here is another article i copied and saved
again , i take no credit for this , i found it on a different website
its a long read but it explains "US" the racefan
Recently one serious racing fan asked a very important question as he looked to present racing’s fan base as a whole to a group of potential advertisers: “As race fans, who are we?” A fine question really, too often the answer can be so philosophical in nature that it often answers “what should we be” instead of who we really are as a group. Unfortunately it can also degenerate into a list of complaints resulting from the gap between “who we are” and “who should we be?” In either case the question begs for a legitimate answer. Let’s look at a case study of Race Fan.
Race fan is loyal. A driver is chosen, a track is visited weekly. Eddie’s Bar and Grill is on the side of a guy who runs at the back of the pack, he’s at the back of the pack but he’s out there giving it everything he has so when Race Fan is looking for a place to take five friends for “Happy Hour” on Friday evening: Eddie’s it is boys and Race Fan is getting the first round. Nearly every product in the grocery cart can be found emblazoned on the side of a race car, a track billboard, a pace truck or has been bellowed from the vocal chords of a track announcer way too late at night or far too early in the morning when Race Fan is bundled up or stripped down as far as would be allowed depending on Mother Nature’s whims.
Race Fan is in a relationship with the sport. Time, money, mistakes, forgiveness, hope, faith and love are cornerstones in each institution. Race Fan has been known to place cars rocketing around an oval in front of things that are in reality “more important.” A unique ability to balance the relative importance of events in life in relation to the sport has been honed over many years. Birthdays, graduations, weddings are rate high on the average person’s “importance meter” while for Race Fan it is a matter of degree. Race Fan Jr. is two years old, have the party early in the day and race at night. Nephew Billy is “graduating” from pre-school, how nice for him and a culture of low expectations, a card and some cash solves it as packing for the track begins. Cousin Nina is getting married for the sixth time, the ceremony lasted longer than the third marriage, therefore we are all busy that day and we must have lost the invitation. Race Fan more than likely took future Mr. or Ms. Race Fan to a track or two during courtship so the “other love” is not a surprise upon nuptials. Race Fan is careful to never announce racing as the “Number One Love” even if that’s the title used at the track. Race fan is crazy at times, just not stupid. Perhaps Race Fan Perhaps Race Fan went to a track on the honeymoon.
Racing is all about relationships. Race fan takes pride in being a good parent and friend as is demonstrated by purchase histories at the souvenir and concession stands. The kids get the choice to become a racing fanatic or not. One son falls in love with it while the other enjoys time with dad but is in it more for the hot dogs, cotton candy, souvenir flags, die-cast cars. Very competitive but most often realistic and fair, Fan will discuss rivalries intelligently with friends and family. Sometimes such discussions get heated but in the end all is well after a beverage and a high five. That is, until the next time cousin Marvin’s favorite driver causes a multi-car pileup that costs Fan’s driver a win. Race Fan will gladly interact with anyone around who wants to talk racing. Friendships are built quickly as a stranger becomes a buddy after weeks of sharing the same section of grandstands. Racers work together often on and off the track, just as fans do in the seats, moving five inches to get another fan a spot to sit, watching another’s belongings as they take Jr. to the bathroom and allowing another patron to move ahead in line when it’s clear that they need the portable restroom just a bit more at a given moment. Fan is polite and sentimental as quite often the biggest cheers come when a dark horse driver who normally runs at the back finds himself in a side by side battle off of turn four, digging for his first ever win of any kind. They cross the line to a thunderous roar as the third shift fork lift operator pours the power to his hand made engine and noses out his competitor for the victory in a heat race. A standing ovation greets the victor along with a hearty handshake from the second place finisher who has four track championships to his credit.
Race Fan is a creature of habit, history and at times superstition. Sit in the same place. Eat the same things. Purchase the same type of collectibles. Fan enjoys visiting new tracks, watching new types of race cars and experiencing new things but racing has a way of taking one back to the past. Tracks that have closed are discussed just as often, if not more than the ones that are still open. Younger fans turn to hear more veteran fans talk of racers past and tracks gone by with a fire that shows the narrator has gone back to that facility in his mind as he recounts drivers slicing and dicing around a proud oval which now houses a shopping mall. The racing from back in the day always seems better than anything produced in the now but the search for an equal is why the old timer faithfully returns to the top of the bleachers every Saturday to tell his stories, share a track burger and watch today’s young fan create tomorrow’s back in the day.
Race Fan is honest, tell it just like it is, or just like it is according to him anyway. Fiery and opinionated, sometimes the mouth gets going faster than the brain in an attempt to keep up with a favorite driver who behaved like a buffoon on the track or in the pits. Time will allow for tempers to cool and last week’s opponent in a shouting match or an internet message board brawl is this weeks adopted grandfather as he aids a four year old first time visitor to the track struggling to get ear plugs in place before the world is filled with thunder and a baby earthquake begins to jounce the grandstands. Shared glances and a fresh drink make it known that all is well with the world.
Fan yearns to learn about the sport that he loves. He listens, he asks questions and he is more than willing to be the teacher passing information along to the next generation. T-shirts and jackets announce allegiance to a particular track, driver or event. Some come early, they watch every hot laps session, they write down qualifying times and heat race results, they become the statistician for the group. Others come just in time for the heats and leave early. Perhaps they left work, sat in traffic, saw some racing and they are headed to a second job or home to take care of a family. Still more camp out at the track to extend the fun long into the night. Often times Race Fan is castigated for loving a sport that so many don't seem to understand. Dismissing the "guys going in circles" generalizations and insults fans realize that every race is a living thing with a beginning and an end. The story that is told during the laps is what brings fans out week after week and year after year. Yearning to fill in the story lines played out by familiar characters and those new to the stage is a serum that once in the blood just won't ever leave.
While there are those among us who bicker about which driver, which track and which genre of racing is supreme, one thing ties all fans together. Above all else, Race Fan is passionate about a sport whose competitors literally put life on the line at every turn. It takes a special breed to strap into cage of steel and fiberglass and hurtle themselves at breakneck speed around banked corners and short straight-aways. Fans of those willing to put themselves out on the track truly appreciate the sacrifice of time and money and the ultimate risk that is being taken right before the eyes. After any crash, the hushed silence that falls on the crowd pounds home who we are as a group. We are emotional, we are human and we are real. In a world that often forgets who it is, those are all fine things to be.
