Excerpt from The Buddy Wayne Chronicles

The following is the first of a series of excerpts from The Buddy Wayne Chronicles, available for sale now from Lulu.com.  In this excerpt, B.W. explains why he walks away from NASCAR at the height of his career, despite 40 race wins and three championships in just four seasons.

For the last five years, BareLamb Racing has become the standard in NASCAR racing.  We have had, no pun intended, a wonderful ride with our drivers, our crew members, and our fans.  My race victories and championships, including my Daytona 500 victory and winning the NEXTEL Cup title as a rookie—being the first to do so—will always be the biggest highlights of my life and my career.  I will always cherish the relationships with people that I have experienced, both on and off the track.  Those people I have met will be those I remember forever. 

This culmination of my unlikely rise from a broken childhood which provided no immediate hope will always fill my heart with pride.    However, this rise has come at a price, a price that no one, regardless of the level of professional success, should ever have to pay. 

First of all, NASCAR itself no longer fits in with my lifestyle preferences or temperament.  The daily, monthly, and weekly commitments that I have made have taken much more time and effort than, frankly, I thought I was going to have.  It is certainly not what I imagined when I first started to compete in the sport several years ago.  If it were up to me, I would race only a few times a year and spent the rest of that time pursuing everything else I love.  I just want to live my life as a country boy, hunting, fishing, and living a carefree personal life.  My only obligations should be with my God and my family. 

In addition, society has changed too.  Time was that if you did something wrong, you were rightfully punished.  You were shamed out of society.  The good guys were rewarded, the bad guys were punished.  No longer.  Today, it's all about publicity, any kind you can get.  I could name you any number of celebrities that have become rewarded for their bad behavior, while some very talented and hard-working people get the shaft. 

Unfortunately, the trend in NASCAR racing is not much unlike that in the entire American society.  Don’t get me wrong: I love my country and will always be grateful for all that it stands for, whether it is its generous people, its creation of the world’s most advanced technology, or most of all, its brave men and women who are fighting for freedom every day throughout the world.  It is not the nation I have a quarrel with, but rather the way life in this country is structured.  As all of you, I have abundant talent in several areas: as an athlete, a recording artist, and a movie star.  Over the last few years, I have strived to reach the top in all these areas.  But as I have done so, I have experienced first hand what happens when I choose not to specialize in one of these areas, in other words when I try to ‘have it all.’  When I filmed my hit movie Rebel, I had to work on set 14 hours a day, four days a week, then fly to NASCAR races over the weekend.  The eventual price for this overwork was physical and mental exhaustion and a mild heart attack.  When, miraculously, I did win the NASCAR championship that year, I could not celebrate the title in New York City, as I should have.  Instead, I was in a hospital bed in Durham, North Carolina, after surgery to correct my heart problem. 

And it’s not just race car drivers, by the way.  As many of you, I played basketball in high school, and I later sponsored an all-star team from my home area of Benson, North Carolina.  That team played in a tournament in Las Vegas, which had something like 300 teams in a round-robin format.  Our team lost all three games, all by an average margin of something like 35 points.  It was later explained to me that the teams they played were full of future college basketball players, and some of whom could one day be in the National Basketball Association.  They have trained to play basketball year-round and have no other sports or activities to distract them.  Later, I read that one of the Little League World Series teams was not just the hometown team of all-stars, but was a traveling team that had played the previous summer in ballparks around the country.  That made my blood boil.  Yes, I am all for competition, but takes the desire for a competitive edge too far.  As for NASCAR racing, I can remember that some years ago, it was still possible for a driver to begin his career late, living a normal life—whatever that is—until maybe 15 or 16 years old, then getting behind the wheel of a late model car at a local short track somewhere in America.  Eventually, that driver would be noticed by a NASCAR team owner and would slowly climb the ranks to the top series.  Now, unless that driver started on a kart at about eight years old, it’s already too late.  Those late bloomers are seven years behind everyone else.  As for that slow climb to the top, forget it!  The NASCAR teams, drivers, and sponsors want those drivers to be in the big races as soon as possible.  And let me be blunt: although these drivers do have some ability on the race track, too many of them—and again I could name them but I won’t—were also picked because they look like movie stars or even models.  They are where they are as much to sell the team’s sponsor’s product as to drive the race car.  That’s not right. 

I must plead guilty to this.  Once, I had a racing series in the virtual reality world, which I used to help publicize my movie.  At the end of the shooting period, I held a one-off VR race among our drivers, with the prize being a one-year contract to drive for me in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series.  The winner was a young man from Alabama named Burl Hunkapiller. 

Burl went off to a great start.  In that year’s Daytona 500, his debut in not just NASCAR racing, but one of his first ever appearances in a real car, he won the pole position.  Later in the year, he won another race in the schedule, and everyone was talking about him as my star protégé.  Unfortunately, everything came apart for Burl after that.  He never lived up to what he had done earlier, and just a few months ago, before the start of the current season, I released him.  It was very hard for everyone, but I had to do it.  Burl simply did not have the ability or experience that we all thought he did.  This is not like American Idol, where people vote for the artist they like, someone produces a record for the winner, and people just buy it.  NASCAR is based on performance. 

Another thing I liked about NASCAR that is long gone is the identification fans had with their drivers.  At one time, you could roam the pits, get autographs and pictures with your favorite drivers, and if you wanted, talk with them in depth, either in their infield trailers or in hotel rooms, on a race weekend.  No longer.  There are just too many demands on their time.   And besides, some of them just don’t want to meet them anyway.  Again, not all drivers are in that category, but some of the most famous are. 

Of course, as in all of life, change is inevitable.  But the changes in NASCAR are happening too fast and are just not being managed correctly.  Those who run the organization are trying to extend the fan base, which is always a great thing, but at the same time they are trying to get rid of all the ones they have always have.  Why these fans are being taken so much for granted is something that, frankly, only they know.  All I know is that this is a disastrous business decision, since the newer fans are not as dedicated, devoted, or willing to spend money to support NASCAR as the fans they replaced.  I heard a top NASCAR official at this year’s Daytona 500 and asked them why they pursued this dangerous policy, and he would only babble about how proud they were to get rid of the “worthless hillbillies” that “we didn’t need anymore.”  That is very insulting.  OK, so we come with some baggage, like Confederate flags.  But then again, we built the sport from the moonshine runs decades ago, and our children and grandchildren who still follow the sport need to get at least some respect.  There is room in the grandstands for everyone. 

The lack of consistent rules available to the public and inherent conflicts of interest are also problems.  An example of this is when I lost the Daytona 500 on an effective disqualification because I had received a black flag for crossing a yellow line on the outside of the track in an effort to pass for the win.  Another driver had made a similar pass some years earlier and was not punished.  Also, did you know that some of the race officials, who make judgment calls that could determine the outcome of a race, also work in NASCAR’s marketing department?  This is the opposite of fairness.  And I could go on and on about the other issues, including “stock cars” that aren’t stock, the breaks apparently given to a certain manufacturer, and the deteriorating coverage on television that emphasizes show business over the race. 

Now that I have made my points about the state of NASCAR and how it is shaping my life, I now wish to make it official.  Effective immediately, I am no longer involved in the National Association for Stock-Car Auto Racing in any form, either as a driver or as an owner.  Also, BareLamb Racing will cease operations as a NASCAR team and all equipment will be sold.  The drivers that are now under contract to the team have been released, and will be free to join different teams. 

As for me, I have moved to a place called Idealia, a land somewhere in the clouds just above the Earth.  This is where my flight landed last Sunday night after the race.  Everyone on board is safe and sound, and is ready to use this place to restart my life exactly as all of us see fit.  Here, everyone is forever young, the daddies all work, the mommies stay at home, and the children are all innocent and pure.  As for sports, it’s put in perspective, as a way to relax and recover after the hard work of the week; it is not the 24-hour-a-day obsession that I left behind.  However, as soon as I can find out how I can do it, I’ll try to come back to all of you and visit you again.  After all, I want to come back and meet all of you again and thank you personally for what I have done in my careers and for making them as successful as they were.  As for those of you still in NASCAR, no matter what I thought of you when you my competitors, teammates, or officials, I wish you only the best of luck as your lives and careers continue. 

I have some exciting news about the TV show I hosted.  My Ideal World has followed me here!  And this time, the show will originate from Idealia, which looks exactly like the set I created for the show that I have not had a chance to use because of my busy schedule.  As always, check your local listings for the time and channel in your area, and tune in, because I always have exciting things to say.  And make no mistake: these are the sorts of things that too much of American society doesn’t want to hear.  They are so interested in pumping up cultural midgets and supporting their futile publicity efforts that the real, hard-working, butt-busting people in the entertainment industry receive absolutely no credit.  Each week on my program, I plan to change that, and now I can do it 52 weeks a year now that my obligations to NASCAR have ended.  

Finally, I leave you with a song that I sing at the end of all of my TV shows.  Today, it is especially relevant, because it reflects how I feel right now as I begin my new life in an entirely new place: 

I must say goodbye to all of you right now,

Bid farewell to family and friends,

But be assured that sooner or later, in some way,

We will be together once again.