Getting above their raisin'

This weekend NASCAR isn't racing at Darlington. They moved the Labor Day race to California and shunted the second Darlington race farther into the fall. Another piece of evidence that NASCAR has decided to sell its soul for TV ratings. (As if more evidence was needed after they made Ben Affleck-of Cambridge MA and the Kerry bus--- grand marshal of the Daytona 500.)

As NASCAR has grown in popularity, they have snubbed their core fans repeatedly. They stopped racing at North Wilkesboro and dropped one of the races at Rockingham. Now the Lady in Black no longer hosts the Labor Day race.

I know that they are riding high right now and want to strike while the iron is hot. But not every fan is equal just as not every customer is equal to a business. The new fans will shift away to something different--wrestling, soccer, curling, Lebron-ball. When that happens NASCAR will regret losing those who supported the sport for 50 years before it packed up and moved to Tinsel Town.

NASCAR might want to read up on what happened to boxing in the 1950s when it chased TV popularity. It achieved great ratings on the tube but that killed the boxing clubs and small promoters. Opportunities for young fighters dried up and so did the loyalty of the cognoscenti. When TV audiences got bored with boxing, the sport, as a whole, was worse off than it was before it chased the followers of the one-eyed Buddha.

And if I sound bitter, it's because I am. Of all the sporting events and venues I've attended, the Labor Day weekend race at Darlington was by far the best-the most fun, the greatest fans, and a day off afterwards to recover.