Originally Posted on April 6, 2006 on Foxsports.com
I was amazed this week when two commenters on my blog were more interested in discussing immigration issues and the Dateline "Muslim" story than what happened at the race last weekend. Here is my take on those issues.
Dateline brought some "Muslim -looking" men to the race at Martinsville to see what fans' reaction would be to them. According to Nascar, nothing happened. End of story, right? Not so fast, says Nascar. Nascar is livid that Dateline would attempt to incite a racial incident at a race. (How will this affect NBC's last season broadcasting the races? Dick Ebersol, where are you in this mess?) In my opinion, Nascar should use it to bolester its image - we're rednecks, but we don't care what you look like, as long as you aren't pulling for (fill in blank of hated driver of the week here). I submit to you, had these men been wearing Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, or (horrors), Jeff Gordon T-Shirts, they would have been guaranteed to have a run-in with another fan (probably fans of Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, or any other driver). Even a Ryan Newman shirt after the race could have generated comments from more than one Junior fan. Fortunately, the Dateline staffers had not done enough research to figure this out (this fact alone should mean someone loses their job, I mean, there wasn't one person on a network who broadcasts the races who knew this?!?).
In 2004, a group attempted to protest at Nascar races with a group of African-Americans. It didn't work, as the group would fail to show up at the tracks after making grand pronouncements of tens or hundreds of protestors. Despite the organization's numerous press releases that they were "really, really, really" going to do it at the next race, the media finally quit running the story.
Nascar races have a very vanilla crowd - and we want to gain in Hispanic, Asian, African-American, Muslim or Canadian fans. There are bound to be a few xenophobic fans in the Nascar Nation (which is several million strong). It is inevitable. But I still think the bigger issue is who they are rooting for - not what they look like.
Hopefully, the majority of fans will continue to welcome those who love other drivers regardless of their personal feelings for that driver.
Mexico City has a road circuit that the Busch series races on in March. Typically, the race has been on a weekend that the Cup series is off. That way, Cup drivers can Buschwack the race, gain some road course experience and have authentic Mexican food with the Busch teams. {Teams report an added perk is the Formula One style practice of having rather scantily clad women "helping" around the track. Umbrella girls unite!} Some Buschwackers have boycotted the race - Tony Stewart was rather adament that he had no intention to go to Mexico to race.
Owners complained initially that the costs of racing in Mexico would be too high. Nascar upped the purse for the race to compensate for that. Security has been an ongoing issue - the first year (2005) teams were told to stay in specific hotels and not to venture out. Shuttles were provided to and from the track. Extra security was hired. I assume similar measures were taken this year.
Some fans think that a race in Mexico is a bad idea. And, since Nascar does run a limited number of races, it seems silly that we have to go out of country to find a track to run on.
But in the bigger picture, Mexican fans support autoracing. Formula One is a huge deal in virtually every country but America. Drivers like Senna (Brazilian) and Fangio (Argentinian) still have fans worldwide. By racing in Mexico, Nascar hopes to add to its fan base by showing that stock car racing is fun. Canada is probably next on the list - it draws both the Champ Car series and Formula One. Again, this is a base Nascar wants to tap to continue its growth.
Are these legitimate arguments for racing out of country? Maybe. Maybe not. But I don't think the current polical battle over immigration is a reason to not race in Mexico. I think arguments can be made about cost, supporting local tracks (ie Mid-Ohio, Milwaukee, Rockingham, Elkhart etc.), travel distance or even safety. But in the end, Nascar will decide with its pocketbook - if it costs them too much then they probably will stop going there.
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