Monte Dutton - Eyewitness to NASCAR History

Agree with him or no, you’ve got to respect a guy like Monte Dutton. Dutton, who has been covering NASCAR since 1993, is one of the few journalists who can rightly be called an eyewitness to NASCAR history. And, when it comes to putting today’s NASCAR into context, this historian is no revisionist.

His assessments of the sport are blunt. His belief in the NASCAR party line often skeptical. But his journalistic candor is well-earned and, you could say, a logical result of his firsthand view of the sport’s evolution.

“Most of the people who do what I do originally didn’t know much about it, they were signed by a newspaper, and they know all about it now. But they don’t have the perspective,” Dutton said. “The first race I ever went to was at Bristol when I was seven years old. A Jarrett won - Ned Jarrett.”

Witnessing the ascendance of more than one Jarrett into racing’s upper echelon is just one of the changes Dutton has seen over the years. Most notably, Dutton has watched NASCAR enact myriad rules in an attempt to officiate the ever-changing sport. Yet as any student of the sport’s past will tell you, some of the tight controls which are now the norm have led to some negative consequences.

Take the generic look of the race cars, for instance.

“When I first started covering races in 1993, I remember marveling when I was driving to a race that the rarest thing you’d ever see would be a Ford with a Dale Earnhardt sticker or a Chevy with a Bill Elliott sticker,” Monte said. “Well now they’re all Hondas. And I think that NASCAR is sort of insulting fans in trying to tell them the decal of a headlight is the difference between a Ford and a Chevy.”

Dutton’s comments bring to mind the lyrics of an old David Lee Murphy song about a barmaid who spent her time breaking up fights over Chevys and Fords. Yet today’s fans are more likely to get into fights over Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. than the make of their favorite driver’s car.

“Now NASCAR will say ‘Well, it’s the driver now. Brand loyalty’s not as important,’ ” explained Dutton. “Well they pretty much destroyed brand loyalty. It was their own concerted attempt to do that, by gradually making the cars more and more alike.”

Dutton said the equalization of cars started in the late 1980s because the Fords had an advantage aerodynamically. So, to even out the racing, NASCAR allowed Chevys and Pontiacs to put window glass in the back. This decision snowballed into the more generic-looking cars seen by fans today. And less innovaton in the garage.

“Gradually over time, it became where teams, instead of relying on their own ingenuity, began relying on NASCAR to solve all their problems, and NASCAR was only too happy to oblige, but I don’t think it’s for the good.” Dutton said. “They’ve just systematically undermined it (brand loyalty). There still is brand loyalty, but it’s not what it was. And it’s hurt the manufacturers too.”

Ironically, NASCAR’s current economic woes may lead to a return to greater brand identity, including modifications to the sheet metal on the cars. Talk about coming full circle.

“I think it might be about to happen, because NASCAR never does anything unless you hit ‘em in the pocketbook and they’ve done all kind of things now because attendance and TV ratings are going down,” Dutton said. “They’re losing money so they’re rethinking all these things.”

Spoken like a true realist.

NASCAR-ista note: Thanks to Monte Dutton for taking the time on a busy race day to do the interview and for David Cohea of NASCAR This Week for setting things up and contributing photos. In addition to covering NASCAR for the Gaston Gazette, Dutton moonlights as a singer/songwriter. Check out his music on Facebook and MySpace.

Columbia Speedway: Preserving a Piece of Racing Heritage

If a race track could talk, the Columbia Speedway would sure have some stories to tell.

It might tell you about July 12, 1958, the day Richard Petty scored his first win. Or March 16, 1966, when Fonty Flock gave Chevrolet its first victory. Then there’s the time Frank Mundy won NASCAR’s first-ever race under the lights. Not to mention all the races with legends like Buddy Baker, Junior Johnson, Fireball Roberts, Cotton Owens and South Carolina’s favorite son David Pearson.

Located just outside Columbia, SC in the small burg of Cayce, the half-mile dirt track hosted its first race in 1948. It was NASCAR sanctioned in 1951 and ran NASCAR races there until the early 1970s. That’s a lot of time for memories to mount up and history to be made.

Now, thanks to the folks at Racers Reunion, this historic place and all of the great racing moments that took place there will be shared with future generations of NASCAR fans.

Jeff Gilder, the founder of Racers Reunion, announced last week that Columbia Speedway will be turned into a first-class events facility and that a museum will also be built on the site.

“The track was an important track in the formative years of our sport,” Guilder said. “We need this to preserve our racing heritage. Too many tracks have gone by the way being replaced with condos, Wal-marts, golf courses, etc. The cool thing about this track is that its owners would rather have a race track than a Wal-mart.”

But will any new racing memories be made at Columbia Speedway? “We will return the track back to meet racing specs,” Gilder said. “Whether there will ever be racing there is a question to be answered later.”

Racers Reunion, the group heading up the preservation effort, is an online social network that brings former drivers, crew members and fans together to share connect, share memories, and just talk shop. About 100 of its members (all volunteer) banded together earlier this year to save the Columbia Speedway, hosting the first annual Love Chevrolet Columbia Speedway Spring Festival on April 25.

According to Gilder, the event was attended by 30 thousand people from 17 different states and Puerto Rico. And a host of legendary faces from racing’s past were present as well, including Buddy Baker, Ned Jarrett, Dave Marcis, Little Bud Moore, Gene Hobby, Dick and Johnny Dangerfield, D.K. Ulrich, and at least a dozen other former drivers.

“The response was greater than anyone expected,” Guilder said. “Now the community, the city of Cayce, the county, and surrounding areas have realized the potential of the facility and have embraced our efforts to preserve the track and create an events facility that can be used by a variety of events.”

If you’d like to get involved, fan help is always welcome. There are coordinated work groups that get together to keep up with the track's maintenance. And donations are also accepted on the Racers Reunion web site.

“This race track is one that always prompts some great stories when mentioned to anyone who was there as a spectator or participant,” Gilder said. “All the drivers who raced there agree about the importance of this track.”

Note from NASCAR-ista: Racers Reunion will be holding their 2nd annual Spring Festival in 2010. Love's Chevrolet has just re-signed as the events primary sponsor.

Photo caption: Little Bud Moore drives on to victory at the Columbia Speedway - courtesy of RacersReunion.com

Bristol Winners and Losers

There were more winners at Bristol this weekend than Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick, and more losers than Greg Biffle and Joey Logano.

Below are my picks for the folks who won out this race weekend, and those who can claim the title of Bristol's biggest losers.

Winners:
Mark Martin and Ryan Newman finally had a little luck and ended on a high note, putting them well inside the top 35 points standings. The champ, Jimmie Johnson, managed to sneak into the chase (was there ever any doubt?). And Marcos Ambrose put together an impressive race, finishing in the top ten for Michael Waltrip racing.

Losers:
Aric Almirola and Paul Menard still have to qualify on time at Martinsville. And poor Travis Kvapil desperately needed a good race, but he ended 39th in owners points, in addition to losing his ride (hopefully temporarily) to boot.

Winners: Ned Jarrett was a welcome familiar face in the broadcast group, joining his boy Dale and former colleague Dr. Jerry Punch as they called the Saturday night Legends race. And don't forget old-timer L.D. Ottinger who ran the wheels off his race car on Saturday night.

Losers: Digger--did I miss something, or was there no Digger episode this week? And Mr. Excitement Jimmy Spencer...he ran well during the Legends race, but he sure lived up to his nickname during practice when he wrecked fan favorite Junior Johnson.

Winners: The fans who attended Saturday's races. Both the Nationwide and Legends races were sheer entertainment a darn good time.

Losers: I hate to call fans losers, but the fans who attended Sunday's race witnessed one of the most boring Bristol races ever. Here's hoping the August race will be better!