It’s time to testify.

Raise your hand if you’ve ever been the first person in the neighborhood, classroom or workplace to possess or identify with something, only to have everyone else in your circle of acquaintances latch onto the same concept within a few months and pretend they’ve made a landmark discovery.

Yeah, it stinks.

If you’re a lifelong NASCAR enthusiast, it’s also a familiar refrain.

Say that’s news to you and you’ll incriminate yourself as being a wee bit slow on the up-take. The corporate culture in Daytona Beach clearly veered in the direction of catering to the newly converted some time ago.

Those of us who’ve been sitting in the pews (or the grandstands) for longer than we can remember may choose to accept it or go watch Major League Soccer.

NASCAR punched the accelerator to the floorboard in its mainstreaming process Friday, with a promise of more to come.

Three announcements hit the fan(s). Judging from the reaction of seasoned spectators (yours truly guilty as charged), one is viewed as neutral at best, with the other two sending us straight to the medicine chest in search of Alka-Seltzer.

Beginning next season, NASCAR will make two annual appearances at California Speedway in Fontana, which sits the equivalent of a 25-lap short track race from Los Angeles. In addition to the April date in place since 1997, the cookie-cutter layout will host a prime time 500-miler on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend.

The two steps taken to vacate that spot on the calendar are more galling. North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham will be downsized from two Winston Cup weekends to one, with its late October/early November date now occupied by the Southern 500 in Darlington, S.C.

For the uninitiated, the Southern 500 is a race that’s been contested on Labor Day Eve for the last 53 years.

What’s next, Jerry Lewis concluding his telethon with a special George Washington’s Birthday version of “You’ll Never Walk Alone?”

Don’t laugh, because this is the beginning of a dramatic schedule overhaul, one that prioritizes tradition beneath the opportunity to peddle a few more $25 seat cushions at the souvenir trailers.

Texas Motor Speedway is certain to snag a second annual date, probably at the expense of Atlanta or Charlotte. Darlington’s non-Southern 500 date is likely bound for St. Louis’ Gateway International Speedway or Kentucky Speedway.

Other tracks, possibly even New Hampshire International Speedway, will be asked to install artificial lighting or risk losing dates to a promoter who will.

Nothing’s sacred. NASCAR boss Mike Helton hinted Friday that the Daytona 500 could become a night race in the near future. And so it goes.

You can chalk this up as the price of popularity.

While it’s possible that a few crusty old fans couldn’t care less about what other people thought of our long-misunderstood sport, many of us once would have given anything to have auto racing given the place of honor it now occupies in the sporting landscape.

Racing was the original “extreme” sport. Now everybody’s doin’ it.

Consequently, the days of Richard Petty and David Pearson slugging it out at the short tracks are over. NASCAR’s vision is to expand its fan and sponsor base to the ends of the earth, an indication that Darlington, S.C., is the last place on earth it wants to be.

That’s understandable.

We can only hope that Helton, Bill France Jr. and the remainder of stock car racing’s think tank aren’t setting themselves up as a modern-day Dr. Frankenstein, creating a monolith destined to eat itself.

More Saturday night races on the tube equals more fans eschewing a trip to the local short track and spending their money at the supermarket on Pop Secret, Budweiser and Energizer batteries for the remote control instead. Reduce traffic at the local short tracks and you destroy the feeder system.

Mess with the feeder system and you create the kind of watered-down product that Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association now offer us.

All the columns, Web postings and angry letters to “Winston Cup Scene” won’t accomplish a lick in the way of reversing the trend.

Let’s just pray that those of us who proudly declare we knew NASCAR first aren’t the ones sneering “I told you so” in 20 years.

Kalle Oakes is sports editor. He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].