This section features "General Stories/Articles".
It is basically a forum for people to sound off on whatever
topic may currently be on their mind involving racing. It could be humorous, it may be anger,
but
it will hopefully be worth reading
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Off Season Withdrawals.. An idiot's guide!
By- Rob Faiella
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Testing at Daytona is coming, but, that is just testing, and as I stated in "Let the Whining Begin" , we really won't learn much from it. So, what do we do in this off season?? I'm glad
you asked!.
First off, there are great websites out there, such as this, to, if nothing else, occupy your
time. Hopefully, you laugh, form an opinion and maybe even reply to us. There are great TV
shows you could be watching, and numerous other things. Don't believe me? Here is a schedule
that I followed last Thursday:
8:00 Wake up, eat some Kellogg's Corn Flakes. Ponder Terry Labonte's future and pray that
he
has a better year.
8:30 Laugh at all those poor SOB's that are travelling to work.
8:35 Go back to bed.
10:00 Wake up. Hit the computer and surf some links. Nascar.com, ESPN.com, Jayski.com, That's Racin.com and, of course, I.T.P.B.com.
10:30 Slip in a tape from the Bristol Night race. Now that gets the blood pumping!
12:00 (Its amazing how short the race is when you FF thru the commercials) Have some lunch.
Budweiser and .. Hmm.. Why aren't there more food sponsors??.. ok.. just have some Bud, or
Miller, or Coors.
1:00 Watch "Dukes of Hazzard" reruns on TNN. Good stuff!
Ok, you are right, we need our racing! But why? Why does it consume us so much?
Nascar is the only Sport in which our "Heroes" are reachable. As a matter of fact, it is the
only entity, period, where the celebrities are reachable. We are allowed to walk up to them
at the track on the race weekends. We can shake their hands, wish them luck. They pose for
pictures which are certain to end up on E-bay and they autograph our stuff, of which, a lot
ends up on E-bay. Why do they do this?
Because, this is how the game works. The fans are what makes the sport and what allows
multi-million dollar race budgets to be paid for by sponsors. There is a huge debate over
whether or not the fans should be restricted more on their access to the paddock, the infield,
the garages, and of course pit road. This brings us actually, to the point of this story.
After the crash on pit road in Homestead that injured Ricky Rudd's crew, the rescue workers
had a tough time getting thru the crowds to reach the injured men. Fortunately, everyone
survived and is recovering well, but this could have been a terrible tragedy. Can you imagine
someone dying because fans trying to watch the race impeded the rescue workers? Oh man.
Something needs to be done, but what? Remember that I am a Nascar crew member. My opinion is
this:
Let the fans roam around as usual up until somewhere around the National Anthem. Let them
watch Driver introductions, take pictures of the guys walking to their cars and get those
last minute autographs. As the drivers start getting in their cars, clear ALL spectators to
an area designated for watching. If you are not working on a race team, you DO NOT belong on
or near pit road once the engines have fired.
Now, this may cause some anger, but think about it. Does the NFL allow fans on the
sidelines during a game? Can you hang out in the Dugout during a baseball game? Golf
allows spectators to line the fairways and greens and people get doinked with golf balls all
the time. That is a dangerous sport! Ok, I have preached in the past that what I love about
Nascar is that it isnt the NFL or MLB or any other sport. We do have access to our favorites
and it does make for a greater experience. But, once the racing begins, all that
spectators really are doing, is getting in the way and to be honest, the view sucks from
pit road.
These tracks need to construct some nice grandstands in the infield for the fans to watch
the race from. Kind of like the paddock stands at Indy. Once the race is over, let them loose
and let everyone mingle in again. Can you imagine that Jeff Gordon actually considered
getting bodyguards for when he is at the track? He decided against it, but the fact that he
even thought about it, makes you wonder what these guys are put thru.
Let the fans have access before and after, but let the race teams, and the safety personnel
and the track crews do their job. This is just my opinion, and I would love to hear yours.
I truly feel that Nascar is going to make a change this year about the access that is given.
I also feel that they are going to take it too far and chase quite a few people away from
the track. What do you think?
You can e-mail Rob at
RobFaiella@InsideThePitBox.com
See ya at Daytona in a few weeks!!
Check out ALL our sections and features here!!
There is plenty to keep you busy on our main page!
(Editors Note:The views and opinions of our writers are just that, theirs. If you have
comments, write to them. We take no responsibility for their articles... Do you blame us?)
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