Not long ago, stock car racing was the most-watched, most profitable professional sport in America and one of the biggest in the world (surpassed internationally only by soccer… or “football” or “futbol” or whatever).  Which isn’t bad at all for a spectator sport which has humble beginnings in the manufacture and transport of illegal moonshine throughout the southeastern United States.  And that is where NASCAR‘s most faithful and stalwart fans have always been found, along with its most celebrated and capable drivers.

Lately however, NASCAR seems to have forgot “who brung them to the dance”: those same longtime fans, most of whom have decades of loyalty notched on their belts.  Speedway Motorsports’ owner and CEO Bruton Smith had this to say last week when it was announced that NASCAR was moving one of Charlotte’s races to Las Vegas: “When the game is over, it’ll be money, money, money… Money ...