NASCAR Nation (14 page)

NASCAR is a traveling road show, moving from track to track for each racing event. These families
and crew members get close to one another and become like an extended family. They're around each other all the time, living and working together. They travel and live in motor homes. There's little more than a brief break for the holiday season, and then drivers are back on the track and their crews are back on the road. They really have to make a community and a family while they're out there. Most drivers spend just a few days at each track – they fly to the track right in time for practice and qualifying and then fly out immediately following the race. But while they are there, they find a new home for themselves on the race track and the open road, and their family is their crew and their race team.

There is a family-like closeness between crew members. Everyone that's out on the road together is part of that family, whether it's the drivers of the big trucks that carry all the race cars or the NASCAR drivers themselves. They pull into race tracks and they set up little communities, riding around in golf carts and preparing for the race until the race is over. This may seem like a strenuous lifestyle, but when you work and live with your friends and family, it becomes a community. Your home is everywhere you go. NASCAR is, in nearly every respect, a truly family-oriented sport.

I had the chance to spend some time with Bill France Jr. before he passed away, and I caught a
glimpse of NASCAR's first family. The members of the France family have become role models of American royalty. NASCAR is their kingdom and, like any royal family, they want to make sure their people are content and well taken care of. They keep the fans, drivers, and their families constantly in mind. Guided by American values and morals, they answer to a higher authority. When it comes time to make a decision between right and wrong, they take other people's advice, but they're the ones to make the final decision.

The Frances make a lot of tough choices, and they always seem to make the right ones, basing their decisions on what is good for the sport. If they have to kick certain people out for breaking the rules, they do it. If they have to make certain decisions based on economics, they make the cuts they need to make. They cooperate with companies for the sake of sponsorship, but they make their own business decisions. It's a very effective way of getting things done.

The executive team, working under the Frances, has brought some truly great sponsors on board that have really helped the sport, like the Nationwide Insurance Company, which now sponsors what used to be known as the NASCAR Busch Series. The France family is powerful and successful, but they know who they are and where they've come from. They're not misguided or distracted by economic success.

The family uses its power only if it has to, and does so quietly, carefully, and judiciously. The Frances don't flash their money around, either. They've worked hard for what they earned and they're surely proud of it, but there's a certain culture that NASCAR fans, drivers, and owners respect; one that honors the working class and remains connected to the humble American grassroots. Money and power won't ever change that – no matter how big the sport gets. Having more money means they can help their families and the people they love live a bit better. The France family makes money, supports their family, and invests in the sport.

Only in America could a small car racing company, which was a fledgling family business, develop into a major power in sports. The NFL, NBA, and nearly every other major sport in the world have unions and corporate powers that call the shots, but NASCAR is just the France family. They work personally with the drivers, owners, sponsors, and teams. At the end of the day, they make the final calls. The sport rests on their shoulders.

That kind of pressure can really test a family. Before Bill France Jr. passed away in 2007, his son Brian had already been handed the reins of NASCAR as the CEO and chairman of the board. Mike Helton was named president in 2000, and to date, he is the first and only non-France family member in that role.
Today, everyone in the family has the opportunity to be involved as much as they want. For Brian and the France family, their main concern is to run things the way his dad would have wanted. The family may have its own disagreements, but as far as I have seen, they don't have issues with greed or power-hunger. Those are the things that easily tear families and businesses apart. Yet somehow, NASCAR's first family has remained strong and free from those vices, and as a result, NASCAR has remained equally strong.

As a family business, NASCAR is run with the same all-American values that you'll find at a local mom-and-pop store. Those values, coupled with a strong family core and business know-how, have made for one of the most successful family businesses in the United States. NASCAR is the only American sport that hasn't had a work stoppage. Hockey, football, basketball and baseball – all our other favorite American pastimes – have, at one point or another, all suffered stoppages. NASCAR never has. The workers haven't unionized as they have in other sports, because they feel they don't need to. NASCAR takes care of its own.

When comparing NASCAR to other sports and businesses in the United States, it becomes clear that we need more family-run operations that are guided, not only by a desire to succeed, but by all-American values. When you drive around the country and come
across a mom-and-pop store, you feel good about American business. We need more of those ventures – family-run groceries, restaurants, shops, and delis. When you know that your local businesses share the same values you do, you feel safer. Your family is more secure, and so is the country. You know that the next generation has a work ethic and a business that they will inherit when the time comes. That's what NASCAR is. It's a family business that, thanks to hard work and loyal supporters, was able to grow into the American sports empire that it is today.

Nonetheless, NASCAR does have its problems and challenges, just like any other American business. As it modernizes, it has to find a way to keep its loyal supporters while also meeting the demands and interests of a new generation. The organization has to make tough decisions, like whether or not to keep small tracks in old towns in the South or build bigger tracks outside of other U.S. cities. NASCAR has to perpetuate a modern image while remaining true to its traditional and conservative values. It's an ongoing balance that requires constant dedication, commitment, and creativity.

Yet as time goes on, NASCAR manages to find that balance and attract droves of new fans. Both the people I work with and people in the sports world in general who haven't had exposure to NASCAR keep saying they not only want but
need
to know more
about it. That's exactly how I felt before I started broadcasting for the sport. Some new fans are afraid of getting into the sport because they don't know anything about it. NASCAR is a community, and some feel that because they didn't grow up in it or don't know anything about it, they can't be a part of it. I'm proof that the opposite is true. I'm a sports broadcaster for NASCAR, and
I
didn't grow up around it. If you're willing to invest a little bit of time and energy and introduce yourself to the sport, going to a race, watching a broadcast, and having a couple of conversations, you'll love NASCAR.

You'll love the NASCAR community. It's a different kind of sport, so it takes some time to get to know. It's part man, part machine; not two athletes on a field. NASCAR is formatted differently than other sports, but if fans are willing to learn about the drivers, the layout of the sport, and the culture, and if they're willing to talk to other fans about the sport, they'll find a passionate new community.

NASCAR attracts all generations of fans. It really does draw the whole family to the races. Families bring their motor homes and turn a NASCAR event into a vacation. If the kids want to play outside and Mom wants to watch the race, no problem. It's a way to get the whole family involved in a sport, yet everybody gets to do what they're interested in. NASCAR values their fans highly and accommodates them.
When scheduling, most of their races are held on the weekends during the daytime. NASCAR provides the perfect Sunday afternoon for working people. They can come home after church (or sink into the couch after sleeping in), grab something to eat or drink, swipe the remote, and settle in for a couple hours of well-deserved quality entertainment.

Occasionally NASCAR will mix it up and have some races on a Saturday night, such as Bristol's popular night race; however, they do take families into consideration. And it's not just a matter of scheduling – they also give their fans privileges that other sports would never consider, such as allowing them in the pits. It's like standing around the batting cage or being on the field before a game. Those are the types of things that get more people into the sport.

Letting people into the pits and having campgrounds outside the track sets NASCAR apart as a family-oriented sport that is dedicated to its fans. Parents can take their children down to pit road and see their eyes grow wide as they watch their role models and heroes prep for the race. They see upclose the same cars that they buy little toy replicas of. When they get home, they'll tell their friends, “I was there. I saw Dale Earnhardt Jr. talk to his crew chief. I was able to stand really close to his car and get my photograph with it.” That's memorable. It's something those kids will never forget.

After an experience like that, those children will remain life-long fans. They'll take their kids to the races to see a whole new generation of drivers. Their children will witness the lightning speed of the cars, just as they did. Though the cars will no doubt be faster and more technologically advanced than the cars from twenty years before, they'll still remind those grown-up children of the very same cars
they
saw when their parents brought them to the races years and years ago. It's a legacy that will never die. And that's what makes NASCAR an American tradition.

S
ometimes, I'll go to the track very early before anyone gets there. In the silence, I can pause and reflect. I can admire the still beauty of the track. Even as a sports broadcaster, someone whose job it is to talk, I have to admit that the stillness and silence of a normally noisy, wild race track can inspire awe. The steel barriers, the looming lights above the track, the expansive stands, the long stretch of the concrete and
asphalt – all combine to form a metal microcosm.

The unyielding architecture and solid metal materials used to create a race track profuse masculinity. It is a modern gladiator's coliseum, a boxer's ring, an adventurer's Everest; it is something to be conquered and something that can conquer you. It has seen victories, but many more defeats. It has seen flames, destruction, and the glory of those who step from crashes and catastrophes unscathed.

Then the stands begin to fill. The camera crew arrives. The teams and drivers begin getting their vehicles ready. A place that was once so austere fills with revving engines and cheering masses.

Everything that is NASCAR inspires wonder – the track, the cars, the crowds, the drivers, and the teams. There's a pageantry to it all that makes every race seem like the Fourth of July. It's a time of simultaneous reflection and sometimes overwhelming celebration.

It's not just a race – it's a carnival, a festival, a family campground, and a neighborhood barbeque. At times it's a patriotic and spiritual event, and sometimes it feels like a celebratory frat party. T-shirts and merchandise fly off the concession stands as people munch on hot dogs and burgers. There are thousands of people there, but it feels like home. No place except the races can feel so big and yet so intimate. When you get to the track, everybody's uniformed
heroes are jumping into their bright vehicles. Everyone finds something to be excited about. The drivers feed off of the enormous crowd's energy. Other sports may need cheerleaders, but NASCAR has its fans.

One of my favorite parts is when all the pre-race pageantry is at its climax – the anthem has been sung, the preparations have been completed, and the anticipation of the crowd is at fever pitch. The cars are all lined up. The drivers are gripping their steering wheels. Out of the loud speakers, a voice hollers, “Gentlemen, start your engines!” It's all part of the show. It's a phrase that has been said time and time again, yet never seems to get old. Each time is different, even if the words are always the same.

Another part of the race's pageantry that I love is the national anthem. Despite having heard it many times in other arenas, at the races it always seems more resonant. It could be the band playing or the old trumpet wailing away. Maybe it's everything that our country has been through in the last few years. Or perhaps it's the simple fact that I'm at a race, free and able to enjoy the grandeur of it all. Somehow, when there are fighter planes zooming overhead and you know a good percentage of the audience is tied to the military, the feeling of reverence and loyalty to this country beats strong inside you. It's a time to pause and reflect, but more than anything, it's a time to be proud and admire what this country is capable of. The
technology, the cars, the drivers, the patriotic fans – it's a spectacle of which any American can be proud.

The races on D-Day show patriotic NASCAR pageantry at its best as we honor the survivors of Normandy, the men who led the Allies to victory on the shores of France, pushed the Nazi forces into retreat, and conquered Hitler before Paris was set ablaze. On June 6, 1944, there were more than 10,000 casualties, but our proud veterans are still here today. They come on that same fateful day, years later, to honor NASCAR fans and drivers with their presence at the races. On one particularly memorable D-Day, my father was the one to say, “Gentleman, start your engines!” I'll always remember the immense pride I felt when he said those words. The NASCAR industry also marked the tenth anniversary of 9/11 in 2011 during the September race weekend at Richmond International Raceway in Virginia.