Dale Earnhardt Jr.

BobbyFord said:
I don't think Jr. not driving will affect attendance.
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10 years ago, the stands were like 75% Junior fans. Lately, it's far fewer....like 15%. I suspect the bulk of the fans that have left over the last decade were the JR fans, and that you might be right.
 
I am not a pessimist nor an optimist. I am a realist. If brutal honesty gets your jimmies too rustled then feel free to stick to plain-jane news articles as opposed to a discussion forum.

My Charlotte source will remain nameless and isn't somebody with public star power anyway, but is somebody who has been a professional in the industry for years and mingles with tons of other people in the sport as well. When I hear that "Junior is more messed up than they're saying", and then we read later that "Junior is to sit our remainder of 2016 season", guess who was right? Hint: Not the sheeple on Instagram that are being spoon fed bits and pieces of information to smooze over the general public.

Everything that comes out as official news has already been swirling around Charlotte well before that. Professional journalists can't say it too early though or else they risk losing credibility. I am not a professional journalist. Therefore I can say what I hear and what I can ascertain to contain truth. Truth turned out to be that Dale Jr was worse than I even heard, let alone as good as the social media hivemind had been led to believe.
 
29-4 said:
10 years ago, the stands were like 75% Junior fans. Lately, it's far fewer....like 15%. I suspect the bulk of the fans that have left over the last decade were the JR fans....
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This is a truly fascinating comment, @29-4 . I don't know if it is accurate or not, but if it is directionally correct, what an insightful observation. Seriously, that would be important in trying to understand trends and the decline in Nascar attendance, TV ratings, etc.
 
LewTheShoe said:
This is a truly fascinating comment, @29-4 . I don't know if it is accurate or not, but if it is directionally correct, what an insightful observation. Seriously, that would be important in trying to understand trends and the decline in Nascar attendance, TV ratings, etc.
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I think a lot of people came in after Sr. died as JR fans. These fans may have lost interest as JR has failed to become....quite as successful as his dad. The percentages are probably off, but there is a definite decline in JR fans as a share of the total race attendance.
 
Why go to a race with all the expense that goes with it, when you can stay home and watch the race on TV for free? The cheapest race I went to was at Sonoma, a 45 min drive from my house. The closest oval for me to go watch is the California race down south. . . . .and that's where the costs start to add up.
 
Kyle Busch breaks a leg, and wins the Championship.
Dale Jr. Can't remember what he had for breakfast.
Time to hang up the helmet for good.
 
There is a cumulative effect with concussions. If you have had 6 of them, the 7th will be a lot worse than the 1st, even it's the impact is not as hard.

So let's say he does come back for Daytona. He's got a 75% chance of being involved in a large wreck because restrictor plate racing, and there is a good chance for another concussion.

Stay retired Jr, NASCAR is a young man's game.
 
When Junior drove for DEI and his daddy was running the show, he had the best he would ever have in his career bar none. He didn't win the championship then and he won't now so why
even consider driving again?? The most he could ever accomplish is to add to the win column.
Being a Team Owner and playing up to the fans with special gift programs will also help Nascar.
 
I agree, if NASCAR thought they had an attendance problem, and were nervous about ratings before. If junior makes the announcement, I would love to be a fly in the room when the tv contracts expire. I won't be surprised if they are already losing 20% just on lost ticket renewals and merchandising sales.

Justin Morneau had a similar issue in 2011, everyone figured he was done, then he wins the batting title in 2014. So I'll believe Junior is done, when he announces it. If he is done, I might make the annual trip to Daytona anyways. Nice to get away from the brutal North Dakota winters for a week or two, plus I worked my way up to the top row at the pit road exit. But I don't see myself ever attending a race anywhere else. After his dad was killed, I figured I was done watching this sport, then junior showed a little bit of life, so I continued, but now no one else really interests me. Kyle Busch winning the championship after missing half the season really irked me. Also hate the 'daddy is financing my ride' drivers that populate the xfinity and truck series. So I'm hoping he comes back, and not as an owner. These driver owned teams are rarely successful, whether or not Stewart has any real say is debatable.
 
BobbyFord said:
I just don't believe it had anything to do with Jr.
Track attendance has been decreasing over the past decade.
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I know people that didn't go to the race because Jr wasn't there. People go to events to see their favorite team compete. Jr is the most popular team.
 
With all due respect to Junior and his legion of fans, if he announced his retirement due to the health issue that we're being led to believe is quite serious, it could actually be a hellava career move.

He'd be getting out in one fell swoop and not have to be concerned later in his career with a declining skill set.

And one could plausibly argue that he never won a Cup title in part due to the shortened nature of his career.

One thing is for sure.

If Junior does in fact retire, he would certainly be added to the names already on the list of greatest drivers to have never won a championship.
 
I realize that this is a big topic of conversation and rampant speculation right now.
But, in all honesty, we do NOT know everything and we have NO RIGHT to know -- it's really none of our business.
We only know what the parties involved want us to know.
Beating each other up over this rumor and that rumor, and the info passed on by a friend of a friend who knows someone
that sweeps the garage is NOT solving anything.

I, for one, as a Junior fan, am happy that he's not going to get in the car for the rest of the season. Good for him --- putting his health
above all else. If he doesn't come back next year because it's not safe, OK by me. I'd rather have a healthy Junior sitting on
the pit box than an incapacitated Junior.
So what if he's never won a championship. Most of the drivers in NASCAR history have never won one either.
No big deal in the grand scheme of life.

Now, please, lay off each other. It solves nothing.
 
I have no dog in this fight so it has been interesting reading some of the comments. The way I see it is Jr, in consultation with his doctors, will decide if or when he will drive again and there is no timetable to make a decision as that is the nature of being concussed. Even if Jr is cleared to drive again I would think long and hard before doing so as he has the rest of his life to consider. I have had concussions when I was younger and my main symptoms were headaches, light sensitivity and feeling sick to my stomach.

If Jr does retire it won't have an impact on race attendance or viewership as I can't think of anytime a driver's death or retirement has impacted those things negatively. Jr has had a very good career as 26 wins are nothing to sneeze at and the fact he could not get close to Dale's accomplishments mean nothing as very few will never get a sniff at that rarefied air. I hope Jr hangs it up as he owes no one a thing and I would like to see him get well and stay that way.
 
I have several family members at Darlington. The ones that are Junior fans are pulling for Chase Elliott. j/s for what it's worth.
 
Junior has nothing to prove. he came into this world naked like the rest of us. Right now he has climbed many mountains and he earned his nest egg. Retire and enjoy life is my opinion.
 
BobbyFord said:
Somehow the sport survived the retirement of drivers like Petty, Yarborough, Pearson, Allisons, Elliott...and the deaths of drivers like Sr., Davey, Bonnett, etc.
I think NASCAR will survive Dale Jr. retiring.
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I will give you that you are right in every way that Nascar survived and never missed a beat when all the drivers you mentioned either retired or died.....


Except for 1.......Dale Sr. ...... I was never ever a fan of his on race day... In fact I always hated to see him win and his driving style.... But...... I respected him so much the rest of the week... Since his death my interest has diminished greatly.... To me........ he had SO much to do with the explosion of the interest in Winston Cup racing in the 90's...... either you loved him or hated him.... EVERYONE knew his name whether they were a racing fan or not..... kinda' like Richard Petty... When Dale died it coincided with the idiot Brian taking charge..... luckily Jr. was there to help prop up the fan base..... without that..... it would have been much worse..... but..... Jr. can't carry the whole load .... I think if he doesn't come back... the fan base will drop further..... there's a lot to be said for the Jr. nation.... you may dismiss how important fan loyalty is... but... I can tell you..... it plays a very important part.... I have been a Mark Martin fan since the 80's...... now that he isn't racing anymore.... My Sundays are not scheduled around the T.V. ...... I now have no favorite driver to watch and pull for.....

Don't kid yourself about Jr. not returning won't affect attendance and viewership...........It will my friend.......
 
kymartin6 said:
I will give you that you are right in every way that Nascar survived and never missed a beat when all the drivers you mentioned either retired or died.....


Except for 1.......Dale Sr. ...... I was never ever a fan of his on race day... In fact I always hated to see him win and his driving style.... But...... I respected him so much the rest of the week... Since his death my interest has diminished greatly.... To me........ he had SO much to do with the explosion of the interest in Winston Cup racing in the 90's...... either you loved him or hated him.... EVERYONE knew his name whether they were a racing fan or not..... kinda' like Richard Petty... When Dale died it coincided with the idiot Brian taking charge..... luckily Jr. was there to help prop up the fan base..... without that..... it would have been much worse..... but..... Jr. can't carry the whole load .... I think if he doesn't come back... the fan base will drop further..... there's a lot to be said for the Jr. nation.... you may dismiss how important fan loyalty is... but... I can tell you..... it plays a very important part.... I have been a Mark Martin fan since the 80's...... now that he isn't racing anymore.... My Sundays are not scheduled around the T.V. ...... I now have no favorite driver to watch and pull for.....

Don't kid yourself about Jr. not returning won't affect attendance and viewership...........It will my friend.......
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I respectfully disagree :cheers:
 
I'm curious what folks think of TV's impact on the future of the sport . As bad as it was back in the day , it was tv coverage , specifically Wide World of Sports and TNN that first attracted me to the sport , and it has been TV that had kept me
 
Press conference with Dale, Rick Hendrick, and Dr. Mickey Collins. Dale reiterated his plan is to race next year and beyond. Dr. Collins reiterated that Dale is on track to recover from the last concussion and also be normal in withstanding future hits. But Dale did say he has postponed thinking about risk of future injury until he feels normal from the last one. Dale hemmed and hawed a lot, but I believe he always does.
 
LewTheShoe said:
Press conference with Dale, Rick Hendrick, and Dr. Mickey Collins. Dale reiterated his plan is to race next year and beyond. Dr. Collins reiterated that Dale is on track to recover from the last concussion and also be normal in withstanding future hits. But Dale did say he has postponed thinking about risk of future injury until he feels normal from the last one. Dale hemmed and hawed a lot, but I believe he always does.
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His speach seemed pretty much normal for him to me. The only time his speach is smooth flowing is when he is doing a commercial that most likely has been rehearsed multiple times. he has never been the silver tongued devil that the car salesman who was sitting next to him is.
 
I don't think if Jr. doesn't come back it will make all that much of a difference. There are some good young drivers coming up and most will just start shopping for another to root for. Maybe an established one or one of the new ones. Whether he stays or retires is his final decision, but I'm hoping for the retirement.
 
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Matthew2470 said:
Did you not see how empty the stands were at MIS last week? It was the worst non-weather impacted attendance I have ever seen.
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It wasn't good but it wasn't as bad as New Hampshire this year. Outsides of Indy, NHIS had the worst crowd relative to capacity % I've ever seen for a regularly scheduled cup race. Interestingly, that was the first race Jr. missed.
 
KodiakRusty89 said:
It wasn't good but it wasn't as bad as New Hampshire this year. Outsides of Indy, NHIS had the worst crowd relative to capacity % I've ever seen for a regularly scheduled cup race. Interestingly, that was the first race Jr. missed.
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I was there. The seats were EMPTY.
 
oldbob said:
Any idea where Jordan Bianchi got his medical degree and where he is licensed to practice? When did he examine Earnhardt?
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Don't know.
I've had six major concussions and recognize the long term implications but I'm not a doctor either.
 
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