23XI statement on not signing Charter agreement

Tim_Richmond_Fan said:
The irony of the rumor of Toyota being non-unionized is that they are heavily unionized in Japan, just not in the states. Although a few plants in the US have had UAW votes recently, they haven't passed.
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Unions pull the wagon for the non union shops. Toyota raised the wages when there is word of union organizing.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
=IF= NASCAR needs to be worried about potential OEMs bypassing it for other series, I don't see F1 as the main competitor. Manufacturers are jumping into sports cars and endurance racing right and left worldwide. Compared to F1 or Cup, those series are easier to get into, cheaper to compete, cars closer to production models, fewer internal political distractions and barriers to entry, fan base that's more interested in the competition than the spectacle, etc.
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100%.....but is this where the money is....is there enough exposure?
 
Charlie Spencer said:
I don't have demo numbers or marketing survey results, so I can only offer semi-informed guesses regarding the US market.
  • The majority of motorsports fans in the US follow NASCAR. Most of those NASCAR fans like ovals better than road courses. Most of them like more beating and banging than is permitted in sports car racing.
  • We're in an era of where sports fans aren't as willing to watch longer events as they used to be. While six of this season's 11 IMSA races are under three hours, the other five (and all eight of the European WEC series races) are at least six hours. They're too long for a single US network to cover in one broadcast window, so watching some races requires switching networks and streams.
  • With races featuring multiple classes, dozens of cars, and hundreds of drivers getting in and out of cars, it takes more than casual attention to keep track of who's who and where they're running. It requires some practice to learn to keep track of their strategies and how they change as the race evolves.
On the other hand, attendance has been growing for the last several years, barring COVID. Tickets in the US are relatively inexpensive compared to Cup and far less than F1. Garage access is unparalleled. Weekends usually feature multiple lower-class races. There are few full-course yellow flags thrown to interrupt the racing; local yellows are used while cars are given more time to recover. The number of participating manufacturers is growing in both IMSA and WEC since the sanctioning bodies made it easier for teams to run in both series.

And the Miatas are a hoot and a half.
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My problem with IMSA stuff is that I want to follow Lexus. As it is in GTD class, it sometimes gets lost in the shuffle....The feeling I have always had from Toyota is that they love the IMSA stuff for the very reason you cited in our exchange.
 
Revman said:
100%.....but is this where the money is....is there enough exposure?
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Between WEC and IMSA, at least 22 manufacturers currently think so. Those include all three NASCAR's OEMs (Ford is in development) and at least four of F1's.

ESPN story from just prior to this year's Rolex:
www.espn.com

IMSA is attracting more manufacturers, and in turn, more fans

At a time when many racing series' growth is flat, IMSA is adding manufacturer after manufacturer, and fans are lining up to watch the on-track action.
www.espn.com www.espn.com

Okay, I'm done witnessing.
 
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