Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

What ever happened to Skoal Bandits or Budweiser.  Did the outlaws burn their bridges  with them?

I look at it this way, like StanM said, sprint car racing is a niche sport and its flat out awesome entertainment, its very affordable (for the fans compared to most other forms of live entertainment) and best of all, its grassroots. If you want Danny Dietrich to sign your shirt or take a picture with your kid, you don't have to wait for him to have an organized signing or buy a special access pass etc. You can just walk right up to him (when the time is right of course, NOT in the middle of the event) and have a chat, get an autograph, picture or whatever. Hell you may even find him at Sandoe's fruit market during a weekday. My point is, our heroes are all very accessable and 99.9% of them are great with the fans because they're just regular people like us. Outside of our small circle, they aren't celebrities. It may be hard for us to fathom, but the vast majority of the human race could pass Steve Kinser in the grocery store and not even recognize him. My point is, before we all get our asses out of joint trying to promote sprint car racing to the next level, let's just take a look at what the next level is. Do we want sprint car racing to become similar to NASCAR? I sure as hell don't. I like the idea that sprint car racing although far more expensive and technologically advanced that it was 30 or so years ago, has still retained its honesty in the sense that what you see is what you get. We don't have drivers doing goofy commercials or putting on an image to please some corporate sponsor. A driver can still use the word “shit" in victory lane and aside from maybe offending a few of the more sensitive types among us, no one is gonna care. In fact, depending on the context in which its used, he may even get a lot of cheers. My point is, be careful what you wish for because if sprint car racing were to achieve what some people are trying to promote as the next level, in all likelihood, it will be ruined. Just like NASCAR.

Just to be clear, Clorox sold the STP and Armor All brands in 2010 and the Armoured Automotive Group is a stand alone company in the ownership of STP and Armor All Products.  http://investors.thecloroxcompany.com/releasedetail.cfm?releaseid=509408

So Clorox is not a part of this conversation.

I look at it this way, like StanM said, sprint car racing is a niche sport and its flat out awesome entertainment, its very affordable (for the fans compared to most other forms of live entertainment) and best of all, its grassroots. If you want Danny Dietrich to sign your shirt or take a picture with your kid, you don't have to wait for him to have an organized signing or buy a special access pass etc. You can just walk right up to him (when the time is right of course, NOT in the middle of the event) and have a chat, get an autograph, picture or whatever. Hell you may even find him at Sandoe's fruit market during a weekday. My point is, our heroes are all very accessable and 99.9% of them are great with the fans because they're just regular people like us. Outside of our small circle, they aren't celebrities. It may be hard for us to fathom, but the vast majority of the human race could pass Steve Kinser in the grocery store and not even recognize him. My point is, before we all get our asses out of joint trying to promote sprint car racing to the next level, let's just take a look at what the next level is. Do we want sprint car racing to become similar to NASCAR? I sure as hell don't. I like the idea that sprint car racing although far more expensive and technologically advanced that it was 30 or so years ago, has still retained its honesty in the sense that what you see is what you get. We don't have drivers doing goofy commercials or putting on an image to please some corporate sponsor. A driver can still use the word “shit" in victory lane and aside from maybe offending a few of the more sensitive types among us, no one is gonna care. In fact, depending on the context in which its used, he may even get a lot of cheers. My point is, be careful what you wish for because if sprint car racing were to achieve what some people are trying to promote as the next level, in all likelihood, it will be ruined. Just like NASCAR.

I look at it this way, like StanM said, sprint car racing is a niche sport and its flat out awesome entertainment, its very affordable (for the fans compared to most other forms of live entertainment) and best of all, its grassroots. If you want Danny Dietrich to sign your shirt or take a picture with your kid, you don't have to wait for him to have an organized signing or buy a special access pass etc. You can just walk right up to him (when the time is right of course, NOT in the middle of the event) and have a chat, get an autograph, picture or whatever. Hell you may even find him at Sandoe's fruit market during a weekday. My point is, our heroes are all very accessable and 99.9% of them are great with the fans because they're just regular people like us. Outside of our small circle, they aren't celebrities. It may be hard for us to fathom, but the vast majority of the human race could pass Steve Kinser in the grocery store and not even recognize him. My point is, before we all get our asses out of joint trying to promote sprint car racing to the next level, let's just take a look at what the next level is. Do we want sprint car racing to become similar to NASCAR? I sure as hell don't. I like the idea that sprint car racing although far more expensive and technologically advanced that it was 30 or so years ago, has still retained its honesty in the sense that what you see is what you get. We don't have drivers doing goofy commercials or putting on an image to please some corporate sponsor. A driver can still use the word “shit" in victory lane and aside from maybe offending a few of the more sensitive types among us, no one is gonna care. In fact, depending on the context in which its used, he may even get a lot of cheers. My point is, be careful what you wish for because if sprint car racing were to achieve what some people are trying to promote as the next level, in all likelihood, it will be ruined. Just like NASCAR.

I have interviewed and photographed a few drivers over the years so I know what you mean when you say they're approachable.  I was able to spend 16 seasons writing and taking photos for racing papers, contributing to magazines and even a season of doing television interviews for a local racing show.  I doubt that there is any other sport where a guy like me who barely made it through high school English and doesn't have a degree in journalism (and is in fact a railroad rate clerk by day) could have done that.  Pretty sure that if I'd have sent a resume to ESPN applying for an NFL analyst job my phone wouldn't have ever wrang.  It would be pretty hard for anyone to convince me otherwise given my personal experiencs "covering" dirt track racing.  Hell, all I am is a guy who put up a racing website in '99 and went with the flow.  I couldn't have done that with any other sport which pretty much proves to me where dirt track racing is in the grand scheme of things.