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Third generation NASCAR CEO Brian France wants TV commentators to tone down criticism of NASCAR races, which apparently are not as boring as many of us think. Well Mr. France, you have a pricey product that is not meeting the expectations of consumers. That kind of business model will have some people occasionally voicing something less than the party line.

I have several thoughts about France’s comments. First, fans are not idiots, and do not have to be spoon fed what to think by NASCAR’s TV partners.  Most of us figured out all by ourselves that the Talladega race sucked and that Fontana should be bulldozed and used for shelters for the homeless so it will actually do some good for society. If the TV announcers want one ounce of credibility with fans, they better criticize boring races. 

Second Bri, on the drive home from your plush Daytona office to your fancy Florida mansion, turn off the Sirius in the luxury sedan and do some serious thinking about what us poor working slobs want. What I would like to see is what is called racing. In the past that meant two cars going very fast, traveling side by side. I am not sure how the word is defined these days, but I doubt that anyone’s definition would include a long parade of moving billboards piloted by drivers asking for iPods to keep them from falling asleep. Second, I don’t want any “races” decided by who runs out of gas and who doesn’t, nor do I care to see a driver in victory lane simply because he managed to miss the “inevitable” big one. Third-well, this will be a tough one. I would like to see NASCAR work with tracks to come up with designs that make them racier-think Richmond, and if they can’t be made racier, go to other facilities that would like to host an event. Trouble is, some of the most boring tracks are owned by ISC (Chicago, Fontana, and now Talladega), the other side of the France family owned racing business.

If NASCAR would even attempt to accomplish the above, there would be far less criticism from TV announcers, pundits, and fans, and if Brian France actually accomplished this agenda he would be a cinch to join his father and grandfather in the NASCAR Hall of Fame, instead of being vilified as he is now.

The 10^th Annual Mesilla Valley Fall Nationals was held last weekend at the Southern New Mexico Speedway in Las Cruces. SNMS is a 5/16^th mile clay oval that runs sprint and modified specials in addition to multi-class weekly shows. The fall nationals was scheduled to pay a whopping $10,000 to win and $1,250 to start the A main of the final night of the show. I say scheduled, because the track did not pay the winner $10,000.

Actually, only moments before the start of the race, Jones announced that the winner’s share of the purse was being increased to $15,000. I am sure other promoter’s have done such things in the past, I just don’t remember them. I am much more used to hearing about promoters cutting a purse, and in my neck of the woods, a $1,250 to win mod show would be a big event. I don’t want to say never, but I can’t remember hearing of any $10,000 to win mod shows in the Midwest, and the Midwest is home to a large portion of the country’s modified drivers.

SNMS promoter Royal Jones posts under his own name on racing forums, but adds “Benevolent Owner” on the track’s own forum. With actions like this past week, he certainly deserves this title. When my son Matt first sent me the article about the SNMS Fall Nationals, I couldn’t believe a promoter actually did this. It seemed more likely that space aliens had landed near the track and abducted the real promoter, substituting with one of their own. Maybe space aliens should land in Daytona if they are going to start abducting race promoters. Royal Jones actually gets it, while Brian France chooses not to.

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Tags: brian france, nascar, nascar sprint cup series