It's the season of change for NASCAR's followers
San Jose Mercury News
February 17, 2007
I'm not the most comfortable with them. They call this 'The Great American Race.' American drivers sitting behind the wheels of American cars.
Well, except for those brand new Toyotas mixed in among the usual Fords, Chevys and Dodges. Oh, and then there's brash rookie Juan Pablo Montoya, an import from the international Formula One series, who hails from Colombia.
Suddenly, today's Daytona 500 isn't looking quite like your father's NASCAR anymore.
Not everyone is happy, either, in a sport where loyalties run deep and tradition always has meant something to the country's most passionate fan base.
The cheating scandal that engulfed the Daytona International Speedway garage during the past week may have grabbed headlines, but the larger issue facing NASCAR as a new season dawns is how it negotiates unprecedented change.
And the arrival of Toyota to the previously all-American Nextel Cup series has some in the insular, flag-waving NASCAR Nation particularly miffed, claiming they no longer recognize their sport. Popular drivers Dale Jarrett and Michael Waltrip even have dealt with being branded as turncoats for jumping into Camrys.
Car owner Jack Roush, a Ford man, recently growled that he's 'going to war' with Toyota.
Yet there's also stock-car legend Richard Petty, The King himself who owns a team that races Dodges saying that change is inevitable and people just need to deal with it.
'Everybody don't drive an American car,' Petty said. 'Sorry about that Dodge.'
Yes, it's a strange time for NASCAR.
Coast-to-coast reach
Originally a regional sport with souped-up street cars powered by Detroit engines and with drivers who moonlighted as bootleggers, NASCAR has spent the past two decades expanding upon its Southern roots and burning rubber well beyond the Mason-Dixon Line.
Today, NASCAR is the undisputed No. 2 spectator sport in America behind only the mighty NFL. NASCAR claims to have 75 million fans, and 40 percent of them women. Proof of its growing mainstream appeal is how the annual June race in Sonoma has become Northern California's largest sporting event.
And while it once was odd to see a California driver in the Daytona 500 field, today there will be seven -- including the defending series champion Jimmie Johnson.
But there also have been signs that NASCAR's pedal-to-the-metal growth might finally be braking. TV ratings dipped last year and attendance at some racetracks was down, too. Among the complaints are that both the season and individual races are too long.
As NASCAR's national footprint has grown with more events in places like Southern California, Kansas City and Chicago, there have been indications that the sport's grass-roots base in the South has felt neglected.
'There's strong anecdotal evidence that some fans thought this was the end of NASCAR as they know it,' said David Carter, executive director of the USC Sports Business Institute. 'And they're right. But they had a nostalgic view of the sport. Fans don't like change, and NASCAR fans are exceedingly loyal.'
That means sticking by the beleaguered American auto industry, which helps explain the anti-Toyota sentiment.
The Japanese company -- which soon will pass GM as the world's No. 1 automaker -- is the first foreign manufacturer in NASCAR since Jaguar in the 1950s. When Toyota joined NASCAR's truck series in 2004, crusty driver Jimmy Spencer barked that 'those (people) bombed Pearl Harbor, don't forget.' Now, there's even a Web site called Fans Against Racing Toyotas. (You figure out the acronym.)
It sure is a lot of venom being spewed over a Camry car that annually is America's most-popular seller and a company that has 33,500 employees working in U.S. plants. (Complicating the debate is how Camrys are being built in Kentucky, while the Ford Fusion is made in Mexico, and Chevrolet's Monte Carlo and the Dodge Charger are manufactured in Canada.)
NASCAR's old guard fears that the deep-pocketed company will spend its way into victory lane. Toyota did win 12 of 25 races in NASCAR's Craftsman Trucks Series last year.
Mark Martin, one of NASCAR's elder statesmen, said Toyota is good for the sport because competition makes everyone better. But Martin concedes that he's still 'riding on the fence' when it comes to the newcomer.
'I am one of those traditionalists,' he said. 'I'm not the most comfortable with them.'
Toyota's debut in Nextel Cup has been bumpy. Only four of the eight Camrys -- which look like every other stock car -- qualified for today's race. San Jose's A.J. Allmendinger was among those sent home early. And Waltrip, the worst offender among the cheaters for using an illegal fuel additive, emotionally apologized for the embarrassment he caused Toyota.
But the belief is Toyota eventually will figure it out.
And the Dodge-driving Montoya may have already.
Foreign influx
It's not exactly real life imitating reel life. But Montoya's jump to stock cars comes after last summer's Will Ferrell comedy 'Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby' that featured Sacha Baron Cohen (pre-'Borat') as an over-the-top Formula One driver who switches to NASCAR.
Montoya is no joke. He's a former Indianapolis 500 winner and CART open-wheel series champion with a global following. Montoya, who won seven times in Formula One, chose to race in Bristol and Martinsville over the more exotic locations of Bahrain and Monaco.
'Some people in F1 were shocked and wanted to know why I was doing this,' said Montoya, 31, who drives for Chip Ganassi Racing. 'But I'm very happy. If I had realized how good this was, I would have made the switch earlier.'
NASCAR officials hope he can help them attract a whole new audience, including more of the nation's expanding Hispanic population. Montoya has created a buzz by showing that he's a quick learner. He led 19 laps of his 150-mile qualifying race Thursday before a wheel-bearing failure sent him into the wall.
'He's a great talent and I have no doubt that he'll win a race in his rookie season,' said Tony Stewart, today's favorite. 'But I don't think he's going to revolutionize NASCAR or anything like that.'
Maybe, maybe not.
USC's Carter believes the sport is in 'phenomenal shape' and that its popularity hasn't peaked. And Ganassi said if Americans can embrace foreign athletes in basketball, baseball and hockey, they will do the same in NASCAR.
As for Toyota, Ganassi added: 'Maybe they don't have the history of Dodge or Chevrolet in U.S. racing, but things change when you get to the winner's circle. Everybody loves a winner and nobody likes a loser.'
Meanwhile, the old NASCAR gets smaller and smaller in the rear-view mirror, like it or not.
'The hard-core fan has never seen a foreign make in this sport,' Johnson said. 'And with a foreign driver coming in, I'm sure he's going to get some ribbing. When you come to NASCAR country, you've got to have thick skin.'
Now comes the real test: to see how thick NASCAR's skin is.
With Team toyota- a Japanese Company and Juan Pablo Montoya, a colombian what else is next!!!
NASCAR-The Great American Race, not anymore!!!
Originally Posted by dongi
  Funny though... how they still run an advertisement that includes a NASCAR highlight.
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