RaceBud

It was a few years ago the observation came to me: There’s a big difference between a race fan and driver fan.

A co-worker at my regular job asked if I could find her some tickets for the 2002 April Cup race at the Texas Motor Speedway. Fortunately, I was able to help. The seats were on the front stretch, a few rows in front of where the Turn 3 Race Team sits. A great view of the entire track.

Our group likes to arrive early. We get settled, greet the neighbors, have the scanners and headsets ready and take in the pre-race activities. My work friend and her husband were just taking their seats during the last warm-up lap. They were dressed in red #8 shirts and caps.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. had a bad day. About halfway through the race the #8 was involved in a crash that took it out for the day. The wadded-up Bud car was barely behind the wall when I saw my friend and her husband get up and leave. They gathered up all their stuff – it was obvious they weren’t just going for a beer – and left the track.

The next time I saw her I asked why they left so early. She seemed to be stating the obvious with her answer, “Well, Junior was out of the race.” Then, not quite willing to believe I wasn’t an Earnhardt fan, she followed-up with, “Who were you there to watch?”

At that point the disconnection between us was like that giant chasm in the earth that opens up in earthquake movies.

I’m a race fan. Junior is my favorite, and I hate to see him out of the race. But, without the favorite son, I still have about half the field left to cheer for. I’m there to watch the race – the whole thing. That’s 43 cars (I have varying opinions about each) and their crews. My scanner is programmed to listen to most of the drivers, track officials and radio and TV broadcasts.

My co-worker and her husband are driver fans. For them there’s the red #8 Budweiser car and 42 others that may as well be painted primer gray, unsponsored and driven by robots. If Junior wins, the day is fantastic. If not…too bad. They can tell you whatever you want to know about how the Bud car did this race, but not much about the monochrome remainder of the field.

I don’t claim that a race fan is better than a driver fan, just different. We both buy tickets and t-shirts, thereby supporting the sport. We both cheer for our favorite driver(s). Beyond that, I can’t tell much about how a driver fan feels about the sport.

I do know that a race fan can carry on a much longer and more interesting conversation when it comes to racing.

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