I grew up in the heart of NASCAR country. Owensboro, Ky., has produced well-known stock car drivers like Darrel and Michael Waltrip, David and Jeff Green, Jeremy Mayfield, John Hayden and Mark Green. Stickers for #3 Dale Earnhardt, Sr. or #24 Jeff Gordon are on the back windows of almost every car in Kentucky. People even wear their favorite drivers' numbers on hats, shirts and backpacks. But despite Kentucky's obsession with it, I hate NASCAR.
Before you die-hard fans try to bump-draft me, hear me out. There was a time when NASCAR interested me. I actually liked watching cars go around in a circle again and again. On occasion they would wreck, and that was really exciting. In fact, the crashes were usually the most exciting part of the race. I even remember watching Dale "the Intimidator" Eardhardt crash, ultimately leading to his death, perhaps one of the most tragic losses in sports history. But even though I was a part of it for a considerable time, NASCAR lost its excitement and to me just became another show to take up airtime on Sportscenter.
What primarily turned me away from NASCAR was the commercialization of the sport. No other sport, (not even Formula Series), has so much advertising. A different company sponsors every car. What does Tide have to do with a race? What does Viagra have to do with engines? Is Budweiser an oil company?
The addiction of NASCAR is its use of gimmick. In my Frosted Flakes, I got a racecar. On the street, I saw a car decaled and painted exactly like Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s car. I even see driver-themed bedrooms in JC Penny catalogs. Have we really gotten to the point where we take interior decorating advice from Tony Stewart, the Home Depot driver?
NASCAR is also no longer true to its roots. NASCAR was born out of bootlegging, cops and robbers, and souped-up cars, but has now become more of a novelty than a sport. There are very few superior drivers, and those who are have egos larger than the sport itself. It has recently become a sport filled with more controversy than baseball. In NASCAR a driver's steroids are changing the body of the car, tweaking the engine illegally and bump drafting. All the while, NASCAR insists that it is becoming an upper-class sport, ignoring the fan base that built the league up to its current status.
What irritates me most is that more people watched the Daytona 500 than the Winter Olympics. The Winter Olympics is an international event, where everyone in the world should join together. Instead I found that more people were watching cars drive in circles on Sunday afternoon. What about those who were using real talent to compete in Olympic events with the top athletes from other nations?
NASCAR still has a long way to go before I begin to respect the sport again. They have yet to impress me with this new high-class image. The image has improved, but it is still a sport centered on rednecks and beer, as Bill Maher said.
Before I watch another checkered flag drop, I want to see one new thing added: a right turn.
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