Pete Pistone (https://twitter.com/ppistone?lang=en ) and Mike Bagley (https://twitter.com/themikebagley?lang=en ) were discussing the new "Unrivaled: Earnhardt vs Gordon" documentary on SiriusXM NASCAR Channel 90.
Pistone's theory is that maybe a motorsports rivalry such as the one between Earnhardt and Gordon isn't possible in the era of social media immediacy and 24/7 sports coverage. He suggested that what allowed the "turf" war to brew among the 3 and 24 and their respective fans was that coverage of the sport was then limited to weekly tv and radio, newspapers and magazines. So when something would come out in the media or at the track, folks had time to stew about it, instead of immediately venting.
When we look back in the sport of drag racing, we see lots of rivalries . . . the "cam wars" that played out during the gasser era . . . Snake and Mongoo$e . . . Garlits and Muldowney (really Muldowney versus the men . . . .) . . . .
So . . . what about racing rivalries?
Are they good? Are they necessary to stoke racing fan interest?
Are they even still possible? Or have the stakes of big corporate money and image-tuned "corporate" drivers sapped some of the fire? And is Pistone correct in his theory that social media and the ability to instantly go emotionally nuclear has snuffed out the necessary conditions that allow rivalries to burn without becoming toxic?
Are there rivalries at Bangshift? Should there be?
Pistone's theory is that maybe a motorsports rivalry such as the one between Earnhardt and Gordon isn't possible in the era of social media immediacy and 24/7 sports coverage. He suggested that what allowed the "turf" war to brew among the 3 and 24 and their respective fans was that coverage of the sport was then limited to weekly tv and radio, newspapers and magazines. So when something would come out in the media or at the track, folks had time to stew about it, instead of immediately venting.
When we look back in the sport of drag racing, we see lots of rivalries . . . the "cam wars" that played out during the gasser era . . . Snake and Mongoo$e . . . Garlits and Muldowney (really Muldowney versus the men . . . .) . . . .
So . . . what about racing rivalries?
Are they good? Are they necessary to stoke racing fan interest?
Are they even still possible? Or have the stakes of big corporate money and image-tuned "corporate" drivers sapped some of the fire? And is Pistone correct in his theory that social media and the ability to instantly go emotionally nuclear has snuffed out the necessary conditions that allow rivalries to burn without becoming toxic?
Are there rivalries at Bangshift? Should there be?
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