Keith,
My friend and one time partner at Bonneville was the NASCAR Chief Steward
for the state of Arizona for three years.
In the late '80's NASCAR VP Les Richter(sp?) invited Howard to the awards
banquet
in NYC as his guest. Howard talked to Brian France about the rulings that tried
to make all cars the same. He got a lecture from Brian about how NASCAR was in
the entertainment business and the medium it used to entertain it's customers
was auto racing. They asked fans what they liked to see and it was their
business
to make sure that the fans got what entertained them.
If the field gets strung out, they throw a yellow. The last NASCAR SHOW I
watched
got a yellow when they saw a 2 or 3 inch long piece of roll bar padding in the
grass
inside of turn two. That closed the field back up.
Anyway, NASCAR is what it is, entertainment. A lot of people love it and that's
fine with me. Look how the business has grown in the last 15 years.
I'm sorry, but it doesn't sound right to me when Brian's business is called a
sport.
I hope I haven't upset anyone,
Bryan
Keith Turk wrote:
> Otto... I don't think it's intolerance on our part... it's mostly the
> sameness... the lengths they go to keep the cars in line with each
> other... and the RULES... RULES and more RULES...
>
> Collectively the only thing we really have in common is that we want to
> build our junk to a minimum set of rules and do it better then the next
> guy, without the rules interfering with our success or failure...
>
> Corporate sponsors and the big money they bring kind of spoiled the
> whole thing... but as a business man I can see the logic from a Madison
> Ave. point of view.... it's high visibility in given markets and it
> makes sense to advertise there... and everyone wants a winner... so if
> you want what everyone else wants, you have to pay for it.... Big money
> was inevitable... doesn't make it better.... just makes it what it is...
>
> None of that is local saturday night circle track racing... or local
> hero's or the like... it's big business...
>
> Keith
|