Thoughts racing about things to be thankful for ... or not

By Bob Henry

ThatsRacin.com Editor

It’s a formula as old as newspapers, maybe older: On or around Thanksgiving, sports columnists the print world over file their “what I’m thankful for” yarns. “I’m thankful for offensive lines that give the Brett Favres our of lives time to work the magic they do.”

Or “ ... for the Brian Frances who have the vision to ...” and so on.

The same guys are probably already working on their “all I want for Christmas” columns, which will wish in vain “for offensive lines that will allow a Panthers quarterback to survive long enough to actually play eight quarters in a row” or something like that.

We’ve got one of those guys here at The Charlotte Observer, which, of course, is part of the vast ThatsRacin.com complex in downtown Charlotte. We’ve also got a guy who takes the opposite tack and has written a column this week outlining what he’s least thankful for. Same deal, just with the negative spin. (You know how journalists are.)

Another time-honored newspaper tradition is to steal the ideas of others. And it’s a way of doing business that’s reaching new heights in this, the Internet age. Indeed, some sites would likely fold if they couldn’t go that route. Even if their owners like to claim they “broke” the pilfered piece that was originally reported elsewhere weeks or months before.

So I’m going to steal from both of those columnists’ approach and mix ‘em up in this post-Thanksgiving blog. I’d welcome hearing about the things in racing for which you’re the most or least thankful as well.

Beyond family, friends, doctors and nurses, and a great bunch of co-workers and co-bloggers, along with the occasional birdies and putts that actually fall ...

I’m most thankful for getting to occasionally stand in a speedway’s infield during qualifying and hearing the racket that a single car makes echoing off the walls, stands and all the rest. A close second is the sound – complete with its slammin’ Doppler effect at a big track like Talladega – as the full field comes around to take the green, then runs the first lap, the throttles all nailed to the firewalls.

And I’m a little less thankful for the way restrictor plates have muted that great sound.

I’m most thankful – even if restrictor plates are part of the picture – for how much safer racing has become since the 2001 season.

I’m least thankful it took that season’s losses to get to where we are today and that we’re still losing racers and fans at a shameful rate.

I’m most thankful for Andy Hillenburg, who has purchased the track at Rockingham and promised to bring it as far back as any human can in today’s overly corporate racing world.

I’m least thankful for an overly corporate racing world that’s produced mega-owners whose teams have cornered the best sponsors, talent and equipment and made a decent finish the only realistic hope for those whose pockets aren’t as scarily and sometimes even immorally deep.

I’m most thankful for the fact that it’s not worse than it is. Yet. NASCAR racing is still a far cry from CART or Champ Car or whatever they’re going to call it next. Those owners overran anyone and everyone who tried to level that playing field and now have a nice exclusive little club racing thing going for themselves. Even if they’ve got talented drivers and teams, the crowds in the paddock almost outnumber the fans in the stands and watching at home.

I’m least thankful that Formula One racing – whose owners and operators often make the NASCAR crowd look like saints – is pretty much the same mess as Champ Car, only much bigger.

I’m most thankful that the Indianapolis 500 is kind of rebounding from the dark years immediately after the IRL-CART split. Go just about anywhere on the planet and strike up a conversation about racing. Even if they don’t know from Daytona and Darlington – and they probably do – they know what the word Indianapolis means.

I’m least thankful that the IRL-CART split ever happened. (Please see above, “overly corporate” and add a healthy portion of that ingredient commonly called greed.)

I’m most thankful for the latest resurgence in drag racing. If ever there truly was a grassroots way to race, this is it. Always was and still is. Even with the megabuck owners and teams putting on the big show, there’s still plenty of room for Jack, Jackie and Mike and Michelle to climb into their cars and race.

One of the best things, too, about drag racing? If the one you’re watching is kind of boring, don’t worry. It’s probably over by now and there will be another one in just a minute.

I’m least thankful for that loud and costly debate and all the hand-wringing over Bruton Smith’s plans for a drag strip at Lowe’s Motor Speedway and public officials’ costly and embarrassing capitulation.

I’m most thankful that the and costly and embarrassing capitulation is only beginning and that the media feeding frenzy over it is also just getting under way. And not just because ThatsRacin.com will get lots of traffic as the drama plays out. Before this is over, there are going to be many, many ugly revelations about how big business and our governments interact. And I firmly believe that will be enlightening for the taxpayer/citizens who take the time to learn more about it.

I’m least thankful that the aforementioned media frenzy will likely detract a little from Bruton Smith’s plans for the track formerly known as Charlotte Motor Speedway. I agree with friend David Green that the Charlotte track has always been among the brightest stars in the American racing firmament. And I believe Smith will remake and relaunch the venerable speedway in a way that few of us can even imagine at this point.

Some of his plans will be revealed early next week, but I’m betting those plans will evolve right up until the grand reopening and that we ain’t seen nothin’ yet, no matter many how many tracks we think we’ve been to and how much we think we know about it.

I’m most thankful for all that Fox, ESPN, ABC, Speed, Motor Racing Network, Performance Racing Network, Sirius, XM and the rest of  'em do to make racing coverage available to so many of us. Just stop and think for a minute sometime, all the way back to when that three-paragraph brief in Monday’s newspaper or that month-old three-minute clip on “Wide World of Sports” was about all you ever to help you keep up with auto racing.

I’m least thankful for fans who breathlessly long for “the good ol’ days,” when they imagine the racing was always better, the men always bigger, braver and more innovative and so on.

I’ll grant them this: The belt buckles were bigger, as was a lot of women’s hair. But sometimes the races – just like today’s – could be super or stink. It just kind of depended. Yeah, there were some great ones and we all cherish those memories, even if they grew out of those three-paragraph briefs mentioned above.

Artist Sam Bass, for one, recalls early visits to Bristol “with 3,500 of my closest friends” and watching the eventual winner cruising around with a several-lap lead for the final 100 circuits.

And just admit it" Today, every now and again - and despite the numerous obstacles - we’re still seeing some pretty darned good racing out there.

I’m most thankful for the charities that are part of what we generally refer to as "the racing family." I sincerely hope that doesn’t require any further explanation.

I’m least thankful that I didn’t contribute more than I did in 2007 to some of them.

But I might have just stumbled onto the start of a New Year’s resolution blog for about a month from now.