NASCAR fans are a passionate lot, make no mistake about it. The vast majority of us have a favorite driver, and we are fiercely loyal to that driver, the team he drives for and the company that sponsors him.
You've probably seen the slogan (or variations of it), "NASCAR, not a sport, but a way of life", and how can anyone argue with that since our shopping habits are dictated by the guy we root for on race day?
Not only do we buy the products produced or sold by our drivers' sponsors, but we'll go so far as to refuse to even think about buying something from a competitor.
Faced with a clogged toilet, a Tony Stewart fan would pee in the trash can before buying a plunger at Lowe's, and a Carl Edwards fan would jot notes on his stomach (the fan's stomach, not Carl's) before going to Staples for a pack of Post-Its.
A Jamie McMurray fan would never think of touching a drop of Southern Comfort (which is probably for the best, fan or not) and a Kurt Busch fan (I know, he doesn't have any, but play along) would drink sewer water before drinking any beer but Miller Lite, although some people would argue the two pretty much taste the same.
A Kevin Harvick fan would push his car miles to get to a Shell station rather than the Exxon around the corner, and if you ever see a Reed Sorenson fan in a Wal-Mart, there's a good chance he's recently suffered a sharp blow to the head and doesn't know where he is (admittedly, it'll be tough to pick him out of the crowd, because most of the people shopping in there match that description).
A Denny Hamlin fan would drive cross country to hand deliver a package before using UPS, if only for the fact that lots of people don't even realize UPS still sponsors a car, since we never see it on Sunday.
You'll never see a Mark Martin fan in line at the Navy recruiting center and you'll never, ever see a Dale Earnhardt Jr fan drinking anything but Bud (if only because Bud cans have been proven, by Jr's fans, to be extremely aerodynamic when it comes time to throw things onto the track).
A Kasey Kahne fan (especially one of the three stalker women who have long out stayed their welcome in the All-State commercials), would stomp the crap out of the Geico gecko and a Ricky Rudd fan would would snack on tree bark before even considering anything but a Snickers bar.
This list* could go on and on, but you get the point. Fans refuse to spend money with competitors to our favorite drivers' sponsors and that's why the sponsors continue to pour money into the sport.
What's that? You don't want to be limited in your buying choices? Then you should consider becoming a Kyle Petty fan. He has so many different sponsors even he can't keep up with them all, so you're free to spend your money with anyone you choose.
You could also become a fan of Michael Waltrip, David Reutimann, AJ Allmendinger, Brian Vickers, Dave Blaney or Jeremy Mayfield. All these drivers actually do have single sponsors, but few ever make a race, so you can just pretend you don't know what you should be buying. (You'll have your Sunday's free to do whatever you like as well, since you won't need to watch the race to know your driver finished 50th again.)
*I'm really glad I didn't try to compile this list when Mark Martin was sponsored by Viagra.
I never met the man, but Bill France Jr. was a hero of mine just the same.
His father, "Big" Bill France, created the entity of NASCAR, but it was France Jr. who turned it into the sport we love to watch every Sunday and every NASCAR fan is in his debt.
To put it into the perspective of the electronic age, Big Bill created the computer, but Bill Jr. created Windows.
When he was handed the reigns to NASCAR after his father's retirement in 1972, many doubted that France Jr. could take this small, regional sport and even maintain it, much less grow it. He had been perceived as a very weak shadow to his very strong father and there appeared to be some merit to that argument even a few years into his tenure as president of NASCAR.
In 1976, A.J. Foyt took the pole for the Daytona 500, but his time was disallowed when NASCAR officials said they'd found "sufficient evidence" of the use of nitrous oxide to boost Foyt's engine's horse power. Foyt, never known as a shy man, went on an angry, up close and personal tirade against France Jr., railing at France for the sanctioning body's decision . This was huge - no one would have ever dared get in Big Bill's face like Foyt was doing to France Jr.
A call was made to Big Bill and shortly, his car screeched to a halt near the infield garage area. Big Bill stormed into the garage and while there are no accounts as to what actually occurred in there, it was reported by Sports Illustrated that ten minutes later, Big Bill "emerged from behind closed doors with his arm around the neck of a suddenly compliant Foyt, who was saying. 'Yessir...yessir...yessir.'"
However, in spite of maybe being a little nicer than his father in the beginning, France soon became respected and feared, just as his father had been, as a man who spoke his mind and who's word was law. As stated in many of the testimonials we've seen about him, people always knew where they stood with Bill France Jr. and there was nearly universal admiration for him.
It was Bill France Jr. who worked out the now legendary series sponsorship agreement with R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company's Winston brand. (Some who think they know the history of the sport will now pipe up and say, "NOPE! It was Junior Johnson who put that together!" They are wrong. Johnson was involved, but to a much smaller degree than often believed. Junior went to R.J. Reynolds looking for sponsorship for his car, but the tobacco giant, reeling from new government restrictions banning cigarette advertising on TV, explained that they were thinking on a much larger scale than sponsoring just a single car and that they had millions to spend. "I believe Mr Bill France Jr. could help you spend some of that money", was Johnson's reply and he got them in touch with France, but that was the extent of his involvement.)
It was under France Jr.'s leadership that Bob Latford created the points system we now see used in the sport, (although it has been modified a few times over the years). NASCAR was once known as being very inconsistent with the points system, tweaking and changing it from season to season and often making wholesale changes. France Jr., among others, recognized that for the sport to be taken seriously, they needed a solid points system that was fair to all competitors and it was Latford who layed out the basic blueprint for the current points system on a cocktail napkin.
It was under France Jr.'s leadership that NASCAR grew from a small, regional racing series into a multi-billion dollar empire with national (and somewhat global) appeal.
France Jr. recruited O. Bruton Smith, founder of Speedway Motorsports, Inc., to help him grow the sport across the country and Smith jumped at the opportunity. Separately, but with a common goal, the two built and/or acquired tracks across the country, expanding the fan base well beyond its beginnings in the Southeast portion of the country. Although they later wound up at odds with one another, France Jr. and Smith worked together to bring us what we now have.
It was under France Jr.'s leadership that the 1979 Daytona 500 became the first NASCAR race televised live, in its entirety, from coast to coast in the US, and it was most certainly divine intervention that led to the Northeast part of the country being snow bound that particular Sunday, leading to a massive television audience that France Jr. could never have imagined. Millions tuned in to watch, if only because there was nothing else to watch, but they saw an exciting race with the unforgettable ending of Cale Yarborough and Bobby Allison in a fist fight on the back stretch. A star - NASCAR - was born.
In the years to come, NASCAR events would be featured live more and more often, on several cable networks as well as CBS and ABC, until eventually, fans could see almost every race live on television and they could often watch qualifying and some practice sessions as well.
Having grown the sport the way he had, France Jr. had it in perfect position to explode nationally and that was evidenced when FOX and NBC/TNT inked contracts to be the exclusive broadcasters for NASCAR races beginning in 2001.
We can only imagine the bittersweet feelings France Jr. must have experienced on February 18, 2001. It was the Daytona 500, NASCAR'S biggest event, and FOX was televising it live and on a grand scale. A huge audience had tuned in to watch and it was a very exciting race to watch - the aero package NASCAR had in place at the time allowed for cars to pass more easily than usual at a restrictor plate track. France Jr. had to have been absolutely beside himself with glee to see how well things were going, to see how his dream of a nationally recognized sport had become reality, to see the teams put on a spectacular race, only to have it dissolve into sorrow as his good friend, and another who helped shape NASCAR, Dale Earnhardt, was killed on the last lap of the race. Like it or not, it was Dale's death that brought even more new interest to the sport, but if not for France Jr.'s hard work over the previous 29 years, no one outside of the sport would have heard much about it.
Bill France Jr. took a tiny seed, an egg, and nurtured and grew it into what we now see when we tune in on Sunday and when we watch the amazing coverage we see on Speed Channel. In no other sport do fans have as much programming available to them as do NASCAR fans and in no other sport do fans have such ready access to the competitors as do NASCAR fans. One man's vision was responsible for all of that.
I never met the man, but if I had, I would have shaken his hand and thanked him - his strong vision and hard work built the sport I call my passion.
NOTE: This is an article I posted after Benny's death in January, but it was posted on a site that doesn't get much traffic, so I thought I'd share it here as well.
Folks, the NASCAR community lost one of the great ones on Tuesday, January 16, 2007.
Benny Parsons was a very accomplished driver, with 21 wins and a championship (1973) in his Cup career, which began in 1970 and ended following the 1988 season. He was also a two-time ARCA champion, a Daytona 500 champion, an inductee to the International Motorsports Hall of Fame and the National Motorsports Press Association's Stock Car Racing Hall of Fame, an Emmy winner and he is on the list of the top 50 NASCAR drivers.
Regrettably, I never saw him race. In the years that his career spanned, I was a skeptic, wondering just how the hell my Dad could sit and watch (or listen to) a bunch of guys going around in circles. What was the point in that? At the time, it seemed silly to me.
My Dad died of complications from cancer in 1991 and never knew me as the race fan I would become, but I suspect he found out just the same and that he's pretty damn proud.
I finally began developing an interest in the sport in 1998 and became hooked after a trip to Talladega. But, NASCAR can be confusing for someone new to watching and the learning curve is huge. Luckily, I had the Professor to teach me.
The ESPN broadcasting booth of Bob Jenkins, Ned Jarrett and Benny was outstanding in any order you place them, but Benny was the guy I loved to listen to.
Long before FOX and NBC/TNT came along with their digitized visuals, Benny was illustrating terms such as "loose", "tight" and "drafting" with no tools but his voice and his knowledge of the sport to draw the images. He did a stellar job.
Benny could describe any scenario in such clear, down to earth English that his point was easily understood, and his broadcasting style was one easily accepted by long time fans, as well as "newbies" like me. When he explained things, he never made it sound like he was "talking down" to people who didn't know the sport and that's because he wasn't - he was simply sharing his enthusiasm with anyone he could.
For all of his patient teaching and brilliant commentating, the thing that endeared him to so many of us was that he WAS us - he WAS me - a race fan. Granted, he was a race fan with a really cool job, but a race fan nonetheless.
His enthusiasm and love of the sport just bubbled out of him any time you saw or heard him on the air and it was a joy to bear witness to it.
"Man, oh, man!", he'd exclaim after a close call or a daring move on the track. Or, "How did he do that? I don't understand how he did that!" "He's on the apron, Ned! He's on the apron!"
His excitement was evident in every word and it was infectious. He came across, to me, as a race fan who got invited up to the booth to call a few laps. He spoke like most of us speak, no need for big words that leave folks reaching for a dictionary or thesaurus.
He knew (or maybe just sensed) how to take himself out of the broadcast booth and literally come sit in our living rooms. He was on a national broadcast network doing commentary, but he might just as well have been sitting next to us on the couch, smiling and saying, "Isn't this a great sport?"
Some of his contemporaries on other networks are quick to point out their own success, but Benny wasn't. When he did mention his success, he almost sounded embarrassed to talk about it.
Bottom line, I always felt that what I was seeing and hearing was genuinely Benny Parsons. No airs, no false fronts, just the real person, and reading all the articles written about him by people who knew him, I was dead on accurate with that belief. The guy on TV was the same guy you might bump into at the grocery store or gas station.
I never met him, but he was a friend just the same. I prayed for him from the moment I heard he was diagnosed with cancer until the day I heard that his suffering had ended, and now I pray for his family and friends as they are going through a difficult time to which I can very easily relate, as I suppose most of us can.
I unabashedly admit that I shed a couple tears when I heard that he'd passed, but that's to be expected when you lose a friend and teacher. I'll continue watching racing for as long as I live, but I'll miss BP in the booth just as much as I miss the black #3 on the track. There are certain icons you miss no matter how long they're gone.
And I hope that somehow, in the great expanse of Heaven, my Dad and Benny happen to cross paths so my Dad can tell Benny how his words helped turn me into a fan of my Dad's favorite sport, even if it is just a bunch of guys going around in circles.
Thank you, Benny, and rest in peace. You will be sorely missed.
Heading to your first NASCAR race? Here's how to fit in like you've been attending races for years.
Tailgating:
Wear a t-shirt depicting your favorite driver and a pair of jeans with no belt. This way, anytime you bend over, you'll present a nice vertical smile to those behind you.
If it's a day race, try to get to the track and start drinking beer at around 8:00 in the morning. If it's a night race, wait until 8:15.
Laugh yourself silly when your buddy, the grill master, singes off his eyebrows after using too much starter fluid.
Hit the souvenir trailers and spend $200 on $50 worth of stuff.
Have a friend snap a pic of you standing next to your favorite driver's souvenir trailer.
Socialize with the fans tailgating near you, they might give you free beer.
Crank the stereo up! Freebird MUST be played at least once every fifteen minutes.
Never mind the portable bathrooms, pee next to the car with the door open for "privacy".
If it's a jacked up truck you're peeing next to, and you're not a tall guy, the open door trick isn't going to help much.
Do NOT sit in your car while those around you are tailgating.
Once inside the track:
For the love of everything holy, guys should NOT wear a fanny pack into the track. (Or anywhere else, for that matter.)
Do NOT wait until your bladder is completely full before heading to the bathrooms - this will become very uncomfortable and potentially very embarrassing while waiting in line to get in there.
You will be peeing into a trough; I hope you don't have privacy issues.
STAND UP for all restarts and really, stand during the whole race. It's okay to sit down if the caution flag is waving or you're getting another beer from the cooler.
If your seats are close to the track, hang on to your hat while the cars pass by or it will blow off your head and hit a fat guy ten rows back.
The fat guy will be ticked if the hat lands in his nachos.
Mid-race, with a good beer buzz going:
It's hot out - take off your shirt so everyone around you can see how much back hair you have. (Bonus points if you've had your favorite driver's number shaved into your back hair.)
The hot girl in the bikini top and cutoffs does NOT find you attractive, and no amount of yelling, "HEY, BABY!", or offering her strands of beads is going to change that.
It's okay to strike up a little friendly banter with the guy sitting next to you, and it's fine to give him a hard time about his favorite driver (this is a tradition among race fans, after all), but don't try to drink some of his beer just because your supply is running low.
Time to hit the trough? Three words: NO EYE CONTACT!
When heading back to your seat, watch your step.*
*After disregarding the previous sentence, apologize profusely to the guy you landed on.
Back at your seat, ask your buddy who is leading. He won't be able to answer, he'll be too busy offering the hot girl in the bikini top and cutoffs some beads.
You'll notice that the ice in your cooler has melted and your beer is getting warm. Chug the rest of the beer so it doesn't go to waste.
Continue watching the race, whooping and yelling when the rest of the crowd does so, even though your eyes are now crossed and all you can make out on the track is a huge blur of color.
Post race, very drunk:
Continue cheering until you notice that all the seats around you have been vacated. Yes, the race is over and you've been rooting for the traffic pulling out of the infield.
On the way back to the car, you're drunk and leaning to the right. Your buddy is drunk and leaning to the left. Lean against one another and you'll be able to stay upright.
Back in the parking lot, it's time for some more tailgating with your group.
Drink more beer, eat some brats, listen to Freebird over and over again. Hoot at the women flashing everyone, never noticing that they all weigh two hundred pounds.
Have fun, just relaxing and enjoying the sights, sounds and smells of the track - there's nothing like them and you'll never forget them.
Take pics with the people tailgating next to you, exchange phone numbers which you'll lose and tell them they're the greatest group of people you've ever met. You'll honestly mean that, drunk or not.
Time to leave:
As everyone begins to climb into their cars to head to wherever they're staying, say goodbye to the people who've been tailgating next to you all day and promise them you'll be in touch
No, no, no. Let the sober guy in your group drive. Yes, we know you're "totally fine" to drive, but this guy stayed sober all day long just to drive for your group, so give him his glory.
On the way out of the track, just before your eyes close and you fall asleep ask, "Hey guys? Who won?"
The rest of the group will laugh at your question but no one will answer, because none of them know who won, either.
Well, one guy - the sober guy - knows who won, but he'll lie when he answers you.
How do I know he'll do that? I AM the sober guy.
One of the races I've attended was the Winston 500 at Talladega Superspeedway in October, 2000; I went with a group of Dale Earnhardt fans and Dale won the race in spectacular fashion. (It was also Dale's last win ever.)
For two days, all the diehard Earnhardt fans in my group thought Jeff Gordon had won that race and some still haven't forgiven me for it.
During a NASCAR broadcast, you'll hear the announcers use a variety of terms to explain things that are taking place during the race, but the problem, at least for the casual viewer, is that they don't always explain exactly what those terms mean. Being the helpful person I am, however, I'm going to take a little time out of my otherwise not so busy schedule to help you better understand a few things, and I think we'll all be better people for it. (Actually, that's a big fat lie, but it sounded better than saying I was just going to throw a few things against the wall to see if they stick.)
At any rate, here are some of the commonly used terms, and their often incorrectly used meanings:
ADJUSTING WEDGE has NOTHING to do with any activity which involves first getting a firm grip on the waist band of your buddy's underwear.
TAKING A POUND OUT OF THE RIGHT OR LEFT REAR does NOT involve liposuction.
SPRING RUBBERS are NOT a new seasonal condom from Trojan.
The TRACK BAR is NOT a place to hit on girls.
And on a related note.......
The REAR SWAY BAR is NOT a strip joint located near the track.
LOOSE LUGNUT is NOT a way of describing your drunken uncle at the last family reunion.
Increasing STAGGER does NOT involve downing another beer.
DIRTY AIR is NOT a way of describing your buddy's beer farts.
And...
The REAR SPOILER is NOT the output area of the aforementioned beer farts.
And...
SKID MARKS are NOT what your buddy will find in his underwear after cutting all those beer farts.
THE WIND TUNNEL is NOT a description of your mother-in-law.
HAPPY HOUR is NOT a great time to head to the TRACK BAR to hit on girls.
Making a SPLASH AND GO STOP does NOT mean the driver had to wizz really badly.
A SPOTTER has NOTHING to do with dribbling pee down the front of your pants.
And last, but certainly not least...
ROOF FLAPS - Just in case you were wondering what they are, remember the immortal words of Larry McReynolds during a race broadcast, "See them flaps on the roof? Them are roof flaps".
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