Beginning to get the Fever!

There is so much to look forward to at the beginning of a new year, but I'm about as excited about the 2008 Nascar season as I've been in a long time. This will be a year of firsts, with all the races run with the new car package.

It was a bit refreshing to read some rare news from Nascar about their concerns about alienating some of the old fans of the sport. I think it's time to just let the racers race again, and if they have a disagreement, take it behind the hauler after the race and settle it there. I think it's time for racing journalists to go back to what they get paid to do: report on the racing, and stop making the sport seem like one big soap opera. I personally don't need to know what restaurant my favorite driver ate in, or who his girlfriend is. I just want to see him race, and when he's off the track, I want him to have some privacy and not be bothered by the media.

I want to see TV networks cover more of the actual races, instead of spending time showing me talking heads try to manufacture drama in the booth, when there's plenty of it happening on the track. I want the networks to show the action on the track, and not just the leaders, or the favorites. It's nice to know how a Ken Shrader or a Kyle Petty is running, not just a Jeff Gordon or a Dale Earnhardt Jr.

I want Nascar to take more of a hands off approach in letting drivers show a little personality. Let's try to keep it at least PG rated, for goodness sakes, but let the drivers speak their minds. Don't put a camera and a microphone in a driver's face the second he climbs out of a wrecked race car though. Let the driver calm down a little before doing the interview. We all have emotions, and sometime we tend to express them at inopportune times and regret it later.

I want the entire sport to get back to racing, not about manufactured for ratings drama. Going around a track at speeds of up to 200 mph, only inches from the cars around you is drama enough in my opinion.

Let the racers race, the reporters report, and the fans will enjoy.