That’s Racing: NASCAR second to watching leaves fall

My faithful racing companion Road Hog, with whom I traveled the dusty trail to Daytona for over 30 years, was faced with a life-altering decision last weekend.

He could stay home and watch the Atlanta race on TV or he could go to the Smokies with his girlfriend on an “autumn leaf tour.”

He chose the leaves.

NASCAR, you’ve got a problem when a one-time racing fanatic decides that watching leaves fall is more exciting than watching racing.

I watched the race, and Road Hog didn’t miss much. It followed the standard formula: everybody rode around for 480 miles, then raced for the final 10.

The only mini-drama was championship leader Jimmie Johnson’s early pit-road speeding penalty that put him a lap down. But Johnson the Robo-Racer methodically worked his way back to a second-place finish and virtually cinched the title with three to go.

The most boring season in memory is mercifully about over. Some claim it’s been an anomaly, that boring races happen, just as we went through a series of boring Super Bowls.

They also insist that there were boring races in the past, pointing out to periods of dominance by Petty, Yarborough and Waltrip. I was on hand for many of those races and even when a leader got away, there was usually lots of action back in the pack.

No more. Everybody cruises around single-file and seems perfectly content to cash a fat paycheck for finishing 40th.

Maybe that’s the problem. Why bust your crankshaft trying to win when you can make millions by finishing last?

In the Good Old Days (hey, no groaning and eye-rolling!) stock car drivers were hungry. Sometimes literally. They ate baloney sandwiches and slept in their trucks. Only high finishers made money.

Bobby Allison used to tell about trying to win enough on Sunday to cover the check he wrote the bank on Friday.

Cale Yarborough and his wife Betty Jo once were driving to a race (yes, once upon a time drivers didn’t have private jets) when they came to a toll booth. The toll was 25 cents. Cale and Betty Jo discovered they didn’t have a quarter between them. Cale explained that he was on his way to a race and begged the toll booth operator to let him pass. Betty Jo began to cry. The toll booth operator took pity on the broke young couple and waved them through.

On their way home after the race Cale stopped and paid the quarter he owed.

Folks used to be amazed at how hard Yarborough raced. He ran every lap like, well, like he didn’t have a quarter to his name.

Want to know the problem with today’s drivers? Check their fingernails: there’s no dirt and grease under them.

Hard times make for hard racing, and most of today’s young hotshots have known neither.

Larry Woody is a veteran sportswriter in Nashville and has covered auto racing for almost four decades.