By KEN WILLIS
MY TWO CENTS
DAYTONA BEACH -- Atop the Fan Deck in the Daytona garage area, so many folks in so many shades of NASCAR adornment -- Jimmie blue, Junior green, Gordon rainbow -- had little if any idea who they were watching pass through the tri-oval.
That they were watching, however, was a welcome development. Never has a racing season been so needed, it seems.
NASCAR fans, in particular, are a needy bunch. Only natural, I guess, to need a constant fix after 10 straight months of daily updates, punctuated weekly by main-event theater in Pocono, Charlotte, Talladega, etc.
It's been a bad few months for the Boys from Macon and all their fellow riders along the racin' trail. First, there was a rather uneventful championship chase last November, followed by the usual December lull and then . . . nothing.
The worst fall-out from eliminating the usual January testing here was the news void. Well, not entirely: There was news, all right, but nearly all of it bad. Drivers looking for teams, teams looking for money, fans looking for something, anything, to either cheer them up (their guy testing well at Daytona) or tick them off (their guy missing about 20 horsepower).
Meanwhile, the bad news mounted here and in the real world, and by the time NASCAR Speed Weeks arrives, those who aren't shell-shocked will still be confused about which driver is now in which car, and why.
But on this Saturday night, the cars were loud, the weather was perfect and, finally, fans were wandering around a racetrack in a good mood. The race season is under way, and for the followers, not a moment too soon.
Lee White has been peppered with the line of questioning so much in recent weeks, he was tempted to walk away when approached Saturday with the question: "Guess what I want to talk to you about?"
"Hopefully not the economy," said White, head of Toyota Racing Development.
"Every manufacturer is facing challenges, and us just as much as everyone else," he said. "I think what you're going to see from all the manufacturers, the last thing to be affected will be cars on the racetrack. That doesn't mean there aren't efforts being made there by everyone, but you're trying to do it in a way that impacts the on-track product least."
But as he talked, the Rolex 24 -- as well as the 2009 race calendar -- was minutes old. White was more than happy to turn away from nuts-and-bolts questions and consider the good psychological vibes flowing from all that noise on the track.
"I think it's paramount," he said. "Frankly, (bad news) is all we've heard about, to the point we're like, 'Oh gee, not that question again. For God's sake, give it a rest, let's go racing.' I think it'll help everybody. I think it'll help the fans -- the world isn't coming to an end, race cars are going around the track. I hope they come out in droves, take a break.
"Look around at the infield here. It's like the biggest crowd I've ever seen here. Go explain that."
Sportscar legend Brian Redman, grand marshal for this year's Rolex 24, has seen it all before, in differing forms. He remembers the entire Rolex being canceled in 1974 in symbolic reaction to the nation's fuel crisis.
"I don't think we've ever seen a recession of this type before. It's so widespread," Redman said. "But still, there are enough people with enough money for racing to carry on. And in the past, it has carried on. There was a drop in the number of people, but it carried on. Things will be affected, but it will carry on."
Nascar has blew it again - big time. In the Nationwide race a driver is penalized 5 laps for rough driving but in the Sprint race a driver takes out 10 cars through a dumb move and he's not penalized, oh I'm sorry it was Dale Earnhardt, can't touch him, he's a major part of our fan base. Sorry he can't come close to his fathers legacy.