Last week's poor excuse for a race at the Talladega facility has been on the minds and lips of many a race fan. Actually, in clarification, the race itself wasn't all that bad, with the exception of the non-professional driving from the rookies and seasoned veterans alike. Many have attested that it was an exciting race, until the end.
Lots of fans contend that the race is just a race, and the most important part is the ending. The last 20 to 50 laps are what the whole thing is about. There are a lot of continuing strategies that set the stage for the ending laps, but there are actually only a varied percentage of fans who really keep up with the whole race, unless they are actually in attendance.
Keeping this in mind, it's easy to understand why the fans were so angry that the Talladega event ended under caution and not under green flag racing conditions. The problem with this is that NASCAR is contending that the fans were partially responsible. The rowdy attendees threw thousands of beer cans, food containers, water bottles, etc. on the track in protest of NASCAR's decision that put Jeff Gordon ahead of fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. as they set the field that was frozen under caution. The trash was thrown onto the track in protest of this decision, and the littered track was one of the main reasons that the race couldn't return to green flag conditions. At the time the debris were thrown on the track, it was too late to stop the race with the red flag to clean up the track in order to finish the race under green flag racing. As a result, the fans themselves were to blame for the race ending under caution with Jeff Gordon winning the event.
NASCAR officials, drivers and team members, and the general fan base, are all in agreement that the fans behavior at the event was an embarrassment for stock car racing. As in anything in this day and age, a small percentage of unruly people ruin everything for the majority. The only way to control these crude, self-indulging people is to take away their toys. NASCAR has got to put a stop to beer, coolers, food containers, and water bottles in the stands. It's time alcoholic beverages were banned from NASCAR events. If these people want soda, food, and water at the races, they should have to purchase this stuff from the concessions on location, served in paper containers that wouldn't be heavy enough to be thrown over the catchfence onto the track. This is the only way to insure the safety of the drivers and maintain the quality and integrity of the races and the whole of stock car racing.
