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The following was written and posted by my good friend Ben Shelton from Tennessee. I met him when I traveled to Memphis when I worked for ASCS. The following of what he wrote is so true - no truer words have been spoken. Maybe this will get some people to think, especially one group that has done nothing but stir crap at tracks they attend. Enjoy:
I write blogs and articles for different magazines, sites, etc. I recently wrote this one, and I thought it might be worth posting here. Take it for what it's worth.
Our Cannibalistic Sport
By Ben Shelton
Recently I was at a racing event, where a big group of fans and races were sitting around shooting the bull before the program began. The subject came up in regards to the decline of racing and what has hurt it the most in recent years. Of course the typical responses were thrown out there such as our struggling economy, our president, and hard times in general. Everybody kicked around the various issues for about twenty minutes, and I myself even mentioned a few, but there was one, and in my mind possibly the biggest, that I kept to myself for lack of desire to get into an extended, heated debate with my comrades. Since the pen is mightier than the sword, and I don't own a sword, but I own several pens, I decided to voice my thoughts in a blog. With all that said, I think that the biggest opposition to the growth and success of racing is none other than our very own selves.
It's true that a troubled economy and our leaders have had a big impact on the state of racing. However, it is also undeniably true that we tend to be our greatest enemies. Before you immediately discard this blog as being insane, I ask that you please hear me out.
The Fans & The Racers
As the owner of an extremely popular racing forum for over ten years now that serves as a meeting place for several thousand race patrons across the country, it still never ceases to amaze me how critical we are of all aspects of racing. Whether it be the tracks, the drivers, the series, or even just fans it seems that the majority of the racing community as a whole is for lack of better words "terminally unhappy." Fans are quick to jump on forums and bash tracks and racers nonstop anytime they see something they don't like. More than once I've made the comment that you can always tell when a track has had a good night because there isn't much talk on the internet the next day about what happened the night before. However, if one thing goes even almost wrong the lynch mob is out in full force to oust the track's promoter for everything that has been done incorrectly.
Anyone, who knows me, knows full and well that I completely support freedom of speech, and an individual's right to make their feelings known. In addition, it's also known that I'm extremely adamant when it comes to giving credit where credit is due and constructive criticism where it is justly due. However, most times the good is never discussed. It's much easier to say something negative than it is positive in all aspects of life, not just in our hobbies. However, I think that we should all step back and look at the long-term ramifications of our words. We tend to forget that when we go on tirades on these public forums that millions of people have access to our words, and it can directly impact the future of racing. I can't tell you how many times I've heard racers and fans tell me that they've never been to a specific track, and will never go because they've read a lot of bad stuff on the internet about the place. To me this is a true travesty because some of my favorite tracks and for that matter, best run tracks, are the ones that catch the most grief. Now because they've heard a bunch of 'he said, she said' nonsense they will never support the track. Similarly, occasionally sponsors see this same nonsense, and make a knee-jerk decision to cease their support of the track or withdraw future consideration for sponsorship. It's a lose-lose situation for all parties involved.
Obviously we all get angered by things that happen, and we want to vent, but is it worth blasting a facility mercilessly if you know your words can directly and indirectly contribute to the failure of the track.
Track Promoters
Now that I've exposed how fans and racers do things that lead to the decline of our sport, it's only fair that I touch on how track promoters are killing our sport. It's no secret that it's hard to make a race track successful on a weekly basis. You have to battle weather, other attractions, and countless variables to make things click. One would hope that another track promoter would be one of the last things that a promoter would have to worry about, but recent trends have shown that there is less cooperation, and perhaps even more spit than ever before. There is an upcoming mega-event in the South, which will mark its 22nd edition of the event. The event pays out over $100,000, and tracks in the area for the past several years either don't race at all or just run regular shows that weekend to avoid any type of conflict. For whatever reason in 2011, two tracks within three hours will run high-paying special events for the same division on the same night. Nothing is to be accomplished from this other than to divide the cars and the fans, and present a high probability of all three shows losing money. This is just one example of what I have seen happening all across the country this year. With track's experiencing record struggles, you would think there would a greater drive than ever to work together, but it's just not how it is. There's absolutely no sense in working against one another in a losing battle. Welcome to "Cannibalism 101."
Right now things are tighter than ever for race tracks and to intentionally schedule specials against one another's specials that are in close proximity is just ignorant. I guarantee you that when these events are said and done that the same promoters, who booked on top of the other show will be complaining because they lost money. Money lost that should never have even been risked.
The Conclusion
The conclusion still remains to be determined, and that's a good thing because it tell us that it's not too late to change our ways in an effort to save our sport. The bad news is that at the moment there is no sign of us as a whole changing our ways, and if we don't start reevaluating soon, the end of motorsports as we know it, especially on the grassroots level, could be a very real possibility.
As I stated before I know we are all passionate, and everybody, including this writer, has occasional complaints and peeves that we want to get off our chest from time-to-time. However, we all need to reevaluate how the things we say and do can have long-term implications on the sport we love so much. After all, there's already more than enough environmentalists, politicians, and other haters in the world that would love to see our sport go away. Instead of cannibalizing this sport and battling one another, we need to stick together to fight this opposition or pretty soon we might be reminiscing on what used to be.
David Smith Jr.
www.oklahomatidbits.com
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