This may not be too popular, but...........

I have been writing a monthly column for Busch Sport Scene (formerly Busch North Scene) for about 10 years now. This is my latest effort and I'm interested to know if my opinion on this is shared by anyone or if I am right out to lunch. I know it may not be a terribly popular opinion, but there must be someone out there that agrees with me.
Please leave me your comments. Thanks.

4/01/09

Disclaimer: If you aren’t up for reading a good rant, crunch this page up and start a fire with it, because I’ve got something on my mind that’s pissing me off and it’s fixin’ to come out right now!
Support your local short track! Every time I hear those words, I want to scream back “support your own damn local short track!” Seriously, I’ve become terribly sick of being told that it’s up to me to support someone else’s profit making business.
I have all the respect in the world for my local short track owners, I actually know a couple of them and I sincerely hope that they succeed. I hope all track owners succeed, I really do, but why am I made to feel as though it is up to me to make sure that they make money and sustain themselves? Spring is here and this is when the sentiment is most prevalent, especially with the economy in the condition it is in right now. As I was reading some racing news on the web the other day, I came across this wonderful quote. “With Spring rapidly approaching it won’t be long until our local short tracks begin opening up for their regular weekly racing programs. Now would be a good time to check the schedules of nearby tracks and commit ourselves to attending several events in our area for the coming year.” Other than being told that I need to commit to attending several events, this all sounds innocent enough until you read the next line that the writer put down on paper. “I’ve become quite familiar with seeing race tracks close their gates. And when they do, it’s almost always forever. With the economic forecasts looking rather bleak, now is the time more than ever to support our local tracks if we expect to sustain grassroots racing.” Now you’ve crossed the line, buddy. It’s now up to me to sustain grassroots racing? I don’t think so!
I’ve listened to most all of the TV personalities during all sorts of racing broadcasts and a couple of our locals, Mike Joy and Dick Berggren are among the worst in this department, but certainly aren’t the only offenders. I can’t count the times I’ve heard, during a NASCAR broadcast, that we all need to get out on Friday or Saturday night and spend a pile of our hard earned cash on gas, tickets and crappy food for the pleasure of sitting on a hard bench and watching a bunch of cars go in circles. I also can’t count the times I’ve done just that. I’ve been to more local races than I can count, I’ve gone all across the country to races from NASCAR Cup events to little bullring races and not once, and I mean NEVER, did I do this to support a track owner. Again, I have all the respect in the world for them, but you bought the damn place, you make it work! If you want me to support it, lower your outrageous prices. Get some edible food and get the lady serving it to wash her damn hair! Sand some of the splinters out of your 100 year old planks that we laughingly refer to as seats! Start your show on time and check the PA system before the green flag! Make your show runs smoothly and in a timely fashion. Have a traffic plan that will get me back on the highway and on my way home before morning. This ain’t rocket science, folks. Businesses fail every day, for many different reasons. Your track is a business and if it fails, it’s your fault, not mine.
It’s bad enough that these people are trying to make us feel as though it is up to us to support their track so that they don’t have to work harder or fail, but the sentiment is that if we don’t support their track and they do fail, we’ve also ruined racing for everyone else because now there is no new talent learning the ropes at the short track, so no one will be around to race when Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin retire. Well, now I’m really calling BS! How stupid would I have to be to believe that because I wouldn’t lay out 30 or 40 bucks for a Saturday night at the track, Joe Gibbs won’t be able to find anyone to drive his car? You want grassroots racing sustained? You sustain grassroots racing! I could care less where the new talent comes from. It isn’t up to me to support the new talent, it’s actually up to the new talent to entertain me, and it’s up to the track owners to entertain me. This is my buck, I’ll spend it anyway I want. If I decide to go to a race, it’s because you did something to lure me in, something that made me feel as though my buck was well spent. If I spent it on a movie, it’s because I thought the movie would be more entertaining than your race, it isn’t because the movie theatre owner instilled into me a commitment to him and his success. Racing is a money driven sport, the owners, promoters and drivers all need to earn their keep or move on to something else. Just how stupid is it to think that because the economy is in the tank, we need to work harder to support our local track owner? We need to work harder to support ourselves! If anything, you are going to get less of my buck when the economy sucks, not more. Do a better job and you’ll get more money!
Another great quote I read was this gem. “If the short tracks can’t sustain themselves and shut down, where will our new talent come from?” Who gives a @!#&? If you are stupid enough to think that just because you don’t go to your local short track on a Saturday night, there will be no racers to watch in a few years, then you ought to be dropping off a check at the local airport once a week, because we are sure to need good solid, well trained pilots in 20 years to fly us around the country to support all of these race tracks, and without our support, who knows where the next group of pilots will come from?
I have to wonder, every time I see Berggren or Joy or any of the others look into the camera and tell the world to “Get out and support your local short track because that is the future of our sport”, do they have a mental picture of me looking at the wife and saying “Oh, hell, honey I know we can’t afford it and I know it’s cold out and I know you have to work at 5:00 in the morning, but the racing world needs us to get in that car, dig out the credit card and go support our local track so that, in a couple years, Joe Schlabotnick can try to land a Cup ride and make a gazillion dollars a year entertaining us!” Just how stupid do I look? Stop insulting my intelligence.
As always, send Questions, Comments, Hate Mail, and Indecent Proposals to, Fish c/o Busch Sport Scene or e-mail them to fishy@ctel.net