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NASCAR Racers – Lazy And Chicken?

Charlotte, NC (August 15, 2011) “Why did I take up racing? I was too lazy to work and too chicken to steal.”

Kyle Petty’s laughable explanation as to how he got involved in stock car racing is probably a little over the top for him. After all, he grew up in the ‘royal family’ of NASCAR. He was born to it.

For the rest of us involved in the sport, the reasons are just as questionable.

Without punking the work ethic or intelligence of the garage area, we have to ask how smart is it to dedicate your life to a sport that requires insane hours and seemingly unending travel? Toss into the mix a total lack of job security and nearly impossible, rarely achieved team goals that constantly mess with your head, and you have to question the common sense of a career in the sport.

Finally, did we mention the pay? When the guys in the costumes holding the steering wheels – those who make a gajillion dollars a year – are afraid to calculate what they earn on an hourly basis, you know you are probably underpaid.

So why do we do it?

The simple, romantic answer is that we love the sport. That certainly is true. You have to be passionate to take on the challenges listed above. Then again, there’s not much love in the air when you have 10-20 crew guys huddled into the team hauler – essentially a semi-tractor cargo trailer – during a never-ending rain delay like the one experienced at Watkins Glen this past weekend.

Do we do it for the fame? Probably not. While your immediate circle of friends might think it’s cool that you work in racing, the vast majority of people have no idea who you are or what you do for a living. Very few of us in the sport are going to have their picture and name in the media on a regular basis, so that’s not it.

The travel experience? This was a pretty big job benefit prior to 9-11 and today’s global economic woes. If you were in the sport before that, travel was uncomplicated, almost relaxed, and teams had the kind of budgets that would allow you to go into a race market a day early to see things like Alcatraz, the Grand Canyon and Martha’s Vineyard.

Not anymore. Today, you’re spam in the can on any commercial airliner, squeezed by limited seating and baggage space. An even tighter travel and event schedule is designed to save time and money only allowing participants to go to the track, fast food restaurants and the hotel before you head back to the track – or home.

We already touched on the money. Anyone connected to the sport – especially our fellow ‘old timers’ – would probably be the first to say they are amazed they could even earn a living and support their families with a career in racing. That said, there are easier (and harder) ways to earn a buck and in some cases, a lot more of them.

So the question again becomes why do we do it?

As a good friend and fellow racer afflicted with the ‘racing gene’ recently told me, it’s because there’s nothing else that gives us that buzz, that adrenaline rush. Seeing those vehicles flash around the track – the color, noise, smell and edgy danger of auto racing – is an intoxicating cocktail to anyone who has motor oil in their veins.

It’s also the kind of thing that makes all the hardships – including sitting in a box through unending rain delays – worth it.

Why else would you dedicate your life to it, right?

More Kyle Petty –

Leave it to Petty to interject some humor into a serious situation.

In case you missed it, two Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing Sprint Cup team members were arrested last week, alleged to be participants in a buy, sell and deliver scheme of more than 10 pounds of marijuana.

Both crewmembers on the No. 42 EGR entry driven by Juan Pablo Montoya were summarily dismissed by the team and were later suspended indefinitely by NASCAR.

On Saturday, when Montoya took the track for his time trial lap at Watkins Glen, Petty working the SPEED TV qualifying, stated that Montoya was in the “420 car.”

Too funny.

Alms For The Hall –

It seems that no matter where you look these days, the financial world is a little upside down.

The NASCAR Hall of Fame is one of those places as the Charlotte, NC attraction/destination posted an overall loss of $1.42 million for its first fiscal operating year dated July 1, 2010-June 30, 2011.

The deficit was slightly higher than the $1.24 million loss originally forecasted by the City of Charlotte – the owner/operator of the stock car racing shrine. The shortfall will be balanced out of a local tourism tax.

Included in the deficit total is more than $939,000 in royalties owned to NASCAR, a sum the sanctioning body has agreed to defer payment on until the facility achieves profitability.

That said, NASCAR is still extremely profitable despite the economic downturn. It’s parent company – International Speedway Corporation – turned a tidy profit of $54.5 million last year thanks to total revenues of more than $645 million.

Here’s a thought – Why doesn’t NASCAR forgive the Hall’s $900 grand deficit for 2010? In fact, why doesn’t NASCAR earmark a million or so every year to keep it’s own Hall afloat?

Call it a charitable donation if you like. NASCAR trumpets its efforts in these areas – why not make the Hall one of them?

Whatever you call it, or however you pay it, we don’t think taxpayers in the Charlotte area – a city like many treading in red ink and trying to keep basic services like school systems afloat – should be on the hook for an extra $1.5 million for the NASCAR Hall shortfall.

Is it too much to ask NASCAR – part of a conglomerate that is still making an average profit of about $4.5 million per month even in these tough economic times – to take the green and checkered financial flags on this one?

We don’t think so.

Last Call –

Everyone involved in racing has someone back home that makes if possible for them to chase their dreams. For the last 30 years, that person for me has been my wife, Gail.

Without her, none of the amazing experiences I have experienced at – or away – from the track would have been possible. Heck, she even went to the racetrack with me on our wedding night.

What a woman.

That said, it’s cool that I will actually be home Tuesday to help Gail celebrate her birthday. We won’t let on how old she is. We’ll just say she’s more wonderful and beautiful than ever.

We’d also like to apologize here for all the birthdays, anniversaries and special events we’ve missed in the past – and will miss in the future.

As they say, ‘that’s racin.’ Thanks for understanding.

Here’s to you honey. Happy Birthday. You’re the best.

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