Saturday, April 12, 2008 | 6 a.m.
I don’t like sushi, I don’t like bumper-to-bumper traffic, and I don’t like it when people say that NASCAR fans only watch the races to see the wrecks. No fan of any sport wants to see their favorite athlete injured.
NASCAR fans want to see competitive racing that includes fender-banging action. They want racing to be a contact sport, but only to a certain degree. Do baseball fans go to a game hoping to see their favorite player get hit in the head by a wild pitch? No! But they love it when he steals a base or crashes into the outfield fence to catch that long fly ball. Fans of racing are no different.
There’s a certain element of risk to most professional sports. I’ll admit that part of the allure of racing is seeing human beings take risks, but isn’t risk-taking by athletes part of why we watch any professional sport?
Last week’s horrific crash by Michael McDowell was scary and anyone who saw it cringed as his car flipped several times. No fan I know wants to see any athlete in that position.
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