The Diecast Dude's (Mostly) NASCAR Blah Blah Blog

Dustin Long

In the “things that occasionally cross my mind to do” department is the notion of reposting all the back catalog of posts I have written since this blog’s inception in August 2003. It’d be a fairly lengthy task, as the number is well over a thousand posts presently languishing in site backups and such. Also, how many of them would be of the slightest interest is highly debatable. That all said, it’d be sort-of nice to have them online again if for no other reason than to prove that yes, I really have been at this for a while.

An area that wouldn’t be nice at all would be how many of my posts from the days of yore were anything but gentle, meek and mild. (Like I’ve ever been, but that’s a topic best discussed in my personal blog.)

One of the blog’s calling cards in its early years consisted of withering fire aimed in the mainstream media’s direction. At the time, doing so was highly in vogue among us of the blogging persuasion. It was our self-appointed duty to speak truth to power, calling out those who sneered down at us from their ivory towers which we were determined to turn into Ivory soap, with us aiming fire hoses at their foundations.

This was before the days of blogging and professional journalism reaching an uneasy detente, with the latter adopting some of the former’s form even as bloggers strove to be more, well, professional in how they carried themselves online. Not that there is presently true peace between the two groups, especially in the political realm. However, in at least NASCAR land the two sides are on speaking terms. The sport itself giving bloggers its official nod of approval has gone a long way toward moving at least a few members of the blogosphere and the MSM toward acknowledging the other as something other than unwelcome twerps. Twitter has also done much toward breaking down barriers not only between the fans and NASCAR’s traveling journalistic corps, but between bloggers and journalists in terms of leveling the playing field. After all, on Twitter as elsewhere online no one can see your résumé. If you can write well, you’re in. If not, you’re not. Simple enough.

Still, as mentioned above it’s not like bloggers and the MSM are bosom buddies all of the time. Then again, more than a few members of the MSM aren’t exactly enamored with each other. But I digress. The point is that when a member of traditional media willingly reaches across the aisle to welcome a member of new media as a fellow participant in this rather oddball world we both inhabit, it’s a welcome moment by those of us in the new school.

Enter Dustin Long.

I have no idea how or when Dustin and I first met. Most likely it was through an e-mail; we didn’t meet in person until last year. Dustin has always been one of the NASCAR reporters by whom I was most impressed, with his philosophy of avoiding opinionative journalism, instead sticking to the story and digging deep to tell the entire story. He also impressed me with both his economical use of words and skill in interviewing, bringing out interesting information from drivers and the like who often came across as robots when speaking to the media yet when he talked to them revealed genuine thoughts and personality.

Yet even above these things, what impressed me the most about Dustin was how he took the time to be gracious toward yours truly when he had every reason to do otherwise, given my prickly relationship with other media members. He was always a true gentlemen, complimenting me when I wrote a quality piece yet unafraid to read me the Riot Act when I was needlessly getting into it with someone. Through watching him work, I learned a great deal about what it takes to be a good reporter. How could I not learn? He was, and is, one of the very best.

Disappointingly, at the present time he is off the NASCAR beat, being let go in a cost-cutting move by the newspaper for which he worked. Traditional media is shrinking, with fewer readers, listeners and viewers translating into fewer advertising dollars which are the lifeblood of any non-event funded (movies, theater) media. It is lamentable in the extreme that Dustin is now a victim of this cold reality.

While I don’t wish anyone to lose their job, knowing myself the feeling of doing so all too well, it is my literal prayer that someone will catch the vision and offer Dustin the plum reporting job he so richly deserves, the sooner the better. I hope to have media credentials for next March’s NASCAR appearance at Auto Club as well as for Infineon in June. It would be an empty feeling to walk into the media center at these events and not have one of the good guys there to whom I could say hello. And learn a few things too.