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NOTHING LIKE A LITTLE NASCAR...TO PUT YOU
IN YOUR PLACE!
 The
Kansas City area sure becomes a happy place the last week of September.
Now, every year at that time, the circus comes to town! That's right,
the NASCAR circus. That is the same time of year NHRA used to come a'calling
for the KC-area entertainment dollar. Any similarities between the two
groups' common experience in KC ends with the calendar.
When NHRA first came to Topeka, the KC media got behind the deal in
pretty good fashion. It was new to them, and they acted accordingly.
So far so good.
But little by little, the mainstream media drifted off, back to their
love of ball sports great and small. What did we think would happen?
Again, a case of the inevitable happening, happening. And that pretty
much describes the NHRA-KC relationship, leaving aside the switch to
a different date for NHRA's visit to town, once the stock car boys made
known their desire for a late September trip to the Plains States.
Oh, and there were those "Thunder in the Streets" events
that NHRA tried a few times. I thought those went pretty well, but I'm
just another fanatic -- what could I know? Maybe, judging from the goings-on
in the KC area during NASCAR week, maybe NHRA should have stuck with
the Thunder Deal a little longer. Because, let me tell ya, you couldn't
go anywhere in the area without running headlong into a NASCAR street
festival!
NASCAR Thunderfest, the Grandview Speedweek, The Lee's Summit Festival
of
Speed, not to mention the various displays set up at individual businesses
throughout the area -- NASCAR had the populace in the palm of their
hands!
The Woodlands, the area's only horse track, is usually a bleeping ghost
town. They held a BIG show featuring a number of stars and "nots"
that drew an estimated 30,000 attendees. Get this -- ya had to pay fifteen
dollars to get in and look at race cars that were sitting still. And
the way people were straining to get in, you would have thought the
money exchange was happening the other way around! By nightfall, you
couldn't buy your way close to the Woodlands, no matter how much money
you had. Now that, my friends, is truly amazing.
So far this probably seems like a rant against NASCAR. Nothing could
be further from the truth. I congratulate them! I salute them! They
have done what all promoters set out to do. They have come up with a
product that people, by and large, feel they can't do without. And more
to the point, they have succeeded in taking the product to the people.
And maybe, just maybe, that is where drag racing fell off the turnip
truck.
So much attention is paid to what classes will be showcased at national
events, who deserves TV time, and on and on. The failed logic of this
approach may be that people will actual show up at the track, or in
front of the TV, and witness what a wonder drag racing is. What was
that line from that movie? "... People will come!" Maybe,
maybe not. I don't accept much in this life on faith. It may be time
for the sport's leaders to take another look at how to draw fans, any
fans to the sport. And they may as well start with the man in the street.
Take what few stars the sport has, throw up a few tents, and mingle
with your fellow countrymen and women. They won't mind if you extract
a few shekels from their wallets, just as long as they get to meet and
talk to people who do spectacular things in extraordinary vehicles.
But don't sit back and count on them showing up on their own. By most
accounts, that isn't happening these days. And it could, with just a
little bit of Thunder in the Streets.
Later!
racer4339@aol.com
photo by Jeff Burk
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