The 2007 season is over and
the awards banquet has been endured once again. Fans are already counting the days to Daytona and the COT stands for
the ‘Car of Today’ instead of ‘Tomorrow’ as a permanent aspect of the sport from here on out. Everyone
who can, and probably everyone who didn’t really want to, has sung all the praises they could about Hendrick Motorsports
(HMS) being “simply the best” and Jimmie Johnson the Champion of champions, and whatever other multitude of platitudes
they could imagine to describe the repeat championship team of Johnson & Chad Knaus with. By all accounts, one might
think, anyone who knows anything about stock car racing already believes absolutely no other race team could possibly compete
against HMS. To further drive the point home, a popular NASCAR magazine contains an editorial titled: ‘Get used to Hendricks
dominance because there’s more to come” and even dares to itemize all the major teams that cannot compete against
Hendrick. Gee, as a fan, I’m just thrilled to know that the sport has boiled down to one owner’s entire stable
and no other team has the capability to compete against them. Worse yet, if fans don’t fully believe the total dominance
and perfection of this stable as the racing champions they are, then fans must be “narrow-minded fans who can’t
stand to see anyone other than their favorite driver win.” Keep in mind, the writer indicated Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans
in parentheses but obviously, that problem is solved for 2008 since he’s now part of the ultimate racing championship
teams.
Incredibly, this is quite simply
the finest public relations promotion I’ve ever seen readily and freely handed out to any team based on the excuse that
they dominated the season. Perhaps by the numbers they dominated, but domination is a word that generally incites a sense
of aggressive action that likewise brings back memories of fine racing moments to savor. Dale Earnhardt Sr. dominated the
track throughout the 90’s creating just those kind of moments fans still talk about today (i.e. the “pass in the
grass”), while racking up the championships he earned through entire seasons. The 2007 season was reduced to some of
the most boring racing ever and tracks that usually performed well lost their bite. The Chase format has converted the sport
into a game of chess not racing. It’s too costly for a driver to dominate or he’s likely to lose position, get
caught in someone else’s mess, or blow something that will cost him the end of the race and precious, hard-to-gain back
points. So, now the driver plays possum all race long until the closing laps, and then runs down a decent finish. Recording
the race on TIVO or a scheduled VCR timer is looking better every week when there are more commercials and gimmicks than racing!
Take away any major excitement during the race and what’s to watch? Where are the battles? Where’s the competition?
What do the fans of the other 40 driver’s on the track have to look forward to if the three top drivers in the Hendrick
Motorsports stable are the only competition? Or do the media really believe those drivers don’t have that many fans?
Worst yet, why should sponsors spend more money on a sport that’s already promoting only one stable as competitive champion
caliber?
After a lackluster season like
2007, with a Chase that boiled down to teammates fighting for the same trophy, now fans are being prepped for more of the
same next year and told “get used to it.” Projecting that kind of future on next season might find many fans finding
somewhere else to be other than watching the race or spending small fortunes to be at one. Naturally when queried about possible
changes, Brian France says there’s nothing to change but surely he’s realizing there’s something to be concerned
about. If you create a system that’s slowly eroding the sport from the inside out because the drivers have figured out
how to beat the Chase at its own game, then it’s time to reconsider the options and regroup. Return to the full fledged,
anyone’s in the hunt for the Championship and make EVERYONE hungry again. Knock off the vanilla coating and get the
sport back on its wheels. Empty seats at tracks and lower TV ratings for 94% of the races should be major red flags. Discontented
fans don’t buy tickets and merchandise. There’s a limit just how far the sport can be turned upside down and inside
out before fans begin to wonder why they waste their time with something they aren’t enjoying as much anymore.
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Finally, its one thing
to promote the whole Hendrick Motorsports championship team for 2007 but to project upon all NASCAR fandom that “they
might as well get used to it because it’s not going to change” is total folly. What if it does change? What if
adding Dale Earnhardt Jr. to the stable disrupts the normal flow and teamwork of the current teams? What if the new personnel
in place on Gordon’s team don’t mesh quite right? To declare it’s not going to change is inviting it to
do just that. It’s almost like a jinx being laid out there for the teams. 2008 is a whole new season. Everyone knows
every season has a life and a personality all its own. Were that not so, the “sophomore slump” wouldn’t
be the norm. Those teams that many writers want to write out of NASCAR’s competitive picture right now are working very
hard to make sure that those writers are dead wrong by the end of next year. Every team will regroup, rebuild, set plans in
motion, but it takes a little while to achieve plans. In 2006, Kasey Kahne had a stellar season. Who’d have guessed
2007 would have gone the way it did for him? 2008 can easily do the same thing to any one of those drivers in the Hendrick
stable.
Fans deserve a full field.
The media needs to remember it takes ALL the drivers and teams to make the whole sport work. Even Rick Hendrick will admit
his teams didn’t get where they are overnight and they won’t stay where they are by sitting on the laurels of
a lot of PR and projections. Keep the sport in perspective and respect its fans for understanding the sport they love and
remember all the teams at season’s end. There would be no champion if there were no competitors.
2006 StockCar Review.
