There is a large part of me that believes I’ve seen just about everything that can happen in Sprint Car racing. It takes a lot to surprise me.
It’s not an all-knowing arrogance. When you walk around a pit areas for 23 years, you become numb to the hiring and firing of drivers, the next piece of gossip you hear, or the dirty little secrets that can’t be put in print.
When you go behind the curtain in any sport, you learn things that you wish you didn’t know. It comes with the territory and the job. Still, every once and a while, I’m left scratching my head in amazement.
That was the case in the hours following the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series announcing that it will be hosting an invitational race on May 8 at Knoxville Raceway. Fans couldn’t wait to go to the track’s Facebook page and give their opinion on an event that wouldn’t have patrons in the stands.
There were positive comments, but there was also an overwhelming and unwarranted backlash toward both the Outlaws and Knoxville Raceway. It left me perplexed and wondering what fans want or if they can be satisfied at all?
It’s both confusing and disheartening. Some of the same people who couldn’t wait to see a race on Pay-Per-View or otherwise and have some semblance normalcy are now sharpening their Internet fangs.
I just don’t get it.
The negativity ranged from season ticket holders not being able to attend to people being upset that they would have to pay for it on DIRTVision. The other naysayers spewed rhetoric about civil liberties and things of that nature, which falls flat with me because it sounds more like entitlement than logical thinking.
Maybe these people missed the announcement by Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds. In her proclamation, she said racetracks can reopen but are not allowed to have spectators in the grandstands.
Let’s put that aside for a minute, although, that pretty much ends every argument. This isn’t even a Knoxville Raceway event. This is the World of Outlaws making a deal with a facility to continue a season that has taken a bit of a hit.
Knoxville Raceway has very little control over this event. And, I wouldn’t want any. Not yet. There are too many regulations that are going to be instituted, and it’s going to take time to put things in place.
As for Pay-Per-View, the World of Outlaws aren’t turning this into a money grab. If they were, it would be a stand-alone event and you would have to pay a special single-day rate to view it in the comfortable confines of your home.
Instead, World of Outlaws officials have made this part of their monthly Fast-Pass option. If you aren’t a regular subscriber, you are going to have to purchase it, but that isn’t much different than going to the gate and plopping down Benjamins to grab a spot in the grandstand.
There are big-picture issues in play. Professional teams are in worse shape than fans when it comes to having, or not having, an event. If they don’t have races, they don’t have purses, and they don’t have income.
It’s a simple equation to understand. That could not only cost them sponsors in the future, it could make them close the doors and put them out of business. So, if they have to hold events without fans to get this sport going, I’m all for it.
Political views aside, racing will survive the COVID-19 pandemic. Regardless of what happens this season, racing, on the whole, isn’t going away.
But in order to be healthy when things open up, people in every aspect of racing — fans, teams, track workers, and sponsors — need to be flexible. There has to be a measure of understanding in place.
It’s funny, Terry McCarl and his staff received rave reviews leading up to and during last week’s event at Jefferson Park International Speedway. There were no fans in the stands and 32 sprint cars in the pit area.
Nobody complained about the event itself. Both Knoxville Raceway and the World of Outlaws deserve the same restraint and respect. They are taking a risk and providing a sense of normalcy in a time of uncertainty.