NASCAR Nation

by Chris Myers

  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 twi
ce, 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.

  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 f
ans 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.