I couldn’t keep myself from following the trial pitting NASCAR against the 23XI and Front Row race teams, but I did so with something approaching dread.
On the one hand, I couldn’t help but want NASCAR to lose, because it’s time the sanctioning body had limits put on its ability to bully everybody else and enforce its will even when chances were pretty good that its will would take all of us down the wrong path.
On the other hand, while I like Michael Jordan (I worked at UNC when he played there) and Denny Hamlin (a fellow Virginian and Southside Speedway guy), and I have no negative feelings about Bob Jenkins, I absolutely hate the charter system, and the teams’ victory strengthens that system and probably removes the final chance that it might go away.
So, to me, the trial was a spectator sport that I was never sure I really wanted to follow, and its conclusion might be seen as the last nail in the coffin for that part of racing that I once built my days, weeks, and years around following. The trial’s conclusion brought me no joy at all.
NASCAR’s logo back in the early original stock car racing days.
Somewhere, the thought occurred to me, Herb Thomas, David Pearson, Alan Kulwicki, and countless others are spinning in their graves . . . or maybe like Ricky Rudd feeling grateful to have come along when they did, when grit and determination could get you a shot at the NASCAR “big time,” regardless of whether you belonged to the right wealthy man’s club.
Today, if you win enough bomber/hobby/thundercar division races, you might earn the attention of folks who might help you move up to the next feeder division and then to whatever brings the most fans to your home track: late models, modifieds, sprint cars, etc. But once you get to that point, unless you’re still very young, have good teeth, and know how to talk nicely and non-controversially, your climb is done.
If you check all the right boxes, you might get a shot at an ARCA or Craftsman Truck Series ride, AS LONG AS you bring along a sponsor.
“Sorry, Mr. Thomas, but $50 from your sawmill isn’t good enough.”
Rudd and his dad took on the establishment, and Ricky eventually moved into better rides and stardom, but a car sponsored by the family auto parts business would have no chance today of accomplishing what they did.
Kulwicki pretty much plunged in with his own car, but even with the decent sponsors he managed to attract, he would have been at a much greater disadvantage today as an un-chartered team.
I also think of H.B. Bailey, CooCoo Marlin, Worth McMillion, and all those racers who liked to take on the best a few times a year, without the full-time commitment. Today, a couple of teams try that with rotating drivers, and it ain’t the same. With most of the money going to the chartered teams and only a handful of starting field spots even available, the barriers are too high.
The high cost of NASCAR racing is an entirely different issue, but even with resources to address that hurdle, the charter system presents a huge obstacle to anyone trying to break into NASCAR traveling circuit racing today, and that makes this a completely different sport from what I grew up loving.
I remember going to Rockingham in 1976 and seeing a plain-looking Ford with the name Bill Elliott above the door. Nobody had any clue who the kid was, and it would take him and his shoestring family team six years of part-time competition before Harry Melling took notice. Today that dream – and perhaps the most popular driver in history after Richard Petty – wouldn’t stand a chance.
Today’s NASCAR logo, adopted after all the heroes discussed above were gone from the scene.
I could talk about the past here for a lot longer, but that just reflects reality. The past is past, and the sport NASCAR promotes today has little to do with the NASCAR of Buck Baker, Joe Weatherly, Cale Yarborough, Bobby Allison, or – if you’re anywhere near the same age as me – any driver whose number you have in a place of honor.
Moving forward, post-lawsuit, NASCAR will continue to present a sport that it hopes will attract enough fans to thrive. More changes will come, but even as it is now, that sport has little to do with what I used to follow devoutly, so while I will pay attention, my loyalty will be on the short tracks where the sport of auto racing is the version of the sport that I love.
As with any big trial, the lawyers were the big winners. The fans of the NASCAR that used to be, well, a hot dog from the convenience store downt he block will likely be more rewarding than what hits the track in 2026.
(Photo credits: All four of the logos used with this article obviously were originally from NASCAR, although the versions I picked from various corners of the web were from various non-original users, and some of them also used in previous articles here on PTR)
Frank Buhrman
Frank, you are I are entirely in agreement with your assessment of the trial and the outcome.