Edition 36, December 19th- 2008

A Christmas Carol (race version)

My apologies to the late Charles Dickens, but I took license this year to modify his well know narrative about a miserly man, Ebenezer Scrooge who during the holiday season was visited by three visions. I would also like to take a personal twist to this classic novel and add a generous portion of stock car racing into the plot. So now as Scrooge falls into a deep sleep he is suddenly awakened by the ghost(s) of Christmas past.

Dale Sr. and Neil Bonnet appear in a vision from the past. Life is good and wins come just when needed. Neither driver is required to be in the pivotal point at sponsor’s meetings or television commercials. Junior Johnson has a fleet of cars, and Budweiser is one of the main sponsors. Miller responds with two Miller High Life entries and puts young Rusty Wallace in the Miller Genuine Draft Ford. Drivers and teams lend parts to Marcis or Mc Duffie for what they need to compete on a weekly basis. Life is good, the money flows in, and there are no empty seats at the track. If you want a room during race week at the local motel, you need to pay for multiple nights, and most places required a down payment a year in advance. Local hot shoes like Trickle, Sauter, and Kulwicki were tearing up the tracks in the mid west. Then Scrooge feel back into a coma like state only to awaken to the sounds of coins striking together.

The coins that he hears are in the pockets of Christmas present drivers Johnson and Gordon. Driver’s salaries in the upper series are (usually) more than fair and the price of running a topnotch race team in NASCAR tops out at 20 million or so per year. Multiple car teams spring up with 6 drivers per team, which obviously gives them an edge over others. Technology improves and as the ruling body continues to limit the horsepower; the team engineers continue to find more speed with less cubic inches. Life continues to be good, prices increase and a ticket at Daytona is posted at $200. The local tracks complain as attendance wanes as the fans have spent their racing budget once a year at the NASCAR tracks. Scrooge drifts off again not sure of what will come.

James Swan, local hot shoe, is the final apparition to appear before our main character as the voice of the future. Swan warns Ebenezer that all is not lost but we must all work to repair some of the damage that has occurred. Practice for the elite division will be eliminated at tracks that hold a companion race. By some reports this will save huge sums of money and will hopefully help the lesser-funded teams be more competitive. Everyone must now work to give the race fan the best value for his or her money. Drivers must become more accessible to the fans in all the divisions. Our local track Dells Raceway Park is working extra hard to make an enjoyable experience for the fans and drivers. If we make the race experience more memorable and affordable to the teams, racetracks and sponsors, we will be able to continue through this tough economic period.

And finally all three apparitions appeared together with this final thought. “Get good racing talent to put on a good show and fans will come. As fan support increases, revenue increases which should give bigger purses to the drivers, which encourage them to return.” And so the cycle continues. And with this Scrooge saw the light.

And by know you may surmise that yes, I am Scrooge and I hope on all hopes that racing will flourish. Yes some will drop by the wayside, which happens in all aspects of life, but those that work hard to trim expenses and think outside the box will survive.

Finally, all of us at Hankscraft would like to wish all our race fans and friends a very Merry Christmas and a joyous holiday with family and friends. Please watch for our year-end round up on our racing adventures in 2008 to be published between Christmas and New Years day.

RACING TO THE CHECKERS

Jim