Nice sentiment Travis. Having been born into a family that was obsessed with going fast, I consider myself lucky to have grown up leaning toward motorsports. I was on a motorcycle for the first time at 7 and was racing by 10. My toys were slot cars (my favorite car was the John Player Special that Mario Andretti drove) and I actually owned the Indy 500 board game (Johnny Rutherford 0wn3d! ). Still, either because of the bikes or b/c of my family's fractured nature, there were no karts. And after some changes in the late 80's, no motorsports at all. I became a stunna in a pimpy VW bug until college when I was reintroduced to performance through the pocket rockets.
The first time I went to an autox w/ the WDCR, I went with a friend in the morning and was running that afternoon, at a 40 car event. Today, WDCR events are 120 cars and if you are not registered at least one-two weeks before the event, don't bother. Even in the last 1.5 years, I've seen track days go from begging for people to sign up to closing a month or more before the event. Indeed, autox and track driving seem to have become very popular hobbies for a new generation of enthusiasts.
The flip side of this, I think, is the future. At present, the country LOVES oval racing. But they love it for reasons much different than Europeans with F1 or WRC. The love it in the touring car sense. The carnage. The boldness. The power and the speed. The carnage. The same people who like tv wrestling. Europeans are the people who like soccer. There couldn't be two different crowds for two different sports. WIthout a doubt, fans ARE the future of American motorsports.
The other side of the coin, however, are drivers. I submit that US drivers are among the best in the world. Unfortunately for those of us who love road racing, our best talent flocks to NASSCAR and Indy cars that turn left, repeatedly, fast. And while I may have no love for NASSCAR, many fo those guys can flat out drive! Take a look at the world driving championships. A European contest held every fall that pits three drivers (2 auto, 1 motorcycle) from each country into a series of mixed terrain events. Wins generate points and allow the county to advance. Last year, the winning overall driver was ???Burns, Maikkinin???, but the winning country was... wait for it... the US. Granted, there were no top name F1 talents, but F3000, WRC, and touring cars were WELL represented. These results tell me that the US has some great drivers who are under-utilized by only turning left... but still making more money than any other series, perhaps F1 excluded.
As the future passes, it will be interesting to see if the legions that now flock to parking lots and race track across the country will stick to it. Will we reignite our love for the automobile and motorsports. Will we see more coverage, more events, more sponsors, and more money flowing to road racing? Will we see talent being developed as early as it is abroad? Maybe. Maybe if enough of us are involved while we are young and instill that curiosity in our kids. Maybe.
I know that whenever I settle down and spawn, I will be dragging my wife and child to the track as "Crew Chief" and "Steward."
And I hope that I get lucky enough to have a child with the money, time, and intelligence to moonlight in karts. And should it be that s/he is give the opportunity to race in some type of a series that we will have developed more glamourus options that ovals.
*got distracted - don't know if this is current b/c it was written 6 hours ago...*