Monday, June 2, 2014

Humpy Wheeler: NASCAR looked the other way but drivers (and sponsors) did not


    Former Charlotte Motor Speedway general manager and president of Speedway Motorsports Inc., H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler offers a diagnosis of what is missing from NASCAR these days. You may be surprised to learn that he believes NASCAR itself is working hard to produce the environment necessary to build more excitement but is running into a big roadblock - the drivers, or in particular, their corporate sponsors.

   Let him explain: 

   "What is wrong with NASCAR?

   We have heard it all in the past two months -- the economy, lack of passing for the lead, high ticket prices, confusing car paint changes, the weather and everything else but the pink elephants.

   Folks, what it is … is simple. It is the lack of real rivalries and the absence of a superstar in the realm of Ali, Brady, LeBron, Namath, etc.

   Sure we have Johnson, Gordon, Tony Stewart but you can't be a great superstar without tremendous rivals. Ali had Frazier; Namath the entire NFL; etc.


   What made NASCAR? The fierce battles between Curtis Turner and Jr. Johnson; Tim Flock vs. Buck Baker; Bobby Allison against Richard Petty and Cale Yarborough; Darrell Waltrip and Rusty Wallace; Earnhardt, Sr., battling Geoff Bodine and Bill Elliot, etc. 

   Those were in the days before vast changes were made in the cars and before huge mega dollar sponsors who wanted their flying billboards to be quiet and the drivers as well behaved as Philadelphia nuns.

   Drivers sometimes didn't talk just right; dressed the way they wanted and were as tough as a Mohawk riveter. Kind of reminds us of the rodeo riders today.

   America loved these guys when they came on their stage in 1979 on CBS on a snowstorm Sunday and guess what: got into a fight on live TV! It was the Dukes of Hazzard; Andy Griffith; the Civil War on Wheels and the Friday Night Fights all rolled into one piece of technicolor drama. 

   
   And -- as we all know -- it took off like a Bonneville streamliner. Gutsy, clever and smart promoters saw their chance now and came up with all kinds of ways to get the media to cover it including bringing a lot of talented, fancy and not so fancy guys to come in and put on a show and did they ever from dirt tracks like the Robinwood Speedway in Gastonia, N.C. to the high banks of Charlotte and Daytona.

   In those building days cars hit one another -- rubbin' was the mild word. There were few sponsors to regulate behavior and NASCAR looked the  other way and the people loved it and there were few empty seats.

   Sometimes I remember the fights AFTER the race … the ones you didn't hear about. Those behind the rest room! One driver taking another and almost drowning him in an infield lake after he was knocked into the fence.

   Or the time Tim Richmond called David Pearson "an old man" and found himself flat on the hot concrete.

   These things just don't happen today and rivalries are quickly snuffed out by the huge disinfectant that comes into play when the boys get rowdy.

   So, with all sorts of PR people, button collared suits and enough security that we wonder if Godzilla is about to attack. No wonder drivers hurl themselves into their impenetrable tractor trailers after an incident.

   Probably the most dangerous place in the track after an incident is the track hospital where NASCAR commands all in a wreck to go and get checked out. 

   So, what happened to 'have at it boys?'

   I think NASCAR obeyed its own command but did the rest of NASCAR Town? No, because
that's the street where the sponsors live and their commandments.

   I do believe that the organization NASCAR is trying to get this whole thing back on track with rules changes and attempts at making the cars easier to pass for the lead (although we haven't seen this much). They, especially Brian France, know this whole rivalry element must
happen to get it back on track.

   But then maybe the answer is some rail-tough 20 year old from the backwoods of America whose only dream is going fast and whipping people with his determination and driving talent that ranks up there with Johnson, Foyt, Andretti, Yarborough, the Allisons and the Pettys who isn't handsome, dresses wrong, talks badly and doesn't particularly like any driver who has ever tried to beat him. He will flat put you in the fence if you cross him. He is as tough as the truck he drives and sometimes as mean as those rattlesnakes he has killed by the barn. He could pass the Secret Service rifle sniper test and sometimes disappears for days with his rod and reel. 


   He loves dirt so much his friends thought he had a vitamin deficiency. He has a girl friend but few have ever seen her and if anything gets in the way of his racing it is eliminated. He is frustrated by all the  rich kids racing who he knows won't last but keep him where he is. He dreams of the day he can get underneath their quarter panel.

   If you know this guy we need him bad!"

10 comments:

  1. He nailed it. NASCAR has been surgically cleaned. Making the cars so aerodynamically dependent has taken much of the driving out of the drivers hands. Looking back to the 1970's cars and the action they provided makes me yearn for the good old days, before air dams and spoilers and restrictor plates. They were actually "stock" cars. I think another thing that is hurting the sport is too much speed. Who cares if they are going 200 or 150 down the straightaway, wouldn't it be better to put the control back into the drivers hands and take away all the fancy technology?

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  2. We already had that guy. His name was Brad Keselowski, circa 2010-2012. But Brad seems to have mellowed some now. I still enjoy seeing flashes of the old Brad come out (as in Martinsville when he got into it with Kurt Busch). Part of the issue with Brad, though, is that he hasn't been as strong since that 2012 season when he won the championship.

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    1. Took the words out of my mouth.

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  3. When Humpy got dumped at Charlotte for Marcus Smith Smith I was initially happy for the first two years. But I realize that the problem wasn.'t Humpy but the steps NASCAR was using to keep drivers and rivalry's in line. I agree that dirt is starting to gain more popularity every wind. Let em bump Jimmy out of the way and he won't tie the king or Dale St.

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  4. Good article....thanks. As it is now, we are almost forced to continually fawn over Danica as the star of the sport? No wonder the stands are mainly empty.

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  5. Yep Humpy nailed it and NASCAR can not penalize him like they do the drivers or team members because they speak out against NASCAR. I have said it for years take away the down force and we will get back to racing. All we have right now is driver around. This is what that ignorant Frantz wants is a dictatorship, you do as I say or else. I honestly believe that if Dale Sr. was still around he would be very outspoken like he always was, and that is why Cale, Jr. Johnson, B. Allison, and a lot of the older driver want nothing to do with NASCAR because Frantz has it all screwed up. When you take away the down force the cars have to be driven with the gas and brake not just hold the gas to the floor. You will see more passing better racing like back in the 70's 80's and early 90's.

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  6. I think u have to look no further than the entire back of Charlotte, Martinsville, Dover closed and empty seats everywhere to know something is terrible wrong. Sure different winners but more to do with clear air than anything else. Mile and half cookie cutter tracks announcers that are no more than cheerleaders for NASCAR all racing a boring state of affairs. We need an announcer who will not be afraid to call NASCAR and the drivers to task for all that is going on, Racing with the exception of a very few restarts are lap after lap of turning left and no racing. The sport is going downhill fast and not very furious. beau

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  7. Go back to "slightly modified" stock cars instead of these purpose built pregnant Indy cars. Do away with provisionals, (the best 43 race, period), penalize the obvious start & parks and if a driver is caught committing a serious infraction, (such as altering the car ala Hendricks a few years back), you are automatically removed from the title hunt (not allowed to win a championship ala JJ following the above incident). Then bench drivers who use their race cars as weapons while selling tickets when 2 want to duke it out, (and sorry Jeff Gordon, you'll have to take your helmet off first!)

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  8. "So, what happened to 'have at it boys?'"

    What happened is NASCAR fined Marco Ambrose for defending himself by rightly punching Casey Mears in the face. That's what happened to "have at it boys".

    You can't blame the drivers for behaving because that incident was Case Study #1 for NASCAR screwing up their own sport. Every single fan and non-fan alike LOVED when Ambrose did that, it was the highlight of the season. And what did NASCAR do about it? They put an end to it right then and there. NASCAR is NASCAR's own problem, they can't get out of their own damn way.

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  9. Nailed it. Haven't been to a Spec NASCAR race since 2008, and don't even watch it on the box, but I still have all my Awesome Bill stuff. If I want to watch spec racing, I'll watch Miata's. Those guys try to kill each other in Spec Pinata, and the passion shows.

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