A Voice For The Fans ~ Junior Wins; Danica Spins
2/28/2014
PattyKay Lilley
I bid
you welcome gentle readers, to another edition of A Voice For
The Fans, the column that gathers together the thoughts of you, the fans,
amalgamates them into neat bundle of cohesive ideas and passes them along to
someone with the power to do something about them... hopefully. A warm welcome
is also extended to our assigned reader of the day, likely ensconced in the
glass tower known as the Fan and Media Espionage Center in beautiful Charlotte,
North Carolina. We hope your stay with us is a pleasant one.
Well
gentle readers, the 2014 season is underway, for better or for worse, and what
threatened to become the second running this year of the 24 Hours of Daytona,
brought it home in just less than half the time of the original. During the
unavoidable delay caused by an obviously irritated Mother Nature, FOX opted to
replay last year's running of the Great American Race, which, as one might
expect, was no greater this year than when run live. What was amusing, or
perhaps more sad than amusing, was the fact that so many "fans" (?)
believed they were watching this year's race, and that Jimmie Johnson had won
again. That goes even beyond fans of dubious devotion and all the way up to TV
stations reporting on the Johnson win... and yes, I am told that some of those
were local FOX stations.
Folks,
here's a clue... try reading the crawl at the bottom of the screen, which on
Sunday read something similar to, "The 2014 Daytona 500 is in rain delay.
Please enjoy the rebroadcast of last year's race until the race can be resumed."
It was there folks, all afternoon. Maybe if FOX had put it in an annoying
little box that obliterated much of the right hand portion of your TV screen,
you would have noticed... or maybe not.
Eventually, and conveniently square in the
middle of prime time Sunday night, the race resumed circa lap 40 and ran its
prescribed 500-mile distance. As the checkers waved, it was Dale Earnhardt Jr.,
Junebug, Junior, The Bud Stud or anything else you
want to call him, scoring his 20th career win in Cup racing... and the crowd
went wild. Congratulations Bud Stud! Loved the win and loved the picture of you
and Dad together!
Ah, but
despite what may possibly be the most popular win in the history of the sport,
save the one by his Dad at this same track back in 1998, all was not quite
candlelight and roses in this year's Great American Race. Along about lap 145,
there was that almost obligatory "Big One" that lurks dangerously
near the surface at all restrictor plate races. This one involved 13 cars and
perhaps a large helping of stupidity, but this column is not here to assess
blame... at least in this instance. One of the cars suddenly sidelined by this
crash was the #10 of Danica Patrick, and no, she had absolutely nothing to do
with starting the melee, nor did the #43 car of Aric Almirola that hit her as
it bounced off the wall and down the track.
(A quick
aside here to the gentleman supposedly citing remarks he "might have
heard or read" to the effect that it was a Petty car that took her out, it
was. However, with two females erupting in peals of laughter at the remarks,
most thinking persons would know and understand a joke when presented. Aric
could no more control his car than could she control hers. Perhaps had the
gentleman stayed a minute or two longer, he might have heard the serious
comments that followed)
And... those
comments included yet again the lack of SAFER barriers at the point of impact of
yet another car in the hands of yet another driver. Mr. France, Mr. Helton...
don't you think enough is enough? Our drivers constantly seem to zero in on the
very spots you deem "unlikely" to host a crash. Last year at
California, a driver sustained a broken back from hard impact with a spot
deemed "unlikely."
It
amazed this scribe, the number of folks that have come to me or posted in places
where I read that they were under the "assumption" that SAFER
barriers were mandatory at all tracks. Once again, it's time to give the fans an explanation today of how
"mandatory" doesn't always mean "really mandatory." The
SAFER system does run to the expensive side of the budget, to be sure, so
NASCAR, perhaps as a favor to its track owners, has made "mandatory"
only the portions of each track that they, the sanctioning body, deem as a
likely spot where car and wall might meet.
Oh please! That's like playing the most likely numbers in the lottery... with
the same outcome.
This 110-pound lady hit that solid concrete wall at
somewhere in the area of 180 mph. This occurred on the front stretch, just
coming into turn one. To this old fan, I see nothing unlikely about a crash
taking a car into that wall, nor do I see death as an impossible result of such
an impact. We've been through all of this before. The fans, myself
included, do not understand why NASCAR can't step up to the plate and replace
reactive rhetorical responses with proactive progress. Even if you don't, so
many of the fans... again, myself included... care about our drivers... all of
them, not just a chosen few. We want them to live, and without those barriers
in place... everywhere a car COULD hit, not just anywhere you deem LIKELY...
their chances of doing so are greatly lessened.
Four-time Champion Jeff Gordon has been on the
receiving end of at least three potentially deadly meetings with walls lacking
the SAFER barriers, though in every case, they were available and installed at
other areas on the tracks involved. The first was at Las Vegas in 2008; then came Richmond in 2011. Finally, there was Charlotte in May
of last year. Jeff is a very active tweeter on Twitter, and after that race,
tweeted the following:
"Just saw the video of our
wreck. Now I know why it hurt so much. No safer barrier at that part of
track???? #Saferbarrierseverywhere!"
That is not
a rookie making rookie mistakes gentlemen. That is a four-time Champion telling
you that you are endangering his and other lives by your inaction. Telling the
fans half-truths and leading them to believe there is full protection when
there is not is dishonest and deceitful. When questioned on this subject last
year, Mr. France mumbled some fairly unintelligible things about motorcycles
and others using the facilities, but gave no real answers... only that NASCAR
would look at it case by case.
So...
then we wait for another death? In the time between the death of Dale Earnhardt
at Daytona in 2001 and now, we will never know for sure how many lives have
been saved, how many drivers are still with us today, because of those SAFER
barriers, but we know they have worked each and every time they've been called
upon to do so. That is not open to question gentlemen; it is simply fact.
Mr.
Helton, last year about this time, you made a statement to the effect that you
believed the SAFER barriers would be everywhere at every track by the end of
2014. We're a year closer to that deadline today Sir. Have we moved even one
step closer to achieving it? When the next driver dies, young or old, male or
female, black or white, what will your answer be then? We didn't guess right?
We, the fans, beg you, no, we respectfully demand that our drivers have the
best protection available, not after another loss, but to prevent that loss.
While at
Daytona, NASCAR's Showplace of Speed, much was said and written about the
wonderful things coming to that track under the banner of "Daytona
Rising." Price tag for Daytona Rising is a whopping $400-Million, most of
which is provided by your tax dollars and mine. Included in that whopping
figure that many of us have trouble even writing, let alone conceiving, are
such treats as removing grandstand seats and enlarging many of those remaining,
to accommodate the ever-widening American fanny
and to make the stands look fuller to the fans watching on TV. Hey
gentlemen, you know what? This taxpayer would rather that my part of that goes
toward SAFER barriers, not restyling your grandstand to fit my backside.
As pointed
out in the piece that appeared on these
pages last July
on this same subject, we, the fans, realize that with the exception of Indy,
Pocono and Dover, all tracks on the NASCAR circuit are owned and controlled by
either International Speedway Corporation (ISC) or Speedway Motorsports Inc.
(SMI) That translates to the Family France and Bruton Smith, and we know well
who it is that doesn't want to spend money on safety when it could be earning investment
interest somewhere. Don't look now, but your slip is showing!
What say
you gentle readers? I realize how many of you were taken by surprise to learn
that even at the track where our last driver was lost, those life-saving
barriers are still lacking... and in some pretty important places judging from
the location of Danica's impact Sunday evening. Has
it occurred to anyone else (Mr. France, Mr. Helton), that where she hit that unprotected
concrete wall, at the end of the frontstretch, just coming into turn one, is
the juxtaposed position of where Dale hit, at the end of the backstretch, just
coming into turn four? That is just scary!
Please,
leave your comments below. They do read here, and occasionally, they do heed,
albeit slowly in most cases. This is a subject near and dear to the heart of
this scribe and judging from your shock and outrage, to many of you as well. Without
our drivers, there is no racing. Let's unite our voices until they reach such
volume that we simply cannot be ignored any longer. Are you with me fans?
“#SAFERBarriersEverywhere”
Let’s see
if we can get that trending.
Be well
gentle readers and remember to keep smiling. It looks so good on you!
~ PattyKay