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Earnhardt’s Shadow Over NASCAR Fades With Time

Charlotte, NC (August 24, 2009) – Ten years ago, it seemed like almost every other fan at Bristol Motor Speedway was wearing a Dale Earnhardt t-shirt or hat. On Saturday at the Sharpie 500, you had to look hard to find someone wearing any kind of souvenir item from ‘the Intimidator.’

On the surface, that shouldn’t surprise anyone. After all, Earnhardt has been gone nearly a decade, a champion frozen in time after losing his life in the closing laps of the 2001 Daytona 500. Since then, the sport has changed and new stars have emerged. The fans have experienced turnover too, some of them walking away from the sport after Earnhardt died, countless more coming to the sport as new fans who never knew ‘The Man In Black’ to begin with.

The public relations machine that is NASCAR tried to keep the Earnhardt fires burning this past week at Bristol by remembering the 10th-anniversary of 1999 night race. By all accounts, the race was a classic with Earnhardt shoving Terry Labonte out of the way on the final lap to take the win. Afterward, Earnhardt stated he was just “trying to rattle his (Labonte’s) cage a little bit.”

Honestly, most folks didn’t seem to notice – or care – this week.

The talk we overheard from the fans at Bristol this year was about guys named Busch, Gordon, Johnson and Stewart. The new fans of the sport have their own heroes. Frankly, the Earnhardt name – past or present – didn’t seem to come up much. We didn’t see a black No. 3 souvenir hauler anywhere, the first time in more than 20 years that we couldn’t find one at Bristol.

There were still plenty of No. 3 items to be found, but most of them were overproduced, old stock diecast cars, stickers, pins and photos on the back tables of the ‘cheap souvenir’ tents across the street from the speedway. The days of five or six No. 3 souvenir trailers at each race featuring the latest Dale Earnhardt finery were just a distant memory.

Times change.

It’s not your father’s NASCAR anymore, and it’s not Dale Earnhardt’s either.

Newbies

Maybe the Earnhardt fallout had something to do with the thousands of new fans who never attended a race at Bristol Motor Speedway before Saturday.

For years, Bristol was a closed fraternity. If you didn’t have a ticket – especially for the fall night race – forget it. The place was totally sold out. People guarded their Bristol tickets like they would protect their children.

That changed when the economy tanked last year. For some folks, the downturn made them give up their Bristol tickets, a luxury item they could no longer afford. That opened up the Bristol ticket booth again and the results were predictable – tons of new fans and another sellout for the night race was accomplished.

You could tell the newbie fans at Bristol this year. Gawking, pointing, staring, the new fans couldn’t get enough of the place. It reminded you of how special Bristol Motor Speedway is, not just among racetracks, but among all sports venues and stadiums.

Throughout the weekend, the management at Bristol bombarded the fans with reminders to purchase their 2010 tickets now. Our guess is they won’t have too big of a problem getting them sold.

Kyle Busch

We purposely didn’t lead this column with something about Kyle Busch in hopes this story wouldn’t get lost in the untold others that are being written about his amazing week in Bristol.

Busch’s 16th career Cup win Saturday night and a victory in the Truck Series race Wednesday highlighted the week. Busch probably would have won the Nationwide race Friday too, racing from the middle of the pack to take the lead only to get crashed by a lapped car moments later.

Yeah, a lot of people don’t like Kyle Busch for his antics off the track, but we noticed there were more people cheering than booing Busch Saturday at Bristol. Also, his souvenir hauler was among the busiest we observed.

Love him or hate him, Busch is the real deal on the track. The fact his trophies keep piling up is proof of that. The number of people wearing the No. 18 also proves he’s getting plenty popular too.

Last Call

Anybody who saw Wednesday’s Truck Series/Modified doubleheader at Bristol has to be thinking that was one of the best race cards they’ve seen in some time. The Mods were amazing, whizzing around the track at lightening speeds, and the Trucks provided their usual brand of bash and bang excitement.

After years of trying to hit the right combination for a Wednesday night racing twinbill, BMS and NASCAR hit it out of the park with the Truck/Mods show. Hopefully they will keep this combination coming back for years to come.

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