Just when you thought I had come to my senses - I go and make a statement like that! If you think that's crazy let me take it one step farther! There is nothing American about the way NASCAR goes about its business! Now you think that I have completely gone over the edge, don't you?
Let's engage in some comparative history. I am making this next statement from the bottom of my heart and believe this to my core! We live in the greatest country that has ever been conceived on the face of the Earth - period. We have freedoms that no other country has enjoyed. One of those is the freedom of speech where a radical thinker like myself can express my opinion! How did this country get to where it is today as the standard bearer of those most basic of freedoms of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness?
I'll give you the thumbnail version:
In 1492 an Italian guy in three Spanish-owned ships found out that there was this continent between Europe and the Spice Islands. That inept navigator was Columbus and he went back to tell Ferdie and Issy that the the short cut to the Philippines by going West instead of East isn't going to work because there is a continent in the way. Columbus is pretty bummed his original plan didn't work, but Ferdie had a second option. "Why don't you go back and we'll see if we can make some money off them folks instead." Plan B worked and pretty soon money is flowing back to Spain. What did the natives of the New World get? An influenza epidemic that killed off a large majority of the population.
More people started coming over here to see what it was all about.
Over in Jolly Old England QE 1, not the ship but the hag, and King James, this guy's ego is so big he re-writes the Bible, were running the show and they start telling the people there that they must believe in the Anglican Church and you don't have a choice in the matter. So some folks like the Pilgrims and Quakers decided that maybe that isn't such a great idea and they leave and come to the New World to get away from that kind of oppression. Ah! but King Jimmy still has some strings tied to them because he rules over the Colonies.
So these fine people arrive and set up shop. They make friends with the Indians and create a tradition called Thanksgiving, which eventually leads to a USAC Midget race at JC Agajanian's Ascot Park on that day each year! Everything seems wonderful. As time passes these resourceful people start to build a pretty good enterprise over here clearing the land of every tree in sight, and in about 150 years or so this place is cooking! Well, then King George III, who inherited the keys to the shed by then, decides that he wants to squeeze some of that wealth into his pockets so he begins taxing everything in sight including beverages.
So, Sam Adams, who now has a beer named in his honor, gets together with his cousin John, who doesn't have any beverages with his name on them, and his pal John Hancock, no drinks but an Insurance Company that bears his name, decide that what the King is doing is just plain wrong! Shouldn't we have something to say in these matters? You can't make all of these rules without the people who are affected by them, if they don't have some input - you remember the battle call of the time "Taxation without Representation!"
So one night in a fit of rage, these guys get a bunch of their buddies to dress up like Indians, board some ships in Boston Harbor and start chucking creates of tea into the water - take that Georgie-Porgie-puddin' N' Pie this will make you cry - if we have to pay out the kazoo to drink this stuff you can't have it either and we'll start drinking coffee instead.
Well, as you can imagine, George-3 isn't real happy that these radical punks in the Colonies won't follow his every command and he sends in the British Army to put things right, at least the way KG3 thinks it should be. How dare they oppose the rule of an inbred idiot who has been given total control of England because his mom and dad had it given to him and so on through the history of the country - well maybe not forever, but for long enough!
Sam, John and John sense trouble when there are more Red Coats than Colonists in Boston, so they start off to Philadelphia to meet up with some other trouble makers. Ben Franklin is there and a bunch of rabble-rousers from Virginia, Tom Jefferson, Jimmy Madison, Pat Henry and some tobacco farmer and whiskey distiller named George Washington, who is famous for throwing his money into the Potomac River. They get a bunch of their other buddies together they form a gang called the Continental Congress. "What are we going to do now?" one of the guys asks. John Adams proposes that we tell the King just what we think of him and tell him to take his crown and put it where the sun doesn't shine! Which is gonna be really hard when you see how this guy dresses!
Check out the threads on this dude! King George III
It's a good idea but not everyone is on board with it, so Adams and the gang start to hash it out. They debate, they argue, they negotiate and eventually they compromise and decide that maybe that curmudgeon from Boston is right!
So they have someone go slaughter a sheep, skin it, treat that skin into something called parchment. They then decided that Jefferson is someone who is "good with words" and after a few tries with pencil and paper, B-Frank and J-Ads want to make sure their two cents worth is in it, he cranks out this piece called "The Declaration of Independence!"
The first thing T-Jeff did was to remind the King that even though he is spoiled rotten, all other men have the rights to life, liberty and happiness, which is something that G-Man-3 had apparently forgotten along the way. If you're not going to let us have these, then we're just going to do it ourselves so see ya' later pal!
TJ then adds a whole list of other things that the King had lost track of, called grievances, and the finished parchment is put in front of John Hancock who puts his "John Hancock" on it on July 4, 1776 and here we are today!
So what does that have to do with NASCAR? Let's tell their story and see how it compares to that of our country.
Starting back in the twenties, some guy figured out that it might be fun and that he might even make some dough if some thrill-billies got together and drove the family buggies up the beach and then down the road and called it stock car racing.
One of those hicks that thought it might be a hoot to drive up and down the sand was William G. France - Big Bill! After a couple of years of driving in this circus and not making any money at it, Big Bill thought he knew how to do it better, so he started organizing this jamboree every year.
There were the accusations that the drivers were crazy and they said, "Yeah, but your paying money to watch this!" In the end Big Bill was going to the bank with more money than all of them.
Everything is rolling along quite nicely until something happened in another garden spot with a lot of sand. The Japanese decided to surprise the United States by picking a fight with us, so they drop a bunch of bombs on the US Pacific Naval Fleet in Pearl Harbor. Bad move on their part. This makes President Franklin Roosevelt angry enough to call "Dec 7, 1941 a day that will live in infamy" and starts a war with them to show them the error of their ways. Four years and two atomic bombs later, the Japanese came back to their senses, called it quits and said that the US had won! Doug MacArthur even got the Emperor's autograph to prove it.
Once that problem was taken care of we could get back to more important stuff like racing in Daytona again. Big Bill decides that in order for him to profit from all of these shenanigans he needs to organize the bootleggers so that he can set the rules. Bill gets some of these guys together in a flop house in Daytona, liquors the good ol' boys up, he lays out his plan and everybody thinks its great. In the last democratic move in this organization's history they collectively agree to call it the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing - NASCAR for short and put Big Bill in charge.
What those hillbillies didn't know at the time that was the last time that they would have any input as to how stock car racing was going to be conducted - William G. France had crowned himself as the "King" of NASCAR. From that point forward the only voice that counted was his! The competitors, promoters and fans had no input as to how things would be done in NASCAR. France said once that he held his board meetings in a telephone booth - actually he didn't even bother with the booth!
I will not argue that NASCAR grew under the leadership of Big Bill, but it has also been stifled by his total command. That command was passed on to his son Bill France Jr and now to his grandson Brian France. None of these individuals were given the power they have by "the people." It was handed to them by their forefather - kind of sounds like the King of England doesn't it? OK, let's take a vote to see who wants Brian France to be the head of NASCAR- anyone, Bueller - Bueller - no one!
No one is allowed to question his authority, no one can criticize any of his decisions - he makes the rules and if you don't like them you can go play somewhere else!
Many of us admire Tony Stewart - first and most importantly for his amazing talent behind the wheel of just about any car that has a seat in it and win! The other aspect of his personality was that Tony said what was on his mind, which in America has has the right to. Over the years Tony's candor has turned into "NASCAR speak" where he doesn't criticize the words of the King (B-France) and his Court (Mike Helton). Tony's been called into the "trailer" too many times and threatened with fines and or suspension for his remarks. Tony has been stripped of his 1st Amendment Right of Freedom of Speech because NASCAR doesn't want him to say anything that would make them look like they were anything less than perfect - isn't that called censorship?
Jeff Spicoli from Fast Times at Ridgement High summed it up very well: "What Jefferson was saying is Hey! we left this England place 'cause it was bogus - and if we don't get some cool rules ourselves - pronto - we'll just be bogus too - Okay!"
NASCAR is not a democracy it is an Autocratic Monarchy where the power is transferred from one family member to the next - kind of sounds like England on July 3, 1776 doesn't it?
OK - so you still think that I am absolutely nuts!
If I were a member of NASCAR you wouldn't be reading this. But Because Jefferson came up with some pretty cool rules, I have the right to say it! That is one of the most valued gifts the Constitution gives us is the freedom to think and say and worship without fear of intervention from the Government they created - God Bless the United States of America - and thank you to everyone who has ever served in the military to protect those rights! You, ladies and gentlemen, are my heroes!
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