Closing Daytona?

I’m not a big fan of hype.  I understand it, and agree with the need to, occasionally, enhance promotion.  Part of our jobs as live broadcasters is to build interest and excitement during the course of an event.  But, to me, hype is creating interest where none exists…or, over-selling excitement that is already there.

A perfect example of hype is what we saw from Daytona over the 4^th of July weekend.  If you didn’t know better, you’d have thought Daytona International Speedway was closing…not just being repaved.

I heard enough, “what a great way to bookend the history” and “what great memories we’ve seen” to make me nauseous.

IT’S JUST PAVEMENT!

It was reminiscent of the kind of things you heard when they closed Yankee Stadium.  The difference is, the building is the star...not the field.  No one was going on and on about what had happened since the last time they re-sodded.

The same applies to Daytona.  The facility is the star…not the pavement.  The only time the track surface should elicit any emotion is when there’s a total change…like, if Eldora went from dirt to asphalt.

At Daytona, of all places, the action speaks for itself…no one should ever try to get us to shed a tear over torn up pavement.