Nudging NASCAR

I came down pretty hard on NASCAR on Monday.

I told viewers my usual pattern of watching a race on TV has changed. I used to watch the start, fall asleep during the middle, and then wake up for the end.

Now, I just stay asleep.

I realize there is some generational grumpiness involved in all this. I also realize we're not going back to the days of Earnhardt and Allison and Yarborough.

The Day the Music Died for me was March of 2002. I approached one of NASCAR's rising stars along pit road at Bristol. I was looking for an interview. I was told by the driver it would have to be set-up through his public relations person.

PR people don't have deadlines. I do. I knew my world was changing.

New tracks, new drivers, new cars and the quest to build a national television audience have changed a sport I once found exciting. The personality has been sucked out of it, and any that's left is mostly contrived.

There is irony is all this.

For all of NASCAR's talk of diversity in recent years-- I see none. 

The gravitation pull of corporate sameness has spun the sport into a tightly wound glob of nothingness.

What's sad is, these guys risk their lives each week to win races. The men (and women) who drive the cars are talented and courageous individuals, the engineers who design the cars and impliment the race set-ups have college degrees that could get them jobs at NASA. The businessmen who own the teams are well intentioned.

And I still love the sport.

But please give me a reason to watch it.