So you want to try starting a team in the truck series...

LouieLouie

LouieLouie

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http://www.racer.com/more/viewpoints/item/131082-insight-a-reality-check-from-the-truck-trenches

A very interesting read from one of the average teams in the truck series.

I think there are a lot of contributing factors to this, but the a few I will pcik on,
1. the economy. Fewer butts in the seats, less reason to build a rolling billboard.
2. NASCAR Cable deal. People are leaving cable in droves, it is becoming much harder to reach the audience.
3. TV coverage. The middle of the pack and back, rarely gets shown on tv unless there is a wreck. What happened to introducing and speaking with all of the drivers pre or post race? Or at least pick one of the back markers to talk to and find out what their strategies and goals are for the day. I think this used to happen more when the local "ringer" was allowed into the race.
 
IMO Toyota has hurt the smaller teams by dominating the series.
 
The Nature Boy said:
NASCAR needs to follow the lead of MLB and offer a streaming service that allows you to just stream all of the races for a fee. If they have to share that fee with FOX/NBC then so be it but the move away from cable is going to continue to hurt NASCAR.
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I doubt FOX and NBC are giving up TV Everywhere anytime soon.
 
LouieLouie said:
3. TV coverage. The middle of the pack and back, rarely gets shown on tv unless there is a wreck. What happened to introducing and speaking with all of the drivers pre or post race? Or at least pick one of the back markers to talk to and find out what their strategies and goals are for the day. I think this used to happen more when the local "ringer" was allowed into the race.
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This is what annoys me most about nascar, specifically the TV coverage. They rarely, if ever, even mention anyone running outside of the top 10 or 15. Danica was the exception for a while because of her popularity and the excitement around her, but nowadays she barely gets talked about unless she's running well. You could have a past champion like Bobby Labonte in the race, but nobody would know because they won't even mention him once. Obviously they focus on the cars running up front, but they used to talk about pretty much everyone in the race at one point or another on long green flag runs, when there was no action up front, cars getting lapped, etc. There's a lot of good racing that goes on back in the pack, but TV rarely shows it.

Why would anyone want to sponsor a car that never gets mentioned or gets any time on the screen? Maybe if nascar just put a little more focus on the rest of the field every once in a while, it could help.
 
^ NASCAR doesn't produce the TV broadcasts. This is a rights holder issue.
 
The Nature Boy said:
NASCAR needs to follow the lead of MLB and offer a streaming service that allows you to just stream all of the races for a fee. If they have to share that fee with FOX/NBC then so be it but the move away from cable is going to continue to hurt NASCAR.
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They sold their video streaming rights to Fox and NBC and can't get them back. They've been trying.

As much as I love NBC's coverage, that TV deal is doing pretty substantial damage to this sport.

2 Sweet said:
This is what annoys me most about nascar, specifically the TV coverage. They rarely, if ever, even mention anyone running outside of the top 10 or 15. Danica was the exception for a while because of her popularity and the excitement around her, but nowadays she barely gets talked about unless she's running well. You could have a past champion like Bobby Labonte in the race, but nobody would know because they won't even mention him once. Obviously they focus on the cars running up front, but they used to talk about pretty much everyone in the race at one point or another on long green flag runs, when there was no action up front, cars getting lapped, etc. There's a lot of good racing that goes on back in the pack, but TV rarely shows it.

Why would anyone want to sponsor a car that never gets mentioned or gets any time on the screen? Maybe if nascar just put a little more focus on the rest of the field every once in a while, it could help.
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Have you been watching the races? Fox cuts to mid-pack battles all the time, especially during the procedural races at the brobdingnagians where there isn't much going on. NBC does "Through The Field" multiple times during the races.

Only gripe with Fox is the camera work. I got a headache during the Daytona 500 one year because of the tight shots and them changing cameras every three seconds. Think I compared it to a Christopher Nolan movie.
 
The Nature Boy said:
NASCAR needs to follow the lead of MLB and offer a streaming service that allows you to just stream all of the races for a fee.
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The "North Carolina Baseball Blackout" still exists though. Can't get the Braves, Reds, Nationals or Orioles in North Carolina. On top of that, all four teams play over seven hours away. As for the Nationals and Orioles, their games are shown on MASN which isn't available on most cable providers (and if it is, you only get one MASN channel) and MASN is the only sports channel in America without an online stream.

DIRECTV offers MASN2 (which usually airs the Orioles games) but only for a few hours a night. And if the Orioles game runs past that window, it gets blacked out. This happened to me one time and I was so mad I could spit fire.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
Have you been watching the races? Fox cuts to mid-pack battles all the time, especially during the procedural races at the brobdingnagians where there isn't much going on. NBC does "Through The Field" multiple times during the races.

Only gripe with Fox is the camera work. I got a headache during the Daytona 500 one year because of the tight shots and them changing cameras every three seconds. Think I compared it to a Christopher Nolan movie.
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If by "mid pack" you mean a battle for 12th place, sure, they do that a lot when the leader has a three second lead and there's no action in the top 5.

NBC does "through the field" once per broadcast and rarely goes deeper than the twenties, but I do give them credit for at least trying.
 
Everything that is wrong with Nascar racing is right here . The fans have no use for 25th place trucks . So TV has no desire to show racing back in the pack. Because they don't get TV time , they can't get sponsorships . That means they can't hire more crew , buy newer tires ,buy good engines . Racing has become about the top five or six guys so it will die a slow death .
 
2 Sweet said:
If by "mid pack" you mean a battle for 12th place, sure, they do that a lot when the leader has a three second lead and there's no action in the top 5.

NBC does "through the field" once per broadcast and rarely goes deeper than the twenties, but I do give them credit for at least trying.
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"David Ragan and Matt DiBenedetto are side by side for 27th"

Nobody cares. Even in some of the more procedural races, there's stuff going on up inside the top-20. That's just the reality.

I mean, I like doing stories on those guys when I (very rarely) cover Cup, but that's because it's something nobody else talks about.

If BK Racing wants TV coverage, they should try running up front. DiBenedetto got more coverage for finishing sixth at Bristol than whoever won the race got for winning.
 
2 Sweet said:
If by "mid pack" you mean a battle for 12th place, sure, they do that a lot when the leader has a three second lead and there's no action in the top 5.

NBC does "through the field" once per broadcast and rarely goes deeper than the twenties, but I do give them credit for at least trying.
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I think they cover all the lead lap cars when they do Through the field.
 
ted@economy said:
Everything that is wrong with Nascar racing is right here . The fans have no use for 25th place trucks . So TV has no desire to show racing back in the pack. Because they don't get TV time , they can't get sponsorships . That means they can't hire more crew , buy newer tires ,buy good engines . Racing has become about the top five or six guys so it will die a slow death .
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Pit strategy gambles. Those teams aren't gonna win the race anyways, so why not roll the dice and get some television exposure for leading a couple laps or being up towards the front on a restart? Used to happen all the time.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
Pit strategy gambles. Those teams aren't gonna win the race anyways, so why not roll the dice and get some television exposure for leading a couple laps or being up towards the front on a restart? Used to happen all the time.
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Hasn't been a good small team gamble since Smith won Darlington
 
kkfan91 said:
Hasn't been a good small team gamble since Smith won Darlington
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David Ragan won Talladega a few years ago. And Dave Blaney came damn close to winning the Daytona 500 on a gamble. If they hadn't gotten the race restarted after the jet dryer incident (which caused a two hour red flag), he would've won.

I don't think we'll see a small budget team win ever again honestly. Someone might pull off a win at Daytona, Dega or the road courses but that seems unlikely. Even on the road courses, the Gibbs and Penske cars are dominant.

I suggested a while back making Richmond a "Wild Card" race. Everyone who has clinched a spot for the Chase at Darlington gets Richmond off and the only drivers who race at Richmond are the ones who haven't won a race all year or haven't clinched a Chase berth.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
"David Ragan and Matt DiBenedetto are side by side for 27th"

Nobody cares. Even in some of the more procedural races, there's stuff going on up inside the top-20. That's just the reality.

I mean, I like doing stories on those guys when I (very rarely) cover Cup, but that's because it's something nobody else talks about.

If BK Racing wants TV coverage, they should try running up front. DiBenedetto got more coverage for finishing sixth at Bristol than whoever won the race got for winning.
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Fair enough. I just wish they would acknowledge there are more than 12 cars on the track. ESPN did a great job of this back in the 90s, even if it was just a brief tidbit on a guy getting lapped by the leader or a closeup of a guy who had moved up from 37th to 23rd.

I think the heat races in Xfin are stupid, but if there's any positive to come out of it, it's the exposure for the small teams that normally wouldn't get the time of day.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
I don't think we'll see a small budget team win ever again honestly. Someone might pull off a win at Daytona, Dega or the road courses but that seems unlikely. Even on the road courses, the Gibbs and Penske cars are dominant.
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Sad, but true.

It used to happen at least once a year. And almost every race, you had at least one average team running near the front. Now it's basically the same 12 cars up front all the time with a few more occasionally added to the mix.

Oh well, life goes on.
 
ted@economy said:
Don''t think they can continue to fill fields with the present format .Not enough exposure for the bottom 3/4 of the field .
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Charter cash flow.

People want to race, believe it or not. The mid-field and the guys at the back work hard trying to improve. Once in a while, someone fails and somebody else shows up to give it a shot. All of this is a big part of what racing is about and you'll find it in every professional and amateur series out there.
 
aunty dive said:
Charter cash flow.

People want to race, believe it or not. The mid-field and the guys at the back work hard trying to improve. Once in a while, someone fails and somebody else shows up to give it a shot. All of this is a big part of what racing is about and you'll find it in every professional and amateur series out there.
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Just saying that I see that changing . Less and less tv time for these guys means less and less income . Buy a ride in a KBM or one of Brad or Junior's cars might get you some tv time , but bumpin and bangin mid pack is becoming useless .
 
ted@economy said:
Just saying that I see that changing . Less and less tv time for these guys means less and less income . Buy a ride in a KBM or one of Brad or Junior's cars might get you some tv time , but bumpin and bangin mid pack is becoming useless .
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No more or less "useless" than it's ever been, IMO.

Racing existed long before TV did and there were back-markers and mid-field runners then, as there are now. There's a certain spirit that is part of people who do this ... drivers, owners and everyone right down to volunteer crew members at the local short track. It can cost a marriage, a business, a personal fortune and a lot of other negative things if you aren't careful. I know people who took it too far ... lots of them. Racing can be a harsh mistress.

So ... the current economic racing reality rewards success and punishes failure. There's nothing new there.
 
aunty dive said:
No more or less "useless" than it's ever been, IMO.

Racing existed long before TV did and there were back-markers and mid-field runners then, as there are now. There's a certain spirit that is part of people who do this ... drivers, owners and everyone right down to volunteer crew members at the local short track. It can cost a marriage, a business, a personal fortune and a lot of other negative things if you aren't careful. I know people who took it too far ... lots of them. Racing can be a harsh mistress.

So ... the current economic racing reality rewards success and punishes failure. There's nothing new there.
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I think I miss the parity more than anything. Of course the best teams (usually the deepest pockets) with the best people and best equipment consistently run the best, as they should. But even in the years when Gordon or whoever was winning 30% of the races, you had your Bobby Hamiltons and John Andrettis of the field that could still manage an occasional win. There was a different guy every weekend 19th or 25th or 32nd in the points that would have a top 5 or 10 run.

I remember one year Ward Burton got fired from the Hardees 31 team, signed with Bill Davis and won later in the year with the same 22 team that had struggled to finish in the top 20 with whatever various drivers they had earlier in the year. That's awesome. You'll never see anything like that in Cup again.

I realize at this point I'm sounding like a crybaby so I'll stop.
 
aunty dive said:
No more or less "useless" than it's ever been, IMO.

Racing existed long before TV did and there were back-markers and mid-field runners then, as there are now. There's a certain spirit that is part of people who do this ... drivers, owners and everyone right down to volunteer crew members at the local short track. It can cost a marriage, a business, a personal fortune and a lot of other negative things if you aren't careful. I know people who took it too far ... lots of them. Racing can be a harsh mistress.

So ... the current economic racing reality rewards success and punishes failure. There's nothing new there.
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Maybe so . I know the racers haven't changed , they are hard working dudes , so are their crews . A little recognition by fans and TV would go a heck of a long way though . Guys like Benny , and Ned used to point them out .
 
ted@economy said:
Don''t think they can continue to fill fields with the present format .Not enough exposure for the bottom 3/4 of the field .
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Hard for even good teams to compete anymore. That Race Team Alliance is bad for the sport. These are the teams that drove up the costs so high that great teams were forced to close shop. And now they have their charters, making it next to impossible for new teams to join the sport.
 
2 Sweet said:
I think I miss the parity more than anything. Of course the best teams (usually the deepest pockets) with the best people and best equipment consistently run the best, as they should. But even in the years when Gordon or whoever was winning 30% of the races, you had your Bobby Hamiltons and John Andrettis of the field that could still manage an occasional win. There was a different guy every weekend 19th or 25th or 32nd in the points that would have a top 5 or 10 run.

I remember one year Ward Burton got fired from the Hardees 31 team, signed with Bill Davis and won later in the year with the same 22 team that had struggled to finish in the top 20 with whatever various drivers they had earlier in the year. That's awesome. You'll never see anything like that in Cup again.
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Maybe not. I'm pretty sure the teams on the outside edges of the top 20 don't see it that way.

Allmendinger has a good shot on Sunday. Cheer for him ... I will be.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
Hard for even good teams to compete anymore. That Race Team Alliance is bad for the sport. These are the teams that drove up the costs so high that great teams were forced to close shop. And now they have their charters, making it next to impossible for new teams to join the sport.
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That's the one silver lining , so far , those charters aren't worth beans . Doubtful fields will ever be filled again .
 
2 Sweet said:
I think I miss the parity more than anything. Of course the best teams (usually the deepest pockets) with the best people and best equipment consistently run the best, as they should. But even in the years when Gordon or whoever was winning 30% of the races, you had your Bobby Hamiltons and John Andrettis of the field that could still manage an occasional win. There was a different guy every weekend 19th or 25th or 32nd in the points that would have a top 5 or 10 run.

I remember one year Ward Burton got fired from the Hardees 31 team, signed with Bill Davis and won later in the year with the same 22 team that had struggled to finish in the top 20 with whatever various drivers they had earlier in the year. That's awesome. You'll never see anything like that in Cup again.

I realize at this point I'm sounding like a crybaby so I'll stop.
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That's because the racecars weren't glued to the ****** racetrack and aerodynamics weren't everything. Now, because of aerodynamics, NASCAR has become just like open wheel racing.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
Hard for even good teams to compete anymore. That Race Team Alliance is bad for the sport. These are the teams that drove up the costs so high that great teams were forced to close shop. And now they have their charters, making it next to impossible for new teams to join the sport.
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The high cost of being competitive at the top level is hardly unique to NASCAR.

I've been to The Snowball Derby fairly recently.
 
The truck series was so much better in the beginning, They ran on smaller tracks with no pit stops, there were competition breaks so teams could change tires and fuel up, it was great, anyone could put a team together and make a living, one guy had an open trailer only 4 crew members and ran up front every race, but alas of course NASCAR couldn't leave things alone.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
That's because the racecars weren't glued to the ******* racetrack and aerodynamics weren't everything.
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Quite the difference in ride height.....

42MelloYello1991ref-vi.jpg


42throwback-dar-getty.jpg
 
Dwayne said:
The truck series was so much better in the beginning, They ran on smaller tracks with no pit stops, there were competition breaks so teams could change tires and fuel up, it was great, anyone could put a team together and make a living, one guy had an open trailer only 4 crew members and ran up front every race, but alas of course NASCAR couldn't leave things alone.
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I loved the Craftsman Supertruck Series races at the little bullrings. Busch Grand National also ran at Hickory :wub:, Rougemont :wub:, Myrtle Beach and places like that. And ESPN and TNN used to air the Slim Jim All Pro races as well as other Late Model races, along with ASA, ARCA and Pro Cup.

Maybe American Sports Network will start airing CARS Tour so modern day fans can be exposed to real racing.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
Pit strategy gambles. Those teams aren't gonna win the race anyways, so why not roll the dice and get some television exposure for leading a couple laps or being up towards the front on a restart? Used to happen all the time.
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Landon Cassill 2014 Auto Club
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
They won't be worth anything when teams decide to leave the sport and can't sell those charters because nobody's willing to buy them. It won't work.
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Presently, like other business and real estate assets, the price of these things is pegged to something near the price recently paid for a similar asset.

Whether or not someone will be willing to buy one or more of them will depend upon the market ... sellers and buyers. You, my friend, have no idea whether there will or will not be buyers in the market. Roger Penske thinks they have value. You are entitled to differ with that opinion, of course.
 
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