The toughest thing for me, as a race fan, in anticipation for a race at Talladega is the endless hype about the “Big One”.  Not that it isn’t a legitimate story that needs to be covered, but the media people have taken it to a whole other level, and it’s become so predictable.  They seem to get as giddy as school girls talking about how awesome the racing is going to be because there will be the inevitable “Big One”.

If the media folks like that kind of “racing”, fine, but mark me down as a non-believer.  Frankly, I think it’s just plain embarrassing that they wad up a dozen or so cars on a routine basis at this race track.  Half the field gets wiped out in a single incident that’s usually caused by the slightest of bumps.

In all my years of frustration trying to express how much I hate the “Big One Mania” displayed by the TV networks, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. managed to nail my thoughts perfectly yesterday:

You have to understand that, like, for years, we have had wrecks like this every time we come to Talladega, ever since the plate got here — and for years it was celebrated. The media celebrated it, the networks celebrated it, calling it ‘the Big One,’ just trying to attract attention and to bring people’s attention to the race.

So there is a responsibility with the media and the networks and the sanctioning body itself to come to their senses a little bit and think about the situation. I mean, you can’t sit here and jump up and down and go, ‘Wow, what I saw today was crazy.’ I don’t think it’s right … but the media and the networks and everybody has been celebrating that stuff for years.

Who could disagree with him?

I got a chuckle watching SPEED’s pre-race show where it was announced that Charlotte Motor Speedway (yeah I’m old school and still call it Charlotte) was having a “Big One” ticket sale promotion.  A certain section of tickets would be sold at a price equal to the number of cars wrecked in the “Big One” at Talladega on Sunday.  (And the way they were running there early on I thought the price of a seat would be $43.)  It’s pretty evident that many people in the sport aren’t even taking it seriously anymore.  What if a driver had been laid up in the hospital from the “Big One”?  Their little promotion would look as tasteless as it really is, no?

And truly, if I read one more media article about how the fans love restrictor plate racing and “Big Ones” while they can’t even sell the damn place out I’m going to throw up all over my keyboard.

Here’s my take on it… I watched the SportsCenter highlights of the Talladega race Sunday night and it went like this:  the first clip was the big lap 7 wreck that skimmed out a third of the field.  The next clip was the big wreck on the backstretch within 10 to go.  The last clip was Carl Edwards flying into the fence.

Now really… imagine you’re not a race fan and you just witnessed those “highlights”… what are you going to think about the sport?

It’s one thing to recognize that there’s a problem with no decent solutions… but it’s entirely different to, as Junior says, celebrate it.

It’s Saturday night. All across this great country of ours some of the finest drivers are showcasing their talent on the dirt and asphalt bullrings that are the foundations of American auto racing.

And what is SPEED TV broadcasting right now? A Figure 8 Trailer Demolition Derby. Pick-up trucks driving trailers of boats or campers in a figure-8 configuration trying to beat the hell out of each other until there’s one truck left standing.

Now I understand that the scheduled NASCAR Truck race was rained out and SPEED needs to fill the air time with taped programs, but why in God’s name did they even film this crap to begin with? For a network that is supposed to be centered on motorsports you’d think they could have a little more emphasis on grassroots short-track racing. I’m sure at the top of the hour they’ll move on to the 965th episode of “PINKS All Out”.

Back when I was a kid (heh) ESPN had a show called “Saturday Night Thunder” and, quite frankly, it was some of the best televised motorsports I’ve ever seen: non-winged USAC sprints and midgets from daunting Midwestern tracks like Winchester, Salem, and of course Indianapolis Raceway Park. It’d be nice if a network would pick up where ESPN left off. We could use some solid, Saturday night short track racing… something to fill the void when we can’t make it out to the track ourselves.