during NASCAR'S 90s growth, why did they build all 1.5-2 mile tracks

LouieLouie said:
I agree with most of what you have said but let's not go too far. Even the mighty NFL has had to move to new markets to get better attendance, i.e St. Louis to LA. Things change, life happens, and if you don't put a good product on the field/track, people aren't going to watch no matter what city you live in.

One issue that NASCAR has to contend with, which is similar to baseball, is that the venues are just as much stars as the teams. Daytona, Birstol, Talladega, Charlotte, Watkins Glen, etc. You could say a similar thing about baseball, Wrigley Field, Yankee Stadium, Fenway, etc.

To that point, NASCAR should embrace it. Stop the repaves, let the newer tracks age a little bit. Create some history so to speak by involving the culture of the local city. Anyone watch the Kentucky Derby the other day? They have traditions that make the Kentucky Derby unique. Everyone gets dressed to the nines, the girls wear goofy hats, the guys act like they have an inside tip on the horse to win, and everyone "has" to drink a mint julep (which btw are terrible).

Nascar needs the equivalent of the Kentucky Derby fan fare each week. They also need a race like Monaco, all for showing off how much money people have. It should be the indy race or fontana race. Indy has a boring track so more people will pay attention if you bring the fancy crowd out. Alternatively, the fancy crowd in LA can be seen at the Fontana race. It only needs to be 1 race a year, the other 35 races can have their own theme. But that is what makes NASCAR and large events, fun.
Click to expand...
Agreed - Kind of like what Darlington is starting to do with the throwback themes for the Southern 500. That was awesome!
 
RacerrecaR said:
I think a huge problem with NASCAR in the current era is that there is "too much information". Until around 2000, practically the only NASCAR we saw on tv were the pre-race ceremonies (invocation, national anthem, and command to start engines), the actual race, and maybe a few highlights on ESPN during the night following the race. Now there's tons of NASCAR-related shows throughout the week, plus even more articles and stories about the sport on the internet between races. I just think the sport's presence became too over-saturated and it turned the casual fan away because it was too complex to follow, plus it created a sense of boredom for the die-hard fans.

Let me put it this way....the Olympics are one of the most viewed events on tv. Why? Because they only occur every few years and there are practically no stories about them outside of when the Olympics are actually occurring. If they occurred on a (mostly) weekly basis like NASCAR and had tons of regular tv shows and online articles pertaining to the Olympics, I guarantee that viewership ratings would drastically decrease.

I do not believe that the increase of 1.5 mile tracks is what severely damaged this sport. I think NASCAR just got too full of itself and tried to cash in on "easy money" near the end of it's growth spurt without taking into effect the unintended consequences of such actions. Far less media coverage and maybe fewer per year would go a long way in helping this sport recover. Additionally, the advent of the Chase helped to ruin the "every race is a spectacle" feeling because now only race 36 really matters, compared to races 1-36 equally mattering.

In summation:
  • 1.5 mile tracks are not the primary issue
  • Get rid of the 1+ hour pre-race shows
  • Greatly scale back on mid-week NASCAR tv shows
  • Race season should be shortened to ~30 races
  • Every race should matter (get rid of the Chase)
  • Fire Brian France immediately
Click to expand...

I agree that Nascar is over saturated as you are always better leaving them wanting more as opposed to have way to much. IMO Nascar has a surplus of races and series that will need to be addressed as overall interest wanes.

The easiest thing for me to do is just to pay no heed to the aspects of Nascar that have no value like all the post, pre-race and midweek programming and the 2 lesser series. The DVR is set to turn on at the drop of the green and the race gets deleted once the winner crosses the strip. No burnouts for this guy!
 
jws926 said:
I wouldnt say there is a "ton" of NASCAR programing during the week, you Race Hub Mon-thur and NASCAR America Mon-Thur , if NASCAR America does their hour shows, thats 8 hours during the week, but they do 30 min shows too, so now you are 6 hours. I think you should of flipped and said there is a ton mid week articles being written , as they are, and that is the area that is saturated, but it something that the casual fans are not probably going to search out to read.

Look at the NFL, football is pretty much all ESPN talks about, plus you have NFL Network, talk about saturation , I guess what I am saying is I dont feel that "too much" media coverage had a lot do with the casual fans losing interest. I think it was a lot reason rolled into one that all played their role. But the biggest thing is they were casual, probably only watch for wrecks, and got bored and moved on, and we are better off without them.
Click to expand...


I can only speak from my circle of influence but my longtime derelict cronies left Nascar because the felt Nascar left them by dumping traditional tracks, rules changes and boring racing. There is a lot more detail but that is the gist of it. All these people were Baby Boomers.

The newbies I know left because it was not worth the investment in time to go to a track due to uninspiring races and they stopped following at home for the same reason. Eventually it became like a TV series you watched that was initially very good but over the course of time it started to suck and one day you woke up and said "Why am I wasting my time on this crap?" Nascar had the opportunity to keep these fans but instead of keeping or enhancing what they liked in the 90's they went the other way. All these people were Gen X'ers
 
4tires17gals said:
maybe it isn't the bad racing but the drunk, unreasonable ADHD fans?
Click to expand...

Oh no, it's the bad racing.

I can watch a 400 lap Super Late Model race at Winchester and have a blast. Or a 500 lap race at Martinsville and love every minute. But 500 miles of Texas is a struggle.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
The same can be said of ALL sports, and all other forms of entertainment too. The impact of information overload on NASCAR should be considered with that in mind.
Click to expand...

Considering the last two weeks where we've beat to death big wrecks and then lug nuts, I wouldn't say it's information overload. Not by a longshot. It just feels that way because there is so little content to talk about week after week after week.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
The same can be said of ALL sports, and all other forms of entertainment too. The impact of information overload on NASCAR should be considered with that in mind.
Click to expand...

Agreed as I just went throught the NFL draft with all the mock drafts, potential trades and related hoopla. Ditto for the NHL and they have not even held their draft yet. For the most part I ignore all of this as it is not even informed speculation but just wild guessing.

I do find NFL and NHL news useful as with a combined 62 teams, oodles of players, a multitude of matchups and the impact of injuries there is pertinent information to be discussed. With Nascar not having the same dynamics of the sports world I am not sure what could be discussed on radio or TV that would be relevant to me.
 
Acs said:
Considering the last two weeks where we've beat to death big wrecks and then lug nuts, I wouldn't say it's information overload. Not by a longshot. It just feels that way because there is so little content to talk about week after week after week.
Click to expand...

Bingo! You summed it up nicely as there really is not a ton of fresh material to discuss in Nascar.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom