A couple of positives to talk about for a change

This has been a tough offseason already for NASCAR, its teams and its fans. The talk has been about teams laying people off or even closing their doors. It has been about how the sport will have to change to survive, and we all know how much NASCAR fans despise change.

It has been so bad, so depressing that you find yourself looking for good things to write about. It reminds you that you should do more of that even when times are good.

This, then, has not been a wasted week at all.

Let’s start with something that’s very, very good and is something you’ll have the chance to see Saturday night at 9 p.m. on CMT.

It’s a new film from CMT Films and the NASCAR Media Group called “Ride of Their Lives.” It’s good. It’s really good.

It is, in fact, so good that I am asking that you watch it. If you’re a NASCAR fan, you will love it. If you’re one of those fans whose love for the sport is in relapse over how all of the changes have “ruined” everything, I honestly believe this movie will touch whatever part of your heart that still burns for NASCAR.

I watched it and I thought for the first few minutes that it was going to be just another movie telling the same old NASCAR story. I was wrong.

This is a movie with NASCAR’s in-house production brand on it that talks, in considerable detail, about Wendell Scott and issues about race and the Confederate flag. There’s a great section about Tim Richmond, unquestionably the longest look anything with a NASCAR seal of approval has ever taken at that fallen star.

At no point, though, does it get preachy. It’s not a sociology project. It just deals with real things in a real way.

The film’s focus is families. The Frances, the Pettys and the Allisons are prominent, as they should be. But family also includes Darrell Waltrip and his wife, Jeff Gordon as his stepfather, Scott and his sons and Richmond’s sister.

The stories are well-told. There are moments when you’ll be near tears and there are moments that will make you smile. There’s tremendous footage, some you’ll see for the first time and more that you haven’t seen in too long.

Watch it. Please. You will not regret it.

Here’s one more bright spot.

Some of the women who work as officials in the garage have put together a cookbook with more than 200 recipes from all kinds of people in the sport. The book is called “Recipes from the Garage” and it’s being sold to raise money for Motor Racing Outreach.

The books are $15 each, plus shipping. You can order them online at go2mro.com and if you order now you can still get them in time to give them as holiday gifts.