Johnson Honor Shows What’s Good About America, NASCAR
Official White House Photo
Being honored by President Obama at The White House on Wednesday has to rank among the highlights of Jimmie Johnson’s career.
It’s right up there with Johnson’s three consecutive Sprint Cup championships, celebrating a job well done.
But what stands out in my mind about Obama honoring Johnson is that it wasn’t about politics or soliciting votes, it was the all-American theme of the afternoon.
It was nationalism, but in the best sense possible, an infusion of pride that both the country and the sport need right about now.
With the ceremony televised on ESPN (another homegrown product of America), Obama seemed to revel in the fact that NASCAR is truly an American-born and raised sport.
In the post-George Bush II era, it’s good to hear about all good things American, rather than the insidious push for Bush’s vision of a “global economy,” that many of us today blame for what has become a global economic meltdown – if not a nightmare.
Which brings me to the point I want to make. For several years preceding the economic turndown, NASCAR appeared hell-bent on expanding internationally.
There was the expansion into Mexico and Canada. There also was the infusion of several foreign-born drivers, starting with Juan Pablo Montoya, who even though is a Colombian native, just happened to be at Wednesday’s event.
Unfortunately, the international push eventually floundered in Mexico (although it is thriving in Canada) and Montoya’s international successors – Jacques Villeneuve, Dario Franchitti and Patrick Carpentier – all barely hung around for a cup of coffee last season.
We all know that NASCAR has had problems with both at-track attendance and TV ratings dipping over the last few years. But at the same time, when you still draw 75,000 to 100,000 people for a race, or have ratings that are among the weekend’s highest of any sports-related show, it’s not necessarily all gloom and doom for the sport or NASCAR as a sanctioning body and promoter.
But if there’s one thing we’ve learned through this downturn, and which was further magnified in the audience with Obama on Wednesday, it was that the economic downturn and scaling back of international initiatives actually might be the best thing for NASCAR.
Sure, it would be great to have more new fans in other countries, but if the sport is to rediscover its roots and return to the prominence and success it had in the mid-to-late 1990s and earlier this decade, perhaps it’s best that NASCAR focus solely on all things American.
It’s what got the sanctioning body to the level it is today, that of the second-most watched and second-most popular sport in the country, both behind only the NFL.
Yes, the sport needs to expand if it’s going to thrive. And while international markets may bring in some new fans and revenue, to me there’s no better place to stir up interest and attract new fans or re-attract old fans that have left the sport by focusing solely on the initiative about how NASCAR, stock car racing and America all go hand-in-hand.
There’s still plenty of open territory in this country, so to speak, to bring millions more fans into the sport. Let’s brag about what and who we are as a nation, a fandom and a sport. Let’s remember that this is a sport and sanctioning body that was built on American bootlegging and racing. Let’s not forget the long and colorful history the sport has had, from racing on the beaches at Daytona to the tragic death of one of the greatest iconic figures the sport has ever known, the late Dale Earnhardt.
Sure, there are things wrong with this country, but there’s a hell of a lot more things that are right, and one of those is NASCAR. Let’s not forget it as the sport tries to weather one of its most difficult times and remember that can-do American attitude and pride which made this country – and this sport – great.
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