A man walks in to his local bank. He has a passion he wants to pursue and needs a line of credit. But his passion is expensive and it's risky and it's emotionally draining. It can maul you and there is a beachhead full of carnage to prove it.

But it's all he knows and he'll give it everything he's got.

Through the years the face of that man has changed. It has been Smokey Yunick and Junior Johnson. It has been Richard Childress and Rick Hendrick. It has been Robert Yates and Michael Waltrip. Unfortunately it has also been a much longer list of men whose pursuits of NASCAR team ownership have broken them.

So, why does everyone find it so fashionable to criticize the owners who are being labeled as "start and park" teams?

I hear all this talk about the need to have smaller fields because of these teams. No one expanded the field in 2007 when Michael Waltrip Racing and Red Bull started and there were 51 full-time teams wanting to race, but each week major sponsors were sent home because their cars didn't qualify.

I have had it up to my headphones with the critics. Anyone against these entrepreneurs is anti-American Dream and obviously short on facts.

The brilliant John Adams once stated: "Facts are a funny thing." Facts about what these teams actually do to support the NASCAR ecosystem need to be heard.

To start a team, you need a facility. These facilities are running $9 to $12 a square foot and several thousand feet are needed. They need race cars. To build one, you need scores of people from fabricators to machinists, to suspension, brakes, electrical, gear and transmission specialists. You need shock and set up specialists, paint and body support and purchasing agents. That is of course if you already have the $50,000 surface plate, a $50,000 set-up plate, the $150,000 pull-down rig, the $30,000 worth of NASCAR COT templates, welders, airlines, tool boxes, on and on and on. (Continued)