Fan's Eye View ~ How Bright Can The Future Of Our Sport Really Be?
4/16/2014
Jim Fitzgerald
Greeting, Race Friends!
(You’re “Race Friends” now, but come next weekend when you haven’t had
any racing for two weeks, you’ll be Race FIENDS!”) So, friends, when
some speak of NASCAR racing in general, one of the topics which usually comes
up is the “future” of the sport. Where
are we going? Are we going to continue
to kick tradition to the curb in favor of “the new fan?” What about the tracks? What about the drivers? Yes…what about the drivers.
Who will be the faces in the races for years to come? Well, my friends, assuming it doesn’t pack up and move to
some foreign country on a full time basis like my Partner in Crime here at Race
Fans Forever, PattyKay Lilley has prophesied, the future of our sport, at least
when considering the talent level here on the friendly home soil, appears to be
rather safe, and dare I say, even promising.
I write this with the background of nearly 25 years of
NASCAR fandom in my resume, tucked ever so raggedly in my back pocket. Sometimes I take it out, curl it up into a
paper mega-phone and yell things through it, like “Down in front!” or “Bring Me
A Beer!” but mostly it is there to hang a “hey, I might know what I’m talking
about” on my doorstep should I need to do so.
I’ve been through a brunch of beers--make that a bunch of
years--, with great rookie classes. I
saw some years where a driver won the Rookie of the Year title by default, and
a few where there was actually very little focus on the rookies, and the annual
award went unnoticed by many. I have
seen rookie battles come down to the wire, like Bobby Hamilton, Jr. and Ted
Musgrave, or Matt Kenseth and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. I have had the pleasure of
seeing young drivers come to the show, and the disappointment of watching them
go. I watched the debuts of drivers such
as Jeff Gordon, Bobby Labonte, Jeff Burton, Ward Burton, Bobby Hamilton, John
Andretti, Jeremy Mayfield, Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Kevin
Harvick, Kurt Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Ryan Newman, Jamie McMurray, Greg Biffle, Kasey
Kahne, Kyle Busch, Clint Bowyer, Martin Truex, Jr., Denny Hamlin, Juan Pablo
Montoya, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski and so many more. Anyone remember Hideo Fukuyama? Some of those drivers are no longer around,
some are in the waning years of their careers, some have won races, and some
account for all but two of the Championships won in the last 20 years. These are the drivers that have been the faces of our sport, and
have molded the history of it during their time within. They have become part
of our lives, and we live and die with their results on a weekly basis for ten
months out of the year. These are the
drivers that kept me watching after my favorite driver, Davey Allison, was
killed, after Dale Jarrett retired, and after Rusty Wallace retired. When I look at the drivers who have come in
to the sport recently, especially this year, and hopefully the coming years, I
am excited about the prospects of what we could see, and I can only hope it pays
off with half of the results which I am expecting, or dreaming of, actually. (Enter dream
sequence…) “And here they
come out of the turn, rumbling five wide and eight deep for the 499th
consecutive lap, side by side (by side by side by side, etc.) They go into the
backstretch for the final time, still no clear leader, now into turn three for
the final time, and coming out of turn four…they bump, they touch, they rub! Everyone keeps it straight and out of the
wall! Now down the front stretch and it is going to be BRAK BRAK BRAK BRAK BRAK BRAK…” Hey, you don’t get to pick when your dream ends. You know this. I warned you it was a dream,
and there’s the alarm to wake you up, welcoming you to a rainy Monday morning
that is just waiting to suck rotten egg yolks through a cocktail straw. And what makes it worse was the broadcast I
was listening to in my dream wasn’t Larry, Darrell, and Mike, it was Bob,
Benny, and Ned. Or maybe it was Neil, Ned,
and Mike….regardless, a “boogity” was not uttered,
and no one did the worst five minutes of TV on a race weekend, now known and
made infamous by Michael Waltrip. Your
dream may be different. Back to reality, and that dark rainy Monday morning. Fret not, my friends, as the sun will rise
again…at least until it doesn’t. There
is a new crop of youngsters who, if they perform as promised, will carry our
sport for the next twenty years and beyond.
All we want is some good racing with some drivers to provide it,
right? Austin Dillon takes his car at
Daytona, No. 3 blazing on the side, puts it on the pole and says, “Hey World,
check me out!” Or, he would have if he
had not already won Championships in the Nationwide Series and the Camping
World Truck Series. The racing world
already knew who Mr. Dillon was, and if they have trouble finding him, look for
the Charlie One Horse. It’s either him
or another driver with a lot of talent and an opportunity, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.
Then a few week later at California, Kyle Larson wins hi first Nationwide
series race on Saturday, and then on Sunday, almost shocked the NASCAR world as
he finished second to Kyle Busch in a last lap dash for the win. Then just a few weeks later at Texas, Chase
Elliott of the Dawsonville Elliotts scored his first
Nationwide Series win, in his sixth start. Sixth start, I say. Then, in his seventh start, this time at
Darlington, the sirens were sounded at the Dawsonville Pool Hall once again as
Elliott the Younger slayed the mighty Lady in Black. Now, you think that’s kid is good right
now? I wonder what he’ll accomplish once he graduates high school! It doesn’t stop there, kids.
Let’s not forget about the “Little Gator,” Justin Allgaier. He may not be turning heads like Larson or
Dillon or Elliott, but that sentence will end with a “yet.” Allgaier has only twelve starts on the Cup
Series Circuit, four from last year and eight this season, but he has led four
laps, tops among the rookie drivers running the premier circuit this year. Let us also remember that Brandt loves him so
much and sees enough potential in him that they came to the Cup Series as a
pair, leaving the Nationwide program behind, where
Allgaier has scored three wins. Then
there is Parker Kligerman, Cole Whitt, Dylan Kwasniewski,
Chris Buescher, Ty Dillon, Dakota Armstrong, and so
many others that are now in the Cup Series or are on their way. Perhaps the best part though, is that
somewhere, out there, some little five year-old child is putting on a helmet
for the first time, tightening the belts for the first time, and running his
first race, or maybe it is her first race.
And then twenty years from now, we’re all going to want to know who she
is, or where he came from, and how she got started, or how to get his merchandise. Yes, Race Friends, the with the talent pool we have now, on
the horizon, and way off in the distance, our sport is like an All-State
Insurance customer…In Good Hands.
Feel free to leave comments below, and be sure to follow me @RaceFansJim on Twitter, because sometimes I give stuff away!