Dear Brian…

Well, Daytona is over and the real season starts. Many of us have had to reduce our spending. That goes to all levels of the sport from the car companies to the halls of NASCAR itself. Tracks are cutting prices, teams are cutting staff. In short, we in racing are facing a crisis along with the rest of the country.

I read an article last week that I found very upsetting about Brian France. A man who is supposed to be leading our sport as the head of the France family, has moved to New York City and has time to pursue other interests. Maybe he should show his other interests to someone who really cares. What follows is an open letter to Brian France.

Hello Brian,

You do not know me. You might want to though. I was there in the early 60s. I waited with baited breath for a few minutes of black and white coverage on ABC. From the time I could go to the store, I lived and died with the exploits of Richard, David, Junior and Ned. I did not care that the material was 3 months old in a magazine.

The first time I heard that your grand father was coming to our area, I begged my dad to take me there. That was 1968 at Thompson Ct.. My dad dismissed the Grand Nationals as “stock cars”. Before he died in 71, he took me to Westboro Speedway, (Ma) to see the modified sportsman and late models.. Both he and Westboro have been gone for far too long.

I strated hitting the tracks myself in the summer of 71. I still have splinters from tracks that are but memories. I left the sport for good, or so I thought, some three years ago.

Funny thing is that, I am baccckkk! Maybe there is a reason for my return. It is not the cars that make our sport what it is, it is the people. When I was barnstorming the tracks of New England, I met some of our local legends. I shed a tear with Don Honeig Jr., I got a lecture from Anthony Vendetti, had a laugh with Val LeSieur, followed Krazy Korlacki to a track and sat through a number of pit side services with Rev. Pat Evans. These were peole who saw the good times in racing, a bright sunny summer evening at Thompson, a full crowd at the Concrete Palace on Saturday night, the BNS on the high banks of Monadnock. They also saw the hard times. The deaths of too many drivers. The rainouts. The tracks fall by the wayside with the onslaught of land development.

Your father and grandfather were men like them too. They were leaders, they were builders of tracks, they were racers. They saw the sport as a business and the business as a sport. They took a bunch of rough and tumble bootleggers and rednecks and helped them become a force in the world of sports. There are monuments to your father and grandfather, some of them are silent now and will be forever. “The Rock”, Hickory, Winston-Salem and many more have had time pass them by. “The Cup”, no longer sees the 1/5th mile at Islip, nor the reaches of Maine at Oxford. Other tracks form the foundation of the current series, Darlington, Daytona, Martinsville, Richmond and Talledega.

Now I am sure that you are going to ignore what I have to say. You say that NASCAR is now a big business. You have executives, you have committees. You have safety committees and race committees. You have inspectors, directors and all kinds of technical people. I wonder, Brian, do you have leaders? Do you have someone who sees the storm ahead. Someone who is ready to save our sport. Someone who is ready to make the tough decisions and not hide? I certainly hope so.

I work for a couple of franchisees of a national chain. At one time it was a sponsor in the sport. I love what I do and make a decent living at it. One thing I love about it is that I work with the owners as well as for them. When a problem happens they are right there. They make the tough decisions. They do not hide behind policy. When an employee needs help, they are there.

That is all I have to say. Please Brian, think about it. Step forward or step away. NYC does not need you, but some folks in Daytona just might.

With all due respect,

John Kokolski