Many changes have taken place in the United States over the past month as we all know.
Some of these changes have been for the better like a new President being elected and gas prices dropping to a somewhat more reasonable level.
Others haven’t been so positive such as the housing market going bust and the stock market falling flat on its face.
As time progresses, changes continue to be made and I think some learned person once wrote that there is really no future, just history repeating itself over and over in one way or another.
Here on the island, a group of students at Oak Harbor High School are speaking their minds and causing a bit of a stir but hey, folks, civil rights protests, anti-war demonstrations and the summer of love weren’t that long ago. Talk about situations that caused stirs!
Times do change, but I saw something on television last weekend that caused me a great deal of concern.
The kid grew up in Michigan and like many of my friends from the neighborhood, I was a big fan of stock car racing. To tell the truth,
I still enjoy tuning in to watch Dale Jr. and Jimmy Johnson blow away the competition.
Watching the brightly-colored cars driven by professionals zip around the ovals, tri-ovals or on the big “D” has been around for 60 or so years.
I think kids these days somehow get cheated out of one of their major childhood experiences by not attending a race before becoming adults.
Even at one of the smaller, local tracks, kids have the opportunity to experience the thrill and maybe even dream a little about what it would be like to put the “pedal to the metal” of a Dodge or a Chevrolet as they come out of the fourth turn and roar down the home stretch.
In the 21st Century, stock car racing has become more popular than ever and here’s another final Jeopardy answer for y’all.
What is the fastest growing spectator sport among young women? If you answered stock car racing, you are a winner.
Back in the day, there were just four big races during the year.
The Daytona 500 opened the season and then the Coca-Cola 600 was run on Memorial Day. I can remember times when a few competitors in the Indianapolis 500 had to quickly hop on airplanes and head to Atlanta because they’d qualified a car in the third row for the Coca-Cola.
Then the Firecracker was run on the Fourth of July and the season ended on Labor Day with the running of the Southern 500.
Now races are run just about every week from Texas, to California, to Lime Rock Park in Connecticut, and all tracks in between.
The cars have changed as well.
At one time there was Fred Lorenzen behind the wheel of the Lafayette Ford, the Wood Brothers Mercury team and some dude named Petty in a car sponsored by STP.
Chevrolets are still popular, so are Fords and after a few years out of the game, Dodges have made a big comeback. But the Mercury is gone and nobody races Pontiacs or Buicks anymore.
During a race at Texas Speedway last Sunday afternoon what should pull into the pits for tires and fuel while running in second place, but a Toyota Camry.
I did a double take. What in the heck is that — a Toyota Camry?
Talk about being almost un-American, a Camry competing in a grass-roots USA sporting event. What’s up with that?
I think they should get back to stock car racing like it once was.
More makes and models of cars should be running in races as long as they comply with the rules, and get rid of the restrictor plates. Stock cars are designed to go fast so let them run. There is enough safety equipment in the cars these days so there shouldn’t be any worry about a driver being hurt if one of the cars smacks the wall at 190 or so miles per hour.
If you want to restrict something, restrict foreign cars from competing in what is and what will always be an American institution.
Somehow, I just can’t picture a rebel flag painted on the fender of a Toyota.
