Posted on 07/13/2007 7:09:57 AM PDT by FReepaholic
Hendrick Motorsports today announced that long-term contractual commitments to existing sponsors will preclude Budweiser from continuing as primary sponsor of the car driven by Dale Earnhardt Jr. when he joins the organization next season.
(Excerpt) Read more at kxxv.com ...
Did he get the coveted Dinoco sponsorship?
I like that commercial.
There’s something wrong with nascar. I can’t quite put my finger on it.
We’re huge fans of many drivers. Something changed when they went to the new championship forum.
Does anyone know if Hendrick got the rights to use number 8 from DEI?
What happened is Brian "Frenchie" France. That f-ing bastard!
Same thing happened in baseball when they went to the league championship format in ‘68. It cheapens the regular season & rewards teams that ‘peak’ at the end of the season.
I think it all started when they sent Tony Stewart to ‘anger management’. Kevin Harvick has been ‘in the trailer’ after races, too.
There’s no PASSION anymore. They want to turn the drivers into robots or something. Yes, safety is an issue but one of my favorite memories is of Cale Yarborough and Allison Brothers fight after the race. (OMG, I just looked it up and that was in 1979.) No one was hurt
Maybe I should be a Hockey fan.
Yeah, and there's a lot of hypocricy in NASCAR, too. How many times have you seen that Yarborough/Allison fight on a NASCAR broadcast? A lot. Yet if Tony Stewart shoves somebody in the pits, man-to-man, he's risking suspension.
It's all about the money. Too much of it at risk. Going back to my baseball analogy: Frank Robinson said that if you hit a homerun off certain pitchers in his day you could expect to get a brush-back pitch on your next at-bat. I think he was specifically referring to Don Drysdale, but a lot of pitchers did it. Now there are pitchers so afraid to end a career that they won't throw on the inside of the plate. How many times did Hank Aaron hit the dirt in his career. Too numerous to count, I'm sure. Throw inside on Barry Bonds after a homer, for example, and you'll likely get ejected on the spot.
NASCAR, in order not to "offend" all the sponsors, have turned the sport "vanilla".
You're right, there is no more passion. They're just riding around in freaking billboards.
It's just become a four hour commercial.
Remember when Dale Jr. was admonished by NASCAR for cussing on his radio? Hell, that was DURING the race!
It's all about the money. Sad.
It changed when Dale Sr. died.
Earnhardt brought the passion you were talking about to the sport.
You either loved him or hated him.
Real rivalries existed between him and Gordon, Bodine and others.
It hasn't been the same since then.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.