Full Throttle

(NOTE: This is the third in a series on the dreaded “NASCAR is Crap Plague” that has infected some segments of NASCAR Nation. In some cases it’s a near fatal affliction!)

In this edition we visit with NASCAR’s PC Police, the dastardly souls whose arrival on the scene some think have ruined the sport.

The charge sheet reads thusly:

1. NASCAR has placed a muzzle on it’s drivers, it’s not like the old days. The old days meaning like NASCAR’s famous ‘79 Battle Royal at the Daytona 500.

2. Pocono 2004, When Jimmie Johnson climbed from his car after winning, he placed a sign in front of the PowerAde bottle that NASCAR officials put atop his car. PowerAde, an official sponsor of NASCAR, is made by Coca-Cola. Johnson has a sponsorship deal with Pepsi.

Like several other Pepsi or Gatorade-sponsored drivers, Johnson has been knocking the bottle off his car when he gets to Victory Lane. NASCAR president Mike Helton told drivers they could no longer do that. “We’re going to address these situations in an orderly fashion, just as we always have,” he said. “We expect our drivers to follow this protocol.”

3. Johnson teammate Jeff Gordon once had this to say in March, 2006: “What you see today is a more truer Jeff Gordon and who I really am,’ said Gordon, “I’m not a robot. I have a personality, and I have emotions.”

It was uttered after a pit road set-to and shoving match with Matt Kenseth. Officials fined Gordon $10,000 and placed him on probation until Aug. 30 that year.

4. Several drivers have been fined, Stewart and Dale Jr. to name just two, for speaking “The seven words you can never say on television.” (but can if it’s cable. Maybe.)

And so it goes as NASCAR’s PC Police have run amok. At least those suffering from an acute case of BFDS think so. Viewed at face value one would tend to agree.

But have they done anything out of the ordinary? Something unheard of outside the confines of NASCAR Nation? Back in the real world - the one that encircles NASCAR Nation - many have evolved into a touchy-feely politically correct bunch of loony-toons and things are much the same.

A certain Tony Stewart lived up to his nickname “Smoke” by blowing just that in 2001. His, ahem, “blunt comments” led to a deluge of emails and his being rebuked by his sponsor Home Depot. Read that carefully, his sponsor and then NASCAR reacted. The cost to Smoke was $50,000 and Home Depot placed him on probation for the rest of the season. NASCAR extracted their pound of flesh to the tune of $10,000.

There’s a reason why some refer to the NFL as the The Fun League.

• Reggie Bush was denied his request to wear his college number, No. 5, in the pros because the NFL mandates that running backs wear numbers between 20-49 and the competition committee said no.
• Jerry Seeman, NFL’s Senior Director of Officiating from 1991 to 2001, fined several players for socks that were too short, or having the wrong brand of shoe.
• The NFL league policy states that players and coaches must arrive at the stadium on game day in a collared shirt and shoes (not sneakers).

Move along, no fun to be had here.

The list of rampant politically correctness is near limitless and it has invaded every portion of American society. Bob Margolis, a much better writer than I, puts it this way:

Look, let’s face it, the world is a rapidly changing place and NASCAR has changed along with it. Maybe just a bit too fast for some of its older fans, and it is those fans NASCAR is trying to win over with all this talk of going back to basics. After all, demographics show that the vast majority of NASCAR’s fan base is over 35 and there are a lot of them over 50. As you get older, you long for things from your past.

As a certified member of the not-yet-ready-for-the-old-folks-home, but getting closer, demographic I understand the feelings of some, but that doesn’t mean I subscribe to, or share their ability to ignore reality.

Reality bites in some cases, but NASCAR’s reality is Home Depot, Lowes or many of the other large corporate sponsors bring a lot more to the table than did the strictly regional sponsors of 30 years ago. Their participation has allowed more and varied television coverage, more facilities/entertainment opportunities at many tracks that were unheard of 30 years ago.

But those with BFDS won’t ever acknowledge that reality. To them NASCAR is viewed from a very small and limited bubble, one that only allows a vision clouded by the passage of time and what they consider the Good Old Days. Good Old Days that consisted of Holly Farms as a “major” sponsor and tape delayed broadcasts aired long after the event.

To them I say, those days were good, but today is better, much better.