It was July 29, 2011 when I brought The Orange Cone to Twitter. Six years ago. Where has the time gone?
The Cone started as a joke at The Rumble in Ft Waybe in December, 2005 and eventually found it's way to MySpace in 2006. Sometime around 2008, the Cone went dormant and stayed that way for a few years until Carl Edwards hit the commitment cone at Lucas Oil Raceway in the final Nationwide Series race at that venue.
I remember with great joy what it was like when I hit 1,000 followers. I thought I was Big Time. I did a lot right. I had no idea how Twitter really worked but I engaged, dropped mentions as frequently as I could, and built a pretty solid foundation. But I made a lot of mistakes then, with some mean-spirited and frankly unfunny comments. Hell, sometimes I still do. Take the good with the bad, right?
But never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined what this would lead to. A ton of new friends, ranging from multiple-time Cup Series champions and Indy 500 winners to hobby stock drivers, to event promoters, journalists, broadcasters, series executives and officials, and best of all, thousands upon thousands of race fans.
At the end of the day, I am a fan. I always will be, too. I get excited every time they say "drivers start your engines", whether it's Cup, IndyCar, IMSA, ARCA, World of Outlaws, USAC, or some unsanctioned event at some dusty short track in middle America. Racing is a way of life, and anyone who chooses that life is okay with me.
Yeah, I get that we'll disagree from time to time. There's things I've learned not to discuss, including politics and religion. I still do, from time to time, but I've made the conscious effort to not go down those roads. I get we'll disagree on things we see on the racetrack too. That's part of the fun. I really work on trying to disagree without being disagreeable. It's not always easy, and I am sure I don't always pull it off, but it's the goal.
One of the things I've learned over the last six years, mostly over the past couple, is that the follower count doesn't matter. It's neat to say you have thousands of followers, but at the end of the day it doesn't really matter at all. What does matter is the quality of your interactions. I am fortunate to interact with a lot of people all day long.
Here's some unsolicited advice to those who want to know how to build their Twitter presence. Have an opinion. Be vocal. But don't make it personal. I hope everyone knows I love NASCAR. Seriously, I think I am the luckiest guy in the world to do this and get to be involved, even tangentially. There are things they do that I really love, and a few things they do I really dislike.
When I see something I don't like, I say I don't like it but I try not to get personal with anything. Decisions are made by people I know and like, and even if they're things I disagree with, I still like the people who make those calls. I hope they understand my goal isn't to question them or their intelligence, as so many others do, but rather give an alternative point of view.
How much longer will this go? Who knows. It started as a way to entertain myself. That anyone else found it entertaining was a nice bonus, and I am still having fun and apparently a few of you still are too. So we'll keep on going with the same tired jokes and the same insipid commentary.
Thanks for hitting that follow button. It meant a lot to me when you did and it means a lot to me now. Here's to another six years...at least.
