Racing or wrestling?
Paul Tracy creates drama in new short track series
Storylines abound in six-race series made for Saturday night TV.
Tony Stewart was like everyone else in U.S. motorsports this week, frequently checking social media to see PaulTracy’s latest theatrics in a one-sided war against NASCAR golden girl Hailie Deegan.
Tracy has been furious — or could he just be playing the heel in a made-for-TV racing league? — because 19-year-old Deegan had the audacity to spin him at Slinger Speedway in Wisconsin last week in the fifth round of the Superstar Racing Experience. The NBC Sports IndyCar analyst and former bad boy driver has milked the feud ever since, using Instagram as his preferredplatform.
“It’s got me watching, looking every time he’s posted something new,” said Stewart, who along with fellow NASCAR Hall of Famer Ray Evernham is credited with creatingSRX.
The six-race series of somewhat randomly collected drivers from various forms of motorsports has entertained America by racing at grassroots short tracks across the country in a two-hour Saturday night show on CBS. The network had nothing to lose since hardly anyone is watching TV on a summer weekendnight.
Butpeople watched. A lot of people, actually, with more than a million tuning in to watch this hodgepodge group of former greats, up-and-comers and local ringers. Up next is a star-studded Saturday night finale at the old Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway in Tennessee, where reigning NASCARchampion Chase Elliott will race against his Hall ofFame father, Bill.
Chase beat his dad in their only other matchup, a 2013 late model race in Alabama. Odds are he will get the best of the 65-year-old again even though his father is an SRX regular. Bill Elliott has been racing with an injured hand since a crash three races ago but it is a rare chance to see father and son NASCAR championsrace one another.
Back for her third race is Deegan, a regular in NASCAR’s Truck Series who joined SRX for two races as a fill-inwhen former Indianapolis 500 winner Tony Kanaan racedin Brazil.
With over 1 million Instagram followers, Deegan is probably the most popular among the general public of all the drivers in the field so SRX gave her another spot for the finale, even though Kanaan is also racing. Tracy’s antics haven’t hurt the buzz, either.
“I don’t know Paul well enough to know whether everything he’s posting is the gospel of what he’s feeling or if he’s just playing a role,” Stewartsaid. “He’s added a lot of excitementand carried the torch for everybody in that category.In the big picture, I think he’sgreat for SRX.”
Tracy has certainly added the personality element he’s long believed has vanished since his generation of renegade open-wheel racers retired.
“Fans are tired of boring drivers who have nothing interesting to say,” Tracy said. “They want rivalries and drama and colorful characters. That’s what helps motorsportsgain attention.”
The SRX villain has also been an aggressive driver and Evernham’s crew — assembled to rebuild these singlepurpose cars — has been busy.
Stewart is the championship leader and it would be an upset if he didn’t win the title. The cars and the tracks suit him and the 50-year-old threetime NASCAR champion is the most adaptable driver in thefield.