Addressing the fallacy of sport's 'abandoned' past

It's a pleasant drive up U.S. Highway 220 from the Triad area of North Carolina to Martinsville Speedway, 44 miles of bending hillsides and twisty curves that tempt you to mash the gas pedal to the floor. Oh sure, there's probably a county mountie hiding in the bushes, and race traffic waiting up ahead. But you can almost imagine what it must have been like decades ago, when moonshiners used to careen down from the foothills on little roads just like this one, the beginnings of a craze that would eventually manifest itself in the form of NASCAR races like the one scheduled for Sunday on the little half-mile track.

Constant since '49

As NASCAR has grown, so has Martinsville Speedway. The track played host to its first NASCAR race on July 4, 1948. In 1949, Martinsville ran the sixth race in the series that eventually became the Sprint Cup Series. While it opened in 1947 with 750 seats, the facility has grown continuously through the years. But other than being paved in 1955, the track configuration has not changed since Red Byron won the inaugural event.

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Martinsville is a time capsule all its own. They've paved some parking lots and added some seats and made some other improvements, but it's as easy to stare at that race track and picture Curtis Turner navigating the corners as it is Jimmie Johnson. There's a sense of constancy at the south Virginia speedway, maybe because the Wood Brothers have been racing here since 1953 (although that streak will end this year; their home track isn't part of their reduced schedule), maybe because the place has been standing since 1949. It's weekends like this one that make you look at all those fans hammering NASCAR for abandoning its past, and wonder -- what exactly are they thinking?

No question, NASCAR and its race track operators have made some missteps along the way when it comes to traditional venues. To see North Carolina Speedway, with its above-average facilities and great racing action, pawned off as part of a lawsuit was saddening. People still get angry about the way North Wilkesboro Speedway was carved up. Although that track would certainly be gone by now even if Bruton Smith and Bob Bahre hadn't purchased it and divvied up the dates -- there's no denying the place was on the verge of becoming obsolete -- a track dear to so many people could have been euthanized a bit more humanely.

Yet situations like those tend to obscure the bigger picture. Yes, North Wilkesboro is gathering dust, Rockingham now hosts ARCA races, and Darlington Raceway is down to one Sprint Cup event. Those facts are undeniable. But when you examine the broad spectrum of sports, NASCAR hardly looks like a league that's forsaken its roots. In fact, when compared with the NFL, NBA, and Major League Baseball, the stock-car racing series comes across as a strident preservationist. Just look at Martinsville, a facility that, had it hosted any other sport, would likely have long ago been abandoned for a newer stadium in a bigger market. Not many NFL franchises play in arenas built in the years immediately following World War II.

Baseball and football teams build new stadiums that try to mimic the vintage feel of older arenas. NASCAR uses the real thing every season. Aside from Martinsville, there's Darlington, opened in 1950. There's Richmond, opened in 1953. There's Daytona, opened in 1959. There are Atlanta and Charlotte, opened in 1960. Of the 22 tracks in use today on the Sprint Cup tour, 14 of them -- a hefty 63 percent -- were built prior to 1970. Granted, not all of those facilities have hosted NASCAR for that long. But if you can't feel the sense of motorsports history in places like Indianapolis (opened 1909), Watkins Glen (opened 1953) or Phoenix (opened in 1964), then you need your pulse checked. Listening to the purists grumble, you'd think every race was held at a California-style track built in the late 1990s, which simply isn't the case.

Track Facts

The history, the past winners, and all of the particulars you need to know about the track known as "The Paperclip."

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In other sports, it's much more difficult to find active venues with as many decades of use. Of the 30 stadiums that will host NFL teams this upcoming season, just six -- Lambeau Field, Soldier Field, Giants Stadium, Qualcomm Stadium, Oakland Coliseum and Candlestick Park -- opened prior to 1970. In Major League Baseball, which in contrast to NASCAR draws glowing raves from traditionalists about its attachment to its history, there are only five -- Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, Anaheim Stadium, Dodger Stadium and (again) Oakland Coliseum. In the NBA, there's just one. The current edition of Madison Square Garden, opened in 1968, is the only arena in the league that comes anywhere close to classic.

Granted, many of the older NASCAR tracks have been upgraded and reconfigured through the years, but with few exceptions, that happens in every sport. The Solider Field of today looks nothing like the stadium the Chicago Bears played in during the 1950s, or even the 1980s for that matter, and Ted Williams didn't homer over box seats atop the Green Monster in Boston. Some would say NASCAR fans haven't been demanding enough, that for too long they've been content sitting on aluminum bench seats and eating lower-quality concession food, instead of demanding the kind of amenities that in many other sports arenas have become commonplace. But in another way, they're fortunate. Many of the race tracks they grew up with are still active, allowing experiences to be handed down from one generation to the next.

Not every sports fan has that luxury. I think back to all the great arenas I remember visiting or watching on television as a youth, places like Boston Garden and the Spectrum and Reynolds Coliseum and even beloved old Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Today they're gone, or have been left behind for splashier new digs. Two years ago while in Los Angeles for the California race, I stumbled across a directional sign for the Forum. A few turns through dicey neighborhoods later, there it was, the home of Kareem and Magic, the "Fabulous" Forum in all its columned glory. It was surrounded by a vast, empty parking lot. The Lakers have long since moved on, selling the place to a church that uses the building for worship services. Now "Showtime" happens on Sunday mornings.

But the grandfather who decades ago watched a No. 43 car race at Martinsville Speedway can take his grandson to see the same thing. The pavements and track lengths and grandstand seating arrangements may have changed, but it's still Darlington, the place where Johnny Mantz won the sport's first 500-mile race in 1950. It's still Indianapolis, the place that made A.J. Foyt famous. It's still Bristol, the place where Darrell Waltrip won seven consecutive times. It's still Daytona, the place where Cale Yarborough and the Allison brothers rumbled in the infield. No question, some venues are gone. But almost every week there's still an abundance of history, the kind too many erroneously believe has disappeared.

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.