SMI operators off base on how to boost attendance (cont'd)

"A lot of the drivers have spoken up and said, 'hey, we'll do whatever we can to help the sport.' I know Bristol Motor Speedway has been right at the forefront of talking with the drivers, and I've had long conversations with them," Harvick said. "But taking care of the fans is the first priority, in my opinion, of the race tracks. They're the biggest key to getting the biggest audiences that we have. So if I were the race tracks, I would start asking instead of starting to point fingers."

If some of the rather spoiled Cup drivers really want to figure out how to get involved, maybe they ought to take their cue from a veteran Truck Series driver such as Ron Hornaday, who happens to drive for Harvick.

"We try. We try real hard," Hornaday said of his fellow Truck Series competitors. "We get out there and do a lot with the fans. They've got to know we're real people, too. We don't charge for autographs. We just go out there knowing that they're putting food on the table for their families, and we're just trying to put a good show on so they stay entertained while they're watching us."

Harvick said it may be true that Truck Series drivers connect more readily with fans these days than Cup guys, but there are reasons for it.

"I'm on both sides of it, so I see the differences between how the two series' work. There are a lot more races on the Cup side, there is a lot more testing, there are a lot more sponsorship appearances that a Cup driver has to make," he said.

"From the truck side, they have a lot more time on their hands to go to the track and sign autographs before the race starts -- to do a lot of the things you really just don't have time to do on the Cup side. They are just two different deals in how you can approach it from a time standpoint."

Meanwhile, there is the Johnson Principle that these track owners and operators just can't seem to shake.

"The drivers get it," Gossage said. "I think what we're seeing right now is not only the perfect storm with the economy, but I think we're paying a price for the sport becoming a little too sanitized. The drivers are a lot less colorful than they used to be. The truth is that they're really a colorful bunch -- but not publicly. We're paying the price for the corporatization of our sport.

"It's nothing that can't be fixed pretty quickly if Jimmie Johnson punches somebody in the mouth. I would volunteer, but it would be a whole lot better if it was another driver."

Give Jimmie a break, guys. Why don't you goad someone else into your hi-jinks who seems a more likely candidate to physically accost a colleague?

Then again, if many of the powers-that-be really believe that's what it's going to take to sell tickets in this sport, then maybe the harsh truth is that it will take more than Johnson's fist to someone's face to start filling seats again.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.