NASCAR Nation (6 page)

Personally, I think it was smart of NASCAR fans to show an initial resistance to this change. These are people who connect to American cars and corporations. Again, it all goes back to patriotism. The hands-on, hard-working Americans, from the farmers to the carpenters to the soldiers who make up a big part of the NASCAR community, are highly patriotic. And fans from all colors of collars like to connect to American cars and support American business. Fortunately, once everyone had a better understanding of the rules and the nature of the business venture, they realized that they weren't sacrificing anything. They were able to honor their roots while also branching out to sustain the future success of the sport.

I don't want to say that NASCAR fans are more patriotic than others, but I will say that they are more patriotic than most. Their sheer loyalty to the sport and to their country shows. The ratings we get are astounding. In one pre-race show – during a rained-out race, no less – we outdrew the ratings for basketball players Kobe Bryant and Lebron James. Even when the NASCAR ratings aren't doing well, other sports don't experience nearly that level of dedication.

At the beginning of the chapter I mentioned a very memorable, rained-out race – the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day Weekend. That pre-race show, which I was broadcasting, outdrew the about 11.5 national baseball rating. We had a higher rating than America's favorite pastime. And that was just us broadcasters – the engines hadn't even started! How'd we do it? For one thing, we try to keep the broadcast homespun and down-to-earth, even though we are working through a bigger network. That's what the fans are looking for, and we have it. But we also got such high ratings during that Memorial Day weekend because we were interviewing fans' favorite drivers, talking about their favorite sport, and tying in patriotism with racing – something that our fans value quite a bit.

NASCAR fans will never apologize for being patriotic. So much of what NASCAR is is about being American, whether it's supporting American
manufactured cars, enjoying quality time with the family on race weekends, or watching the spectacle of race day. What fan doesn't admire the modern, technological advancements that NASCAR showcases, evidence of the advancements that the United States has introduced to the world?

NASCAR is defined by America; it is truly America's sport. It's not corporate America's sport – all families can afford to be fans, no matter where they are or what they do for a living. And just like the rest of our country, NASCAR is growing and it's strong. Whether you're a savvy sports enthusiast like Joe Gibbs, a gearhead, a hard-working parent, or a kid who likes to watch cars burn rubber at high speeds, NASCAR has something for every American: a sense of pride. Watching America's finest cars and sharpest drivers out on the race track, supported and sponsored by our admirable companies, makes them proud to be American.

H
ere in the U.S.A., we do things fast. We eat our fast food racing down highways while rushing to little league games from the office. There's no doubt about it: this is a fast-paced society. So it's no surprise that the United States is home to the sport of speed. There's a little speed demon in all of us.

If we're honest with ourselves, we'll admit that none of us goes the speed limit all the time, not in our
nine-to-five lives and certainly not on the road. We love going over the limit. It's about pushing it to the edge. It's the roller coaster we all want to ride but we're a little bit afraid. NASCAR gives us that same rush.

Speed is something fans can connect to in NASCAR. It's the thrill felt when the pedal is pushed down, that feeling of control – two hands firmly gripping a smooth steering wheel, the rush of adrenaline and excitement. It's a feeling Americans can't have every day. In our daily lives, our inner speed demon is hampered by traffic jams, speed limits, flat tires, and mundane errands. So people go to the races – the one place where speed is not only condoned; it's praised.

In many ways, speed is very much a part of the American lifestyle. We are always moving, always going. We're lucky to grab a fast lunch or have time to whip together dinner in the evening (something that often ends up being quickly heated in the microwave). Yet, it's not just about living fast – it's about competition. We have to stay on top. We have to have the best schools, the fastest technology, the quickest turnaround, the most productive task force. We are a society that thrives on capitalism, and capitalism thrives on competition. We have to do it better and faster than everybody else and each other.

In racing, that ideology is physically embodied in two cars racing head to head down the track to prove, definitively, who is better and who is faster. Sure,
there's a macho side of it, but it has everything to do with the fast-paced, capitalistic, competitive American culture that this sport comes from. Whatever the limit is, we have to go a little bit beyond, if for no other reason than to stay on top.

People often try to describe to me what it is they see and feel when they attend the races in person. They talk about the particular sound of the cars whipping past them. The bright colors of the cars blur, as in a photograph when you try to take a picture of something moving and the camera just can't catch it. But NASCAR, however fast it may be, leaves a lasting impression. It leaves a sensation that you just don't get anywhere else.

Actually, maybe it
does
compare to something else. Remember that first go-cart ride, or the first time you drove in a car with your buddies? Or that roller coaster or motorcycle ride when you finally got comfortable and said, “I want to take this a little bit faster”? It's human nature: we reach a limit and we want to go a little bit beyond it. We're all sixteen or seventeen, racing on a dirt road with our friends, yelling, “Go faster!” That love of speed, that competitive spirit and fast-paced culture is all-American, and it's what NASCAR is all about. We love going over the limit.

The question then becomes: How far above the limit can we go and stay inside the lines? How long before we get caught? How far can we go and how
much can we get away with? We have our little ones in the backseat, our speed limits and responsibilities that keep our speedometers relatively low. NASCAR, though much less hampered by things of that nature, still has to abide by certain regulations.

Obviously the cars of today are a lot faster than the race cars of yesteryear, but they could be even faster. Restrictor plates, necessary for safety reasons, restrict the horsepower of NASCAR race cars at Daytona and Talladega. A restrictor plate is a thin metal plate with four holes that is placed between the carburetor and the engine to restrict airflow from the carburetor into the engine limiting the amount of power the engine is able to generate, which ultimately reduces the vehicle's speed.

In years past, race cars were similar to showroom cars and were thus less aerodynamic. (For 2013, the big four car manufacturers are introducing cars to the buying public that are very similar in style and looks to their counterparts on the race tracks and which will be distinguishable from the other manufacturers' race cars.) At that time it was safer to push the limit. Now cars have to be more closely monitored, which includes having the race car's horsepower kept in check. As much as we love speed, we have to be realistic about safety and how far we can push the boundaries. Operating within certain limitations means that we have to make certain sacrifices. For
that reason, most speed records are usually set when a driver is qualifying. If drivers don't have to worry about other cars on the road, they have the freedom and the space to zoom around as fast as they like. They don't have to worry about wrecks or anyone getting in their way. Safety becomes less of a hindrance. As far as speed and safety are concerned, NASCAR has set up a fair ratio between the two, maxing out the speed while keeping the races as safe as possible. Yet still there are those who are tapped on the shoulder by their inner speed demons and can't resist the urge to go beyond the limit. There's always that temptation to out-do the competition, to go just a little faster.

In theory, a car could easily be built to go well in excess of 200 miles per hour, assuming that the car makes few turns and is traveling in an unobstructed path the majority of the time. There's nothing, save for restrictor plates and a set of stringent regulations, stopping teams from doing so. Like all sports and areas of competitiveness in our day and age, there are those who try to get ahead by cheating. Compared with the scandals that have affected some other sports, NASCAR has done a good job dealing with this issue. Since there is no union in NASCAR, officials have more control over the rules of the game and the punishments for violations. If they want to crack down, they crack down. They put the rules out there, and they enforce them the very best they can.
We care about the sport and we don't want to deal with a soured reputation.

In this day and age of steroids, drivers are also being scrutinized for cheating by way of drug use. This baffles many NASCAR fans and outsiders alike. What could a driver possibly take to enhance their performance other than a cup of coffee? There is a list of banned drugs in NASCAR, including particular stimulants. Stimulants are essentially like coffee except much, much stronger. Of course, NASCAR also enforces a stringent anti-drug policy that strictly forbids the misuse or abuse of any drug. This was violated by Jeremy Mayfield when he tested positive for methamphetamine, which probably didn't increase his ability to drive but did put him and other drivers on the track at risk. This was a very clear violation, but for a while people tried to give Mayfield the benefit of the doubt. Due to the many rules and regulations in NASCAR, sometimes while trying to navigate through confusing red tape or figuring out how to make a repair on a car in less than fourteen seconds, a certain amount of caution gets thrown to the wind. There just isn't time to leaf through a manual when you're going 180 miles per hour or jumping over the wall to fine-tune an engine. Just as with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and their recruiting rules, things come up. There are always new rules and restrictions that the
team might not have thought of, since NASCAR regulates everything from the height of the roof and the length of the bumper to the specifics of the engine.

Through the course of a race, many pit stops are made. The parts of the car, which were carefully placed according to guidelines before the race, crumble, wear down or break. Teams have to come up with quick solutions under pressure. However, using illegal fuel or car parts, with full knowledge of its illegality, is cheating. That is treated with seriousness in NASCAR, and there's no excuse for it.

The body shop is where some of that monkey business goes on. If that's the case, the driver is less involved and the fault could be placed mostly on the team or the crew chief. At times, NASCAR teams are like a board room of well-paid attorneys – they look for loopholes and see if they can squeeze through them. In some instances, the driver may not be aware what the team is doing. As the saying goes, he just wants the hamburger; he doesn't care how you slaughter the cow. It can be hard to tell whether drivers are involved and how much to penalize them. It is plausible for a driver to deny responsibility for rule violations, especially if something was done in the body shop without his knowledge.

Still, many drivers are aware of what's going on with their vehicles, and ultimately their name is attached to that car and their team. It is
their
reputation at stake. They have to ask themselves if those extra miles per hour are really worth it, and if they should sacrifice speed for safety. If a driver is branded as a cheater, no matter how fast he's moving, that reputation will follow him for the rest of his career. It can take a lifetime to build a name for yourself in this sport, and just a matter of hours to lose it. Most teams look for that competitive edge, but they're not going to cheat to get it. Drivers have too much to risk.

In the early days of NASCAR, the driver was so involved and hands-on that he was part of the team fixing the car. Sometimes he knew the car better than they did. If there was cheating going on, he knew about that, too. However, back then, chances were that he didn't care. NASCAR was a sport of rebels. The saying used to be: “If you ain't cheatin', you ain't tryin'.” It was an accepted part of the game.

Yet as the sport grew in popularity and the technology advanced, questions of safety began to be asked, and NASCAR started moving away from that mentality. The culture of cheating was very loud and clear, and I have to give credit to NASCAR for cracking down on it. They want teams to be innovative and competitive, but they don't want to hear that old saying anymore.

Nowadays teams are checking the manual and even studying it because NASCAR has been stricter.
They know how to bring the hammer down. Their attitude is: if you're going to play the game, it's up to you to know the rules.

In the case of flat-out cheating, the athlete has to ask themselves why they're playing the sport and if it's worth risking their reputation. The punishments for cheating used to be a lot more lenient; now that's not the case. As much as there is an incentive to be the fastest one on the track and win at all costs, a team can get penalized very quickly – not only by NASCAR officials, but also by their sponsors and, most importantly, by their fans. It may seem like fans have less power than NASCAR officials, but when you think about who gives this sport its ratings, who buys the memorabilia, and who is essentially writing everyone's paychecks, it's the fans. If they collectively dislike a driver, that driver's career will suffer considerably and could end altogether. Drivers have to choose between getting that extra speed and possibly tarnishing their reputation. They have to figure out how much that quick fix is worth.