There seems to be more of a difference in this sport between the way it is presented on TV than at the site, maybe because of the difficulty of showing the whole track at once. I live less than five miles from the Richmond International Raceway (RIR as it is called here) as well as two small Sprotsman type tracks. There are two NASCAR races per season at RIR with open wheel racing in between and the huge otherwise deserted parking space around RIR fills up like a small city for a weekend when there is a race. The next big event is when Danica Patrick comes to town and does not live up to her hype; it would be great if she would actually win a race! There is no doubt that the fans that come to these races are enthusiastic but it is just that the TV presentation on a Sunday afternoon is a sleeper for me compared to the NFL so maybe the thing is to go to the race site and be part of the event! Then there is the spin-off industry from the local racers who have to rebuild their cars every week so they have a shop to make a living in between. I had my SBC built at "Joe's Machine Shop", and although Joe is retired now, he had a big shelf full of racing trophies that helped you believe he knew what he was doing. That is the grass roots connection between the public and racing which many of the folks on this Forum have been part of. With the emphasis on fuel saving I guess these local machine shops will still form the link between smaller engines and racing that will probably be formed around class rules for those smaller engines.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder