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Debbi Willis, Daw613@bigfoot.com

Trends

A trend is a prevailing tendency towards a repeated action, or a general direction adopted along a particular road of action or thought. Trends set the stage for future impressions and expectations. In the same way that marketing promotes something, trends direct something. Throughout this season in Nascar, several trends have occurred. Sometimes a "trend" begins innocently in an effort to avoid a mistake. Sometimes trends are born of frustration and demand, looking to reinvent something already sufficient. Other times, a trend becomes a downright brillliant brainstorm. No matter what though, trends tend to stick around unless nipped early on by the participants of the trend.

A recent trend in Nascar appears to lean towards cautiously suggesting something is amiss with someone's car or engine after a victory. In reality, I believe the trend is with news reporters who seek to "scoop" everyone and be the first to discover the "dirt"! Easily this becomes an alarming mistake casting shadows and doubts upon everyone involved. In the past, Nascar usually knew when illegal was illegal and simply declared it so. Most recently, Nascar officials "suggested" that Matt Kenseth's car was illegal in his win in the BGN at Charlotte. Kenseth is the epitome of the all-american, midwestern, wholesome values young man. He hails from the same Wisconsin tracks as Alan Kulwicki and is co-owned by the cleanest driver in Nascar, Mark Martin. To suggest such a thing, cast the worst light on him and his team immediately. Worst yet, once the suggestion is made and broadcast from the rooftops of every news agency, what was a "suggestion" takes on a life of it's own. Remember the feather pillow story in my "Grace and Class" editorial? These "suggestions" are those feathers and rapidly becoming a nasty trend.

Another trend is the fear factor since death has struck this season in the BGN in May, in WC in July, and now, in CTS last weekend. Nascar in it's infinite wisdom and knee-jerk reaction to drivers and fans concerns about safety simply restricted the race at Louden and I've no doubt further pre-cautions will be taken in CTS soon- hopefully good safety precautions. Bad idea, bad race, but notably some kind of action to prevent any further catastrophe. Simply a bandaid over a gaping wound that really needed time to heal with acceptance. With a full schedule like Nascar's Winston Cup Racing Series, a poor weekend like that is quickly forgotten by the subsequent racing weekends to follow. Discretionary cautions also seem to be a trend in recent years that implies Nascar attempting to direct the outcome of the championship. Discretionary Cautions have been noted before in this column too. The final caution at Charlotte totally reset the stage for Bobby Labonte's win. "Debris" from Wally Dallenbach's car caused this particular caution when he brushed the wall. Brushing the wall at Charlotte out of Turn 4 is relatively common, even Dale Earnhardt did it earlier in the race and there wasn't a "debris" caution. Such brushes usually just mark the wall. Ricky Rudd was rightfully aggravated by the "magical" debris caution as he calls it, since a win was finally within his grasp. However, he isn't vying for the championship and Bobby wasn't in a good position at the time. Is Nascar trying to assist the Joe Gibbs racing team of Bobby Labonte to their first championship? I certainly hope not, since I am sure Joe Gibbs would prefer not also. Is there any possible truth that Nascar actually orchestrates their champions to the stage at the Waldorf according to whom they think would be their best representative. As ludicrous as that sounds, I'd swear it happened in 1998 for their anniversary celebration year.

However, every once in a while a fan who knows something about something is actually heard and the only other station (outside of the NBC/FOX family) to be awarded additional coverage of racing next year, TBS, listens really good and treats the fans to "no brakes" racing coverage like we enjoyed for Charlotte. I was wishing for it during Talledega several times! This would be a brillliant trend and one I sincerely hopes catches on. Everyone realizes advertising keeps everything going and most advertising is entertaining. The NAPA commercial with the couples friend, Michael and his monster truck is a big smile. I have to admit I find Gordon hilarious with his 'remember to have your hat shaped so you don't look like dork' line in "Celebrating" with Team Monte Carlo and Taz. My favorite though is the Earnhardts trading quips throughout the "Passing" with Team Monte Carlo and Taz commercial . Valvoline's Mark Martin ultrasound commercial is just too cute, too! During bad or boring races (and these are inevitable throughout a season), commercials are often the highlight of the day. However the best part was watching the little screen during the commercial and keeping up with the cautions and lead changes. Finally, someone realized the immediate potential for missing the action on the track in auto racing and came up with a creative and viable solution.

Like everything though, trends can be useful or harmful. Without a system of checks and balances in place, trends can be destructive with a rippling effect felt long after the trend is replaced. Personally, I'd like to see the "digging dirt" attitudes and the "suggestive illegalities" trends disappear from Nascar. Let the facts speak for themselves and react accordingly. "Knee-jerk" reactions don' t help anyone either and cause chaos to be the order of a weekend. I realize Nascar has grown to be big business, but then so has McDonald's and they still adhere to the rock-solid origins that helped build them in the first place. Nascar isn't built with which way the wind blows and shouldn't be built with Wall Streets opinion in their faces, but built on the same solid ground it started out with in the families, the spirit and the competition of the sport. Hopefully, some trends will just disappear, while the brilliant trends flourish.

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