Here I am, a college student smack in the middle of Iowa. A few weeks ago, when we were first starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel after a long, hard winter, we had Daytona, and it was glorious.
This weekend, I have spring break. No pressure, no busyness, nothing.
Nothing. Including NASCAR.
Why?
I finally have the chance to sit down and watch a good race without having to worry about anything to do. I guess NASCAR has considered this weekend a good weekend to have NO racing action. None. Neither the Camping World Truck Series, the Nationwide Series, or the Sprint Cup Series have a race this weekend.
Is there a national holiday this weekend? No. Some sort of religious holiday? Not that I know of. Some important President's birthday? Well, Andrew Jackson's birthday is on Monday, but it's been an awful long time since I've heard of a crew member lamenting over not being home to celebrate Andrew Jackson day.
Oh wait... Daylight Savings Time begins on Sunday. What a royal pain this is. I totally understand now. No wonder NASCAR doesn't dare to stage a race this weekend. We're all better off for it, I guess.
OK, enough with that. What I want to know is why none of NASCAR's three national series are racing this weekend. Not even the K&N Pro Series can be found on SPEED.
NASCAR is trying to rebuild a fan base that has shrunk in the past few seasons. Coming off a storyline-generating race at Atlanta, where we now have feud brewing between Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski, thousands of excited new fans want to tune in this week and see what happens next, and...
Nothing. NASCAR better hope these fans have a good memory.
What about the Camping World Truck Series? They only race once a month for their first few races? What's up with that? It's awfully hard to build a following for a series that only races occasionally.
What will the newspapers have to print on Monday? Nothing.
How much money are tracks going to bring in this weekend? None.
Few, if any, of the NASCAR Home Tracks and their weekly racing programs are operational yet, so that's not an option. The midwest is still buried in snow. Wouldn't it be smarter to throw the Home Tracks a bone and have a completely free weekend in the middle of the summer where NASCAR can tell everyone via TV to go to their Home Track?
So, for the seriously, seriously addicted and crazed NASCAR fans, what is there to do this weekend? Nothing. I will be on vacation not doing the things I like to do on vacation.
But I'm freak.
The NASCAR Silicon Motor Speedway that was in my mall closed a few years ago too. Geez.
OK, now I'm just ranting.
I hope NASCAR makes a change next year so this doesn't happen again. I see absolutely no reason for there to be absolutely no racing, from anyone, this weekend.
_____
Other NASCAR Notes
I guess we now have a feud between Brad Keselowski and Carl Edwards. I think this might have staying power because Edwards has apparently held a grudge against Keselowski for quite a while and never acted on it.
In an interview on Sunday, Edwards admitted, "Brad never gives me any room." Plus, I've never seen him intentionally spin someone out before... much less, the rookie. There's something more to this story, something that has been brewing for quite a while, to provoke such a reaction from Carl Edwards, the mild-mannered good young man from Missouri.
NASCAR clearly wants this to keep happening too, just not to that extent. The three race probation they gave him tells me they're saying, "keep doing what you're doing, just don't go overboard like that."
NASCAR once gave Tony Steward a 6-month probation for spinning out Jeff Gordon... on pit road... when the race was over. It caused mild damage, much less turn Gordon's car into an experimental aircraft.
However, on that note, I'm still waiting for that feud we all talked about between BK and Denny Hamlin...
____
What will you do in lieu of NASCAR this weekend? Tell us on facebook or twitter.
-David Dubczak
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Monday, March 1, 2010
Vegas is NASCAR's Second Home
For the past decade or so, NASCAR has been trying to solidify a presence in the west coast. They race in Fontana, but even though that track is in one of the most densely populated parts of the country, the stands are rarely full. When NASCAR scheduled a second race in Fontana, the stands were even less full.
Then the NASCAR circus travels a three-hour drive to the northwest to Las Vegas, a mile and a half that has now had nine consecutive sellouts.
After 28 years in New York City, NASCAR moved their Champion’s Week to Vegas. The New Yorkers were like “yay, nascar.” After the city barred NASCAR from doing its signature victory lap in Times Square, they moved to Vegas, to a fan base that was more like “YAY, NASCAR!” The Champion’s Week in Vegas was a bigger event than NASCAR had been able to envision in years.
Las Vegas has some crazy NASCAR fans, and this is very good.
Las Vegas Motor Speedway also has one of the best fan experiences in the country. Racing action in Vegas started on Thursday with the World of Outlaws at the bullring behind the track, the same bullring that Kurt and Kyle Busch grew up racing at.
Fans also have access to the Neon Garage. Most garages in NASCAR are closed to fans, but Vegas built a garage that has a fan skywalk, so fans can go have a birds-eye view of what the teams are doing below them, and live entertainment throughout the day. No other facility has this. None.
Vegas is a tourist destination anyway! How many people actually live in Las Vegas? It’s just a revolving door of people and tourists. NASCAR is just another excuse for people to come to southern Nevada, stay in the plentitude of hotels, drain some money into the casinos, maybe get married, and watch the race (or perhaps get married after the race to the person you spilled your beer on. Who knows).
As an added plus, the additional banking given to Las Vegas Motor Speedway a few years ago has made the racing great! This track has some of the fastest speeds of any mile and a half, and the banking allows the cars to hold to the track in the corners, making for some fast and furious side-by-side action.
The culture of Las Vegas is closer to that of the Confederate south than any other part in the west. In the middle of the desert has arisen a city of people work hard and play hard. The sport and culture of NASCAR is ideally suited to a populace like Las Vegas.
NASCAR has tried so far to make their sport work in Fontana, but those efforts have been to no avail. Sometimes, it seems, they can't fill those stands even of they gave tickets away for free. No, NASCAR, Las Vegas is your second home.
Other NASCAR Notes
Danica Watch: It finally seemed this weekend like Danica Patrick knew what she was doing. Though still not running with the leaders, she felt confident and had her car under her the whole time.
Now, don't make a big deal out of it that she was able to go and actually race people - look, this is what racecar drivers are supposed to do! She's shown me she can drive a stock car, but is she above average? That remains to be seen. My guess is, probably not.
But, I still think her story line is fun to follow. Welcome to NASCAR, Danica.
_____
Jeff Gordon: Last season, I made the prediction that he is close to retirement, especially if his back problems persist. Turns out, I was wrong. It was announced this week that Jeff Gordon plans on racing for at least another 5-6 years.
This story is yet more ammunition to show that racecar drivers are, in fact, athletes. At the very least, they have to be in good shape to drive at the elite levels. Gordon has been plagued the past few years by persistent back pain. Last season, he began a stretching routine that helped alleviate it. This season, however, he's undergone an intense workout regimen that owner Rick Hendrick says will have him in better shape and more competitive than ever.
Do you have to be in shape to drive a car? No. Do you have to be in shape to be competitive at the end of the NASCAR marathons? Yes. These cars are hard to drive, and drivers work best when they can focus on the car and the track, not on how tired they are or how much their back hurts.
Jeff Gordon wants his fifth championship with a fire I've never seen before in a competitor. He's realized that little, if any, of what helped him be so dominant in the late 1990's is going to work today. Since he won his last championship in 2001, the whole ballgame has changed. Jeff Gordon is remaking himself as a new driver.
He's said himself: not having won a championship under the Sprint Cup Chase format is like not having won a championship at all. He would give up all four of his old-format Winston Cups to win just one Sprint Cup.
Add that to the fact that Jimmie Johnson, the driver he hired and mentored, has turned out to be the only one who can beat him on many an occasion... the Gordon-Johnson battles are sometimes the best ones to watch.
_____
Finally, congrats to the USA Bobsled Team, using Bo-Dyn sleds designed in part by NASCAR Driver Geoff Bodine. More on this later this week.
And remember - fan us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter
-David Dubczak
Then the NASCAR circus travels a three-hour drive to the northwest to Las Vegas, a mile and a half that has now had nine consecutive sellouts.
After 28 years in New York City, NASCAR moved their Champion’s Week to Vegas. The New Yorkers were like “yay, nascar.” After the city barred NASCAR from doing its signature victory lap in Times Square, they moved to Vegas, to a fan base that was more like “YAY, NASCAR!” The Champion’s Week in Vegas was a bigger event than NASCAR had been able to envision in years.
Las Vegas has some crazy NASCAR fans, and this is very good.
Las Vegas Motor Speedway also has one of the best fan experiences in the country. Racing action in Vegas started on Thursday with the World of Outlaws at the bullring behind the track, the same bullring that Kurt and Kyle Busch grew up racing at.
Fans also have access to the Neon Garage. Most garages in NASCAR are closed to fans, but Vegas built a garage that has a fan skywalk, so fans can go have a birds-eye view of what the teams are doing below them, and live entertainment throughout the day. No other facility has this. None.
Vegas is a tourist destination anyway! How many people actually live in Las Vegas? It’s just a revolving door of people and tourists. NASCAR is just another excuse for people to come to southern Nevada, stay in the plentitude of hotels, drain some money into the casinos, maybe get married, and watch the race (or perhaps get married after the race to the person you spilled your beer on. Who knows).
As an added plus, the additional banking given to Las Vegas Motor Speedway a few years ago has made the racing great! This track has some of the fastest speeds of any mile and a half, and the banking allows the cars to hold to the track in the corners, making for some fast and furious side-by-side action.
The culture of Las Vegas is closer to that of the Confederate south than any other part in the west. In the middle of the desert has arisen a city of people work hard and play hard. The sport and culture of NASCAR is ideally suited to a populace like Las Vegas.
NASCAR has tried so far to make their sport work in Fontana, but those efforts have been to no avail. Sometimes, it seems, they can't fill those stands even of they gave tickets away for free. No, NASCAR, Las Vegas is your second home.
Other NASCAR Notes
Danica Watch: It finally seemed this weekend like Danica Patrick knew what she was doing. Though still not running with the leaders, she felt confident and had her car under her the whole time.
Now, don't make a big deal out of it that she was able to go and actually race people - look, this is what racecar drivers are supposed to do! She's shown me she can drive a stock car, but is she above average? That remains to be seen. My guess is, probably not.
But, I still think her story line is fun to follow. Welcome to NASCAR, Danica.
_____
Jeff Gordon: Last season, I made the prediction that he is close to retirement, especially if his back problems persist. Turns out, I was wrong. It was announced this week that Jeff Gordon plans on racing for at least another 5-6 years.
This story is yet more ammunition to show that racecar drivers are, in fact, athletes. At the very least, they have to be in good shape to drive at the elite levels. Gordon has been plagued the past few years by persistent back pain. Last season, he began a stretching routine that helped alleviate it. This season, however, he's undergone an intense workout regimen that owner Rick Hendrick says will have him in better shape and more competitive than ever.
Do you have to be in shape to drive a car? No. Do you have to be in shape to be competitive at the end of the NASCAR marathons? Yes. These cars are hard to drive, and drivers work best when they can focus on the car and the track, not on how tired they are or how much their back hurts.
Jeff Gordon wants his fifth championship with a fire I've never seen before in a competitor. He's realized that little, if any, of what helped him be so dominant in the late 1990's is going to work today. Since he won his last championship in 2001, the whole ballgame has changed. Jeff Gordon is remaking himself as a new driver.
He's said himself: not having won a championship under the Sprint Cup Chase format is like not having won a championship at all. He would give up all four of his old-format Winston Cups to win just one Sprint Cup.
Add that to the fact that Jimmie Johnson, the driver he hired and mentored, has turned out to be the only one who can beat him on many an occasion... the Gordon-Johnson battles are sometimes the best ones to watch.
_____
Finally, congrats to the USA Bobsled Team, using Bo-Dyn sleds designed in part by NASCAR Driver Geoff Bodine. More on this later this week.
And remember - fan us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter
-David Dubczak
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