By Jerry Bonkowski
I’ve been covering motorsports for well over 30 years and if there’s one thing I’ve learned about NASCAR fans, it’s that they love tradition.
Well, maybe with the exception of the Coca-Cola 600, the sport’s longest race of the year. On a good night, the 600 will come in exactly at 600 miles and 400 laps, maybe even in under four hours sometimes.
But on a bad night, the 600 can feel like 1,200 miles and it’s not unusual to see the race close in on five hours in length.
And even longer if weather becomes a factor!
To me and many others, the Coca-Cola 600 is the ultimate test of man vs. machine, a race where focus, attention, patience, pace and luck are tantamount ingredients to winning.
So why then, do so many people want to see the 600 shortened? Frankly, if I had a dollar for every time fans have said to me, or written in to me, or I’ve seen it in other publications or websites that they want to see the 600 shortened, I’d likely have enough money to buy Twitter out from under Elon Musk!
There just are too many fans that don’t get why the 600 is so special, why it and its predecessor (the World 600) are so unique in the world of racing, and the inherent tradition has made this a must-attend or must-watch event for over 50 years.
In a sense like Republicans vs. Democrats, the 600 is divided into two camps: those who want the tradition and length to stay the same as it always has been, and those who want to see the race shortened to 500 miles … or God forbid, even 400 miles!
I’ve noticed that those who want to keep the 600 as the 600 are long-time NASCAR fans who’ve been around 20, 30, 40 or even more years and give the 600 the kind of respect it commands and deserves.
And then there’s the newer NASCAR fans, those who have been stock car racing fans for maybe 10 years or less. They’re the ones who have shorter attention spans, and who don’t have patience with the length of the 600 or its tradition.
And therein lies the rub – and what we will likely hear once again ad infinitum this weekend leading up to, during and after the race. And God forbid, again, if the 600 goes into overtime.
What we will hear ad nauseum (that’s a better phrase than ad infinitum, don’t you think?) is how the younger clan of NASCAR fans once again want to see the race length shortened.
Duh! If the younger or newer fans have their way, the tradition and the drama that make up the 600 will give way to something that the 600 is the antithesis of:
If it becomes anything but a 600-mile race, it becomes just another NASCAR race, regardless if it’s 400 or even 500 miles.
Tell me, oh wise ones – a.k.a. new or young fans – in your desire to cut the distance of the 600, where’s the uniqueness and the incredible challenge that comes from a race that is 10, 20 or even 33 percent shorter than a 600-mile event? Where’s the various elements of strategy that you just don’t get or see in shorter races? What other race is there where you can have eight or more pit stops in the same event – and we’re not even talking overtime in this instance.
So listen up, you young whipper-snappers, shorter is NOT better. Tradition should be honored and embraced, not become fodder to have one of the most unique races there is to revert to just another race at just another distance.
If you think I’m wrong, let me pose this to you: using the argument so many newer or younger NASCAR fans put forth when it comes time to debate whether the 600 should be shortened, how does the following sound:
The Daytona 300.
I could all but guarantee that you’d have an easier time finding a snowball in hell than to find even one fan who supports cutting the Great American Race into the Great American Near-Half Race.
So, I just hope that the crowd that supports shortening the 600 will finally understand why this is an event that needs no change to make it a “better” race if it’s cut to 500 or 400 or even fewer miles.
It’s better – or best – just the way it is.
I mean, if they want shorter races, what would you say if we have, umm, maybe the Coca-Cola 50. Maybe that’ll hold their attention in a much better fashion.
But I doubt it.
Follow Jerry Bonkowski on Twitter @JerryBonkowski