As NASCAR keep slowly dying, this series (Indycar) will keep taking over.
Don't bet on it. Nascar is simply suffering a recession in ratings and attendance, but remember
all American motorsports are down. For one thing the economy is still not that great and going to a race is expensive. Nascar fans are generally the same working people who have been so devastated by the last 25 years of shoddy economic policy. That's not going to heal overnight, but it's certainly getting better, and nascar fans are going to come back.
Indycar's 3% bump in ratings isn't a massive victory in that a 3% bump in pitiful ratings is still only 3% better than pitiful ratings. It's still good to have a bump, but if that's all they can manage every year, it's going to take the rest of our lives for Indycar to even show up on the same radar screen as nascar.
It's a bit early to celebrate Indycar knocking nascar off, especially since it's never going to happen. Indycar car rose to prominence on a nearly full field of American drivers, a ton of cigarette money, ESPN being desperate for programming, and record speeds that we will never see again. The cigarette money is gone, ESPN is gone (though NBCSN is doing a killer job) and we are again going to see the blinding record speeds we expected every week. Add to that there is no more innovation and all the cars are the same, Indycar is not even remotely he same sport as when it rose to prominence. That's why a lot of Indycar fans are
never coming back.
Look, I do love Indycar, but only because the racing is good and I remain flexible enough not to care about the things that ruin it for other people, just like I love sportscar racing in spite of the fact it's not GTP. I'm betting that Indycar's 3% rating boost is almost entirely down to an American being in the championship fight almost from the very start of the season, and in this vein is nascar's key to resurgence.
Nascar is going to get an utterly massive bump from a completely unexpected source. While the NFL is self destructing by disrespecting our anthem, our flag, or country and our brother and sisters who died to defend all of those things, Nascar continues to embrace American exceptionalism and patriotism. Since Sundays are nothing but football and nascar, what's going to happen to all those American patriots who turn the NFL off, flipping channels and see 150,000 spectators, drivers, crew people and officials all standing hand on heart, some in tears while the anthem is played at a nascar race? Don't underestimate the impact that is going to have. Nascar has always been pro-American almost to the point of inducing nausea, but patriotism is on the rise, and in light of the NFL's disgusting temper tantrums, suddenly the in-your-face love of country seems much more acceptable. NFL fans who love their country will eventually be out of a sport, and here is plenty of room for them at the nascar tracks.
And, even as someone who only has a passing interest in nascar only during the playoffs, I can support all they are about and am going to watch a lot more of it.
