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NASCAR's Scent of Genius: Ignited Debate and Free Publicity

NASCAR, oh NASCAR. You never change. You’re constantly stirring the pot and causing people to alternately wax poetic about your beauty or take extreme umbrage at your hideousness. (Read about the changes to NASCAR's playoff system here.)

First of all, bravo, NASCAR, bravo, I say! You’ve played this situation with surgeon-like skill. Either NASCAR leaked (or arranged for a third party to leak) details of its proposed change to the Chase to Jim Utter of the Charlotte Observer in mid-January, or they just got lucky that someone spilled to Jim. Either way … BOOM … three weeks of free publicity during which NASCAR could say “no comment” but read all the reactions.

Whether the trial balloon was launched on purpose or not, the entire NASCAR media horde rushed in, reporting what Jim was reporting. The resulting mix of news and opinion spawned hundreds of stories worth millions of dollars in FREE publicity for NASCAR an opportunity for them to gauge reaction.

NASCAR Proposes Playoff Changes, People Freak Out, Jim Utter Must Feel Fantastic Right Now

I used to be a real newspaper reporter, and I can tell you one of the best feelings in journalism is the “scoop,” which is defined loosely as having big news first and having it right. Even better, when you scoop the world and they can’t get the same information so they are forced to write stories based entirely on your story. THAT is the ultimate.

Having said that, Jim Utter of the Charlotte Observer has to be high as a kite right now.

Because yesterday in a relatively small blurb he put out via Twitter (@jim_utter) which led to this story  on the Observer site, caused a FREAK OUT on the Twitter and spawned about 109 stories, including one in the mighty USA Today, all of which included some version of “the Charlotte Observer is reporting.” BOO-YEAH. Cue the celebratory scotch if I was in Mr. Utter’s place.

Racing's Disconnect with a New Generation

Can racing capture the Selfie Generation?

An interesting comment on another blog got me to thinking: why don’t the youngsters seem to get into racing?

Well, of course, there’s more competition for attention now. The rise of the Internet and cable/satellite TV has given everyone easy access to a flood of information, entertainment, and other sports — including some sports that didn’t even exist a generation ago.

Which leads to the question, what are racing’s challenges in competing for attention? Ah, the billion-dollar question. As the father of an 18 and 22-year-old, some stream-of-consciousness thoughts.

IndyCar's Harry Chapin Sound Track

Note: I (along with about a million others, it seems) originally attributed Cat's in the Cradle to Cat Stevens. I was, in fact, Harry Chapin. See comments below.

Why is it that every time I hear about the “exceptionally promising” future of IndyCar I hear Cat Stevens Harry Chapin in my head? Specifically “Cat’s in the Cradle.” Cue the chorus:

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man on the moon
When you coming home dad, I don't know when,
But we'll get together then
You know we'll have a good time then

Stevens’ Chapin's song is a cautionary tale about the dangers of a father not making time for his young son and then as the song progresses the son has no time for his elderly father. It’s always “we’ll get together soon,” but “soon” never arrives.