I started out as a “racing reporter” by writing a weekly NASCAR column for The Mountain Press newspaper in Sevierville, Tenn. back in 2008 just because I thought it would be fun to have a platform to express my views on a sport that I have loved since my childhood. That later spawned a NASCAR-themed website called RacingWithRich.com on which I had an unlimited platform dedicated to racing.
Action on paved race tracks can be pretty intense
Shortly after I began writing NASCAR columns a friend invited me to a World of Outlaws Late Model Series race at the Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tenn. It was the first time I had been to a dirt track since I was a teenager and used to go to the various tracks around east Tennessee with my dad. And to be honest, the primary reason I returned on that particular night was because defending Daytona 500 champ Ryan Newman along with Richard Childress grandsons Austin and Ty Dillon were going to be on hand and I thought I might find a NASCAR related angle for one of my newspaper or website stories.
But on that night I renewed my passion for dirt racing as I watched Shane Clanton drive to victory against a field that included drivers such as Scott Bloomquist, Jimmy Owens, Tim McCreadie and several others I had heard of even when not following the action on the clay very closely.
Dirt track racing offers plenty of excitement
However, one thing I figured out fairly quickly as I began to write about both was that there is apparently some strange unwritten rule that it is somehow wrong to be a fan of both dirt racing and NASCAR at the same time. As a result, I created a second website and even a second Twitter account dedicated to dirt racing so that the two worlds would not collide.
To this day, I still cannot figure out the reason for all the animosity between the two forms of oval track racing.
Kyle Larson
As was seen this week, some NASCAR fans did not appreciate driver Kyle Larson expressing his desire to be a full-time World of Outlaws Sprint Car racer by the time he reaches 40-years-old. A few on social media chastised the racer, no doubt wondering why he would forsake the “premier” form of racing in America to journey all over the country and have dirt thrown in his face several times each week.
Over the past couple of seasons former NASCAR champion Tony Stewart has essentially done exactly what Larson expressed he would like to do. ‘Smoke’ travels all over the country racing a Sprint Car on clay surfaces(just not with the World of Outlaws). Kenny Wallace also does much the same thing with his Open Wheel Modified machine. And both men seem to be very much enjoying this phase of their lives while still involved with NASCAR in the form of a team co-owner and broadcaster respectively.
But NASCAR fans are not the only ones who offer disdain for the other form of racing. A stroll through any parking lot at a dirt track will no doubt bring about the sight of multiple bumper stickers reading something to the effect of “Dirt is for racing, Asphalt is for getting there”.
Why does there have to be this adversarial relationship? After all, it’s just cars going around an oval track at high speed. What difference does it make whether the surface is paved or not?
The idea that there can’t be a good race on a paved track is ridiculous. And at the same time, the opposite is also true. Further, for one side to claim it’s drivers are more talented than the other is without merit.
Does anyone believe Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, or either of the Busch brothers don’t have the talent to succeed on dirt if they really dedicated themselves to it? Or, is anyone going to claim that Scott Bloomquist, Josh Richards, or Donny Schatz are not talented racers because they have never won in NASCAR?
Yes, I will concede that the leadership of the organization known as NASCAR has not made many decisions over the past several years that I agree with. But the sport of NASCAR(which is different from the sanctioning company) still offers high speed action with plenty of thrills.
Besides, the sanctioning bodies and track promoters of dirt racing are not immune from making questionable decisions either. But that doesn’t necessarily take away from the excitement of the sport itself.
Racing in all forms is at somewhat of a crossroads right now as it looks to find its place in an ever changing world quickly being overrun with the fickle tastes of the millennial generation. It seems to this writer that all forms of the sport would be far better served supporting each other rather and trying to find some common ground than working so hard to tear each other down.
Besides, I think we would all be better served to think about something other than what a 25-year-old racer plans to do with his life fifteen years from now.
Richard Allen is a member of the National Motorsports Press Association
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