The Car Guy of Benchfield
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Ch-Ch-Changes
by Steve Wingate
I'm a car guy.
Ever since I was a wee squirt, I've been fascinated by automobiles. My mother has often told me that me first word was not "mama" or "dada", but "car". My grandfather, an avid car collector, had a lot to do with this. Every gift he ever gave me was either a toy car, a model car, or a book about cars. He never read me fairy tales like other grandfathers, he read me Car and Driver and Automobile Quarterly.
His estate in Verbena, Alabama was home to nearly fifty cars. Packards, Daimlers, Peugoets, Citroens, even a Goliath and a Jaguar. The latter was sadly little more than a pile of rust molecules holding hands, but he loved it. He also had a huge octagonal library filled with car books, models and die cast miniatures, with a corner closet filled with years and years of Car and Driver, Road and Track, and Road Test back issues.
It was in these magazines that I gained my first exposure to auto racing and NASCAR in particular. I read about Cale Yarborough, Richard Petty, David Pearson and a host of others. I had planted the seeds which would in later years become an obsession. For the meantime, however, adolescence was approaching fast, and it wasn't long before every thought in my head was obliterated by an intense preoccupation with the opposite sex.
When I regained consciousness some six or seven years later, my passion for cars and racing was re-ignited by a program called "Close Calls". The show featured Benny Parsons, Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough and Darrel Waltrip talking about some of the hairy situations they've made it through in their racing careers. I sat there in awe of these four "good ol' boys" who were casually describing and laughing about horrific accidents and crippling injuries. These guys are cool. I remember thinking. Then they rolled some of the footage... Richard barrel rolling at Daytona, Bobby Allison slamming the catch fence at Talladega, Cale Yarborough flipping over during a qualifying run at Daytona, Richard hammering the retaining wall at Darlington, Darrell sailing backwards into a dirt bank at Daytona. The fact that these guys could endure such wrecks then climb right back into the car was amazing to me.
It was right then that I had a personal revelation, one that changed and has continued to change the course of my life. I had always been the type of person who would walk away from something if I got hurt or there seemed to be a promise of some kind of injury or letdown. Yet, these guys not only put themselves in danger, but met it head-on with faith and unshakable confidence. I realized then that I was not that kind of person, but at the same time, realized that I desperately wanted to be. From that point on, I strove not to take the easy road or shy away from risks, and to take risks with my eyes opened and my mind engaged. My newfound confidence changed my luck with school, work, and the opposite sex. My life's journey with NASCAR was under way.
I spent the next few years collecting diecast and learning everything I could about the world of NASCAR. I saw Davey Allison win his first Daytona 500 then miss his chance at a Winston Cup Championship nine months later. I saw Richard Petty take his last ride in competition and Jeff Gordon take his first. We all said goodbye to Clifford Allison that year, and goodbye to Alan Kulwicki and Davey himself the next year. The next year we lost Neil Bonnet. I saw John Andretti, Sterlin Marlin, Jeff and Ward Burton, Jimmy Spencer, Jeremy Mayfield, Bobby Hamilton, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Matt Kenseth, Steve Park, Jerry Nadeau, Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, and probably some I've forgotten take their first Winston Cup win. I've seen Dale Earnhardt turn donuts in the Daytona grass and Dale Jarrett and Bobby Labonte on stage in New York. I've seen careers skyrocket and careers go into the toilet. Sponsors have come and gone, teams have come and gone, and many of the races today have ".com" in the title. STP is no longer plastered on car 43 and ESPN and TNN have been tossed aside in favor of FOX.
My own life and the lives of many others mirror the ups and downs I described above. There's always triumph, tragedy, change and growth. The only difference is the future..... I know where I am headed, but where is NASCAR headed? The good ol' boys that got me into racing are gone or work behind the scenes now. NASCAR has gone from Guys Going Really Fast In Loud Cars to being a slick and polished media-friendly corporate image. I am truly happy that NASCAR has exploded in popularity, because I know that's what Bill Sr. had envisioned for NASCAR. However, I think Bill Sr. would have agreed that NASCAR is "gettin' too big for it's britches."
Now I know there are some of you long time fans out there who are just rolling your eyes right now... You're thinking that I haven't got any right to talk about any "good ole days" of racing since I've only been a fan since the late eighties. I don't remember when Darrell Waltrip was called "Jaws" or when Dale Earnhardt was a rookie. I never saw Richard Petty win a championship, or even a race for that matter. I don't remember when Earnhardt drove anything but a black car, or when Cale Yarborough won the 500 three times in a row. But I do have my own set of memories, and I am just as entitled to reminisce as anyone else. I am also just as entitled to theorize about NASCAR's future.
It just makes me wonder if what happened in big-time open wheel racing could happen to our sport. Just like we have CART and IRL, we could end up having NASCAR and "SSCAR" or "DRL" in the next twenty five years. It could happen... think about it... any one of the companies that own a multitude of Winston Cup tracks could do it easily. Here's a sample scenario: "BA Entertainment Co." which owns Track A, D, and E wants more Winston Cup dates. NASCAR refuses, and some big shot gets the idea of contacting "ROC Holdings" that owns Tracks B, C, and F and also wants more Winston Cup dates. The two companies decide "to heck with NASCAR" we'll form our own racing series. Let's contact Top Teams A, B, and C, offer them an obscene amount of money, and start our own racing league. Let's get us some big sponsors and we'll have a many races as we want. Yeah, that's the ticket. This little scenario is not meant to be funny, because it's a very real possibility. New tracks are being built like crazy, and they're all going to want Winston Cup dates. The fact is, NASCAR can't create too many more races without running the series all year. The only solution would be to phase out some of the older tracks in the series.
A split in NASCAR would be as devastating to it's fans as a divorce would be to my family. And just like outsiders can see the warning signs of a divorce, the true NASCAR fans out there can see a split coming.... I'm not the only one that feels this way. I've been reading commentaries in print and on the internet, and there are many who express concern over the direction NASCAR is taking. I feel as though most of this was sparked by the FOX TV deal. The cable channels that helped bring NASCAR to where it is today have been discarded. Another bit of tradition, cast off and soon to be forgotten. I realize that NASCAR is growing, and that is good. However, growth does not necessarily mean reinvention.
All we can do is hope that NASCAR survives this period of reinvention and gets back to what it's really all about-- breakneck speeds, tough drivers and loud cars.
2001 Car Guy of Benchfield