Are Rivalries in NASCAR a Good Thing?

Over the past year or two there have been a couple of rivalries to develop on the track. Many of these have turned violent and there have been several different occasions where drivers ate the wall on these. So the big question that is being waged is whether these confrontations are good for the sport. Personally, I do not see it, but there are two sides to every argument. There are a lot of people that do believe this can be a good thing for a sport that is near to dying. There has been a new insurgence of fans into the sport, and some of this can be attributed to the high speed mangling of steel and aluminum on the track. The real question is whether it is worth it.

Pro:

on the plus side, we are a very morbid and dark culture of people. For evidence of this, just watch other drivers the next time you see a major accident on the highway. There are some that will pull around to see it two or three times. They strain their necks trying to get a first hand glimpse of the death and carnage. This morbid curiosity is different on a race track. Since the death of Dale Sr. (the first driver to die in a race), there has been a larger audience. Since there had not been a fatal wreck in NASCAR prior to this, many viewers thought it to be a safe sport where cars run in circles for hours on end. Now that someone has perished in one of these accidents, many Americans are eagerly awaiting a repeat of this. The new hostilities on the track and intense rivalries where cars are intentionally thrust into the walls almost guarantees a major wreck every race. This has brought several new fans to the sport. NASCAR is now one of the major sports in the country and no longer shares leftover air time with soccer and lacrosse.

Con:

The biggest con of this entire argument is that drivers can get hurt. There has already been one death on the track (Kyle Petty doesn't count, he wasn't racing), and with the increase of accidents and malicious intent that these rivalries bring, there are sure to be many more injuries, if not deaths. This would be a horrible thing to the sport. NASCAR needs to realize that driver safety should take precedence over ratings. There have already been several drivers that have had to be rushed to the hospital after a scary wreck. Why make this number even higher by allowing much more "rubbing" to go on. I know there is the sentiment that "rubbing is racing", and slight contact is unavoidable. The fact that drivers are being spun out or slammed into the wall is not a casual rub. As tempers flare, the rubs get more intense and the danger escalates. Trying to maintain control of a vehicle at 100-120 mph is hard enough without being shoved around. The slightest flaw or bump can send these guys into some serious trouble. The ratings are not worth it.

No matter which side of the argument you are on, there is one fact that stands out: NASCAR is obviously for this type of behavior. If you look at there lackadaisical attitude toward those involved and the less than a hand slap punishment that is being issued for these actions, they do condone this type of racing. While I like to see the occasional wreck, it is not worth the risk. There are enough accidents and car mangling that occurs naturally in a race. Why try to make things worse and more dangerous on the drivers?