The Na$car Food Chain
By M.L. Morgan
Well, race fans, we hear from fans from all over the country. We know that's not a shock to you. We have shared their views many times. Race Views is for fans.
One of our fans told us about a radio broadcast from one of the newer Nascar venues, I won't say where, for reasons which will be obvious shortly. The gist of the conversation was, the folks in this particular community weren't too happy with the inlux of race fans to their town. Particularly the southern fans.Our ears perked up - we didn't like the sound of this. We had to follow up on this deal. Our source has always been 100% reliable, so we had no reason to doubt him. So we got on the plane and went to this particular city.
For convenience, we'll just refer to this city as Podunk, but it wasn't Podunk. Trust me. So, our friend picks us up at the Podunk airport. He takes us to his estate and plays the tape of the radio broadcast for us. It was even worse than you would believe.
This was a call-in show. Figures. Podunkians have no lives. First caller says "I saw them rednecks at my McDonalds this morning." Wilfred, the host, did his best to be cool, but it was tough. Wilfred asks "And what happened ?" They was eating biscuits. "And?" They was eating my biscuits. I had to wait in line for more. Wilfred tries humor - "should these race fans be arrested ?" No - they should be kilt. Wilfred then changed lines. The next caller was slightly more rational. Seems he was the manager of a local motel which most often rents rooms by the hour. His name was Richard Head, if I remember right. Wilfred gives it his best shot - "O.K., what is your story, Dick ?" (You know I wasn't going to say that !) Well we got a family of them rednecks to check in last night and when I told them the price was $300 per night they paid me in cash. Wilfred: "And ?" And what ?
We heard similar stories from equally disabled gas station owners. And cab drivers. And all the others who profitted from the race fans.
We personally don't care for Nascar expanding to so many new markets, like Podunk. But whenever Nascar goes to a new community their economy is stimulated. But it frequently happens, as it did in Podunk, that the natives are resentful of Nascar's intrusion. We don't quite understand their logic. These people are ignoring the fact that Nascar fans leave a trail of money behind them when they go to a race.
We won't go back to Podunk. They were willing to take our money, but they made fun of us. If we were into abuse, we would have stayed married.
We were raised in New Orleans, LA. We learned early about Mardi Gras prices. Now we see Nascar prices. Same deal. Quadruple the prices because of the special event. Maybe that's just business. Maybe it's bullshit.
But then we see crap like what happened in Podunk. These so-called business people ambushed every visitor with their obscene price increases and then had the audacity to complain about our fans. These pigs can't have it both ways.
We hate it for the fans. No doubt the fans in Podunk wanted to see Winston Cup Racing. Ranks up there with roller derby for popularity in the mid-west.
We wish other venues would learn from the ugly display we saw at Podunk. We just want to be kissed - don't gouge us and then make fun. I personally, speaking out of character, will not go back to Bristol for that reason. Miles of motels which no one will consider staying in 11 months of the year, become priced like the Taj Mahal twice a year. Not this skinny kid.
We don't do an advice column. It's your money. Uncle Mike always says you can't protect people from themselves. But I'm much younger than he is - I'm not afraid of windmills.
Mike Morgan
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