| What about the rest of the divisions?? |
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Nascar.com. Is it really? I think it needs to be renamed to WinstonCup.com. Granted, the website underwent major changes this season and is the best it has ever been, but it does not, and never has FULLY represented Nascar. It has only served the Winston Cup ranks with a few blurbs about Busch and the occasional truck series info. I come from the Nascar Featherlite Modified Tour Ranks. I have been writing letters and giving feedback to Nascar.com since the day it opened. They do not cover the lower divisions adequately. This is from the Nascar Modified section of Nascar.com, as of today 12-9-01: "Operating as the oldest division of race cars in the history of NASCAR, the Featherlite Modified Series is the only open-wheeled series in the NASCAR Touring Division. After Modified racecars became the feature attraction at many racetracks throughout the Northeast, NASCAR established the current touring format in 1985. The Featherlite Modified Series not only offers a unique racecar, but an exhilarating race experience. In 1999 Tony Hirschman of Northampton, Pa., clinched his third series crown. NASCAR 2000 will see Hirschman facing strong competition from a host of talented veterans and hungry newcomers." Isn’t that lovely? Here we are with the 2001 season over and they just got around to "previewing" 2000. They are literally 2 years behind. Their news section isn’t too far behind, but the stories never make the front page of Nascar.com. To find out anything current about the series, I have to go to an independent website, ModSeriesScene.com. How about the Busch Grand National North division? I go to BGNN.com; otherwise I would never know a thing that was going on. Go to the page on Nascar.com and it doesn’t even show you the 2001 champion. It lists the champs from 1996-2000 but nothing for this year. At least on the Modified’s page they have a link to the article on Mike Stefanik’s 2001 Title. Nascar.com does list the 2002 schedule, something they have yet to do for the Modified’s page. Winston West. Go to that part of Nascar.com and you will find a preview for 2001. And a story about the 2001 champion, but again the list of champions only goes up to 2000. Anyone remember seeing the story of Sammy Potashnick’s first career win on the front page of Nascar.com? Exactly. It’s hidden in the archives. The Gatorade All-Pro page shows the same picture of the cars as the Winston West, yet they obviously do not run the same cars. No one at Nascar.com could find the right pictures for the right pages? Again, on this page, the 2001 champion has not yet made it to the list of past champions. As a matter of fact, the only mention of the championship winner is a small sentence at the end of the season finale recap. It reads, "Anderson won his second series title over Gentry by 82 points while Bradberry won the rookie title of Jody Lavender by three points." That’s it. No other story on the champion, yet Nascar.com gave us up to the minute stats on what Jeff Gordon wore, ate, and said leading up to the banquet. Next, we have the Featherlite SW Tour. Their story is a recap of 1999. Again, 2 years out of date. And, what do you know, they have the exact same picture as the Gatorade All-Pro and the Winston West series pages. This page at least has the champion’s picture and story, yet the list is still a year behind. On to the Goody’s Dash series. We are introduced with a preview of the 2000 season. How nice. They at least got the picture of the cars correct on this one. However, no story at all on who won the title. You can look at the final standings, but no story??? Come on guys; get with it all ready. The Raybestos NW series has the same picture as the Gatorade All Pro, Winston West and the Featherlite SW series. They have a story and picture of the champion, probably because he has the same name as Kevin Hamlin, the crew chief for the late Dale Earnhardt and now Kevin Harvick. The intro on the page nicely highlights the 1999 season and previews 2000. Way to go guys! The O-Reilly All Star series page treats us to our same old familiar picture of the cars. They got the champion’s story up and the intro is up to date. However, the RE/MAX Challenge series page might as well be the same page. Same picture of the cars, same old terrible page. So, to Ryan Smithson, Nascar.com’s Senior Producer, I say this: PLEASE DO SOMETHING!! I understand that the money and all the hoopla is in Winston Cup. I understand that the majority of the interest is in Winston Cup. I also understand that Speedvision is becoming Speed Channel and the talk is that they will be showing races from other divisions of Nascar. Interest is growing and people are going to want to learn about and follow these divisions. As it is, I go to Jayski.com for all my Nascar info. He has stories there that make "The Buzz" 2 or 3 days later. Nascar.com is the "Official" site of Nascar and you would think that would make you guys capable of having the inside scoop and putting out pertinent info in a timely manner. Assign someone to cover each series. I’ll do the Featherlite Modified Series, as I am a current crewmember of the championship team. Have weekly features, not just news blurbs that we all ready got from other sources. Update the "intros" to be current. And show pictures of cars that actually run in that division. Not similar ones from other series. You are NASCAR.COM, not WINSTONCUP.COM. Please, bring the site up to date and give these other series the support and recognition they deserve. The hits to these other sections will increase and traffic will be great, if you give us something interesting to read. Ryan, e-mail me. Hire me to take over the Featherlite Modified section and watch the traffic multiply and listen to the positive feedback. Find experts in the other series and get them to cover them as well, and make this site truly Nascar.com. Thank you!!!!! |