NASCAR Nation (13 page)

Richard Childress is one of the owners I admire the most in the business. He started as a driver before he moved into team ownership. He has always done what he can to make NASCAR a better sport, reinvesting his earning in developing great teams. That loyalty is one of the things that make NASCAR, and America, great.

It took me a while to break into the close-knit NASCAR community, but they let me know once I was in. Here I am with Jeff Hammonds getting a shower courtesy of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s crew after they won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Chevy American Revolution 400 on May 15, 2004.

J
ack is your average American kid. On the weekends, when he's not at school, he's in front of the TV. But he isn't watching cartoons like many kids; he's learning about the ins and outs of engines and listening in on crew chiefs and drivers as they talk back and forth on the radio about the transmission in their cars.

Before the race starts, he lines up his own cars. Although they are no bigger than his little hands, they
closely resemble the NASCAR lineup, which he tries his best to mirror. He has taken great care to collect the most colorful race cars. He does not choose his drivers based on name, but rather on the color and appearance of their vehicles. Just as the race is about to start, he says, “Gentlemen, start your engines!” Though he is only four, this little NASCAR fan has grown more and more knowledgeable about the sport.

It all started when his father and my friend, Shaun Farnham, happened to have a race on. After that first race, the rest was history – it's like the floodgates opened and there was no stopping him. Little Jack has now become perhaps more knowledgeable than his father, watching the race with dedication every week. Farnham, a sportscaster like myself, spends quality time with his son, bringing him to radio shows and making him a part of the sports world. That world is not only the way he and I make our livings, but a community that we are a part of and that we will pass on.

That's why NASCAR continues to grow despite economic uncertainties and new trends in the sports world. It's a family sport and a family tradition. It's a way to impart values, such as teamwork and dedication, to kids like Jack. NASCAR is passed down generation by generation. That's what keeps it strong.

NASCAR has stood the test of time. It's been around for over sixty years and isn't going anywhere
anytime soon. It's mindboggling to think that a sport that started as a result of an illegal activity could turn into the all-American family tradition that NASCAR is today.

Car racing originated on the dirt roads of the American South. Those early drivers weren't the shining role models we have today. They were rebels and bootleggers transporting illegal moonshine to thirsty customers. They were the original speed demons. Picture two cars with two hell-raisers behind the wheels, eyeing each other, with jugs of homemade booze in the back of their vehicles as a couple of townsfolk watch with anticipation. How did that turn into NASCAR?

Well, those men and men like them continued to race. Eventually, their kids got involved, and so did their communities. Suddenly they realized that racing had potential as a sport and decided to dedicate space to it. Soon enough, there were tracks, and families were going to the races.

Those families and their descendants are still going to the races today. Generation after generation, they keep coming. It's become more than a hobby or a casual interest: it's an all-out tradition. That's why NASCAR, more than any other sport, has a very strong sense of community. It's a family.

I know that when I first got involved with the sport, I found the community a bit intimidating. It's
always hard to make yourself a part of a community that you're not familiar with or connected to. These fans are the same people whose grandparents and great-grandparents were out on those dirt roads and sitting in the stands of some of the very first tracks ever constructed for the purpose of racing. It's no wonder that when I walked into a NASCAR race track for the first time, I felt like a fish out of water.

When first-timers don't have any connection to the NASCAR community, they quickly realize that NASCAR fans aren't your typical enthusiasts – it's a strongly dedicated community with values. At first this may be daunting, but as long as there's someone there willing to let that person in, and the first-timer dedicates time to understanding the sport and culture of NASCAR, he or she is able to become a part of it all.

More and more fans become a part of the NASCAR family every year. The sport manages to maintain its fan base. Even if your grandfather wasn't a moonshiner, biting the dust in the 1940s on the southern back roads, you can still be a part of this sports community. You can enjoy the culture and the atmosphere while becoming a part of a community that upholds the great American tradition of racing. If NASCAR were a closed community, it wouldn't be growing as a sport and attracting new fans from across the country. While the original image as a
rebellious southern sport has faded, it hasn't lost its charm or grassroots core. Fans and families have remained true to the sport and make up much of the NASCAR community.

In the last five to ten years, NASCAR has worked to get tracks in more places in order to bring the sport to other parts of the country. While some of the older tracks still exist, there are other tracks within driving distance from tracks that may have lost races in the past. Recently, there has been some revival on the track in Rockingham, North Carolina. It was at one point just a test track for NASCAR race cars; since it was not on the NASCAR circuit, testing was unlimited. However, in 2011, it was announced that Rockingham was to install Steel and Foam Energy Reduction (SAFER) barrier along the track walls to improve driver safety. Now, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will be held there in 2012. NASCAR didn't pull its attention away with bad intentions. It wants to keep its grassroots core and stay true to the fans who keep the sport strong. At the same time, it welcomes newcomers and people that might be interested in the sport, but who don't come from that culture or have the same family history. It really is a sport that is both old and new at the same time. Though deeply rooted in tradition, NASCAR has become very modern.

These days, young people and teenagers have become a major part of the sport. They get into the
races then bring their friends. It's not just because their parents like it. Not only has the sport recruited younger drivers and new technology, NASCAR is a real-life version of video games. Believe it or not, games have really helped both the fans and the young drivers. Gaming helps them understand the different tracks. The young fans get to the race track and know what to expect from playing the game, and the young drivers apply that knowledge and skill to their racing. They're in touch with technology and are able to use it, not only for virtual entertainment, but also in the real races.

That's why there are so many young fans out there who may not have the same familial connection that a lot of folks have, but who are knowledgeable and have an appreciation for the sport at an early age. There are twelve- and thirteen-year-olds who step on to the track for the first time in their lives yet know every twist and turn from what they've read, played, and watched on TV. This generation is really using technology as a tool to get knowledgeable faster. We have young drivers who have raced less but know more. Drivers are training younger and younger.

It's essential for young drivers to have family support for that very reason. They need to be raised in the culture and get exposed to the sport early on in order to train. It's hard to imagine that a teenager is expected to be racing professionally while their
friends are just learning to drive. And yet, it happens. The racing world is being driven to new extremes.

NASCAR and drivers know that the younger generation makes up a considerable part of their fan base, and they reach out to them in ways that young people enjoy. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Martin Truex Jr. race fans online. The fans know that they're racing against these actual drivers on a track that replicates Daytona or Bristol. The drivers love it, and the fans are ecstatic to be racing against these multi-championship-winning heroes. Sometimes they even win. Though they're not out on the real track, many of skills required to win on a virtual track are similar to those needed to win an actual race. You have to be able to strategize and guide the vehicle to that finish line, and that's the same whether it's real or just a game.

When fans race against their heroes, it connects them to the sport on a more intimate level. They're racing against their favorite driver, just like they play video games with their best friends. Virtual racing teaches the young people more about the sport, and it draws them into it in a way that was not available to their parents when they were growing up. This younger generation connects to the sport in their own way. They may not be racing down dirt paths like their forefathers, but they are contributing to the NASCAR community. Someday, their own
children are sure to find their own way of connecting to the sport.

NASCAR is for everyone, young or old. Everyone has their own way of engaging with it. It's a multi-generational family. One week you have a forty-year-old driver, like Greg Biffle, mature and experienced, in Victory Lane, and the next week you have the twenty-two-year-old Joey Logano stealing the win. Although NASCAR has a minimum age requirement of eighteen, age is a less important factor when considering talent and skill. It's a sport that takes focus, endurance, and strategy; there's no age limit on that.

There's something very American about the idea that anybody can race at nearly any age. There are people in this country earning degrees in their sixties and seventies. We're taking better care of themselves, living and working longer, and “getting into the game” at later stages – no matter what that game may be. In response to that trend, NASCAR has managed to create a sport that can be entered at any age.

Another reason NASCAR links generations is because it is a family sport that fathers can share their sons. My friend Shaun shares with his son Jack. Mark Martin brings his boy to the races with him all the time. The Earnhardts have been in racing for generations. Even if they weren't star drivers at first, it's something that their family has gotten better and better at over time. For many families, an interest in cars and a
passion for racing is something that is homegrown and passed down from generation to generation.

Just as there are generations of drivers, there are generations of families on crews as crew chiefs and engine builders. One family member gets involved, and suddenly everyone in that family is going to the races. NASCAR draws in entire communities. What the sport does for the economy of the greater Charlotte area is incredible – from bringing fans to the races to employing hundreds of locals. It creates a community. Although in the last ten to fifteen years NASCAR has welcomed more fans and thus more outside people into the working community, jobs often do stay in families, a true testament to the vibrant legacy of the sport.

There are plenty of examples of families who've handed down the honor of being a NASCAR driver. That may not mean that just because your father is a great driver that you will be a great driver, but a certain level of interest and innate ability may be there. Look at the Waltrip brothers. Darrell Waltrip is a multi-championship winning NASCAR driver. He won the Daytona 500, and he won NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championships – not once, not twice, but three times. He now broadcasts for NASCAR on FOX, and at one point he was announcing his brother's wins. His younger brother Michael Waltrip, also a well-known driver, now owns a racing team. The
Waltrip brothers are great examples of how racing is contagious in families. One person gets hooked and then the whole family gets involved.

Driving isn't the only NASCAR profession handed down through the generations. People who work on pit crews, drive the rigs for the teams, and work in the shop preparing the engine for the next week are often the children of people who have worked in the NASCAR industry. Jobs at all levels seem to be very family-oriented. One reason for this is because of the NASCAR working culture. Many of these professions are very demanding, requiring a strong interest in the sport and certain know-how. Those are qualities some outsiders might not possess.

Also, NASCAR teams travel from track to track. The nomadic lifestyle can be difficult for families, so team members bring them along. The family needs to be used to that kind of lifestyle and enjoy it; it's a learned preference. If they can't get used to it, then they won't be able to be a part of it and work on the NASCAR team. That means teams have to find a home not in a house or in a particular location, but in each other. If your family has already been a part of that community and team, then it's easier for you to adjust. The fact that many positions on teams get handed down in families makes logical sense.