Fan's Eye View ~ NASCAR Fans Don't Run
1/30/2014
Jim Fitzgerald
Depending on when you read this, if it is later today, Brian France will be hosting a press conference in which he will address, among other things, NASCAR’s system of determining a Champion for its most elite level, the Sprint Cup Series. If you’re reading this after 2:00 eastern, odds are he’s already let the cat out of the bag, and we know exactly what the plan will be. These pages are certainly not going to rehash that plan again, or what possibilities said plans may hold, because, again, it’s been spun out so many times already. There’s nothing left on which to speculate. We’re going to see it in black and white.
What will happen here is an appeal to the masses of NASCAR fans. Young fans and old, male, female, black, white, red, purple, tall, short, thin, thick…well, you get the picture. ALL NASCAR Fans.
Odds are, we have a new system of a Chase coming, and whatever that recipe will be, we’ll use it this year, and for the foreseeable future, to determine who will be crowned as and known forever as the Sprint Cup Series Champion. Honestly, fans, you may not like the recipe. You may think it is a contrived, replicated, and ridiculous method of “creating artificial excitement.” (That term was used the other day to describe what was proposed.) You may not like the format, you make not like the point structure, and you may not even like the drivers who were selected by whatever means were chosen. Fair enough. That concept must be understood by many, just as the opinion of those who like the system should be understood as well. Everyone is entitled to their own judgments and outlooks. That’s fine. No problem. You may like it, you may not like it.
What is important, however, is that “it” is here, and “it” will be here until “it” is changed, if indeed “it” ever gets changed again. You’re here, and now “it” is here. Please do not let the fact that “it” is here weigh on you so much that you are no longer here.
Look at it through the wide angle lens. NASCAR may be changing the way that a Champion is determined, but they are not taking away the aspects of the sport which got most of us involved in the sport to begin with.
· There will still be speed. After all, it IS racing, and the object of the sport is to get from one location to another before anyone else, thus making someone the winner. If it was the speed which got you interested in NASCAR, relax. The drivers will still be going fast.
· There will still be competition. What fun would a race be if there was only one driver on the track at a time? Odds are, NASCAR would never go in that direction, and has even steered away from it now with the new qualifying format. If it is competition which brought you into the sport, rest assured that there will still be multiple cars on the track racing against each other.
· There will still be “loud.” The cars aren’t using mufflers these days, so if it is the roar of the engines which draws you in, you’re safe.
· There are no changes in the tracks this season. If you have a favorite track that was used last year, it will be used this year. You’re good to go, there.
· The drivers still drive the cars and the teams still work on them. Nothing has changed there.
So, the only thing that has changed is HOW we determine WHO the Champion will be. It is unknown to this writer if there is a single race fan out there that became a fan of NASCAR because of the way the Championship was awarded at the time.
“I
don’t like the SuperBowl. The Major League Baseball Playoffs are
silly…what I’m looking for is a ten event playoff where everyone involved in
the sport gets to play, no matter if they can win the Championship or not. Oh, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series does
that? Then by all means, it’s NASCAR for
me.”
Those words have probably never been spoken in that order, and in that context. Fans, the things to remember, before you go running off into the great beyond looking for something to replace your “ruined” sport of NASCAR, is that the racing, the product, the reasons which you began to follow the sport are, for the most part, still here. You don’t like the new system? Fine. But that is not really a valid reason to turn your back on your favorite drivers, the teams, and the sport you love, as you run home crying and taking your toys with you. Sports change, folks, and NASCAR is certainly no different. Baseball instituted Instant Replay and Fan Interference rules. The National Football League added the two-point conversion in 1994. The National Basketball Association adopted the Three-Point shot in 1979, despite the fact that may thought it was a gimmick. (Sound familiar?) The Professional Golfers Association of America, in 2007, awarded its first Fed-Ex Cup Championship to Tiger Woods. They tinkered with the rules of awarding it for the next two years. And in January of 2014, NASCAR laid out some new rules for determining the Champion. The drivers are still here, the tracks are still here, and the races are still here. That’s what got me into racing. The Championship model was probably not even secondary.
You know what? I’m still here. Hope you stick around, too.
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