The world knocks, and NASCAR opens the door

I grew up in the city that started the Civil War, the birthplace of American secession, a place where Fort Sumter gleams out in the harbor every sunny day. I know my Confederate generals and my Southeastern Conference football coaches. There's a dog in the backyard and an alligator in the pond beyond that. I know how to peel a shrimp, shuck an oyster, and catch a crab with a piece of chicken tied to a string. I take my tea sweet, my okra fried, my peanuts boiled and my grits mixed with a touch of butter and salt.

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The point of all this is to emphasize the fact that I'm a Southern boy -- always have been, always will be. I may prefer a Jon boat to a four-wheeler and be a bit uncomfortable with the idea of shooting live animals, but I'm Southern just the same. So rest assured that the points about to be made do not come from someone in a "new market," but rather a person with immediate family members who watch NASCAR every weekend, with an uncle who once built race engines, and with roots in a region of the country where the sport has been a presence for 60 years.

That said, it's time to face facts. Anyone who still believes that this sport belongs to one geographic corner of the United States is kidding themselves. More and more it belongs to the world, with drivers, manufacturers and sponsors from different corners of the globe wanting in on the action. And that's not a bad thing.

Because of its relative youth as a truly national major sports series, NASCAR has traditionally lagged behind other leagues in terms of the growing pains that accompany expansion. The schedule realignment that shut down tracks like North Carolina and North Wilkesboro speedways was similar to what the NFL went through in moving franchises from places like Portsmouth and Canton, Ohio, and what the NHL experienced in shifting teams from smaller Canadian markets to burgeoning cities in the Sun Belt. Now NASCAR is taking its first real steps toward a more global presence, something almost every other major sports league did a decade ago. And the purists are howling.

They fire off e-mails about Toyota and Juan Montoya that border on racist. They want to know why the Nationwide Series dares to compete in Canada and Mexico, when there are perfectly fine tracks here in the good ol' USA. They start tossing out references to Pearl Harbor at the mere mention of a Camry. They call Michael Waltrip and Joe Gibbs traitors. They want to know what all these foreigners like Dario Franchitti and Jacques Villeneuve are doing in a series that was supposed to be all-American.

Yes, there's a vicious undercurrent out there, one that seems to want it to be 1975 all over again so they can fly their Rebel battle flags, suck down their Winstons, and watch an Oldsmobile go around the track (in person, evidently, because back then NASCAR was rarely on TV). They pine for long-gone facilities that were terribly outdated or incapable of attracting enough spectators, and want a postseason banquet in Charlotte hosted by somebody like Larry the Cable Guy. And they're completely blind to the fact that such backward thinking is the easiest way to get left behind.

Not every traditional fan feels this way; far from it. But judging from the truckloads of e-mail received during the course of this past season, when NASCAR became more international than ever before, such xenophobic sentiments thrive like a weed. Much like a political party, NASCAR faces the difficult, unenviable task of trying to energize its base and broaden its tent at the same time. The problem arises when many in that base believe the tent should belong wholly to them.

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They're fighting a battle they're destined to lose. Look at what's happened in other sports, many of which have broken free of their domestic confines and become better for it. For 16 years the NFL had a developmental league in Europe, which laid the groundwork for the crowd of 81,000 at London's Wembley Stadium, where the league hosted its first regular-season game outside the United States. The NBA may suffer in American television ratings, but its melting pot of worldwide players has made it a hit overseas. More than 300,000 residents of Shanghai watched Rockets center Yao Ming make his playoff debut this past April. And goodness knows how many Boston Red Sox and Seattle Mariners caps are being sold in Japan, thanks to Daisuke Matsuzaka and Ichiro Suzuki, respectively.

NASCAR is only following in line. Of course, there have been missteps -- the NHL, which fled many of its historic Canadian strongholds, is at perhaps its lowest point in this country, as is open-wheel racing where American drivers have become virtually extinct. But those are extreme examples of unchecked ambition. NASCAR shows no signs of moving the Daytona 500 to Argentina, replacing Brian France with Bernie Ecclestone, or bumping Jeff Gordon in favor of Felipe Massa. This is a racing series where most of the cars will always be American, most of the drivers will always be American, and most of the races will always be conducted on American soil.

So what's the harm with a little diversity? What's wrong with making a few new fans in Colombia or Scotland or Mexico, or introducing a Japanese-based manufacturer that will employ a few more fabricators and crewmen, or taking one of 36 Sprint Cup races to Montreal? They're the spoils of victory, folks. You've won. When it comes to auto racing on this side of the Atlantic, NASCAR has crushed the competition, and all these newcomers want in on the game. That's why Franchitti is leaving the Indy Racing League after an Indianapolis 500 title and a series championship. That's why other manufacturers may eventually follow Toyota's lead. That's why a Montreal newspaper staffs most of the Sprint Cup Series. You're the dog who caught the Mack truck. Celebrate, don't complain.

And quit pining for the old days, the old cars, and the old racetracks. They're not coming back. Globalization touches everything, sports included, and NASCAR is no exception. In the realm of professional sports, you can open your doors to the world and follow the lead of the NFL, Major League Baseball, the PGA Tour and others. Or you can sit in a star-spangled, isolationist cocoon and battle pro rodeo for attention. Wait, did we mention that many of the best bull riders come from Brazil?

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.