What a span of a few days it has been within the motorsports world, especially NASCAR……
I am not going to touch on the horrendous decision on ending the 600 Sunday night. That will be saved for the shows this week. I am sharing some thoughts on this late night about another thing that is being absolutely blown so far out of proportion that it is ridiculous:
Donald Trump visiting the Coca Cola 600.
At my last check, sporting events, whether they be baseball, football, basketball, hockey, soccer, or motorsports are PUBLIC EVENTS. They aren’t some elite invitation only setups. Before, and after his visit to the 600, social media turned into an absolute toxic dump at levels even worse than before. People absolutely bashing people for taking a simple photo with him. Let me put this disclaimer out there: I AM IN NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM TAKING A POLITICAL SIDE. I despise politics because that is the one sole thing that has absolutely destroyed this country in my opinion. I could honestly care less about it. It has caused people to have complete disrespect for each other, because they may disagree on something. All I have seen all day is “keep politics out of sports this, keep politics out of sports that.” If you go back and look at the definition of keeping politics out of NASCAR, It refers to POLITICAL FIGURES SPONSORING CARS FOR CAMPAIGNS. It doesn’t mean that someone can’t visit a race as a guest, whether it be of a team or of a track itself. And the aspect of it disrespecting a main figure from 4 years ago, Bubba Wallace: GIVE ME A BREAK. Pretty sure he could care less because he had a job to go do, to which he had a very solid run in the 600 until the weather impacted. And to the bashing of Richard Petty of all people, just for taking a photo with the man in a private suite at CMS, GROW UP. I could guarantee you that you would not confront The King about it face to face. THE GASLIGHTING with the THUMBS ON THE KEYBOARD that a certain side of social media is doing is inexcusable. Things like this right here are what divides sports and civilization. I have heard ” Trump coming to a race setback the sport and progress for years to come….”
I ask you this simple one word question, to which you probably can not give a logical answer to: HOW????
Until you see a negative impact happen from someone visiting an event of our sport, do us all a favor and shut up.
The crowds at these tracks now, whether it be outside or inside the garage, are as diverse as ever on MANY levels. Things like this that certain wings of social media within the sport are doing causes the division, it doesn’t bring it together.
To this certain wing of social media, and a few select media members that I saw make comments too: GROW UP and use your platforms to BUILD UP, not BREAK DOWN what has gotten better step by step over the past years. Because if someone doesn’t step up and be that person to be positive: HERE WE GO, AGAIN…….