Jan. 29, 2008 - Our Evolving Business

Technology has and is changing the world. And it is changing the newspaper and media industry.

While National Speed Sport News is an auto racing publication and 99 times out of 100 that will be the subject of this blog, today we are going to share some personal experiences from the day that are really as much observations as anything else.

In the world of newspapers, NSSN is probably as old fashioned and traditional as any newspaper around, but times are changing. The Internet is putting a hurting on most types of publications. NSSN is no different.

Today’s young adults and future adults are much more reliant on the Internet than traditional newspapers like NSSN. And it’s getting worse every day.

This morning I had the pleasure of addressing four groups — about 100 in all — of seventh graders during a career day at a local middle school.

Only six said they read a newspaper or a magazine on an every-day basis. However, all but a few said they use the Internet every day. These kids and others like them all across the country are the future readers (customers) of National Speed Sport News, the Charlotte Observer, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the New York Times and other newspapers. Yet, they have very little exposure to or knowledge of newspapers.

Thus, we in the newspaper industry are left trying to figure out, how do we tweak our product to attract these future readers and solidify the future of our publications.

We at NSSN, like most newspapers are using the Internet. We have a Web site. But that creates two problems. One is how do we use the Web site to our advantage to lure younger customers.

The bigger question is that we have many older customers that are not Internet savvy and don’t want to be. Within minutes of returning from the school I answered a pair of questions for older readers that they easily could have found the answers via the Internet, but instead they rely on us for the answers.

How to use the Internet to provide information to our readers while at the same time producing a quality and entertaining newspaper or magazine is a difficult balance. We haven’t yet discovered the best way to do it.

But the writing is on the wall, we in the publishing business need to change for the times. If we don’t the times will pass us by — and very quickly at that.

Jan. 24, 2008 - Kerchner On Tour

Three days riding a bus around the North Carolina countryside visiting one overly optimistic race team after another can become a little repetitive.

And when you sprinkle in a stop at Hendrick Motorsports which included the King of All Auto racing Dale Earnhardt, Jr., stress can mount quickly.

Wednesday afternoon (Jan. 23) NASCAR champions Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson received a minimal amount of attention at Hendrick Motorsports, while media members pushed and shoved one another to get close to Earnhardt.

Some crawled under and through curtains to take pictures of Earnhardt, who by the way has never won a championship and hasn’t won a race in nearly two years, while others shimmied up poles and stood on chairs. It was mass chaos at its greatest.

Later that evening the Tour, or at least those that hadn’t given up the ghost after getting their photograph or sound bite from King Dale, Jr., made the trek to Michael Waltrip’s Race World USA.

It was well worth the trip. The visit to Waltrip’s was low-key and humorous. Waltrip had even hired a comedian, some big dude name Mutzie, to warm up the crowd for him. And while Mutzie brought a few grins, Waltrip, in his typical from-the-heart, off-the-wall style brought down the house as the headlining act.

Talking from his heart about the struggles of Michael Waltrip Racing last season and how the team has improved while relating funny stories along with a few barbs against NASCAR and some of his former employees, Waltrip gave Tour participants a chance to relax and laugh at themselves, as well as some of the craziness that has become NASCAR racing.

Waltrip outlawed the word “excited,” during the program at MWR and himself used virtually every possible alternative to the word. While he never said he was excited, the two-time Daytona 500 winner set a record for being “giddy.”

At one point, Waltrip said: “It is important for me to do it differently because I am a little different.”

And while sometimes Michael can go overboard with his over-the-top enthusiasm, especially during television appearances, there is no question the attendees of the 26th annual Lowe’s Motor Speedway Media Tour, are thankful Michael is a little different.

At least I am.

Jan. 15, 2008 - Already Weary Of Junior

Last year, I grew sick of Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Now, I am tired of him, too.

As a matter of fact, I have been sick of him for years. I don’t dislike him. I think he is one of the most honest and true-to-himself personalities in NASCAR racing. But, well, he’s everywhere.

Well, not Jr. himself, but his likeness. You cannot get away from Junior Mania. And one week into testing with his new Hendrick Motorsports team, Junior is more visible than ever before.

Never before has a driver who failed to win a race the previous year and has won only once in his last two seasons, received as much attention as Dale Earnhardt, Jr. is getting leading into this season.

He’s never won and championship and he’s never even been in contention for one. Now, he is the teammate to two drivers (Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon) who between them own six NASCAR Cup titles, but they are living in the shadows of Earnhardt.

It was news that Earnhardt showed up at the race track last week when he wasn’t scheduled to be there, and this week he is there, and in the media rush to have information about Junior that your competitors do not have, has been asked just about every softball question imaginable.

One reporter even asked him if he felt that NASCAR’s television ratings lagged because of his poor performance last year?

But, what hasn’t he been asked? Can you win the NASCAR championship?

Can he? I think so. He’s a more than capable driver, who now has the best equipment money can buy. But can he focus for 36 races and put his life as NASCAR’s rock star super hero out of his mind?

That’s another question, he wasn’t asked in Daytona this week. One we will have an answer to in, oh, about 10 months.

If the answer is yes, those who are tired of being besieged by stories about New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, haven’t seen anything yet.

Earnhardt is already one of the nation’s most recognizable sports stars, and he hasn’t accomplished anything the likes of what Brady has in the NFL.

A Tom Brady-like season, and Junior really just may be everywhere.

Jan. 8, 2008 - Missing The Chili Bowl

While we were unable to make the trip to Tulsa this week for the 22nd annual Chili Bowl Nationals, midget racing’s premier event will not be far from our thoughts.

With more than 270 midget drivers and teams from across the country entered for an indoor event on a flat quarter-mile, there is no question the prestige of this event promoted by Lanny Edwards and Emmett Hahn.

Not only does the event bring many of auto racing’s top stars to a showcase event under one roof, but it allows lower budgeted teams to compete on a near-level base with the better funded teams of the sport. It also allows those like drag racers Gary Scelzi and Cruz Pedregon and late-model ace Josh Richards, who don’t normally toil in open-wheel race cars.

While the Scelzis, Tony Stewarts and Kasey Kahnes of the world get a lot of attention for competing at the Chili Bowl, it is the presence of some of legends of the sport who only dust off their helmets a few times a year and the dreamers who hope to one day be compared with Stewart and Kahne.

While there is a story behind every name on the Chili Bowl entry list, some are more interesting than others.

Former sprint-car and midget racer Ron Shuman is scheduled to return to the cockpit of a midget at the Chili Bowl, racing as a teammate to his son Casey. It will be the first time in nearly 10 years Shuman has raced competitively.

Auto racing comedian and former USAC midget champion Kevin Olson will be in action, as will longtime sprint-car competitor Shane Carson, who today spends more time on his cell phone as the World of Outlaws director of industry relations, than behind the wheel of a race car. Speaking of the WoO, World Racing Group Chief Financial Officer Brian Carter will also be wheeling a midget at Tulsa Expo Raceway this week.

There are two Heydenreichs — former Chili Bowl winner John Heydenreich and his nephew Eric. Multi-time Chili Bowl winner Sammy Swindell and his son, Kevin, are also entered.

Late-model racer Bart Hartman, whose late father Butch was a USAC stock car regular, is among the many late-model racers wheeling midgets at the Chili Bowl.

USAC midget mainstay Brad Loyet is fielding six cars, with Jon Stanbrough and Danny Lasoski among his drivers.

Finally, many-time BCRA title winner Floyd Alvis, who is several years past his 70th birthday, will be back in a midget, wheeling his familiar No. 18 at the Chili Bowl.

Wishing we were there…

Jan. 3, 2008 - A Bowl System For Racing?

I love football. I am addicted to it. From early September through the national championship game, college football is my weekly passion. Saturday is the best day of the week.

But one of the best things about college football and the NFL for that matter is that there is a culmination to the season. Bowl week for college football, the playoffs and the Super Bowl for the NFL.

My other passion – auto racing – doesn’t really have that. While NASCAR has Ford Championship Weekend at Homestead and NHRA has the Finals at Pomona and dirt racing has various season-ending biggies, including the World Finals at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, there’s not one big week where a viewer can turn on the television and see the best of the best.

Wouldn’t it be cool if the first week in January or maybe the week before Christmas, there were a series of non-point high-paying championship races to be shown on national television — on let’s be conservative and say four consecutive nights?

Events could be held all at the same facility, say Las Vegas Motor Speedway, or Daytona. The events would be open to all comers that meet the rules package devised for these one of a kind events.

Thursday could start with road racing, with participation from cars and competitors from Grand Am, ALMS and SCCA all taking part.

Friday could be a Night of Fire with a one-day only drag racing program featuring the best the NHRA and IHRA have to offer in the Pro Stock, Funny Car and Top Fuel divisions. Imagine the stress, if only one or two rounds of qualifying were held to determine the 16-car fields.

Saturday would be open-wheel night with the best of IRL and Champ Car facing off for the only time all year.

And finally the Sunday finale would feature stock cars, with a rules package designed to attract competitors from all three NASCAR series and ARCA as well.

To me those would be destination events for fans and would attract a tremendous number of viewers, and we haven’t even discussed short-track events that could accompany these four nights of made-for-TV auto racing frenzy.

But just like a playoff system in college football, there is absolutely zero chance of all the factions of auto racing and television coming together for something so spectacular. But it is a nice New Year’s thought, isn’t it?