Mammoth Blog

-- After 10 days away from this community known as "Race City USA," I was quickly reminded that I was back in NASCAR territory.

It was a Monday night, just two hours after I had flown back from a Christmas break in Indiana that seemed like Christmas with the Griswolds from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation -- whatever could go wrong, would go wrong.

A trip to "Big Daddy's" on Lake Norman for a peck of steamed oysters at a half-peck price seemed like a great idea to fill the stomach and clear the mind. It didn't take long, however, to realize that even in the offseason, one can't escape the long arm of NASCAR.

Two fellas from up the road in Statesville sat a stool away at the Oyster Bar and a conversation started.

"You in racin'?" asked the man with the Michelin Retread Technologies windshirt on.

"I guess you could say that," I replied.

"Oh, well, you look like you'd be involved in racing," said the man.

"Why's that?" I asked.

"Well, you got that goatee and that's a dead giveaway that you're in racing," he said.

"In that case, I'm going home to shave it off," I joked, still puzzled by the fact that a good many Major League Baseball and NFL players sport the facial hair on the chin, but in these parts, NASCAR is everywhere.

As the close of another year drew closer, these two fellas at "Big Daddy's"helped the jaded writer get a better understanding of how the perception of NASCAR has changed in these parts.

"NASCAR can blame the drop in attendance on the economy [if it wants to], but it just isn't the same as it used to be," said the man who introduced himself as Billy. "These drivers just don't seem to care about the fans any more. And with all the changes they've made, I just don't follow it anymore."

Before the 2008 season NASCAR announced it would get back to basics, focus on the competition and let its drivers' personalities to come out of their corporate shell. But with high gasoline prices in the spring and summer hitting these fans in their wallets, attendance started to tail off dramatically.

But the real blow came during the economic collapse in September, when many of the companies and auto manufacturers that keep the NASCAR Sprint Cup teams in business lost tremendous value when stock prices fell.

That created tremendous uncertainty in the sport as team owners began to brace for the worst in 2009. Crew members have been laid off, teams have merged and front office personnel have been cut. Some of the sport's most recognizable teams have shrunk and the car count for the races after the Daytona 500 will be very slim.

But to the two fellas at the Oyster Bar, NASCAR just doesn't strike the chord it did in the days of Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Bobby Allison and Cale Yarborough. While these drivers were mythic heroes to the blue collar crowd of the South, they were just regular folks when they were away from the race track.

If a fan wanted to meet Yarborough, chances are he'd have a personal appearance for his sponsor at a Hardee's where fans would show up, shake his hand, get his autograph and pose for a picture.

Today's NASCAR driver is more refined and detached. A personal appearance is usually at a corporate gathering for a sponsor, not with the regular fans who get their hands dirty at work.

The Lake Norman area of North Carolina used to be a hotbed for race drivers, who had lakefront homes in the area and could often be seen around the towns of Cornelius, Davidson, Mooresville and Huntersville. And while many of those drivers continue to live in the area, many of the top names in NASCAR have fled the scene.

Four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon and three-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson bolted a long time ago and moved to, of all places, Manhattan, where they can hide in plain sight. After all, in a city the size of New York, a NASCAR driver isn't as big a deal as he would be in Charlotte.

Two-time Cup champion Tony Stewart moved off the lake several years ago to return to his Indiana home in Columbus -- about an hour's drive from Indianapolis.

Ironically, Stewart is the one driver in NASCAR who is the closest to being a "regular guy" -- something that Billy and his buddy would have gravitated to in the past.

But NASCAR isn't the big story around here at this time of year, having been replaced by the Carolina Panthers of the NFL and their anticipated run in the NFL playoffs. And with preseason testing being cut as NASCAR tries to save teams some money, there won't be any speeds coming out of Daytona and other testing news in January.

A new age awaits NASCAR in 2009. It's the age of uncertainty.

There will be more questions than answers in 2009 as no one in the sport is quite sure what the car count will be, how much manufacturer support the ailing automotive industry can provide and how long the sponsors can continue to support the program.

One thing is certain, though. NASCAR will have to have a plan to deal with the contraction of the sport after years of phenomenal growth made it "America's Favorite Motorsport."

But on the last Monday of December in 2008, I could sense the jaded feeling of two men who appeared disinterested and disenchanted in what NASCAR has become to them. And that proved to be an eye-opening experience as another oyster shell was loaded into the bucket. continue>>>