NASCAR Could Give Kids A Reason To Go To Band Camp

Do you ever get tired of watching a NASCAR race and seeing some obscure singing artist mutilate the National Anthem? I do.

Personally, I have long enjoyed the Charlotte races when kids of the drivers and crews got to sing the National Anthem. Even though they're kids, and obviously sing the anthem imperfectly, it's still a great moment for me. I'd rather see a kid give it his all and not sound good than seeing an artist mutilate the anthem for 'artistic reasons.'

Many of our current NASCAR events take place in large markets, or at least the largest markets that NASCAR can cultivate. Rockingham is gone, and so is North Wilkesboro in favor of cities like Fort Worth, Texas, and Las Vegas, Nevada. We're still trying to hang on to Darlington here in South Carolina.

I have an idea, and so far, even I like my own idea. That's unusual, especially after I've thought about it for a while.

My idea is to have a local high school band play the National Anthem at each NASCAR event. It's more complicated than that, but in a way, it's even more simple.

Many of NASCAR's race dates are now held in major metropolitan areas. All of these areas will have many high schools.

Let each city or metropolitan area, let's just say, 3 months before the racing event, start working toward a competition among all of the high school bands in the greater area of that city or metropolitan area. At this point, I don't really care who the judges will be. Let them be the track operator, or the city council, or representatives of the race sponsor. Whomever, in other words.

The winning band of this competition will receive free passes for his or her immediate family to the track, including infield passes. In addition, the band member may choose up to 3 or 4 friends to invite to watch them perform. The track will provide tickets to these friends and their families. Heck, most tracks are having problems giving tickets away this year anyway.

Let the kids have fun at the track during the pre race hours, let them attend driver appearances, etc. Let the families go with them.

Let the kids appreciate that they will soon be performing in front of the biggest audience they may ever perform before. 45,000 people maybe. 200,000 plus at some tracks. Also, they may remember, there will be several million more people watching on TV.

For some of these kids, it could be the most memorable moment of their lives. If nothing else, it brings kids to the track that otherwise might not be there. Most kids are impressed when they attend their first NASCAR race. For people of any age, that first race is almost indescribable. The immensity of the track and facilities, the pageantry that has become and is NASCAR is almost overwhelming to anyone when they visit the track for the first time on race day.

Even if the particular band that Sunday or Saturday night isn't especially good, I as a fan will still appreciate their efforts. I'd rather see a kid trying hard to put on the greatest show of their life than see a so-so 'artist' mangle the job because they think they're being 'artistic.'

If this idea were to catch on, it could be a great honor for any high school kid to say he played at a NASCAR race. Trophies could be handed out in many cities. The obvious advantages to this are innumerable.

NASCAR could gain some new fans, and existing fans could be treated to a great rendition to the national anthem. NASCAR could become a much used name at the high schools all over the country.

Could that be a bad thing?

(This article first appeared on Bleacher Report.)

What's The Next Big Thing in NASCAR?

Over the years, we've seen NASCAR run in cycles. The sport seems to be ever changing, but it always has been, since the beginning in 1948.

Obviously, since about 2001, we've seen many, many changes in NASCAR. Young drivers Kenny Irwin and Adam Petty were lost in 2000, and of course, in 2001, we lost Dale Earnhardt. Since Earnhardt's death, NASCAR has become safety conscious, at least more so than they were before.

Drivers are required to wear the full face crash helmet and the head and neck restraint device, better known as HANS. There is more padding in the cockpit of the cars, and more steel tubing than ever around the drivers. The car itself has changed, much to the chagrin of many of the current drivers and teams.

The tracks themselves have changed as well. The most obvious new safety device is of course the soft barriers, now installed in virtually all the corners on the oval tracks at which NASCAR races. Fences have been improved, with an obvious new round of scrutiny of the retaining fences since Carl Edwards' horrendous last lap ride at Talladega earlier this year. Had it not been for the fences, a lot of fans would have been killed, because Edwards' Ford was headed upstairs before the fence contained it.

Change, of course, is nothing new to NASCAR. If it were, we'd still be watching a bunch of guys racing around a cow pasture wearing tee shirts and blue jeans with no helmets, much as they used to do in the pre-NASCAR days. We wouldn't see restrictor plates at Talladega or Daytona. A little side note here: Restrictor plates were as much a safety measure implemented for the fans as it was the drivers. NASCAR has always lost drivers on the track from time to time over the years, and the drivers understand the risks involved. A car flying into the stands is more than NASCAR can stomach though, and thankfully so. NASCAR can ill afford to have fans killed at the track, especially when the fans are the people who provide the money that keeps the sport going.

I don't know what direction NASCAR will take in the future, but there are a few things I don't want to see.

I don't want to see a mandate from above that demands that all the cars use crate engines, or sealed engine packages. In my opinion, the cars are already too much alike. You can't really tell a Ford from a Chevrolet from a Dodge from a Toyota unless you look at the lettering on the nose of the car. Yeah, there are some subtle differences in the shape of the nose, and of course the headlight and grill decals are different, but other than that, the main difference in appearance is totally cosmetic. I miss the days when even on a wide TV shot, or sitting in the stands at the track, you could tell the difference between the makes of the cars. I think making the different brands unique would help sell more cars as well, which is primarily why the automakers are involved in racing in the first place.

Taking the engines out of the equation would mean that NASCAR would basically issue engines as they now do restrictor plates. There would no longer be a need for an engine shop or engine tuners for the most part. I think that would be a bad way to go. Would it save money? Certainly, but it would be at the cost of laying off some very highly skilled people and giving up one of the few aspects of the sport in which teams can be unique.

If NASCAR would just lay down a few general ground rules, instead of policing steering bracket bolts and lug lengths, I feel the sport would be more interesting from a fan's point of view. I really don't want to see NASCAR become a warmed over version of the now defunct IROQ series.

I'd also hate to see a continuation of the current trend that seems to require drivers to be robots instead of real human beings. The drivers are already so isolated and remote from many of the fans now. Part of this is because of the increased popularity of the sport, and it's virtually impossible for drivers to sign all the autographs that are requested at the tracks. Gone are the days when Richard Petty would hang out in a K-Mart parking lot with his fans, signing autographs until the last fan was gone. I miss those days, but I also understand that it's just impossible for today's drivers to make every single fan happy.

What I miss more than access to the drivers is the lack of personalities that seem to be the norm in the NASCAR scene these days. There are exceptions, of course. Kyle Busch is a polarizing personality, to say the least. At times, Tony Stewart is still good for a great quote or two. And then, there's always Dale Earnhardt Jr., who always seems to be so friendly, yet still manages to say what he thinks without hurting any one's feelings. Jeff Gordon and even Jimmie Johnson seem to have loosened up a little over the last few years, and though they are seldom involved in verbal controversies, they will show a little true feeling from time to time.

I guess I miss guys like Petty, back in his early days. I miss the early version of Darrell Waltrip. I miss Cale Yarborough, and especially Bobby Allison. I miss Junior Johnson. I miss Neil Bonnett and A. J. Foyt. Of course, I really, really miss Dale Earnhardt.

NASCAR will continue to change, and that's not always a bad thing. I just hope that the changes make it more fun than just a show. I want to see NASCAR put all the emphasis on racing again.

Just good, hard racing. That's all I ask for.

Jeremy Mayfield: The saga that never ends.

First of all, I don't know anything about methamphetamine. I've never used it, I've never cooked it, I've never sold it, so I just don't know that much about it.

All I know is what I read. I've read that meth makes people very aggressive, and sometimes inhumanly strong. I've seen pics of Jeremy Mayfield. I'd arm wrestle him, meth or not. I think I could probably win.

As I've said before, I just don't see a former winner in the Cup series who's been banished to oblivion, starting his own team, cultivating his own sponsors, and going racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup in 2009 if he's got a drug abuse problem. Jeremy knew NASCAR's new policy on drug testing. I assume he did. I did. I'm not a driver, and am in no way associated with any of the teams out there. But I knew about NASCAR's new drug testing policy. I'm guessing that Jeremy did too.

Personally, I'm backing Mayfield on this, not that it will matter much. I can't believe that Jeremy would be stupid enough to embark with his own team on this journey back to full time Sprint Cup racing if he was an abuser of meth. I don't think anyone would be that stupid, knowing NASCAR's new drug testing policy. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have put all that money at risk, even if I had it.

If NASCAR is railroading Jeremy, I wouldn't be too surprised. NASCAR does not like to be second guessed, or overruled. As NASCAR has always said to drivers who were being difficult, "NASCAR doesn't need you as much as you need NASCAR."

Jeremy Mayfield's career is probably over. He's now failed two drug tests, according to NASCAR.

Jeremy, we'll miss you.

Bobby Allison's Greatest Day. And He Doesn't Remember It.

I am going to quote from a book I recently checked out of the local library. The title is My Greatest Day In Nascar. It's written by Bob McCullough. The book is a series of interviews that Bob had with a lot of current Nascar drivers during the 1999 season. It's a little dated, but for drivers like Bobby Allison, it's great. Bobby hasn't driven a race in a very long time now.

I will now quote what Bobby said about his greatest day in Nascar.

"Well, my day, I have no memory of... My greatest day would have had to have been the 1988 Daytona 500, which I won for the third time at age fifty., with the best young man in racing second behind me. However, a few months later, June 19, 1988, I was injured severely at Pocono... head injury, caused a lot of memory loss. I have zero memory of Daytona 1988... even today. I know it happened, I've got a lot of written stuff and so forth, I've had a tape of the race which I haven't watched in a long time, but even the tape from way back wouldn't do anything for me in terms of helping me remember anything."

"I just accept that I have no memory... They tell me that I won the race, and I've got some written record of having won the race, I've got some pictures of me, and the race team, and the family, and Davey Allison, and victory lane."

"You know, all head injuries are quite different, but traditionally, memory loss and the loss of being able to put things together to support what should be a memory, is fairly common, I guess, with a head injury. And so, what I did early on in my recovery, I said, Okay, I hurt, and I can't remember this, and I can't do some things that I used to do, but I'll try to focus on the positive side and go from there. And that's what I've done."

As a side note, I saw the 1988 Daytona 500, at least what TV showed us at the time. I was cheering on Bobby Allison, and was happy when he won. I also remember that horrible crash at Pocono, and the aftermath. Bobby Allison was on life support for a while, and his recovery was painfully slow. When Bobby finally recovered, he revealed that he basically had lost all memory before his crash. I don't know if that's completely true or not, but I have heard that the first time Davey talked to him in the hospital, Bobby asked "Who are you?"

How sad when a dad doesn't even recognize his own son. Bobby bounced back though, mostly as a team owner. His sons Davey and Clifford died only a few years later. Those events are burned in Bobby Allison's mind forever.

Bobby Allison was a great driver, and still is a great man. My hat is forever off to Bobby Allison and the other men just like him.

Bobby Allison is one of the reasons I'm a true Nascar fan.

A Brand New Winner, and Other Thoughts

Rookie Joey Logano won the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire International Speedway on Sunday, making him not only the first rookie to win a Sprint Cup race in quite a while, but also the youngest ever driver to win at the very highest level in Nascar.

As many races turn out to be, Joey wasn't in the fastest car on the track. He happened to be in the right place at the right time, and that's all that counts.

Logano was down a lap earlier in the rain shortened race, but managed to get his lap back and was sitting in the cat bird's seat when Ryan Newman ran out of gas just as the rain began to fall at Loudon, New Hampshire, which meant Ryan had to pit, which gave Joey the lead.

As I've always said, a win is a win, and my congratulations go out to Joey Logano and the 20 Home Depot team. Special congratulations go out to veteran crew chief Greg Zipadelli, who had the foresight to keep his young driver in the perfect position, at the perfect time, to win his very first Sprint Cup race.

New Hampshire on Sunday, had what mostly only happens at Daytona and Talladega: The Big ONE. On a restart, under the new double file restart rules, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was starting on the inside line, and spun his tires when the green flag came out. The car immediately behind him, Jr.'s buddy Martin Truex Jr. had to check up. The car behind Truex was Wild Thing himself, Kyle Busch. Instead of trying to check up himself, or wait until they passed the start finish line to pass the cars low, Kyle decided to try to make a hole in the middle. That didn't work, and Kyle spun Truex out, and then all heck took place.

A lot of cars were taken out in that fiasco, including some good ones, such as Martin Truex's 1 TomTom car. Kyle Busch later apologized for doing what Truex felt was a rather stupid move, echoed by Toyota driver Brian Vickers, according to post accident interviews.

The fact that Kyle Busch is even apologizing surprises me. I thought aggressive driving and never taking the blame for wrecks was his game. Is Kyle losing his touch?

Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 13th, but the same conditions that proved to be the winning move for Logano found Dale Jr., a top 10 or even top 5 car all day, back in a top 15 finish when the rains came. Had the rain stayed away for a few more laps, it's more than likely that Dale Jr. would have a solid top 10.

Had the rains held off a few more laps, Jeff Gordon would have had the win, because Logano was short on fuel at the moment that Nascar threw the caution and ultimately the red flag.

Were it not for a lost lug nut on the previous pit stop, Tony Stewart would likely have won under the same conditions that Gordon faced. Stewart proved to be very fast, and hard to pass when they had the car dialed in.

Would have, could have, should have, it doesn't matter at all now. Joey Logano is the man of the week, and deserves that recognition. Sincere congratulations to Joey on his first Cup win.

I imagine Joey Logano will be buying Greg Zipadelli a very nice lunch or two this week though.

A Parasite

Parasites, in case you didn't know, are living things that make their living off of usually larger living things. Remoras are fish that basically make their living off of sharks. Mistletoe, romantic as it might be, is actually a parasite that lives in trees.

Every Friday it seems there is a new parasite on the loose in the Nascar world. For at least the last three Fridays, it seems that Kyle Busch has opened his mouth and disparaged Dale Earnhardt Jr.

On Friday, June 19th, 2009, Kyle said some things, and I'm only paraphrasing here. Kyle apparently said that he was truly the most popular driver in Nascar. He's the most popular because he keeps the sport and it's followers buzzing. That is true, in one sense, I suppose. Kyle also said that Dale Jr. is not the most popular driver, in fact he's the most loved. That probably is also true, at least the part about being the most loved.

Kyle Busch seems to be thriving off of Dale Jr.'s so far dismal season. Since Dale Jr. left DEI and made the move to Hendrick Motorsports, Dale Jr. has won only one points race, while Kyle has won a lot of races in all of Nascar's top 3 series. Kyle has also publicly set himself a goal of snagging 200 wins the three series before he hangs up his helmet for good. It would be an impressive, if somewhat meaningless goal. 200 wins in Nascar makes one think of Petty's 200 wins, which all came in the top series of Nascar, the old Grand National series, now called Cup. 200 wins spread among all three series, would be impressive, and as a personal goal, nothing's beyond reason.

The fact that Kyle Busch keeps bringing up Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s name in his weekly forays into stirring the pot are interesting, to say the least. The fact that he spends so much time trying to stir up not only Nascar fans, but in particular the Earnhardt fans is in part genius, and also in part pathetic.

Kyle Busch epitomizes exactly why Darrell Waltrip was not one of my favorite drivers. Yep, Ole DW did much the same thing early in his career. He disparaged Richard Petty as as being too old to see. He disparaged Dale Earnhardt as being illiterate. Waltrip has often expressed his admiration for Kyle Busch, and it's easy to see why. Kyle is now what DW used to be. DW might want to remember that he used to be, and still is called by some people, a different nickname than 'DW.' They used to call Darrel Waltrip 'Jaws.'

In the less polite society which is the 21st century, people call Kyle Busch more names than I can remember Waltrip being called. At least publicly. But what many have yet to realize is that there is genius to Kyle's seeming jealousies

In fact, it's a calculated ploy that is paying huge dividends. To some people, all press, whether or not it's good or bad, is a good thing. Kyle Busch is one of those people. Darrell Waltrip thrived on such press early in his career. Dale Earnhardt did as well. Now Kyle Busch is not only enjoying the press, he seems to be thriving on it.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. seems to have always taken the opposite approach in his professional career. The haters out there will never agree, but Dale Jr. has tried to be a good guy. It appears to not be in his nature to be the bad guy. Dale Jr. appears to be a genuinely likable man, who wants to make not only his sponsors happy, but his fans as well. The former party guy is now a major league business man, and he's still Nascar's official Most Popular Driver, despite what Kyle Busch says.

Kyle Busch enjoys a lot of notoriety in the press now. He's enjoying the role of being Nascar's official bad boy. Dale Earnhardt eventually turned the corner and became a popular driver near the end of his career. Darrell Waltrip also became a much loved driver.

Can Kyle Busch do the same? Maybe when he gets older.

Right now, Kyle Busch is a parasite, capitalizing off of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s fame and popularity.

Being A Loyal Fan Means Different Things to Different People

There are as many reasons for being a fan of a particular race car driver as there are fans. Those of us who consider ourselves Nascar fans probably have at least one or two drivers we pull for.

For some people, winning is all that matters. If a driver wins a lot, you might consider yourself a fan. If a driver rarely wins or is not often competitive, you might ignore that driver totally. Many people who are what I consider to be casual fans of the sport probably fall under this category. Everyone likes a winner, myself included, at least sometimes.

Long time fans of the sport, of which I am one, begin to notice other aspects to who we cheer on to win and those whom we quite frankly hope to see coasting into the garage with a plume of smoke following the car. Nascar is unique in a way. Drivers are relatively few in numbers, compared to other sports. In racing, the driver is the face of the entire team, most of the time. Casual fans don't know the names of the crew chief of their favorite driver often times. Very few of them know the name of their driver's jack man or rear tire changer.

Long time fans eventually learn these things and more. We watch the TV interviews. We read every story in the newspapers and on the Internet that we can get our hands on. We read and participate on message boards. Some of us even start writing or Tweeting about it. Some of us are full of crap, too. Some of us make sense at times.

The reasons for being a fan of a certain driver are about as diverse as the stars in the night time sky. Some of us like the attitude a driver displays on or even off the track. Some of us just pull for whoever is hot at the moment. Some of us just like a driver because he seems like a nice person.

Case in point: I am an unabashed Kyle Petty fan. Kyle has not driven a single Nascar race in 2009, but I'm still a fan of his. Kyle has won relatively few races in his career, especially compared to his famous father's career. Kyle never won a Cup championship. But I like Kyle none the less.

I've been a regular fan of Nascar ever since Kyle's career began. I followed his career, as did many, because he was the son of the King. Though Kyle's career on the track has been less than stellar in some ways, he's more than made up for that from his actions off the track.

In 2000, Kyle's son Adam lost his life in an accident during practice at New Hampshire. Adam, by all indications, was a very talented young driver. His death caused a tremendous amount of grief in not only the Petty family, but in the Nascar family as a whole. Adam was just beginning his Cup career at the time, and just how good he could have been is a question for the ages. Davey Allison is another driver whom I often wonder about; how different this sport might be right now had he not died tragically in a helicopter accident at Talladega. I never knew either of these young men, but I had a lot of respect for both of them.

My respect for Kyle Petty is boundless though. In honor of his son, he and wife Patti organized and launched the now famous Victory Junction Gang Camp in memory of Adam. Every year, the camp helps a lot of kids with not so bright futures. Kyle and Patti, as well as many other members of the family have made VGJC a wonderful place. Members of the family don't just include people who's last name happens to be Petty. Many of the drivers in Nascar have devoted not only their money, but their time. in order to make VGJC what it is today. Family, at least in Nascar, doesn't just mean people who share your last name. That's one of the reasons why Nascar is a special organization in my eyes.

Some drivers just connect with you on a very personal level. Most of you know how it feels to meet someone new, say on your job, or at school, and you immediately feel a certain 'click'. You either know you're going to like that person or that you won't like them. Sometimes a personal experience is involved as well. I met a guy the other day who told me that he was a huge Kevin Harvick fan because he once got an autograph from the driver and Kevin was very nice and polite to him. He wasn't that much of a fan before that event, but he will forever more be a 29 fan because Harvick was a nice guy. That's the way it often happens in the racing world.

Whatever your reason for being a fan of a certain driver, remember, the person across the hall or down the street, or in the next cube at work probably has their own reasons for being a fan of someone. Personally, I'm a fan of drivers who are down to earth, with few pretenses. There are still a few out there, who might have more money than they will ever spend, but never forgot where they came from. They almost never get shot in night clubs in big cities either, nor are they arrested for driving while intoxicated or for having a bag of some controlled substance in their cars.

There are exceptions of course, but for the most part, Nascar remains a true family sport.