May 21, 2007
By Kim Roberson

Kim Roberson

Happy Monday folks. I hope everyone had a nice weekend, and enjoyed the racing on a rain-free Saturday night. (Hurrah for a rain-free Saturday night...that in itself seems to be a major coup!)

I spent the weekend in Charlottesville, in a house with no cable, which means that instead of watching the race, I got to listen to it on the radio and use Trackpass on the internet. Not a bad way to enjoy the race to be honest…although there was some excitement that I wish I could have seen rather than just hearing about it.

First off, I have to give kudos to the National Anthem singer before the All-Star race Saturday night. That was the best rendition, by far, this year. Why can’t every person brought in to sing our nation's song -- sing it like that? Leave it to Humpy Wheeler to find someone who actually knows how to sing the Anthem. BeBe Winans has set the bar higher for everyone else this year.

Everytime the All-Star race rolls around, discussion seems to move to whether it should always be held in Charlotte. Should it be rotated to other tracks? And should the fans have a vote in who gets into the All-Star Challenge even if they don’t win the Open?

I will be the first to admit, I was happy to see Kenny Wallace get into the Challenge via the fan vote. I stood next to his wife, Kim, during the abbreviated “Race Day” show in Richmond Sunday, and she proudly wore her “Vote for Kenny” button. Kenny thanked his wife, Speed TV, and the fans for helping him get into the race.

“I’m so thankful to the fans, they mean the world to me here tonight.” Wallace said before climbing into his car Saturday night, a huge smile on his face.

The fan vote is seen as frivolous by many people. Why should a driver, whose car isn’t fast enough to win the Open, be allowed to get into the Challenge just because they are popular? Last year it was Kyle Petty. Two years ago it was Martin Truex Jr., who wasn’t even a full time driver at that point.

Why should the fans have the chance to vote them in?

I say why not?

Every other major sports All-Star event is decided by fan vote. Baseball, football, basketball, hockey. In our case, our All-Star is comprised mostly of the winners from the previous 36 points races. We are unique in that. The other pro-sports don’t require a player to be a member of a winning team in order to get into the game. They let the fans decide who they want to see play the game, and when they do play, it isn’t like they strain themselves all that much. Heaven forbid they injure themselves for the rest of the season.

In NASCAR, it is the opposite. The All-Star race is a balls-to-the-wall, all-out-chase, to see who can walk away with a seven-figure payday. Caution is thrown to the wind. Teammates don’t care who they race against. They want the money.

“We were racing for a million bucks…that is probably why he didn’t let up and it was why I didn’t let off either” explained Kurt Bush after being taken out by his little brother, Kyle, during the last segment of the race on Saturday night.

“We have the one All-Star event where the winner really does matter” said Dale Jarrett Saturday night before the race.

Another topic pertaining to the All-Star race is why is it always held in Charlotte?

Why not do like the other sports do and move it from track to track, changing it up each year. One year at Bristol, another at Darlington. How about an All-Star race at Daytona or Talladega? However, how would you chose which track would host the race each year, if you moved it from Charlotte?

Well, you could always have a fan vote. Each year give the fans a month to select where they want to see the race. During that year’s All-Star race, the fan vote will determine where it would be held the next year, thus giving the venue 12 months to prepare for the event.

Then again, why not leave it where it is?

Humpy Wheeler is known to be the penultimate showman when it comes to NASCAR track promoters, and he never lets the fans down. The bonus for the teams is they have two weeks straight at home, in their own beds. Unless you travel for a living, you probably have a hard time understanding how important that is. I sleep in a lot of cities as I travel for work, and while some hotels have great beds, some have the equivalent of sleeping on the floor. You can’t sneak out to the fridge for a midnight snack, or sleep with your loved ones near by. There is just something to be said about the morale boost that can bring to a person.

These teams…not the drivers but the team members who get the cars to the track, often work 7 days a week, for months on end to ensure the drivers have the cars they want. They travel away from home 33 weeks out of the year for races…and that doesn’t include the weeks of testing between race days. Why not let them have the extra week at home?

That doesn’t even touch on the fact that the fans who come to Charlotte for the race have the chance to go check out the shops where their favorite teams build their cars, and to visit places like Raceworld USA, Michael Waltrip's new place, Speed Street in downtown Charlotte, the Sam Bass Gallery, the North Carolina Motorsports Hall of Fame…and in just a few years, the NASCAR Hall of Fame. As a fan, what more could you want out of your All-Star weekend?

I went to the All-Star race last year, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I almost went again this year. For anyone who hasn’t had the chance to make it to the All-Star race, it is worth the time and effort. Not just for the race, but for what the area has to offer.

Not that the racing is bad either, as Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, and Mark Martin showed Saturday. For a while I thought we might have a replay of Daytona, but in the end, Kevin held off the No. 48 to take home the million dollar check. Another great race, and worthy of the All-Star title.

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.