Full Throttle

The NASCAR Suits have a mile long list of why they insist on having Champions Week in the Big Apple, chief among them is exposure in one of the world’s media capitals. It’s a valid reason but with the NASCAR marketing machine as pervasive as it is I question the need for whatever boost NYC may provide.

I will be the first to admit I’m biased, and generally dislike all functions of this type. They’re all exercises in self-aggrandizement and provide increased income flow for the nations chiropractors to repair damage done while participants pat themselves on the back.

That said, what put me in total opposition to NASCAR’s obsession over NYC was the treatment they received during The Great Staten Island Adventure™. The negotiation process was rife with outright lies and physical altercations.

The fact the ISC effort failed and forced a sale to a large warehouse conglomerate is icing on the cake as far as I’m concerned. What residents feared most, traffic & its attendant pollution, is exactly what they will get as hundreds of 18-wheelers roll thru Staten Island each day. (I love the smell of diesel fumes in the morning!)

Early this year the Charlottle Observer floated the idea of Champions Week shifting its location to Las Vegas, sadly that didn’t happen.

By now you’re wondering where I’m going with this.

It’s here, in the following headline from a prominent NYC website.

“NASCAR Drivers Towing Giant Wal-Mart Full Of Fat Middle-Americans Thru Center Of Manhattan.”

That pretty much encapsulates the general feeling towards NASCAR (not to mention Middle-Americans) in the five boroughs of NY. To be fair, odds are good the headline was written by someone other than the author, but it made “print” none-the-less.

The article itself is nothing more than a Whine-Fest over Mid-Town traffic as a result of NASCAR parading it’s race cars through that part of the city. The city has declared a “Gridlock Alert Day” to which I say, call them all a Whaaaaaambulance!

It also makes me wonder if Gawker (you know, those wonderful people that bring you that Deadspin tripe that masquerades as a blog), also call foul when the Korean American Parade passes along Broadway tying up traffic.

Or perhaps they commence a Whine-Fest when the Hispanic Day or the Columbus Day Parades bring 5^th Avenue traffic to a standstill.

Truth be known, with all due respect to political correctness, I doubt if they would utter a single peep when September offers the Muslim Parade & Festival along Madison Ave.

Admittedly I have little proof any of the above assumptions are true, but MeThinks I’m close, and most of their crocodile tears are reserved for NASCAR. (for more proof check out the comment thread: “Have you met any NASCAR fans? Any “real Heartland Americans”? He was being restrained.”)

As I said, I could care less about the event itself, but it’s high time NASCAR divorced itself from the ungrateful bastards that live in and run the city of New York. Move Champ Week to East Timbuktu for all I care just move it.

UPDATE: The ignorance and stupidity didn’t stop at a few NYC media outlets and blog comment threads, it reached all the way to NYC’s Mayor Bloomberg. He claims he knew nothing about NASCAR’s top 10 drivers parading through Midtown NY or the gridlock it would cause due to a scheduling conflict with the annual Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting.

Stick a sock in it Mayor, or a Nomex racing glove, and just shut up.

UPDATE II: Here is a “Dear Brian” [France] letter I’m in complete agreement with.