Fans, Maybe You Got Their Attention

Everybody, all together now….”Ding, dong- the wing is gone.” You asked for it, and now you’ve got it. Starting this Sunday, the ugly 93-race era of the wing has come to an unceremonious end.

Frankly, I never liked it, either. You know those big metal stakes they use for fence posts in cow pastures? To me, the wing looked like somebody cut one of those in half with a torch, and bolted it to the race car. Well, now it’s gone faithful fans, and you have yourselves to thank.

If you go back a year, and look in the Bump Drafts archives to see where I solicited your complaints against NASCAR, you will see where you all came up with a pretty impressive list. One complaint you can remove, in this humble opinion: the folks in Daytona never listen to us fans. Some of the changes that have occurred in recent months lead this observer to believe you must’ve got somebody’s attention. Consider…..

The Double-File Re-Start- This one cam on quick. Remember that thrilling dash to the finish in the All-Star race that produced a Tony Stewart victory? Y’all said that “double file” re-start business was a good thing, and almost overnight, you got it.

You know who else loves it? Jimmie Johnson. He sliced through the field like a knife through hot butter for that Bristol win last week. Oh well, nothing’s perfect. All kidding aside, there’s no question it’s helped pump a little life into some otherwise lifeless races. It certainly does add another element of strategy in terms of the leader choosing a line, and it also gets interesting to see who will take advantage of the “wave around” rule as well.

Consistent Start Times- To be honest, as a church-going West Coaster, I hate it for the East Coast races. That said, I get the fact that most NASCAR fans live in the Eastern time zone and you don’t have to wait around all day for a race. Besides, I can’t complain too much, because on the 8th day, God created the DVR. I just have to stay off line and use the commercial breaks to catch up.

“Have It At, Boys”- To the disappointment of many, this change in policy did not result in a “crash bash” at Bristol. In Atlanta, we saw the “Law Of Unintended Consequences” have its way when carl Edwards got more than he bargained for when he punted Brad Keselowski and sent him airborne.

I still say you can’t make a driver someone he is not. I’m not looking for Jimmie or Junior to develop a sudden mean streak. I don’t believe Mark Martin will be getting in touch with his inner Rusty Wallace to go boot Kyle Busch. At the same time, now the drivers who feel the need to settle a score will be emboldened to administer chrome justice when needed.

It may take some time, but I think we’ll begin to see some of that raw emotion you’re looking for. Believe me, with the likes of Juan Pablo, Happy Harvick and Shrub, no engraved invitation will be necessary.

Cup Racing Goes Wingless- I’m not engineer enough to really know what, if any, effect this will have. I agree it does look better. Wings belong on plates, smothered in sauce. Looks like somebody got the message.

For more perspective on this development, our own Patrick Reynolds wrote this little dandy up at All Left Turns. It’s a nice read, and I highly recommend it.

Now, I have no illusions that all those empty seats will start filling up and TV ratings will soar immediately. If we’re all being honest, there’s a lot beyond NASCAR’s control factoring into that. All the sports are having some degree of attendance troubles, though the good shows are still getting good numbers. Besides the economy, there’s no getting around the fact that TV viewers have more choices than they ever had before, and the truth of the matter is, generational science studies show much shorter attention spans among younger people.

I guess I’m saying there is more work to be done. Thought should be given to shorter races, pulling dates from markets where the product isn’t selling, the Top 35 rule and some other, rather fixable, problems.

At the same time, it’s safe to say some things aren’t going away anytime soon. You’re kidding yourself if you think the “CoT” is going away, the Chase could be mended, but it won’t be ended, and Toyota is here to stay.

Heck, think about it; we’ve even seen changes in the broadcast booth. Jerry Punch is back in the pits (where he shines, I might add), Bill Weber is gone, and Marty Reid delivers play-by-play with heartfelt emotion. That *ahem* doesn’t address all the broadcast problems, but we’re far better off than we were last year, in my opinion.

For all that may be wrong, take heart. In the last year, I’ve seen more change than I ever would have expected, and I maintain that if you all hadn’t been as loud as you’ve been, they may have never come to pass. Perhaps persistence does pay. 

So, you tell me, are you at least somewhat encouraged by these developments? Do you feel like you’re being heard? What should be next? Apparently, someone is listening.