Fearing Change10/29/2014 |
Fear [feer] 1. Feeling of anxiety: an unpleasant feeling of anxiety or
apprehension caused by the presence or anticipation of danger 2. Frightening thought: an idea, thought, or other entity
that causes feelings of fear 3. Reverence: respect or awe for somebody or something Change [chaynj] 1. Become or make different: to become different, or make
something or somebody different 2. Substitute or replace something: to exchange, substitute,
or replace something 3. Pass from one state to another: to pass or make something
pass from one state or stage to another It doesn’t really matter, you see. It could be anything from a slight rule
change to a reconfiguration of a race track to the new method of determining
who will be crowned a Champion for the season.
No matter what the change is, bet your last dollar that when the fans of
NASCAR get wind that something in their favorite sport is going to change,
you’re going to hear everyone’s opinion, twice, at least, and it will be
against said change, figuratively 75% of the time. Now, why is that? Why do NASCAR fans fear change so much? Let’s think about our sport over all. Ours is one that
continuously changes, regardless of the desire to do so. Technology never stops moving, and innovation
is a necessity in our sport…you have to keep making dust, and be ever moving
forward. To keep up with those
undesired, even unwanted changes (Read: Aero Push), we have to make reactive
changes to keep the balance, if possible.
With anything that moves at any great speed, a wake is created, and the
surrounding areas are disturbed. Change
is what is implemented to hopefully calm those areas down once more and restore
order. NASCAR has boring qualifying? Let’s change it up! Problem solved, unless we’re at Talladega.
(Side note…how can teams with some of the smartest brains in an automotive
industry, not figure out how to get out on the track in a five minute window to
turn a lap? It takes 50 seconds or so to
get around Talladega, and these goofs just sat on pit
road.) Well, maybe that’s because of history. I mean, I’d certainly fear any change brought
before me by the same people who brought us the Car Of
Tomorrow. Kyle Busch was right…it was a
piece of crap. And I guess I would have
a problem when presented with something new designed by the geniuses who
thought that North Wilkesboro didn’t need any races and New Hampshire needed
more. And I’m pretty sure that I would
be conflicted if told a change was coming to my favorite sport, and it was
being championed by the fine folks who decided that Darlington only needed one
race per year and that it should not be held on Labor Day anymore. Well, perhaps there is some credence to be given to those
who are wary of anything different. Compared to other sports that have a minor rule change here and
there, things in NASCAR change at breakneck speed and with the frequency of
laps turned at Bristol on an August night. And it’s a good thing, too. If NASCAR didn’t change as much as it has
over the years, we might still be running in “the Good Ol’
Days”, which my partner here at Race Fans Forever, PattyKay Lilley, was around
for, and says that sometimes the racin’ back then
just wasn’t so good. Nothing is ever perfect, to be sure, and sometimes you have
to take the good with the bad. I guess
moving forward we’ll just have to hope that the decisions are being made by the
right parties in power. Do you believe in Brian?
Feel free to leave comments below, and be sure to follow me @RaceFansJim on Twitter, because sometimes I give stuff away!