Biting off way more than I can chew...

I had an e-mail conversation with a fellow NASCAR fan this week. Among the things we have in common – we both love Dale Jr. and hate Kyle Busch, and we’ve both gotten a tad cynical regarding the abilities of the media who, for lack of a better term, "report" on NASCAR-related issues. This is an old conversation, but this time something jumped out at me.

My friend watched his first NASCAR race in some time over the weekend, and so was treated to the current media narrative that fans are warming up to The Shrub. As the broadcasters put it, every week there are more cheers and fewer boos. Since I’ve gotten to watch more racing lately than he has, he asked me, is that really true? We chatted back and forth for awhile, wishing we had attended Busch-won races ourselves so we could evaluate this on our own, without relying on the assurances of, say, Bill Weber.

That’s when it hit me. When a NASCAR- or network-sanctioned analyst tells us fans sitting at home X, and we reflexively say to ourselves, “Huh, I wonder if that’s true?”…Well, then, Houston, we have a problem.

I realize that NASCAR fans are by nature a conservative and skeptical bunch. We have a healthy respect for authority, but only the authority figures that we feel have earned it. Now, I clued in to NASCAR about the time that L’il Brian started shipping all of our races to Southern California, so I freely admit that I don’t have a giant amount of experience as a race fan compared with some. (I also acknowledge that my media-related cynicism isn’t helped by the fact that my driver is second in points and NO ONE is talking about it – HELLO!!!, but whatever.)

But I also work with press every day, and I know what it looks like when it’s done right. I’m an editor myself. I know what decisions go into evaluating what is a “story” and what isn’t. I also know what it looks like when those decisions aren’t made well. Hint: people don’t take you seriously. They even wonder if you’re actively lying – er, socially engineering them. Not good.

So, with that in mind…I’m brushing off the skills I learned back when I was working for that good ol’ communications degree – media criticism based on quantitative analysis, not just frustration on Dale Jr.’s behalf. In surveying and analyzing NASCAR coverage, I don’t have an ax to grind. (Well, I kinda do, but I promise I’ll keep it in the shed.) I sincerely want to determine, once and for all, whether fans like me have a legitimate gripe about the nature of our media or not.

I have no idea how long this will take me, but I promise to write everything down and report back ASAP.