By MONTE DUTTON

It’s impossible for me not to pay attention to auto racing, since I’ve been going to races since my earliest memory and spent two decades writing about it full-time.

I don’t watch all the races, and I don’t often watch all of those races. I’ve been guilty of picking up the action when a movie or a ballgame ends. This sometimes causes me to ask myself questions such as “what in hell happened to Kyle Larson?”

Nowadays I get a bit wistful remembering how it was and considering how it is now.

Two weeks ago, Ryan Blaney, won in Hampton, Ga. Dave Blaney, a favorite of mine, is his father. On Friday night, in nearby Clermont, Ind., Layne Riggs won the Truck race. Scott Riggs, his father, was a favorite of mine. Carson Kvapil won Saturday. I know his father, Travis. Or did.

Few talked about the Brickyard 400 being boring until NASCAR and Goodyear mismanaged the worst Cup race I ever covered there in 2008. The tires wore out so quickly that it devolved into a never-ending series of short segments and mandated caution flags.

The fans have never returned. The only comparable catastrophe was the only time I ever visited Kentucky Speedway, in 2011. Forty percent of the crowd was backed up on the interstate when the race started. Kyle Busch won it. NASCAR hasn’t run a race there since 2020.

The best estimate I’ve seen is that 70,000 fans might have been there.  There’s a word for that at a track with an alleged seating capacity of 257,325: smattering.

It’s such a majestic place. While Corey Heim, a 34-year-old from Marietta, Ga., was pulling off an historic upset, the setting looked as if a band of modern explorers happened upon ancient ruins. The Xfiniity race on Saturday appeared to be attended by people in the neighborhood who just wandered in.

I take no pleasure in this. I love that city. I love that sport.

Wellpilgrim.com takes its name from John Wayne, who liked the phrase, and the Kris Kristofferson song “The Pilgrim: Chapter 33, Hang on, Hopper.” The title of the site comes from my favorite song, Michael Burton’s “Nightrider’s Lament.”

If you’d like to contribute to the site, I can be reached at Adventure Village #6, 15 Adventure Ridge Road, Brevard, N.C.    28712.

I’d appreciate it if you’d consider buying one or two or five of my books, which are available on Amazon and at other bookseller sites. Two novels, Cowboys Come Home and Lightning in a Bottle, are available in audible versions.