a clever yarn, plus too many more to mention- strung all the way from North Carolina to northern California.

One of the other things I enjoy is the interaction. I don’t mind an exchange of ideas- no matter how mainstream or crazy they may seem. After all, crazy ideas resulted the airplane, the light bulb…and the automobile.

If you’ve read the comments on this blog, you know him as “dawg.” I’ve come to know him as John Chapman-  a man who has been around racing since before there was a NASCAR. He’s watched racing, worked on race cars, crew chiefed, and heck, he’s even climbed through the window to race a few.

If you’ve read his comments, then you know that he calls ‘em like he sees ‘em. Today and tomorrow, I’m getting off the soap box in the village square to opine on the state of the sport.

Ladies and gentleman, I present John “Dawg” Chapman.

Make no mistake NA$CAR is backed into a corner……

In recent years we’ve seen a stock market bubble burst, a housing bubble burst, and we are in the midst of a NA$CAR bubble bursting. During the ’90’s, track owners and promoters were adding grandstands every year and selling them out before they were even finished. In some cases, they were even totally reconfiguring tracks to make room for more luxury boxes with better views should anyone care to divert their attention from the catered buffet and the open bar to actually look out the window. As with anything going through unsustainable growth, the only way to lock in your gains is to step off the elevator before it reaches the penthouse and starts back down. All together now. Can we say Penske? I doubt he’s ever looked back, after unloading his tracks to I$C.

Whether the current state of NA$CAR is due to greed, poor planning,arrogance, general mismanagement, the economy or just plain bad luck, (I suspect all of the above is the correct answer)  at this point it’s pretty much immaterial. I’ve sat in on my share of meetings, and the blame game really doesn’t go very far towards solving problems.

After circling the wagons and stoutly insisting that the manufacturers would continue to support NA$CAR, because……. Well, you’ve read all that, I don’t need to rehash those wishful arguments. It would seem that reality has finally set in. Both to NA$CAR management and team owners. To be surprised that GM and Chrysler are pulling back, is in itself pretty surprising with what they are facing. Why would they continue to pour the amounts of money, as they did in times past?

NA$CAR, with it’s CoT and its locked in the ’50’s engine mentality is giving them absolutely no reason to. To think that a Hyundai CoT will save them may go a long way to explaining how they came to this spot. As things stand now,  GM, Chrysler and Ford could get about as much bang for one hell of a lot less bucks. By just hiring their version of the Sprint Girls (don’t you just love ‘em?) to hand out hats as people come into the stands.

If I were at the helm, this is what I would consider: All of the American manufacturers have a Recognizable production based car that could be raced at the cup level.  I think the safety innovations built into the current car could be carried over.

The Mustang started it all- and just like NA$CAR- it lost its way for a while, but it’s back now with a vengeance. GM and Dodge have just brought back the Camaro and the Challenger. If these cars were good enough for Trans Am in its heyday- and they were- they would be good enough for Cup. The fans would see a car they could actually identify with, the manufacturers could finally justify the support they have been getting short changed on for so long.

At last  we’d have a Mustang, a Challenger, a Camaro, & what,….. a Camry?

I could live with that!

PHOTO CREDITS- Bubble burst by richard.heeks. To see more, visit flickr.com or click on the hyperlink.