Let's try this again.
The thing about a blog is that it's nigh useless without an audience. I suppose the same can be said of a lot of content: if there's no audience out there, why does this content exist?
For the majority of my auto racing fandom, I've lacked an audience. Not that I have one now, but I have more potential readers than I've ever had. So here we go, once more, unto the breach.
Years ago, this was a startup blog called Turn Three. The name was a throwback to a site I ran in high school, when I was part of the small circle that supported Sierra's NASCAR Racing game for Macintosh, the one stock-car sim that Mac owners ever got. It was a fine name for a site grouped among The Pits and The Tri-Oval, but it was a weak blog name. Weaker was my aim the first time around. Who was I writing for, the intense fan looking for perspective or the casual fan looking for an explanation? I'd alternate between both perspectives, lump in a bunch of expository stuff to try and suggest that I knew what I was talking about...and the result was disjointed, aimless.
This is a sort of statement of purpose, to build a bridge between the old and the new.
Years ago, when I thought I had a point to make, I'd try and find the time to hammer out something fully fleshed-out and crafted. The time would never come, and by the time I'd find a couple hours to write and edit, the topic would be long dead. Immediacy reigns supreme, which is why people take to Twitter.
And while I love Twitter, sometimes 140 characters just isn't enough space to argue a point. Some issues are too complex, or require perspective to justify an opinion.
Hence "Extra Laps." When 140 characters isn't enough, I can take to the blog instead. As with before, sometimes it'll be related to NASCAR, sometimes it'll be connected to short-track racing. Rarely, it could be another motorsport entirely.
This is something I've wanted to revive for a long time. At last, here it is, a few weeks into the offseason.
That's okay, though. There's no offseason for fandom, no offseason for news, and certainly no offseason for opinion.
