The Battle Of Victory Lane 7/18/2014 |
I bid you welcome gentle readers,
to what some might describe as a "previously enjoyed" column.
However, the joy of presenting a ten-year old column is that either no one reading
now read it before or that they have long since
forgotten all about it. In truth, your scribe had forgotten about this one, but
stumbled across it in some ancient files while looking for something to fill
what for the Cup teams will be an off weekend. When the cat's away, the mice...
take a day off as well... or something like that.
This centers on the age-old
battle for supremacy between Coke and Pepsi, but in 2004, those two soft-drink
giants chose to fight it out between "Ades",
those carrying the names of Gatorade (Pepsi) and PowerAde (Coke) and the
battleground became Victory Lane. What had for years been known as
"Gatorade Victory Lane" was suddenly being sponsored by arch-rival
Coca-Cola-owned PowerAde. The custom of the time was to place a huge bottle of
the blue liquid atop the winning car. Imagine, if you
will, the scandal that arose when Jeff Gordon won his 4th Brickyard 400 and
chose to kiss the bricks and celebrate with the fans at the Yard of Bricks... Pepsi in hand... rather than in Victory Lane. Oh, the
humanity!
What follows is my opinion of the
whole dire situation, written only because it was heavily requested. Do
yourself a favor. Don't tune out because it happened ten years ago. I think
you'll still get a real kick out of this one, as it also allows me to present a
comparison at ten-year intervals of one given race track and the shrinking size
of the attending audience.
Over the
past three or four weeks, this column and its writer have offered up nothing
but feel-good articles in the vein of the Lady in Black and The Lighter Side of
NASCAR, both of which seem to be enjoyed by a vast number of readers. However,
some of you want more and have written seeking my thoughts on some of the more
pressing issues of the day, so for you, I’ll pull myself out of a self-imposed
stupor, put aside all the fun I’ve been having and explore an opinion. That of
course, will give the rest of you something to argue about with me.
Today’s
topic of course, is Victory Lane Gate, which I admit to watching with a good
deal of amusement, as some of my colleagues have taken sides and argued amongst
themselves over the propriety or lack of it in postponing a trip to Victory
Lane in order to celebrate on the track with, God forbid, the fans.
The
instant that Jeff Gordon got out of his car at the “Yard of Bricks” I predicted
the eventual uproar that surrounded his action. I don’t care if it was all impromptu
or if it was a carefully calculated plan to foil the omnipresent PowerAde
bottle. The fans loved it! There’s been a lot of flap about Victory Lane being
a “made for television” event, but I noticed that Bill Webber, complete with
microphone and attending cameramen, had no problem whatsoever in finding and
interviewing the winner of the 11th annual Brickyard 400.
Truth to
tell, the only folks that seemed at all upset by the Hendrick team staying on
track to kiss the bricks were Mike Helton and Jim Hunter, both of whom hastened
to predict dire consequences for what they deemed inappropriate actions. Just
get a grip, gentlemen! Coca-Cola is not about to dump NASCAR because a driver
chose to celebrate his fourth victory at the world’s most historic track and he
didn’t invite their blue bottle to the party.
Though,
given some of the letters that folks have been writing to Coke and the answers
that I’ve seen coming back from that corporation, they might soon consider
dumping you for the exact opposite reason. Your insistence on placing NASCAR
sponsors ahead of those of the race winners and then punishing those winners
for daring to promote the company that pays their bills is not registering well
with the fans, and fans write letters.
Coca-Cola
(Sorry; at one time, the link took you to a fill-in-the-blanks form to
make it easier to write to Coca-Cola, along with letters and answers exchanged
between that major corporation and NASCAR fans, but that has long since been
replaced with timely content, aka ads.)
On
Wednesday, all sorts of statements were issued, one from Rick Hendrick, one
from Jeff Gordon and of course, one from NASCAR.
Rick
Hendrick:
"Sunday's Brickyard victory was one of the most
special moments I've ever experienced in this sport. I really wanted to win
that race and kiss the bricks to honor my father. It was an unbelievable
feeling for all of us. Nonetheless, I owe an explanation to the George family,
along with everyone at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The celebration was
emotional, and it was fun to acknowledge the fans like that, but it became
obvious that we had unintentionally disrupted the Speedway's program by not
driving to Victory Lane after the checkered flag. Speaking for everyone at
Hendrick Motorsports, I personally called Mary Hulman
George on Monday to apologize for any actions that may have been perceived as
being disrespectful."
Jeff
Gordon:
"I can't adequately describe how emotional Sunday was.
When I got out of the car, it was my intention to get back in and drive to
Victory Lane after waving to everyone in the stands. Our team certainly would
not disrespect any procedures on purpose, and I truly apologize to everyone at
the Speedway for any problems we may have caused. It was a classic case of
being caught up in the moment. I plan to support NASCAR's Victory Lane protocol
going forward."
NASCAR:
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing released
today the following statement from NASCAR President Mike Helton, regarding
apologies by Jeff Gordon and Rick Hendrick for inadvertently altering post-race
procedures this past Sunday at the Brickyard 400:
“We appreciate the
apologies offered today by Jeff Gordon and Rick Hendrick. We recognize the
elation and spontaneity that a win like Sunday’s can produce,
and we do not want to hinder the ‘emotions of the moment.’ We want our drivers
and teams to show their emotions. It was clear that this victory was a particularly
emotional one for Hendrick Motorsports, in light of the recent passing of
Rick’s father, Papa Joe Hendrick. “We know how important it is for our
competitors to celebrate their victories and share their happiness with the
fans. But we also want our competitors to be mindful of the importance of
protocol involving Victory Lane, which is as much a part of racing as taking
the checkered flag. “This situation is now behind us. Moving forward, we are
confident all our teams will respect and respond appropriately to time-honored
post-race protocol during their celebrations.”
Admittedly, I’d have loved to have been a fly on
the wall and been privy to all that was said behind closed doors, but since I
have no wings, I’ll have to settle for the same press releases everyone else
gets. It was gentlemanly and sporting of Rick and Jeff to apologize, but it
seems rather like apologizing for having to blow one’s nose in church. The
apology isn’t necessary when one considers the alternative.
Mr. Helton’s statement is a bit confusing in that
none of the threatened or implied punishments are mentioned, yet at the very
end he states, “This situation is now behind us” following up immediately with
a vague promise that all will now be well and everyone will respect the blue
bottles. Uh-huh! “Time-honored post-race protocol”, one has to assume, refers
to NASCAR’s practice of placing garbage on top of the winner’s car in order
that the viewing audience will be prompted to immediately drive to the nearest
market and buy a case of PowerAde. To my knowledge, that is not happening and
there is nothing “time-honored” about it. In fact, it wasn’t too long ago that
what went on top of the winner’s car was just the winner.
I’ve seen several journalists comparing the
celebration on the bricks to the 2001 Pepsi Firecracker 400 victory, with Mikey
and Junior together on top of the car, hugging each other and carrying on.
That’s a fair comparison, but I recall an even better one.
Without question, the greatest celebration ever by
a NASCAR winner was held on pit road when Dale Earnhardt, after 20 years of
trying, won the Daytona 500. As
the G M Goodwrench #3 car slowly made its way to Victory Lane, every
crewmember, from every team and every NASCAR official in the pits formed a
reception line to greet the winner and shake his hand.
It took
a long time, but Dale didn’t miss a hand as his car slowly crept through that
line, graciously accepting the accolades and warmth offered by his competitors
like the true Champion that he was. Upon finally reaching the end of the line
of well-wishers, he swung the car out onto the infield grass and cut a perfect
#3 in Bill France’s landscaping before proceeding through a gathering throng of
fans to Victory Lane.
Yes,
Dale did eventually arrive in Victory Lane, but so, I am told, did Gordon,
albeit it a bit late. Think back to that day and the awesomeness of the scene
on pit road, then try to conceive of someone threatening to fine or otherwise
punish Dale for causing a delay in the TV schedule. That, my dear friends, was
not about to happen. Now, 1998 was only six years ago. Is it possible that
everyone involved was saner then than today? In my vast file of all things
Earnhardt, I have a picture of Dale, on top of his car in Victory Lane at
Daytona, which my editor will hopefully insert here. At his feet, one can
easily see two bottles of Gatorade, a Pepsi product, and in his upraised left
hand is a bottle of Coke! I told you in the beginning that I found it all
amusing. Can’t we all just get along?
For
those that don't recall what all the fuss was about, here is a short video of
the post-race celebration. Throughout most of it, you'll see a NASCAR official
seemingly attempting to "herd" Jeff Gordon either back to the car or
toward Victory Lane, but Jeff is hugging and thanking everyone within a
twelve-block radius of the speedway and paying no heed to that annoying hand on
his shoulder. Please watch; then you tell me what all the fuss was about.
And then
they wonder why no one takes them seriously! Gentle readers, when I began to
read this over, I was instantly taken back to the day I wrote it. My husband
had suffered a massive brain hemorrhage in mid-May, some three months before
this "crisis" occurred in NASCAR. Needless to say, I was more than a
little busy at home, and as stated here, had been dashing off light, airy
"feel-good" articles because, quite frankly, I needed to feel good
about something. Readers begged me to "take a stand" in this, the absolutely
most important debate of the month, so I did. I placed myself firmly on the
fence and proceeded to laugh my derriere off.
It
strikes me as rather ironic, a decade later, that this is the track they cannot
get the fans to attend, yet 10 years before this race was run, they sold a
quarter-million tickets within a day of when they went on sale. One has to
wonder if it's occurred to anyone at NASCAR that perhaps when you took the fun
out of it, you also took the fan out of it. Now, gentlemen, when this race is
run a week from Sunday, there will be no problem getting the winner to drive to
Victory Lane, because there will be no fans to speak of with which to
celebrate.
Time now
for our Classic Country Closeout, and this one is
purely for fun. Some of you "older" folks will recall Fess Parker
starring on TV as Davy Crockett and doing the theme song for that show, "The Ballad of Davy Crockett."
Well, this isn't it. This is another song he did, taken from the Disney movie, "Westward Ho the Wagons." Please
enjoy the jaunty air of "Wringle, Wrangle."
And our
final treat for today is one of Mama's all-time favorites, done by probably the
most underrated Country singer of those wonderful early years, Carl Smith. Carl
has such a classic voice and accent, to me he is the consummate Classic Country
singer, but had the misfortune to come on the scene at the same time we were already
humming and toe-tapping to everyone named Hank, Webb Pierce, Johnny Cash, Elvis
Presley, Red Foley, Ernest Tubb and many others, all of which were great.
There's a reason they called it the Golden Age of Country. Here then is Carl
Smith, doing one of many great hits he had during that Golden Age, "Let Old Mother Nature Have Her
Way."
Be well
gentle readers, and remember to keep smiling. It looks so good on you!
~
PattyKay