A
abooja
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The last part's the best part. 
http://www.thatsracin.com/mld/thatsracin/4239281.htm
Posted on Tue, Oct. 08, 2002
Q and A with NASCAR president Mike Helton
By JIM PEDLEY
The Kansas City Star
Mike Helton took over as NASCAR president in November 2000. His tenure has been interesting, historic and tragic. History shows that the future of the organization will likely be marked by more of the same.
Helton sat down with Jim Pedley of The Kansas City Star recently to talk about his reign as the day-to-day leader of the world's premier auto-racing series.
Q: What is the No. 1 issue facing NASCAR today?
A: Managing its growth. We want to continue to grow NASCAR, but it has to be done correctly. That's a huge issue. Underneath it is, certainly, the foremost issue of making the sport safe as possible because it's no use thinking about making the sport bigger if today it's not safer than it's ever been. It always needs to be safer than it's ever been. That's all a part of managing growth.
Q: How strong is the sport economically when placed against the backdrop of sponsorship?
A: I think it's respectable. I think in the history of the sport, you see cycles where people pick up new sponsors and some people lose sponsors. But I think today, the depth of the sponsors, the depth of the talent, the depth of the competitiveness is at an all-time high. The broadcast package, the purses at the race tracks, the sponsorship dollars are all up. The addition of new sponsors this year, like AOL, are indicative of new people coming in. We lost Kmart, so we've lost, but I think the cycle is still there. It's not easy, it's not simple, it's not all it can be, but it's there."
Q: How did 9/11 affect NASCAR?
A: The same as it affected the rest of America. NASCAR as a community felt the shock, the sadness, the anger, the desire to find answers. I think it's safe to say, as in other forms of sports and even in other walks of life, after Sept. 11, the NASCAR community understood that what we do is not the biggest thing there is. There was humbling attached to it.
Q: How did Feb. 18, 2001 (the day Dale Earnhardt died) affect NASCAR?
A: I think a lot of the same emotions were felt. I think maybe the balance, the percentage was different. The depth of emotion was different. But it was a very major incident in our history. It will always be an incident on a time line forever. For everyone who was heavily involved, all of the fans who followed the sport, who were attached to the sport, particularly the fans who were brought into the sport through Dale, either in support or in anger against, all felt the same that day.
Q: With the rule that (car) bodies must all be mounted the same going into effect next year, are we moving to a common template?
A: I think the body location in Winston Cup will make the progression toward the different models of cars being very similar and much closer. The evolution of that is something that has been going on, that continues to go on. The sheet-metal changes on the Monte Carlo and the Pontiac are more of a move that way than the body location across the board is. But the major reason behind the body location is to hopefully minimize the specialization of the cars for a particular race. And hopefully, minimize the effort and expense a team goes through to maximize the efficiency of a car by moving its body around.
Q: Are cars now going too fast?
A: They may not be going too fast on average. But there are places, race tracks, particular race tracks, where they may be going too fast. We'll continue looking at those places.
Q: Might we see one day soon, foreign makes of cars competing in NASCAR?
A: What we might see one day is a redefining of what an American-made car is. As the world gets smaller, and as the who-owns-what becomes more clear, more decisive, the tradition of NASCAR racing being attached to American-made products, may not change, but the products that are represented as being made in America, could change. DaimlerChrysler owns Dodge. Some people would argue that DaimlerChrysler is a foreign manufacturer. But it's not if you look at it from the amount of manufacturing and jobs that Americans have in building those products. Today, we see more and more of the so-called foreign manufacturers building cars in the United States with American people on American payrolls. I think that's what's changing.
Q: At one time, USAC ruled racing in this country. Then that fell off and CART ruled. Do you fear NASCAR could one day suffer the same fate?
A: I think we have to be conscious of that. When I answered an earlier question about our No. 1 priority being managing growth, one of the elements of managing growth was not to be too sure of ourselves. We have to be always conscious of the fact that there are a lot of other opportunities for people to participate in entertainment. Fans can spend their money on something other than racing. Car owners can do something other than own cars. Drivers can do something other than drive NASCAR-type cars. We have to be conscious of that."
Q: Finally, when you retire, for what do you want to be remembered?
A: For not screwing it all up.
http://www.thatsracin.com/mld/thatsracin/4239281.htm
Posted on Tue, Oct. 08, 2002
Q and A with NASCAR president Mike Helton
By JIM PEDLEY
The Kansas City Star
Mike Helton took over as NASCAR president in November 2000. His tenure has been interesting, historic and tragic. History shows that the future of the organization will likely be marked by more of the same.
Helton sat down with Jim Pedley of The Kansas City Star recently to talk about his reign as the day-to-day leader of the world's premier auto-racing series.
Q: What is the No. 1 issue facing NASCAR today?
A: Managing its growth. We want to continue to grow NASCAR, but it has to be done correctly. That's a huge issue. Underneath it is, certainly, the foremost issue of making the sport safe as possible because it's no use thinking about making the sport bigger if today it's not safer than it's ever been. It always needs to be safer than it's ever been. That's all a part of managing growth.
Q: How strong is the sport economically when placed against the backdrop of sponsorship?
A: I think it's respectable. I think in the history of the sport, you see cycles where people pick up new sponsors and some people lose sponsors. But I think today, the depth of the sponsors, the depth of the talent, the depth of the competitiveness is at an all-time high. The broadcast package, the purses at the race tracks, the sponsorship dollars are all up. The addition of new sponsors this year, like AOL, are indicative of new people coming in. We lost Kmart, so we've lost, but I think the cycle is still there. It's not easy, it's not simple, it's not all it can be, but it's there."
Q: How did 9/11 affect NASCAR?
A: The same as it affected the rest of America. NASCAR as a community felt the shock, the sadness, the anger, the desire to find answers. I think it's safe to say, as in other forms of sports and even in other walks of life, after Sept. 11, the NASCAR community understood that what we do is not the biggest thing there is. There was humbling attached to it.
Q: How did Feb. 18, 2001 (the day Dale Earnhardt died) affect NASCAR?
A: I think a lot of the same emotions were felt. I think maybe the balance, the percentage was different. The depth of emotion was different. But it was a very major incident in our history. It will always be an incident on a time line forever. For everyone who was heavily involved, all of the fans who followed the sport, who were attached to the sport, particularly the fans who were brought into the sport through Dale, either in support or in anger against, all felt the same that day.
Q: With the rule that (car) bodies must all be mounted the same going into effect next year, are we moving to a common template?
A: I think the body location in Winston Cup will make the progression toward the different models of cars being very similar and much closer. The evolution of that is something that has been going on, that continues to go on. The sheet-metal changes on the Monte Carlo and the Pontiac are more of a move that way than the body location across the board is. But the major reason behind the body location is to hopefully minimize the specialization of the cars for a particular race. And hopefully, minimize the effort and expense a team goes through to maximize the efficiency of a car by moving its body around.
Q: Are cars now going too fast?
A: They may not be going too fast on average. But there are places, race tracks, particular race tracks, where they may be going too fast. We'll continue looking at those places.
Q: Might we see one day soon, foreign makes of cars competing in NASCAR?
A: What we might see one day is a redefining of what an American-made car is. As the world gets smaller, and as the who-owns-what becomes more clear, more decisive, the tradition of NASCAR racing being attached to American-made products, may not change, but the products that are represented as being made in America, could change. DaimlerChrysler owns Dodge. Some people would argue that DaimlerChrysler is a foreign manufacturer. But it's not if you look at it from the amount of manufacturing and jobs that Americans have in building those products. Today, we see more and more of the so-called foreign manufacturers building cars in the United States with American people on American payrolls. I think that's what's changing.
Q: At one time, USAC ruled racing in this country. Then that fell off and CART ruled. Do you fear NASCAR could one day suffer the same fate?
A: I think we have to be conscious of that. When I answered an earlier question about our No. 1 priority being managing growth, one of the elements of managing growth was not to be too sure of ourselves. We have to be always conscious of the fact that there are a lot of other opportunities for people to participate in entertainment. Fans can spend their money on something other than racing. Car owners can do something other than own cars. Drivers can do something other than drive NASCAR-type cars. We have to be conscious of that."
Q: Finally, when you retire, for what do you want to be remembered?
A: For not screwing it all up.