2004 Soap Box Archives

Disappointed 05/25/04

I saw a piece on one of the cable news channels the other day that really ruffled my feathers. It had to do with NASCAR and the relocation of some of the races.

It seems that they are taking races away from a couple of the oldest, traditional tracks, namely Darlington, South Carolina
and Rockingham, North Carolina, two of the tracks that have had races since before there was a NASCAR association.

I know, I know, it’s all about population density, audience share, competing with the National Football League and all that.
In other words it’s all about money.

Ok, I can accept that. I don’t have to like it but I can accept it. But what got my dander up was when the piece goes on to say that today’s NASCAR fan is better educated and makes more money and so on, which to me sounded like a put down of the partners
who brung NASCAR to the dance.

Pardon me but I never thought of NASCAR as appealing to the Perrier and lime for lunch bunch. It’s hard for me to imagine the
refreshment stands at the races serving guava juice and tofu.
Or Dale, Jr. driving a car with Dom Perignon painted on the side.

Now I’m not saying that those kind of folks can’t like NASCAR, in fact I think it’s high time for some of our snootier citizens to get their attention switched from Wimbledon to Daytona Beach. See how the other half lives. They may actually like it.

And all that’s well and good, but after decades of being called
ignorant rednecks just because we’ll drive five hundred miles to Bristol or spend Sunday afternoon glued to a television set
watching our boys wheel 'em around the track, it seems kind of funny that some of those condescending, sophisticated folks who laughed behind their hands at us for so many years have finally caught on to what all the fuss was about.

Well, I guess if you can’t beat 'em, join 'em. Welcome aboard.

Now I’m happy that NASCAR is growing and prospering. It’s just that I hate to think about no more Darlington and no more Rockingham. They’re the cradle of stock car racing which have bred loyal fans for decades.

So many of the NASCAR drivers are second and third generation
and if you were to check out the grandstand on any given Sunday afternoon, you’d find that they too have second and third generation fans.

Nobody’s as loyal as a NASCAR fan and the most loyal in the world are the old boys from the Southeast. They’ve been there from the start, they’ve seen stock car racing go from the little clay tracks with the naked light bulbs hanging overhead to the multimillion-dollar speedways complete with celebrities and network television coverage.

They’ve seen a lot happen in the last thirty years, I just hope they don’t have to stand helplessly by and see the disappearance of their beloved racetracks.

Now that would be really disappointing.

Pray for our troops.

What do you think?

God Bless America

Charlie Daniels

 

©Copyright The Charlie Daniels Band