A Voice For The Fans ~ Media, Schedules, And Blue Grass 8/26/2014 |
I bid
you welcome gentle readers, and as always, a warm welcome is also extended to
our assigned NASCAR reader du jour, tucked safely away somewhere within the
beautiful Fan and Media Espionage Center in the Queen's City of Charlotte,
North Carolina.
This
week, let's discuss a couple of topics and/or headlines about which the fans
have queried. I'm not mad enough, sad enough or even just ornery enough at the
moment to sight my guns on any one thing in particular, so let's see what your
thoughts are. Having just mentioned the beautiful glass palace that encloses
the much ballyhooed NASCAR Fan and Media Engagement Center, listen up you folks
running the show over there! Where were you when confused and mostly incorrect
headlines written and published by all manner of folks that have never seen a
NASCAR race and never will, were spreading like a bad virus over the entire
North American continent, claiming that NASCAR was deeply and irretrievably
involved in the "murder", "killing", "wrongful death" , "homicide" (Insert your alternative wording
here) of a young man at a track in Western New York State?
I think
I've read almost every headline and article written about the tragedy at
Canandaigua Motorsports Park, and quite honestly, except for the usual
"NASCAR is sorry...“ statement, “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family,
friends, and fellow competitors of Kevin Ward Jr. We support Tony Stewart’s
decision to miss today’s race and we will continue to respect the process and
timeline of the local authorities and will continue to monitor this situation
moving forward.” I've seen nothing to defend your own good name, let
alone the good name of the NASCAR Cup driver involved. Where is NASCAR with
regard to print media, both ink and Internet? Where are you with regard to
social media, one of the presences spelled out clearly in the announcement of
this "unprecedented" media center? We, the fans, have missed your
presence, and yes, we have definitely noticed that you have been distinguished
by your absence.
“It’s going to allow us to handle digital and social media
on behalf of our entire industry,” [Brian] France said at a ribbon cutting. “…
The capabilities being created today are going to allow our industry to
interact with our fans in ways we could have never dreamed of before -- in real
time in almost every medium, all over the country.”
“It’s very, very different from anything else out there,”
said Steve Phelps, NASCAR’s chief marketing officer. “It will enable us on
behalf of the industry to see what’s out there, to see how we’re being covered,
and more importantly be able to respond to that in an
efficient, effective manner. It’s one thing to get the data -- it’s another
thing to respond quickly to it.”
So
gentlemen, what happened? Where was your response in an efficient, effective
manner? Where was any response at all? All this scribe
can draw from your pronounced and prolonged silence is that any coverage is OK
in your eyes, "As long as they're talking about us." One has to
wonder if Tony Stewart agrees...
Next,
gentle readers, let's discuss that worst kept secret
in the garage area or the social media of your choice... the 2015 NASCAR Sprint
Cup schedule. Is it just me, or does the promise of a supposedly
huge announcement lose just a bit of mystique and intrigue when the same
paragraphs also contain the announcement itself? It seems rather like proposing
marriage to one's wife... way too redundant.
Well, the secret is definitely out, and quite frankly has been for a
couple of weeks at least. The big news of course, is that the Southern 500 is
going "Home" to Darlington, South Carolina.
Mr.
France... Brian, I wish I could figure out your logic in moving it in the first
place. Remember when so many complained so bitterly about your announced
intention to move "our" Southern 500 to California? Remember sending
Mike Helton out to tell us, "It is what it is?" Well Sir, I've heard
it said many times that things we do will come back to bite us, so if I were
you, I'd keep my derriere well guarded. It is the considered opinion of this
old fan that those of my generation, who begged you to leave that tradition
intact, are rapidly either dying off or at best not going to races any longer.
It's
been over a decade since August 31, 2003, when Terry Labonte rode off into the
sunset with the flag from that final Labor Day Southern 500, and to many minds
and hearts, the final one anywhere. Now, when the crowds in the grandstands are
best described as "sparse" and the TV ratings are in the toilet,
NASCAR decides to hear those fans of years ago? Good luck with the plan, but I
fear it will backfire. The old fans are gone, pure and simple. Many of the
younger fans never knew the tradition, and the combination of Darlington and
Labor Day means nothing to them. The Mother's Day weekend has been good to
Darlington. There is probably no finer weather in the South, or most anywhere
else, than early May. The Labor Day weekend in the South has a reputation for
being blisteringly hot; it's Mother Nature not wanting
to see summer draw to a close and bringing one last infusion of steam heat to
bear. One has to wonder if they'll thank you for that.
But
that's not the only change. The Bristol spring race will move from March to the
April date vacated by Darlington. (Mother's Day weekend went to Kansas last
year. Seems that whatever Kansas wants, Kansas gets...
right Lesa?) That's a good thing weather-wise, since it's cold in March in Tennessee. But wait a minute; something
isn't right with that equation. When Darlington moves to Labor Day, what
happens to Atlanta, the track that now has that date? Word on the street has it
that the Atlanta race will move to March... not to the mid-March date vacated
by Bristol, but to March 1, the second race of the season.
NEWSFLASH!
It snows in Atlanta in March! Why would any thinking person place a race in
Atlanta and move races in Phoenix and LasVegas to
later dates on the schedule? That second race on the schedule spot killed Rockingham,
and now it seems someone has a similar death wish for Atlanta. That's sad
gentle readers. One by one, our Southern tracks are being phased out it seems.
Atlanta has only one race now, and I can almost promise that those stands will
be a cold and lonely place come March 1 of next year.
The
article I read then went on to offer some words of advice from the venerable O.
Bruton Smith, founder of Speedway Motorsports Inc. (SMI) At the end of his
discourse, Smith stated that he'd like to see the season finale back at
Atlanta. Really Bruton? Let's follow your logic here;
Bristol gets a very desirable date in mid-April and in exchange, Atlanta gives
up Labor Day and takes an almost impossible date in early March. It shouldn't
take long to convince someone in Daytona Beach that the Atlanta date is all
wrong, so why not switch it to the finale date once held by Atlanta? Might I
remind everyone that Atlanta moved from that frosty November date because it
was too
cold? Of course, that's not what's on Mr. Smith's mind, is it Bruton? Once SMI secured
the finale date, how long would it take before that date was occupied not by
Atlanta, but by another SMI track... perhaps the one in Las Vegas? Gee... who
would have thought?
And with
that, let's move on to our Classic Country Closeout. It occurs to me that I've
neglected one area of Classic Country that I spent a lot of time listening to
as a small child and way beyond. Today, we'll remedy that oversight with a
couple of grand old Bluegrass tunes. You can't mention Blue Grass without
thoughts of Bill Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys, so here they are with their
huge hit back in 1946, "Blue Moon of Kentucky."
Then of
course, there were Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs.
This one came out when I was in sixth grade, and mesmerized the young girl I
was then with their picking prowess, unmatched by others of the time. Here
then is "Foggy Mountain Breakdown", as only Flatt
and Scruggs could do it.
There is
another song that I have twice in my collection called "Fox on the
Run." My copies are by Flatt and Scruggs and the
second one has Bill Monroe doing an added tenor part with the duo. YouTube has
neither, but I did find a version by a group called "Country
Gentlemen" that is very close to the others. Best I could do for a closer,
but Blue Grass fans will love listening to this version of "Fox."
Be well
gentle readers, and remember to keep smiling. It looks so good on you!
~ PattyKay