October 11th, 2012 
T.C. When you spend your weekends pitting race cars all across the country, you end up talking to a lot of race fans. With the drivers so busy with appearances and the like, the crews have become the next best attraction. The conversations are often short and usually consist of the same basic questions. How do the lug nuts stay on the wheel? What’s the colored tape on the tires for? How much does a tire weigh? But a recent extended conversation with a fan brought me right back to my own days as a race fan.
Working in the sport for an extended period of time changes one’s perspective. It certainly has changed mine. There is a ton of drama and bulls**t that we all deal with on a daily basis and it’s easy to get caught up in it. It’s not hard to allow some cynicism to sneak into your outlook. Sometimes we could all use a reminder about what exactly it is we do as a career.
For the sake of anonymity I won’t reveal a ton about the fan or our conversation. But I will say that we spent a good deal of time talking about this person’s first experience in the infield and what it was like collecting hero cards, strolling through the garage area, watching qualifying from pit road, and chasing down drivers for photos and autographs.
This person’s enthusiasm for the sport was on display and it reminded me of how excited I once was to do many of the same things. I’m not the same kind of fan of NASCAR that I once was, but my passion for the sport is probably deeper now than it’s ever been.
Like those of you that (still) read this blog, I long to be at the race track. During the week when I’m not there I’m occupied by what I need to do the next time I am. And when we roll into Homestead in a few weeks, I will be completely heart-broken that I’ll have to wait three months before my next trip to the track.
I know we’ve done a crappy job with the blog this season, and for that I apologize. After four years of nearly daily posting, both myself and my partner were flat burned out. We talked at length on several occasions about how to keep the site going, but in the end it was easier to just not do anything. I can’t make any promises about what will happen going forward, but I will say that I’ve got ideas for a couple of posts that you will see in the next few days.
As for my conversation with the race fan, all I can say is thanks. The perspective helped me more than you will know.
Posted in 
Welcome back here. I follow you on twitter.
Welcome back – we missed you! Everyone hit that burnout wall… We all sure do miss your blog and the articles full of your unique insight, experience, and views from the inside. Take the time you need: I, for one, will be waiting patiently.
Thanks for what you have given us thus far!!
Cheers, Jay
I wish I still had that same passion for the sport that that fan has. It seems like it’s all “been there, done that” with me now. At least there’s still the truck series to keep me interested.
I can surely relate to the blogger burnout, I’ve been doing it for seven years and am in a period of sloooow posting right now.
But don’t worry. When you post, we are here. : )
Glad to see you whenever you do!
Ya’ll really do mean a lot to us fans. Take your time if you decide to come back from your “website concussion”. By my count, the great John Daly has quit at least 4 times (and announced it). Update us when you can!
Agreed RA. I’m a Daly fan also. He keeps it real just like the Insiders, unlike Utter. Jenna Fryer does a good job too as does Mart Dog. A temporary hiatus might do the Insiders some good. Just like me who has only been to one race this year. I need to get back into this stuff.
I continued to check you blog at least once a week to see if your juices were flowing again. I am glad you are back (somewhat). I have really missed your take on stuff from the inside and your projections and wishes for future NASCAR. However, I did figure it was burnout for you, and I totally understand how stressful and draining mustering up daily creativity can be. Having said that I will continue following you until you say “no more” Thanks.
It does seem that there has been a massive burnout taking place in Nascar. Glad to see that you guys are still with us. Your blog was always uplifting and insightful. There are still many of us enthusiastic fans around. Post when you can.
It only makes sense that you two got a chance to do a burnout.
Welcome back!
Had a scare when I read Jayski’s morning blerb, “No more Daytona Duel qualifying races?”
That’s like blunt force trauma to my annual Feb pilgrimage to DIS Speedweeks for 2013 and beyond??? Then I realized it only changed in name from Gatorade to BUD…..whew…close call & not the last call!
Glad to see you back!! Kept telling myself it was burnout and not something worse.
Just a suggestion, instead of daily posts change it to twice a week (or whatever number you feel like)a post, with a special here or there where there is breaking/hot news. No one says it HAS to be daily.
I miss the Wednesday ATI, but I understand the burnout. I now follow you guys on Twitter, so I don’t have to check out your site on a frequent basis.
Never commented here before, but been following your site for a while now, (over a year??).
Thank you for coming back. I was checking daily, then weekly. Appreciate your letting us know what has, (or hasn’t), been going on. Looking forward to seeing more.
Welcome back.
Today’s posts reminds me of going to the races with a friend. I work in the media and have had press credentials many times, so I almost got used to the free access to everything. I never covered NASCAR full time, but only when the series came to town. It wasn’t enough to lose all the charm and replace it with cynicism, but enough that I knew my way around the track and wasn’t geeking out over everything. One time, our photographer couldn’t go, and a friend of mine filled in. It was his first time even in the infield, never mind on pit road, in the garage or anything. His excitement and obvious joy gave me the boost, or reminder, that you received from the fan.
It’s so easy to miss the forest for the trees. I’m glad someone gave you that boost, TC. Good luck for the rest of the season.
Excellent comment Fred. I have no “solid” connections in the sport but have had some great opportunities opportunities to get behind the scenes. Most recently at the all star race this year. I couldn’t believe the access that I had. I saw a crew member smoking in the garage. Like 5 feet away from the car. And I met Childress hanging outside of a hauler. He was just hanging out. I did geek out with that. But overall I didn’t geek out like I would have at M-ville in 1999. I saw many drivers just hanging there by the haulers at the all
star race but felt no compulsion to even say “hey.” I was kind of more interested in watching the TV interviews. The production aspect. I didn’t even consider going to the pits. It was like a been there done that deal. It made me feel like that i’ve lost the fire that I once had about the sport. Now if I had that same access to a truck race, I might have geeked out with that kind of access.
One step at a time, guys. One post per week, or maybe two – don’t push it. And if you feel burned out, let us know that we won’t see you for a week or so! It’s OK to do a two-sentence post if you feel like it. It sure is nice to have you back, and it’s nice to see that many veteran posters are still around! Like fireball, I miss the weekly question session. I used to follow TR.com’s blogs, but since they went away, this has been my go-to site for knowledgeable racing talk. I joined a yahoo group, but the level of conversation there is pretty shallow.
A question: I know writing a post is not easy, but what is involved in the rest of the site? How much time is spent monitoring and moderating our responses? I really enjoy these discussions, and if you want to do one post per week and let us take it from there, I’m fine with that if that isn’t too much for you to deal with.
Welcome back to the blog world! I’ve missed the website being updated. It is still my goto website for news about NASCAR.
I thought maybe ya’ll were dead or being kept captive in the NASCAR R&D Center.
Many times this season I’ve zipped over here after some drama in the sport wondering ‘I wonder what the Insiders take will be?’ and then…. silence!
So sad!
Well, don’t burn yerselves out, I like ya’lls take on things, it is way more even and honest to me than most of the junk I read about racing.
Take care!
-W
Glad to see you back, T.C. I’m taking a maybe permanent hiatus from NASCAR. I haven’t seen a single lap since Labor Day and found out I can live without it. To you, the three month break seems like a long time. To me, the season and each race seems to be as much an endurance contest for me as Memorial Day in Charlotte. Watching a race on Sunday just about destroys the Sunday for me, and I’ve found I can live perfectly well just glancing at the results.
I guess my interests may be changing. It would help if Junior started winning. (Would have loved to have seen you chime in about that at the time.) I still read John Daly, but he’s lost the fever too. I read Jeff Gluck and my young friend Matt Weaver, who just returned from covering the F1 race in Austin. You might see him in Dega next season. They write on SBNation.
Anyway, my interest is still there enough to add you to my NASCAR tab on my Protopage.com reader so I can scan headlines and see if you’ve posted.
Good luck. Please yourself. You’ve given us all plenty over the years. I wouldn’t blame you if you decided this off-season to walk away, but do tell us.
There’s several great tracks within 2 hours of my home. Both dirt & paved. I go to several races a week. Being a car nut, I love to ask crew members about the cars. I love knowing how things work. I usually find crew members very friendly and like showing off their work. It’s what makes going to the races fun.
NASCAR’s new web site blows is this really the best they can come up with you charge for everything now we get 15 races by the time the next race it televised interest is lost. You have ruined raceing for me it has been coming for a while there are a lot of people that can’t afford cable and need to have a sport that they can count on not to pick thier pockets clean. NASCAR was that sport not any more you sold out the fans. You followed the path of the NFL soon all sports will be pay for view and well the big contracts will be gone and people will grow weary of constent whaling of over paid sports figures sport is nothing without the fans.