The honeymoon may be coming to an end. It’s been a long one, too…the love affair between NASCAR drivers and their fans. Some comments from drivers after last weekend’s parade and fireworks from Talladega hint that they may feel that they are giving more than they’re getting.

Bobby Labonte, who finished the EA Sports 500 upside down, could barely disguise the sarcasm when he told post-race interviewers that he guessed that the afternoon turned out OK, since nobody got hurt and the stands were full.

More importantly, they will be full this weekend, and next weekend, and the weekend after that … people love this stuff.

Why do they love it? Because NASCAR has developed events which provide close, fast, dangerous racing. We love seeing other people put their hides on the line, take chances and, sometimes, miss.

You can bet that if one driver feels strongly enough to say it in front of a microphone, the sentiment is one that many others also feel and have been talking about among themselves.

The attitude seems to be a bit resentful and it would be hard to blame them. They have to feel at least a little like gladiators, who fight for their lives for the enjoyment of the butts in the seats.

“Thunder Road” meets “Caligula.”

In fact, there has been a near revolt by drivers against NASCAR itself in the dust of the last lap crash. Talladega, along with Daytona, are the two superspeedways on which cars are required to install plates between the carburetor and the engine to restrict the amount of fuel and air getting into the engine and slow the car.

In theory, the cars all would be slowed the same, so the races would turn out the same, only the speed would be slower and the drivers, thereby, safer. However, what happened was that the fast cars were slowed more than the slow cars, leaving them all about the same, racing in packs and still going 180 mph.

Drivers have complained for years about the situation. NASCAR has tried some things to fix it but, so far, nothing has really worked.

Last Sunday, a number of drivers went into the organization trailer to make their statements and repeated them for the cameras and microphones.

A NASCAR spokesman said that the organization will get to work more earnestly on the problem and will have a solution by the time teams start testing for the Daytona 500.

But it’s possible that the ultimate solution can only be found when fans, you and I, stop watching. That’s not likely to happen.

People love this stuff.

Congratulations to the boys’ Cross Country teams from Columbian and Seneca East and girls’ teams from Mohawk, Hopewell-Loudon and Seneca East, who all qualified for the Regionals being held at Hedges-Boyer Park in Tiffin this weekend.

We also want to congratulate runners from local schools who qualified to compete as individuals in the Regional meet.