MySportsSanctuary

On Memorial Day, a day after it was supposed to run, the Coca Cola 600 got underway and completed (sort of) in Concord, North Carolina at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Being down the street in Charlotte, this is a big deal for many around here. I, though, had my mind elsewhere like ‘cueing before the rain came. Although I am not a NASCAR fan-atic, I do follow it and some of their rules. I will NOT tell you my favorite driver for one. Too MANY fans of the sport don’t particularly care for him, and that is being nice.

It can be interesting to watch especially those final laps when they are jockeying for position. In the end destiny, disaster, or disappointment prevails. Getting to those final seconds to success is the problem. The races that are 500, almost all of them, are long enough. This race is an extra 100 miles, and some of us really don’t have the patience for it. Most of America doesn’t want to sit through hours and hours, and now more hours just for a race. We shortened baseball, the play clock in football, and we even have a mercy rule in high school sports. The clock doesn’t always stop in college football like it used to, so they know time in this ADD world is precious. We lose interest, turn the TV, go outside and do other things while the race is on. Some see it as a waste of gas, and with the oil prices creeping back up, it does take notice. Environmentalists complain, but those aren’t key issues at all. I for one won’t blame the earth’s ozone problems on a couple of cars going in a circle for most of your afternoon. That problem is much bigger.

It may have looked good at the end, like Dave Reutimann winning his first Sprint Cup race, but even Mother Nature felt the race was too long. I don’t have a voice in this, but 600 is 100 miles WAY too long.