I like NASCAR. I admit it. I like watching the cars vie for position, fenders almost touching, screaming at speeds way faster than I’ll ever be able to go. But I’ve also noticed I’m one of few. Especially living in Minnesota. The state may have a former wrestler for a governor, but it’s not exactly a bastion of NASCAR fans.

And while I’ve been thinking about why people don’t like NASCAR, I’ve realized it has a lot to do with NASCAR’s poor public image. So here’s a few things NASCAR can do to improve their reputation and become a more acceptable sport in America (and Minnesota).

Say goodbye to Winston. For more years than most people can remember the top NASCAR series has been the Winston Cup Series–sponsored by Winston cigarettes. You can’t talk about NASCAR without advertising for a cigarette company. If NASCAR ever expects to be the most loved sport in America, they need to dump tobacco. And it wouldn’t hurt to take a second look at the advertising adorning the rest of the sport. I certainly don’t expect all advertising to disappear from racing, but perhaps they should reconsider beer, chewing tobacco, and cigarettes emblazoned on Taurus’s, Monte Carlos, Grand Prix’s, and Intrepids. There’s something a little disconcerting when an eight year old is wearing a t-shirt of their favorite driver–inadvertently becoming a billboard for beer.

Learn how to turn right. The number one reason people don’t like NASCAR is because they think it’s boring. Those of us who understand the sport scratch our heads and scoff. But if you take a closer look, perhaps it could use some spicing up. Of the 34 races only 2 are on road courses, tracks where the drivers turn both left and right. All the other tracks are some sort of circle, in varying degrees. If NASCAR switched to more road courses the racing would be more exciting, and more accessible to the common person. After all, I’ve never driven on a circle track with 18 degree banking. But I have driven on some twisting, winding roads.

Perhaps the biggest concern stems from the tragedy at this year’s Daytona 500. A number of people have condemned NASCAR as a sport of death. This is an issue with no easy answer, but it’s one NASCAR needs to address. It doesn’t help that wrecks seem to increase ratings–of course the drivers aren’t fans of twisted sheet metal, but the television coverage doesn’t shy away from including as many fender benders as possible in the highlight reel. Perhaps it’s simply the rubbernecking effect, but it doesn’t do the sport any good.

Finally NASCAR should take a giant leap into the new millennium and do something extraordinary to boost it’s value in the public’s eye. NASCAR should leave behind the gas-guzzling V-8 internal combustion engines and become an environmentally friendly sport. Certainly this throws the whole idea of “stock” car racing out of balance, but imagine the possibilities: a sport that becomes a testing ground for high-performance environmentally friendly vehicles. Has there ever been such a thing? High-performance and environmentally friendly have never even been used in the same sentence. The sport would suddenly be transformed from a red-neck, gas-guzzlin’, tire smokin’, testosterone fest to a techno-weenie meets tree hugger out to save the planet meets somebody who’s actually cool. Sure I’m playing off all the stereotypes, but that’s marketing for you. Imagine the possibilities. If car manufacturers ever wanted to get serious about global warming and finding a way to make alternative vehicles sell–race them. Nobody’s gonna call it a wussy eco-car if it can do 150 mph on the race track.

By no means is this an exhaustive list of ways to make NASCAR a more accepted sport, but it’s a start. Maybe I should write an article about this. Let me know if you have any more ideas on how to make NASCAR cool to the scoffers. Also let me know if you’d like to buy the article.

Life is not a guarantee. That’s a lesson learned hard this past week in NASCAR circles. The speculation has been unending since Dale Earnhardt’s death on Sunday in the Daytona 500: Is NASCAR unsafe? Could Earnhardt’s death have been prevented? Is Sterling Marlin to blame? Could an improved neck restraint system have saved Earnhardt? The answer to most of those questions is no. No one is to blame for Earnhardt’s death. Certainly not Sterling Marlin, the driver who tapped Earnhardt and sent him spinning into the wall. Contact is a part of NASCAR racing and happens all the time. I saw Earnhardt take several taps throughout the race and amazingly pull his car back into line. On the last lap he wasn’t so lucky, and that’s not Marlin’s fault. Blaming a seat belt manufacturer that’s never had a faulty seat belt ever seems kind of silly. Could more be done to make NASCAR safer? Maybe. The gentlemen could just not start their engines on Sunday morning and they’d be a whole lot safer. Of course they may get killed in a car accident on the way home. Life is simply not guaranteed and no helmet, seat belt, or effort of restraint is going to change that. People die. Period.

The difficult thing is accepting that and moving on. I walked into the grocery store tonight and Dale Earnhardt’s smiling, mustached face was standing next to a display of Oreos. I can’t help but wonder how long it will be there, and how many people know that a dead man is peddling oreos.

And on to graver news. On Friday morning Kenny Irwin was killed in a race car accident in New Hampshire. To most of you that probably doesn’t mean anything, and I admit that it doesn’t mean a whole lot to me. Now don’t misquote me, of course it means something. We all lower our heads and slowly shake them in sincere sympathy. But honestly the world is too large for one stranger’s death to have much effect.

Continue reading NASCAR Driver Kenny Irwin Dies →

After going down three games to one the home team battled elimination and came back to force a game seven. Game seven wasn’t looking good until the home team sunk a power play goal and came charging back. It was all tied up at the end of regulation and sudden death overtime began. And in the closing minutes of the first overtime the captain found some open ice and sunk it through the five hole. Game over. The home team wins. It’s all over folks.

After all, it’s not finals week, it’s the playoffs.

And when it’s all done, the children will frolic in the streets.

“Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

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P.S. – Remind me not to be a sports writer.

Just when you finally take the time to watch the early rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, your team loses. Tonight I watched the Detroit Red Wings end their season by losing to Colorado. The interesting thing about sports is the consistent focus on winning. I suppose that’s probably the point. I just think it’s funny how obsessive you can be about it. All through the nineties the Red Wings were building a championship team. They kept coming closer and closer but they never quite made it. Something was always missing. In 1996 they almost had it and set a record for the most games won in the regular season. The playoffs came and something fell apart. Then in 1997 they got it right. Stanley Cup Championship. The winning formula continued in 1998 with a few changes, and they won again. In 1999 the formula wasn’t working so well and they didn’t even make it to the finals. And now in 2000 it’s the same story. As the final minutes ticked away in tonight’s game the announcer made the comment that this Red Wings team would face a lot of questions in the off season. The winning formula isn’t so winning anymore, and changes will be made. Never mind that they’re one of the best teams in the league and made it through one round of the playoffs. But if it’s not a Stanley Cup, it’s not good enough.

I know it’s the very nature of sports, and maybe this is why I only played T-ball and soccer as a kid. I played in the minorest league you could, and in that league it didn’t matter if you won, it didn’t matter if you scored. All that mattered was that you played. Even if you were just the catcher for your T-ball team (and I was), you were playing. It just seems kind of silly that it’s not enough to go out there and have fun, let the fans go crazy for a pretty good team. Pretty good isn’t enough. Now the Wings will start making major changes in the elusive search for another Championship. Of course changes break the team unity and things won’t be the same. Finding that perfect formula could take another forty plus years, the last dry spell between Stanley Cup Championships for Detroit. But I suppose that’s just the way things are. Change is a part life.

The snow flakes fall like a million stars in the nighttime sky. It covers everything like a soft, quiet blanket. It covers the ground and sticks to the branches, it buries cars and sticks to the grooves in your tires. Through it all voices echo, screaming, yelling, cheering. Bodies move in not-so-fluid motion, arms flail and feet kick. Sticks fly and a small orange ball rolls lazily through the snow before a flying dive and the ball is sailing across the rink again. People scamper and everyone converges on the ball.

Broomball. The ultimate winter sport of buffoonery. At first glance it looks like a game for clowns. But those clowns know how to have fun. Tonight I scored my first goal ever.

In less exciting news, the Red Wings are in trouble. I watched game five of their best of seven series with the Colorado Avalanche this afternoon. Don’t worry Mom, I was doing homework at the same time. The game was pretty poor. The Wings lost 3-0. Now they’re down 3-2 in the series, and facing elimination Tuesday night. The back-to-back Stanley Cup Champions are facing elimination. It’s not even the Conference finals yet. Needless to say, I’m a little worried. But I do have faith that my team can pull through. We’ve come back from behind before. The only sad part is that I have a final during Tuesday night’s game, and I may not be on hand to cheer the Wings to victory. Darn being away from home during the playoffs.