NASCAR: In The End, The Fans Always Pay
Written by Hopper, Thursday April 30 2009
We see it all the time in the real world. Things just kind of move along nicely. Everything is simple, and people get to do things they enjoy. Then, one day, one idiot(or a group of idiots) comes along and does something completely stupid and uncalled for. Immediate action is taken, affecting even the innocent, and the world as we know it is changed forever.
Often times, the action that is taken is necessary. Take, for example, the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Because a few aforementioned idiots decided to hi-jack a few airplanes and run them into some very major U.S. buildings, even those of us who had nothing to do with the attacks now have to go through a traumatizing(though I will say necessary) security screening process when flying, and family members can no longer walk each other to their gate.
In the world of sports, however, the action taken is usually not necessary, but rather what is popular with the fans and media at the time. Take, for example, the NFL's new "Tom Brady Rule". Arguably the best QB in the NFL goes down because a defender makes a normal tackle from the ground. Only this time, that QB is injured and out for the season. Suddenly, fans and the media start screaming for action to be taken, and the NFL governing body collapses under the demands of the people.
In NASCAR, it is no different. Only, in NASCAR, the actions are even more blatent. Take, for example, Dale Earnhardt's wreck back in the 2001 Daytona 500. Earnhardt was trying to protect his position from Sterling Marlin. When Marlin got a fender underneath him, Earnhardt threw an aggressive block, spun out, and hit the wall head-on in what was a very unfortunate fatal crash.
Being that this was the 2nd fatal crash in NASCAR in the past year(something which was quite rare in NASCAR's previous 52 years), NASCAR collapsed under the demands of the people, and instantly began developing plans for a newer, safer Car of Tomorrow. While the CoT has proven to be safer, many fans have questioned whether or not the car is "too safe", by which they mean, "has the car become so safe that it compromises the integrity of the sport?"
Restrictor plates were also designed after a seemingly once-in-a-lifetime incident. Restrictor plates were implemented at certain tracks after Bobby Allison's car flipped into the catchfence going well over 200 miles per hour at Talladega back in 1987.
The CoT, restrictor plates, catchfences, and Talladega bring me to my story today. After Carl Edwards' car flipped into the catchfence going 190 miles per hour on Sunday, many people began instantly calling for action. NASCAR has since obliged, stating that drivers will now possibly be penalized for "aggressive driving" such as bump-drafting or blocking. You know, things like racing? Back to talking about being "too safe"...
NASCAR couldn't just revoke their Smith-Stewart/Yellow-Line rule, which was the cause of the whole Edwards/catchfence saga anyway. They had to flex their muscles and show us their power by enforcing new rules, instead of admitting their faults and revoking their old, crappy rules.
But such has been the case over the past several years. As cars started getting faster, NASCAR began telling people not to wreck each other. Over time, they began telling them not to bump each other. Now, all we get are cars going around in circles; something NASCAR fans have been saying for years isn't true.
On Sunday, I witnessed the most exciting NASCAR race I've seen in a long time. It had a big crash, a bigger crash, 3-wide racing throughout, a car being spun out(unintentionally) for the win in the final 1,000 feet, which was then hit by another car, and then flipped and hit the catchfence, and a first-time winner. We'll probably never see anything like it again, especially the car hitting the catchfence, but NASCAR now wants drivers to race even more cautiously than ever.
The fans haven't done anything wrong(except those who have thrown beer cans at race winners), but we have been penalized time and time again by NASCAR. We used to witness spectacular wrecks and exciting racing, and drivers used to earn their money by taking the chance of getting injured, or even killed. I, by no means, want to see anyone get hurt or killed in a wreck. But with the development of this new car, and not letting drivers really race, they have compromised the integrity of the sport, making it, as I've said time and time again, "too safe".
In the end, the fans always pay.
Photo Credit: Jared C. Tilton / Icon SMI
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No problem. Thanks for reading!
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This is a wonderful article - it puts insight into what everyone is thinking, brings it into the open and puts it on the table in plain, informative writing. Thank you for an enjoyable read!!!!