Admittedly, I've never been m much of a racing fan, and probably haven't watched any since Dale Earnhardt died. But I'm flipping channels and come across the race at Richmond on Fox and watch for about 5 minutes. Howinthecorncreadhell could anyone find this chit entertainment is beyond me. And having to listen to the announcers who never STFU is horrible. Obviously, I'm not alone in feeling this way because the stands are less than half full. I don't understand why the automakers continue to prop up this crap.

Rant over...😠

I did the same thing earlier. I flipped it on in the den and walked to the kitchen to get some duck ready to throw on the grill. I couldn't even hear the tv in the kitchen for the dumbarse nascar announcers. I had to go change it. I've never seen a sport just die like nascar has

Yea. It gone

I hear and understand your rant. I don't watch NASCAR anymore either. I may glance at a few laps from time to time. But the channel gets quickly moved up or down.

Never liked watching it on TV but we used to go to Dega every year. And it was always a good time.

I've never considered it to be a sport. I haven't ever watched an entire race. I haven't watched one lap of a race in 10 or more years. I find it idiotic. Turn left, turn left, turn left, turn left.... Ain't real dang hard. If they want to make it exciting, don't limit the cars. Let them build the biggest, baddest engines they can. Try to outrun each other, not follow the leader til somebody wrecks. I just find the whole idea idiotic.

They were on the way to unlimited racing until Elliott hit 211 mph and the airborne tumbling-flipping wrecks were getting worse. I can't remember who it was that Gordon tapped and wrecked at Talladega coming out of Turn 2 back in the early 90s (Labonte?), but it rattled him badly. Bobby Allison's barrel-rolling and debris flying into the stands didn't help.

A few more crashes, restrictor plates, Neil and Dale dying, and then the PR-glitz transformation with TV-sponsor money changed everything. I know from a sports media standpoint, we could be in the garage and ask the PR guy for 10-15 minutes with a driver or crew chief and get it. Then it turned into "media availability periods" and PR people getting mad if a question was "bad" or too probing, or drivers hiding in their haulers that became off-limits. Drivers began flying around on private jets and more private. NASCAR wanted to be mainstream and considered as bigtime. Look at how Mike Helton dressed in what looked like Mafia suits; drivers became blow-dried corporate PR "sponsor representatives."

TV oversaturated everything. What was once special - going to Talladega, keeping up with the circuit by traditional media - became a 24/7 immersive "be part of the action experience!" At some point for many people it loses its appeal by hearing about it all the time. Throw in the recession of 2008, fans tightening their recreational spending and ticket prices not adjusting until it was too late, and that hurt, too.

In the process, NASCAR lost its older base fans who in the '90s and early 2000s didn't bring up their kids watching or going and therefore NASCAR lost two generations. Those kids of the 90s are now adults and their kids aren't fans, so that's a third generation.

I used to go to Talladega for both races and watched some of the others including Daytona, Charlotte and Bristol. Probably haven't watched a race in a dozen years. Bristol used to be maybe the hardest ticket to get. Plenty of seats were available for last week's race. Twenty-five years ago, who would've thought that?

I remember years ago when the viewership numbers started dropping somebody was talking with Waltrip about what needed to be done and he said the train style racing was not what the fans wanted. He said to take out the plates and make the cars stay 6 or 8 inches above the track, no more sucking down to the track and let them race.

You should write for a living!
I feel just like you. I grew up with an uncle that started out with Hut Strickland. He ended his career with Tony Stewart. Worked for Dale Sr. along the way and a few others. I enjoyed racing back in the late 80’s, the 90’s and early 2000’s. Didn’t miss a Bristol night race for almost 10 years. I watched a little of the Bristol race last weekend and wondered how I ever enjoyed it. In all reality, it was just a lot different back then just like you explained.

Long gone

Now this is racing

Man, haven't heard Hut's name mentioned in a coon's age. He was always a good cat to talk with.

Being from Calera, that reminds me of the Jimmy Horton crash that almost killed Stanley Smith (from Chelsea) at the 1993 DieHard 500. Everyone in the infield media center was flipping out about Horton going over the wall until we saw the guy approach Stanley's car and start frantically waving for help. Stanley hit the wall just about like Neil and Dale did, and his injuries were incredibly horrible including what was called a basiliar skull fracture and severed blood vessels in his neck. He was fortunate to survive.

Crazy story from that year. In June, we were at the state sportswriters conference golf tourney. Davey Allison was there. This was back when sportswriters, coaches, drivers and athletes actually hung out without being assholes to each other. It started raining so everyone was in the clubhouse shooting the bull. We were asking Davey about driving. What was it like at speed, 3-wide, all that. He said in a big wreck you went straight or did whatever your spotter said to do, usually just go straight. The only thing he wouldn't talk about was being the one in the wreck, other than to say it happens and you just hang on.

He also said NASCAR had been talking about putting "roof flaps" on the cars to flip up and keep them down if the car spun. He said they were working on positioning, how to secure them, all that. He seemed OK with it. That was early June.

About a month later, he died after the helicopter crash.

Two weeks later, when Horton went over the wall and Stanley almost died, NASCAR ramped up the roof flap project and instituted them in 1994.

Interesting story about Smith and his career -- https://www.racing-reference.info/showblog?id=2907 -- I never knew Stanley hired Chad Knauss, who switched to Hendrick in 1994 to crew Jeff Gordon.

Was that Diehard 500 race the one Earnhardt came from about 20th place late in the race to win? If so, I was at that race. He drove through the field like they were sitting still.

I grew up about a mile as a crow flies from Bobby’s house in Hueytown. We fished his lake when I was a kid almost every day during the summer. He, Davey, Red Farmer, and all the other guys that stayed there at the shop were nice people, and let us wear our welcome out over and over again. It’s crazy how many of those older guys were from Alabama. Really just central AL.
I wasn’t but 14 when Davey died. Man that sucked. I played football and baseball growing up, but he was the “star” that I kept up with the most. I would love to know what kind of records he would hold if he had lived longer. Maybe none, but I just “knew” he was the best out there. Those used to be the good ol days.

I was young when my uncle worked for Hut. I don’t remember much about him. He left him and moved on to Ward Burton. He and my aunt actually divorced somewhere in there due to him being gone all the time, but he has stayed friends with her and the rest of the family to this day. Been on the infield in Bristol and talledega several times and got to see a lot that others never did or will. I hate nascar has gone down the drain, but it sure seems like they brought most of it upon themselves. The stands at the Bristol race were all but empty last Sunday which is crazy to me from seeing the way it used to be.

From Wikipedia:

Top ten results

3-Dale Earnhardt
4-Ernie Irvan
6-Mark Martin
42-Kyle Petty
18-Dale Jarrett
68-Greg Sacks
21-Morgan Shepherd
33-Harry Gant
26-Brett Bodine
16-Wally Dallenbach, Jr.

Thanks for sharing that link. I remember that wreck Stanley had. Stanley was always involved with the community. He sponsored a bunch of our little league sports around Chelsea in those days lol. Another almost famous driver from Chelsea was Gary bradbery. I grew up with his little brother Charlie . Charlie actually had the nerve ,talent and enough sponsorship to compete in nascar but Charlie sadly died in a car wreck close to his house the Saturday before fall Talladega race in 2005
Charlie was a goodun!

Watched wild Bill make up 2 laps under a green flag at Dega one day. He was on fire. Think that was the year before restrictor plates screwed up big tracks. Damit

[/quote]Was that Diehard 500 race the one Earnhardt came from about 20th place late in the race to win? If so, I was at that race. He drove through the field like they were sitting still.[/quote]


Was at that race myself. One helluva ending. Kenny Wallace pushed Earnhardt to victory. Place went crazy. That was actually my last ever race at Talladega.

Have lost interest in the last few years.

Was at that race myself. One helluva ending. Kenny Wallace pushed Earnhardt to victory. Place went crazy. That was actually my last ever race at Talladega.

Have lost interest in the last few years. [/quote]


I can't remember if that was my last Dega race or if it was the one that Harry Gant ran out of gas and (I think) Kulwicki pushed him to the finish line.