Tuesday NASCAR announced that in the 2013 season it will reduce the Nationwide field from 43 cars to 40 “to put what we feel is a better quality field of cars in play at those Nationwide events,” said vice president of competition Robin Pemberton. It was reported in AP’s Jenna Fryer’s article that “the change cuts three cars from the field who likely would have started then parked shortly after with no intention of attempting to race.”
I realize it has been awhile since I have written an article but I felt this was a perfect time to give my personal view. I’m sure NASCAR feels they are doing the right thing and they might be doing the right thing, but there are 2 sides to every story. Everybody wants what’s best for the sport but anytime there is change there are some negatives. Hopefully the positives will outweigh the negatives but I’m not real sure it will in this case because it affects so many people. It affects a lot more than just 3 cars. You’ve got people that work on those cars, people that supply parts for those cars and people that transport those cars to the race tracks. Those cars also need engines, tires, paint jobs, and so much more so just how many people will that affect overall?
First of all John Doe racefan doesn’t realize how hard the work is to get a NASCAR legal Nationwide car to the track on a weekly basis. I don’t just show up at the track, unload my car, take a few laps, collect my money, go back home and play golf all week. It’s me and one other guy that work on the car. We work hours and hours to get the car ready and then we do the driving. We’ve driven to every Nationwide race this year in a dually with a 44 foot gooseneck trailer. I don’t know many others that do that. I don’t know many people who would work everyday like that, drive all night and more and spend days away from our families to do what we do. And you don’t do it for the dollars you actually clear in this sport. You do it because that’s what you’ve done all your life and that’s what you enjoy doing.
Of course there are two of us who make our living from my racing deal. And I spend quite a bit of money with body guys, engine guys and I buy cars. It’s more than what people see or think. I’ve raced some type of race car for 39 years. I’ve got over 300 late model wins, I got All Pro wins, Hooters wins. I’ve raced in all those series. I have 100 plus starts in ARCA, over 100 starts in ALL Pro and well over 100 Nationwide starts. This has been my whole life. I really have given my life to racing and the fact is there are just not enough sponsors to go around but the true racer will find a way to get to the race track. Foolish changes like this just make it tougher and drives us small teams away from the sport. And it drives fans away. The fewer number of cars there are on the track then the fewer amount of tires will be sold and fewer officials will be needed.
Things were really good in 2003 and 2004, the mid 2000’s, at the race tracks. If you look at it now it almost looks like a ghost town compared to the way it looked then. That’s not good for the sport. And I just don’t think NASCAR has really thought this thing out. The problem isn’t with the race competitors. The problem is, number one, our economy and all the empty seats at the race tracks. If the seats were filled and the purses were structured to where it was worth a team and driver’s time and equipment to run the races then there would not be a start and park problem. But when the purse structure is almost the same for 10th through 43rd you can’t afford to race. What kind of person would I be as a racecar driver to get on the race track and race all the money I have and not be able to pay my mortgage, not be able to take care of my duties at home?
Here’s a prime example of what I mean and I’m man enough to admit it. We had a really good truck a couple of weeks ago at Talladega. We didn’t have a crew and it was a borrowed truck so if I crashed it I would have to pay for it. We qualified 26th but I purposely got out of the lead pack so I wouldn’t crash the truck while knowing it could run up front. Trucks that qualified behind me finished up front and I can’t tell you how much it hurt to head to pitroad and park knowing I had a truck that could run up front. I actually had tears running down my cheeks. But I would much rather be doing that than sitting on the couch watching the race. I figure if I’m not out there swinging at the ball I’ll never get a hit. That’s what this 40 car decision has done. It might run 3 teams off, eliminate 3 positions, but those teams will never get the chance to race even with a one race deal.
This will affect small teams and small companies that want to do a 5, 10 or 15 thousand dollar sponsorship but they will never get that chance this way. As it is today the Nationwide cars that run up front today have a $250,000 sponsorship per race. How many racefans out there live in a house that costs that much or more? They would spend a lifetime paying a mortgage like that so how am I going to spend $250,000 a week to race without sponsorship? So if I’m going to these races with what the car makes and make the show then I’m doing pretty dang good making ends meet to even be in the same series with these guys. That’s why I was at the top of my game in late model stuff, won a lot of races and beat a lot of guys. But here it is all about the equipment and I don’t have that equipment. You’ve got to have that before you can really compete and win. So I’m proud of what I do and what I’ve done.
These people who have never owned a lug nut, have never stayed up all night wondering how they were going to get a crankshaft off the UPS truck or wondering how they were going to pay for a set of Goodyear tires that is $2000 a set have no right, whatsoever, to knock what we do. I don’t knock other people who go to work, sit back in their chair, beat on their desks or hide from their boss. I don’t do that. That’s not my business. But when I left Atlanta Motor Speedway, someone who was doing the radio broadcast would not even mention the start and park drivers or their finishing order. He said they weren’t deserving of the mention. He actually said that. I believe it was MRN Radio but I am not sure. That made me so mad. I wonder how many sets of racing tires he’s bought or how many graduations, funerals or weddings he’s missed because he’s a race car driver? And I wonder how many times he’s hit the track wall and wondered if he was going to live or die?
All I can say is he is lucky he was on the radio. If you’ve never been in the battle don’t talk about the war. I try to be a gentleman but that can only go so far. With that being said, everybody knows about my big crash at Bristol. I’ve always appreciated life but something like that makes you appreciate it even more. When that happened August 22nd, 2002 I had several Cup and Nationwide drivers that wanted me to sue NASCAR. And some of them still to this day think I was stupid not to have sued them. But when I started racing a ’56 Chevrolet years ago it wasn’t to get rich or to sue somebody. It was because I love to race. I love the competition and I wasn’t going to go through life without experiencing it. I made it through that accident without any permanent injuries and was back in a racecar in 3 hours. I did not feel that my life was spared in that crash just so I could sue somebody. No one paid me to get in the car and at that particular time I still loved what I was doing. And in 2003 we ran every race, finished 21st in driver’s points and that came to be because we were racing and doing start and parks.
Now, I hope those people, who have nothing better to do than to knock people like me who have spent their entire life in this sport, can see it from our perspective. I’m not knocking NASCAR, I’m just expressing my opinion as to the way it is from our side. I promise you that there is nobody who can keep the pace that I keep. I’m not challenging anybody to follow me. I work at least 12 hours a day 6 or 7 days a week and that’s mostly 7 days because of driving to the tracks. Yes I could get a job and be making what I make now and maybe work a whole lot less and probably will be forced to do that now, but, that is not what I want to do. With everything I’m saying I am not complaining. I enjoy what I’m doing and I have earned the right to do what I want to do. It’s what I know and it’s who I am. And I can’t help that there is not enough sponsorship to go around and I can’t help it that some sponsors think I am too old to sponsor. But I’m making it through life doing what I love to do, risking my life running up and down the highways getting to the race tracks and nobody makes me do it but me.
All I want to do is to be able to do what I love to do. I started racing at the lowest level you could start at 39 years ago and I’m proud to have been able to do that. It’s about racing. Dale Sr. and Neil Bonnett, I knew both of those guys and they would race just as hard for $10 as they would for $1 million because they were racers. To me the sport has gotten away from that. Some are still like that but most aren’t and they’re here for the wrong reasons. And I think NASCAR has tried to go mainly white collar. It was big for awhile but now it’s tapered off and going the other direction. We’ve got seats in the stands painted to look like people are sitting in them. There are big flags and banners covering those empty seats. That’s where the problem is at. If those seats weren’t empty and they could structure the purse to work well then Mike Harmon could race, Jimmy Means could race and a lot of other guys could really race instead of start and park.
I’m hoping this can explain how it feels to have to start and park so that John Doe can relate to what I’m saying. First of all I don’t have time to go play golf, but let’s say you’re playing golf and have a really good game going. And you really want to finish this game but for some reason you have to put those clubs away and you watch your friends keep playing. Can you understand how that feels? Then you would know what I experience. That’s how it is from the driver’s perspective. But let me tell you I had a golden opportunity to quit and to sue NASCAR and to be taken care of for the rest of my life after Bristol. To some it was a no brainer but I was back in a racecar 3 hours later and had to sit and watch them quarrel to see if I could even go back out.
When I think back to Mr. France I know he knew how hard it was for the drivers. So many drivers struggled to get to the track, to have a place to stay, to make ends meet until the next race. And it was no different for the promoter than it was for the team owners. I can’t tell you how many stories I’ve heard about Mr. France helping the drivers who were down on their luck or had a bad day at the track and how he helped them get back to the track or back home and how he came by their shops to check on how things were going. He appreciated the drivers who were willing to live on the road and live in their trucks so they could race on those dirt tracks and there were a lot of guys who lost their lives back then because they were doing what they loved to do.
He really cared about the competitors and their families. But today it is not that way. I have actually been told that it is a privilege for me to be racing under the NASCAR banner, not a right, but a privelege. I disagree with that. I have earned the right to do what I do. You have to turn in a resume to NASCAR and be approved in order to race in NASCAR and I know I am lucky to run on some tracks that some other guys never get the opportunity to. But I have earned it. I didn’t buy my way there. I earned it. And I am still doing this because I refuse to fail. I refuse and it started 39 years ago. NASCAR is an association of owners and race car drivers. If you take those away there is no NASCAR. When Robin Pemberton walks through the pitts to the garage area he doesn’t even speak to us. He has yet to speak to me for the 1st time.
I loved the sport in the old days but with all of the off track problems and the hassles it is to do it today, the rewards are not nearly as great as they used to be. It’s a habit, a way of life. I do enjoy it but I can’t say I truly love racing. I don’t love what it takes to get to the track. It’s so far from what it used to be and the fans see that. NASCAR wants that corporate, white collar association and that’s ok. We need that and they are good people but I’m sorry, I am a Southern boy. I don’t mind being called a redneck and that’s what this sport was built on, that’s who are in the grandstands and that’s who support it. So when NASCAR got away from that they lost a lot of those fans. They’ve just forgotten how this sport began and it’s become almost impossible for many teams to continue. If Mr. France could come back I don’t believe he would like much of the way the sport has developed.
This is a true grit sport where we refuse to accept failure. We’re willing to risk our lives, we’re willing to bring the best machine we can bring to the race track and do the best job we can. The blue collar racefan is sitting in the grandstands in 100 Degree temperatures, drinking his beverage, whatever it might be and enjoying the race week after week after week. And then he will talk about it all week long. The white collar people will be there until their interest fades. They’re not going to sit out in the heat and watch it. They’re after the opportunity to do other things because they are not the dedicated fans week after week. They’re not used to the uncomfortable weather conditions and they are just not going to be there. I’ve signed a lot of autographs in my life and just about all of them were blue collar fans.
There has got to be owners to have a NASCAR. It’s an association. I’ve done everything I can do to be a team player. I’ve rolled over, I’ve withdrawn from races to let full sponsored cars in the race who’s sponsors had sponsored other races. When there is no one like us left out there what are they going to do then? There will be a 40 car field with 30 cars locked in leaving 10 spots. What if Cup teams show up bringing Nationwide cars? That cuts down the number of openings. And we pay $1500 entry fee per race and pay that a week in advance. We pay $2000 per set of tires. If we don’t qualify we eat the entry fee and cost of the tires unless you sell them to another team because you can’t carry them over to another race. And if you wreck and don’t have another car to race that following week you forfeit that entry fee. We get nothing back. Nothing. We can not roll over those costs to the next race except for one time only. So if anyone wants to bad mouth start and park drivers and think racing is always so lucrative for the under funded teams then let them come out, do this for themselves and see how hard it is. And if they think I’ve got it so good they can even hire me, with 40 years experience, to run it for them. I’m a put up or shut up guy.
So I will wish NASCAR the best on these rule changes. My opinion will not put any more cars on the race track because the sponsorship is not there. Time will tell how this works, but, I am probably just about finished in NASCAR. There are just too many hurdles, one after the other and it just isn’t feasible to do it this way any longer. It may be time for me to exit, but it certainly is not by choice.
