[LSC9901]

This is part of a story by David Poole in the Charlotte Observer. What's your opinion ?



Myth No. 2.

2. The lack of personality among NASCAR drivers is killing the sport. I can’t tell you how many e-mails I get from fans complaining about television networks “wasting time” showing features about drivers and their wives, or their pets, or their hobbies, or their grandparents or anything else that’s not about what happens to them on the race track.

But then, in the same breath, you get this ridiculous idea that drivers in the sport are too bland or how they’re too robotic and scared to death to say anything controversial.

Let’s start with the controversy part. Look, you’re not being paranoid if everybody really is out to get you. Fans yammer about how they want drivers to show a little bit of emotion, but what happens to any driver who dares do that? Fans – and the media, in all honesty – jump on him like white on rice.

Carl Edwards blew his top for 30 seconds at teammate Matt Kenseth after the race at Martinsville last year and all of a sudden Edwards went from the nicest guy in the world to somebody who ought to be next in line for Dr. Phil after he gets through fixing up Brittney Spears.

Ask Tony Stewart how much good it has done him to show his emotions. Ask Kurt Busch. Ask Kyle Busch.

I have people telling me all of the time that NASCAR needs a “villain,” a bad guy that some fans would pull for and others would pull as passionately against. That’s fine, unless you’re that guy.

You live your life getting booed when you walk into restaurants and you’re supposed to smile and wave and act like you love it. You have people who actually stand up and cheer when you wreck, even before they know whether you’re hurt or not.

It’s crazy to ask a guy to endure all of that just for a fan’s amusement. It’s crazy to ask a guy to constantly be in a feud with NASCAR, his sponsor, his car owner and the media just to keep some kind of controversy going. Life’s too short for that.

I know just about everybody in the Cup Series and I promise you there are very few people in this sport who don’t have interesting stories to tell or thought-provoking opinions they’re willing to share. Most of them do work with their own foundations or other types of charities that distinguish them as outstanding human beings.

But that’s not enough. What some fans seem to want is for there to be a fist-fight after every race. Come on, be honest. It’s not about showing “personality,” it’s about showing your tail on national television.

Why do Brittney and Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton virtually have their own cable networks following their missteps? Americans can’t stop watching train wrecks, that’s why.

Some fans want to see somebody in NASCAR run off the tracks every week, and that’s just stupid. What’s wrong with somebody acting like an adult? What’s wrong with someone having a little sportsmanship?

Would it kill NASCAR for someone to actually say: “You know what? There may or may not be other guys in this sport who’re bending the rules, but my team and I have decided that we have too much integrity for that. We’d rather lose fair than win cheating.”

Actually, that’s precisely the kind of personality I think fans would want to get behind.

[Bob Tanner]

I agree about 95%.

[Quality88]

This one I can agree with to an extent.

[Racer Duck]

In rebuttal I have only one comment:

Dale Earnhardt, Sr. .. he was the guy many people loved to hate. He was a polarizing figure and NASCAR laughed all the way to the bank. If NASCAR allowed the drivers to settle their own problems amongst themselves things would be way better than they are today where a driver has to be a model citizen from the time he first dons a racing suit until he's laid to rest of (hopefully) old age. Sorry, but vanilla drivers don't sell tickets.

[The Dude]

Originally Posted by Racer Duck

In rebuttal I have only one comment:

Dale Earnhardt, Sr. .. he was the guy many people loved to hate. He was a polarizing figure and NASCAR laughed all the way to the bank. If NASCAR allowed the drivers to settle their own problems amongst themselves things would be way better than they are today where a driver has to be a model citizen from the time he first dons a racing suit until he's laid to rest of (hopefully) old age. Sorry, but vanilla drivers don't sell tickets.

Now I'm not 100% sure, but I think you're saying that they need to loosen the rules a bit? If so I agree.

Like when ESPN threw a fit when he talked about going home and drinking a few beers, that was idiotic and made it seem like NASCAR felt it was better than their core fanbase.

[Souporscotty]

I'd just like to see it less about personalities and more about racin'. JMO

[Racer Duck]

when ya take the drivers out of it, the only thing ya got is different colored cars. then ya might as well have one of those arcade games where all ya can do is root for the [insert color choice here] car. some people like that action, I find it boring.

like it or not, it's the drivers that make NASCAR interesting; the owners and crew chiefs also add complementary, contrasting or conflicting shades of color to the picture.

[jks812]

I don't see where the drivers really have alot of individual personalities. Seems like Nascar won't allow that. They all have to act a certain way and say certain things or face the wrath of Nascar.

[Phils20]

Like LSC said in one of those other posts, when they do act a bit different, they get smacked down.

If you know about much of the past, this sport had tons of colorful drivers, pretty much a slice of life. You had rowdy drivers, gentleman drivers, the whole shooting match. NASCAR wants them to fit in a template now, just like the cars, and it has sucked the life out of the sport. Let these guys push and shove, battle door to door on the short tracks. Let em say they drink beer! Let em grow their beards! (ok, that ones a strecth, but have ya seen one beard of Mustache, since Big E?)

It's like they grow these drivers in a lab.

[Bob Tanner]

Hmmm...???

I see a lot of folks saying they'd like to see more individuality's and see the drivers show more emotion and "be themselves, and not something generated by NA__AR. Did I get that right?

Yet, to give two examples, when Tony sounds off after just about anything which befalls him on the track, or when Kyle Busch says, "The COT drives like crap!" after winning at Bristol, people immediately complain about how childish, loud-mouthed, whiny and [pick your own adjective].

Forgive me if I'm a bit confused.

[PenelopePitStop]

Originally Posted by Bob Tanner

Hmmm...???

I see a lot of folks saying they'd like to see more individuality's and see the drivers show more emotion and "be themselves, and not something generated by NA__AR. Did I get that right?

Yet, to give two examples, when Tony sounds off after just about anything which befalls him on the track, or when Kyle Busch says, "The COT drives like crap!" after winning at Bristol, people immediately complain about how childish, loud-mouthed, whiny and [pick your own adjective].

Forgive me if I'm a bit confused.

You took the thoughts right out of my head.

A bit fickle, aren't we?

[Racer Duck]

here we have a great example of two different sides to the same coin.

I acknowledge there's been lots of folks who've berated drivers because they "didn't act professional", "acted like a spoiled brat", or any of a dozen other characterizations.

however, there are those of us (yes, I'm one) who did not criticize these drivers. I stand by my statements that drivers ought to be able to say what they want (without foul language) and fans ought to be able to defend or denounce them.

when any organization attempts to stifle comments either way (for or against), that organization looses respect.

NASCAR is more concerned about appearances than substance - hopefully some of the more vocal fans will help them understand this verbal haranguing is part of the show (just like WWE) and to stifle it is to take away from the show.

[Bob Tanner]

Originally Posted by Racer Duck

(1)when any organization attempts to stifle comments either way (for or against), that organization looses respect.

(2)NASCAR is more concerned about appearances than substance -

Para (1): A good argument against the Fairness Doctrine which, if we aren't careful, will be with us in the next eighteen months

Para (2): Sorry, your Duckiness. Since the late 60's this has been a fact of life in our society. NA__AR is merely a metaphor for life to day. Sad, isn't it?