Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Feb. 18, 2015
Volume IX, Edition XIII
Wednesday's TV Schedule can be found in Couch Potato Tuesday here.
by the Frontstretch Staff
Ben Kennedy Snags Sponsor for Season-Opening Daytona Race
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Professor of Speed
by Dr. Mark Howell
My offseason following the Sprint Cup fireworks at Homestead involved a journey of discovery. I explored many paths leading to a glorious past while building roads heading toward an uncertain future. Mine was a journey of memory and hope.
I discovered YouTube.
And not just the YouTube of cat videos and crazy adolescent stunts. No, my YouTube was a treasure trove of legendary NASCAR races run by those who blazed the trails of NASCAR Nation.
My intentions were simple: the footage gave me something to do while riding a recumbent bicycle in my basement. Nothing seemed more appropriate than watching cars racing hundreds of miles to nowhere while pedaling a stationary bike hundreds of miles to nowhere.
As a winter warm-up to this weekend's running of the Daytona 500, I decided to review television coverage of past "Great American Races." My journey began with the 1976 Daytona 500, back in the day when race broadcasts were pieced together in clumps of twenty-or-so consecutive laps. Watching David Pearson and Richard Petty slam-and-spin their way to the checkered flag spurred childhood memories. The endless debates with cousins over whom – Pearson or Petty – was the best driver (my family was divided across Ford/Mercury and Dodge/Plymouth loyalties), the dark-blue, Purolator racing team jacket I wore to school each day, and the photographs I cut from magazines documenting the wild finish that year.
I also re-watched CBS's coverage of the 1979 Daytona 500 – the race that put NASCAR on the mainstream map. Apart for the closing lap accident-turned-fistfight, this event intrigued me for its overall relative simplicity, even though broadcasting a 500-mile race live in its entirety was anything but a simple act back then. Considering a prolonged start under caution because of wet conditions and subsequent yellow flags for accidents and such, I marveled at the fact so many viewers toughed it out and stuck around for the finish. The ending was certainly worth the wait, as Madison Avenue realized in the weeks, months, and years to follow.
Then there was 1980's running of the Daytona 500: the fastest 500-mile race ever held (at that time). Buddy Baker's mastery of the high banks behind the wheel of Harry Ranier's Oldsmobile carried stock car racing to new heights as NASCAR continued to earn a much-deserved national audience.
Not that 1981's Daytona 500 was any less exciting. Seeing smaller cars for the first time in the Grand National division was fun, although many likely wondered how the new Pontiacs, Buicks, and Fords would handle the aerodynamic demands of superspeedway competition. Seeing John Anderson flip his car on the backstretch during a qualifying race only added to speculation that things might get out of hand in a hurry. The Speedweeks dominance of Bobby Allison's Pontiac LeMans was overshadowed following a late-race fuel stop by Richard Petty (and crew chief Dale Inman) that earned "King Richard" the eventual win.
Twenty years later, yet another Daytona 500 broadcast would make headlines, but not for the typical reason. The 2001 running of "The Great American Race" turned out to be NASCAR's greatest nightmare when Dale Earnhardt lost his life in a last-lap accident. We know the story, we know the aftermath, we know enough; I never made it to the finish of that footage.
So now, here we are: on the cusp of yet another Daytona 500. Sparks have already begun to fly and tempers riled by tense preseason events mixed with rule changes. The hope is to attract large audiences and draw in new fans – excitement long lacking in NASCAR – but the sanctioning body has put its racing eggs in an already-cracked Speedweeks basket. You can see this fact very clearly if you re-watch earlier 500s.
Those pivotal Daytona 500s featured exciting (if not always wildly close) racing, and they featured a welcome combination of title contenders (like Petty, Pearson, Foyt, Parsons, Yarborough, Allison, and Baker) and journeyman drivers (like Childress, McDuffie, Marlin, Ballard, and Scott). Scattered throughout the races were talented up-and-comers with superstar potential, too (drivers named Bonnett, Waltrip, Bodine, Labonte, Rudd, and some young guy named Earnhardt).
It was NASCAR on the edge of greatness – races aired across America in telecasts that would forever change the way fans consumed the sport.
As I watched (and re-watched) these broadcasts during the offseason, two thoughts kept crossing my mind. One was that these exciting races were run circa NASCAR B.C. (Before the Chase). This was the era of the "old" points system, before folks at NASCAR headquarters thought something "gimmicky" was needed to spice up the championship battle. Teams kept soldiering on back then, even though they had no chance of a top-10 finish, just because racing was what they were there to do. It was an age of pure competition: no "win-and-in" for the championship, no postseason elimination rounds, no knockout qualifying sessions, and no lusting after "Game Seven" moments – the focus was racing at its most elementary level.
The other thought that kept crossing my mind while reviewing these races on YouTube? The fact that every grandstand was packed from top-to-bottom with enthusiastic fans who made the trip, bought a ticket, and watched the event in person. Even after 1979, once the Daytona 500 was broadcast live every year, the stands were still filled. The crowds seemed to grow with each subsequent season.
Sure…fans enjoyed last year's Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship. Media attention was higher, as were television ratings (if an increase of about one percent was worth celebrating). But somewhere along the way, NASCAR felt it was necessary to swap the sport for "the show" – the bells-and-whistles needed to draw in a new population of fans. The simplicity of an older NASCAR has given way to the spectacle of a new NASCAR, all in hopes of gaining a larger (and younger, and more affluent) audience.
So here's another thought: maybe NASCAR Nation doesn't really need all those new fans, especially if this new group demands "cute races" and orchestrated "gimmicks" over pure, unadulterated competition. As my grandma used to say, "Be careful what you wish for because it might just come true."
I guess we'll find out come Sunday….
Dr. Mark Howell is a contributor for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at mark.howell@frontstretch.com.
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Tuesday's Answer:
Q: This one is easy. Jeff Gordon is attempting to win the Daytona 500 from the pole. When was the last time that happened and has Gordon himself ever done it?
COMING TOMORROW
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