ESPN Shoots Self In Foot, NASCAR Suffers

The news has probably been reported elsewhere, but I first read it on John Daly's excellent site this morning. ESPN has cracked down on the use of Twitter and other social networking sites by its employees.

That's nothing new, right? Many companies who have employees who use computers have done much the same thing, and for productivity's sake, it's probably not a bad decision.

But for ESPN to do so is not a good decision at all.

As you can probably tell, I am on Twitter. I'm a relative newbie on the site, but I've come to enjoy it and depend on it. Many who do not understand what Twitter is all about consider it to be a site from which rumors are spread by people posing to be people they are not.

Well, actually, there is a lot of that on Twitter. The site is not without its faults. For instance, there are several 'Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s on Twitter, but none of them are real. NONE of them. Dale Jr. has said he does NOT tweet, and doesn't have a presence on Facebook or Myspace. Anyone who claims to be Dale Jr. on these sites is a fake.

Twitter does, on the other hand, have real people. A lot of NASCAR journalists post there. Several drivers do as well. If you log on to Twitter and follow Kyle Petty, Michael Waltrip, Kenny Wallace, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman, and Juan Pablo Montoya, you will be entertained. Believe me, it's well worth the price of admission, which of course, is free.

Watkinds Glen driver have a great presence there as well. I currently follow Max Papis and his wife Tati. Did you know Max partially fell through the ceiling in his house last week? I did, because he and his wife posted pictures of the event on Twitter. By the way, did you know that Tati Papis is the daughter of Emerson Fittipaldi? Well, now you do!

Delana Harvick, wife of driver Kevin Harvick is also a frequent tweeter on Twitter. That sounds funny, doesn't it, but it's true. Delana and Kevin often banter among themselves in a good natured way on Twitter.

ESPN, in its infinite wisdom, has decreed that no one in the organization, including on air talent, shall participate in this great experiment called social networking. Why is that bad? Let me 'splain.

Way back when Al Gore invented the Internet, he obviously had social networking in mind. OK, maybe I joke here, but the point I'm trying to make is that social networking was bound to happen. It probably all started with e-mail, then advanced to IM, or Instant Messaging. Message boards and then chat soon ensued. Now we've got sites like Facebook, Myspace, and a ton of others.

Twitter, on the other hand, came up with a concept. "What Are You Doing?" is the prompt, and you have 140 characters or less to say whatever it is you're doing. Or, you have 140 characters or less to say whatever you want to say. You may ask why 140 characters? I don't know, but that's the way Twitter is.

I do not have a degree in journalism, but I've taken a lot of writing classes. One of the things that was always drilled into me was don't be too 'wordy'. 'Wordy' means don't use more words than necessary to say what you want to say. That made sense to me, because I'm usually a quiet person, until you get to know me, at which point I tend to babble, because other than my cats, I don't have a lot of people to talk to. But that's another story for later. By the way, I know cats aren't people. They do listen well, however. Most of the time. OK, maybe they don't listen at all, but they look at me when I'm talking, which gives me the illusion that they're listening. Okay? Oops, I'm babbling again. Too wordy.

Anyway, Twitter makes every participant a chance to become a journalist to some degree. You have to condense your thoughts into a small space to put your ideas out there. Some people accomplish that by abbreviating words, which sometimes makes the tweets unreadable, or cryptic, to say the least.

In these days of bad economy, less money to spend, and all the other woes that face all of us each and every day, NASCAR has been hurting. Rarely are the stands full for even the biggest races of the year. People are having to cut back on their spending for items like race tickets, motel rooms, fuel to get to the races, fuel to get back home, tee shirts, hats, die casts, and all other things NASCAR related. Remember, fans are what support NASCAR, ultimately. Sponsors support the teams and the various series themselves because they believe the fans will buy their products. NASCAR has experienced a downturn in business this year because a lot of people are just like me. We just don't have much money to spend on anything but shelter, food, and clothing. Some of us are having a hard time just keeping a roof over our heads, food on the table, and decent clothes to wear. I know I am.

I wish I could go out and buy the latest die cast of the 14 Tony Stewart 'Swagger' paint scheme he ran at Pocono. I can't afford it. A lot of other people can't either. For those of you who can, I am glad that you have the ability to do so.

I'm simply going to quote a portion of John Daly's great article from this morning to show you all how I feel about ESPN silencing some of the greatest tweeters ever. It means a lot to a racing junkie like me to get the news from the tap, so to speak. John Daly can say it much more eloquently than I can.

ESPN has dropped the hammer on NASCAR reporters, anchors and production staff using Twitter. Unfortunately, they have done it during one of the most critical times of the NASCAR on ESPN season.

Throughout this year, ESPN's NASCAR efforts have been better off due in no small part to the contributions of many ESPN folks who use Twitter on a regular basis. Ryan McGee, Marty Smith, Mike Massaro, Shannon Spake and even Allen Bestwick all use this form of social media to present a mix of professional and personal messages.

This often drove Twitter users to the ESPN.com website to follow-up on a message or a link that had been posted. The entire idea of Twitter was to allow the closest thing to a short conversation to be sent anywhere to anyone who wanted to listen.

This hurts NASCAR, and its fans in an almost indescribable way. ESPN's ruling on the issue denies fans of up to the moment news, and will certainly drive NASCAR fans away from ESPN to get their racing news. This could be a sad, sad day for NASCAR. Just when they needed the boost they were getting from Twitter users, they lose it. So far, the only main affiliate of ESPN who has not been silenced on Twitter is Jay Adamczk, better known as Jayski. For many years, Jayski has run the best information site about NASCAR, and so far his news stories are picked up and posted on Twitter via RSS feed.

Long live NASCAR. Long live people like John Daly and Jayski.

I Was Watching The Fight When A Race Broke Out

The rain delayed Pocono race took an unexpected turn on Monday. It turned out to be an exiting race!

I, for one, was surprised.

Pocono certainly has had its exciting moments in the past, but the last 50 or so laps of the Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 turned out to be some of the best racing I can remember ever seeing at Pocono.

The fight of which I speak in the title was between David Stremme and Robby Gordon. Both drivers ended up wrecking each other to some extent, and NASCAR gave each of them a 5 lap time out. At that point in the race, I figured that was probably the most exciting thing I would see in the entire 500 mile race.

I was wrong.

Watching Jimmie Johnson overcome a 3 lap deficit to finish 13th on the lead lap, after changing plug wires, carburetor, and spark plugs on pit road was quite a site to see. Denny Hamlin's spectacular, if somewhat foolhardy dash to the front was also exciting to watch. Seeing a very emotional Hamlin emerge from his car in victory lane only 2 days after his grandmother's death provided more than enough drama for me.

Losing a family is tough for anyone, and though I'm not a Denny Hamlin fan, my heart goes out to Denny and his entire family.

Watching Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s free fall through the field in the closing laps was also heart breaking. After managing to work his way into the top 10 near the end, he was bumped by Ryan Newman, causing him to collide with the wall. Dale Jr. stayed out, but obviously had some tire problems and dropped from 10th to finish in 28th place. Unfortunately, the Earnhardt Nation will have to wait yet another week for tangible evidence of the 88 team's improved performance. The communication between Earnhardt Jr. and crew chief Lance McGrew seems to be an improvement over what transpired earlier this year between Dale Jr. and Tony Eury Jr., and the team has been building some new cars, but the finishes have been nothing short of dismal. A blown engine here, a bump into the wall there, and that's all it takes to put a top 5 car into 20 somethingth place.

As frustrating as a rain marred race weekend at Pocono can be, the racing itself was exciting on Monday. In years past, I've often been one of those who wonders why Pocono has 2 race dates on the NASCAR schedule.

If all Pocono races were like the one we watched on Monday, I'd be all for keeping 2 dates at the track.

I wouldn't mind if they shortened the races to 400 miles though.

Defending My State's Honor

Or I could title this: "Stupidest sports talk callers ever." You will see why in just a moment.

This morning, I was listening to a local sports talk show. They rarely talk about Nascar on this station, but it beats listening to the local news and talk stations.

There was a caller to the morning show who was apparently traveling through the area. On the local morning show, he proclaimed that he could not live in a state such as South Carolina, because nobody in the state had ever won anything. The host of the show pointed out that Clemson University did indeed win a national championship in football in 1981, but the caller kept on with his spiel.

"You guys don't even have any Nascar guys that ever won a race! You all suck! I could never live in such a loser state."

At this point, I beg to differ. South Carolina certainly has it's faults. I've lived in the state my entire life, so I know we have our faults. Currently, we're under some sort of embargo or whatever by the NAACP because the confederate battle flag still flies on the grounds of the State House in Columbia. The flag was removed from the Capitol years ago, but that didn't satisfy the NAACP. This has been an ongoing battle in the state for years. I think a lot of people forget that the flag was originally placed at the State House by then governor Ernest F. Hollings, later to become a senator from South Carolina. Hollings was a Democrat, and generally was as liberal as any senator from New York or Massachusetts. Yet he was the guy that flew the battle flag, nearly 100 years after the Civil War.

But, I digress. Sure, Clemson University, in Clemson, SC did indeed win a national football championship in 1981, under the leadership of coach Danny Ford, who to this day still resides in Pendleton, SC. He's actually practically a neighbor of mine. I've seen Danny many times at local restaurants around the area. I've crossed paths with him at the grocery store. Danny Ford was originally from Alabama, and played football there and became an assistant coach for Alabama back when the head coach was the legendary Paul "Bear" Bryant.

"I just like South Carolina," said Danny Ford. "People are nice here, and I love the lakes and the countryside here." That's good, Coach Danny. Many Clemson fans here talk about you as they would Jesus, in hushed voices, emanating total loyalty. There's still quite a few fans who wish that Danny Ford would come out of retirement and coach the Clemson Tigers to another championship.

As far as Nascar is concerned, South Carolina has a great history. Every hear about David Pearson and Cale Yarborough? Yep, they were born here and still live here to this day.

David Pearson won 105 Cup races in his career, though he rarely raced an entire season. He's second only to the "King", Richard Petty in total wins. In 1999, Richard Petty was asked who the best driver in Nascar was. Without a moment of hesitation, Richard replied "David Pearson."

Petty and Pearson battled to finish 1st and 2nd a total of 68 or so times in their careers. I grew up watching some of these classic battles. Pearson won the championship 3 times in the 1960's. If not for David Pearson, Richard Petty probably would have won 10 championships or maybe more.

David Pearson had prematurely gray hair, even back during his racing days, and was dubbed the "Silver Fox." David was a hard charger, but he knew how to finesse the car when he needed to.

I was privileged to get to meet David Pearson a couple of years ago. He still lives in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and he's as nice a man as you could ever meet. He's in his 70's now, and as humble a man as ever was. "I was lucky to race when I did," Pearson recalls. "I got to race with the greatest of them, and sometimes I beat them. I was lucky."

David Pearson is possibly too humble. He beat people like Petty because he was a great race driver. I doubt that Richard Petty respects any driver as much as he does David Pearson. Had he run full race schedules, who knows? We might be talking about David Pearson as being the King now.

Another South Carolina legend is Cale Yarborough. Cale was and still is a big bear of a man. He's rough. He's tough. At 70 years of age, he's never seen anyone or anything that can beat him.

Cale was born and still lives near Timmonsville, South Carolina. In his career, Cale won 83 races and 3 Cup championships. He was, until 2008, the only driver ever to win 3 championships in a row. Cale never complained when he was hurt. He went on and drove the next race anyway.

Cale was involved in what became the Awakening of a Nation to Nascar. Cale was involved in the 1979 fight with the Allison brothers on national TV at the Daytona 500, the first nationally televised race from green flag to checker flag. Everything that Nascar has today can be attributed to Cale Yarborough, Bobby Allison, and Donnie Allison. That was the moment that the USA became aware of Nascar.

The guy that called the station and said he'd never live in a state with a bunch of losers? Turns out he's from the great state of Rhode Island. No disrespect, but what national titles has Rhode Island won lately?

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.