Finally, someone in the media gets it

buckaroo

buckaroo

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Selena Roberts, writing an article in SI says she finally understands why NASCAR is turning off Tobacco Road. She tells of finally getting an interview with Dale Earnhardt way back when and found him to be very human instead of the "hard-ass" that everyone thought he was. He told her of his first date, first car and first sip of beer at the age of 14. He was down to Earth and while telling the tells of old, he pulled out a can of tuna, opened it and ate it right from the can using a plastic fork.

Moving forward to today, Selena attended the NASCAR HOF ceremonies and induction of the first five members. What she saw there was its opulent and ostentatious setting. Now she could see why race junkies have been abandoning the sport. NASCAR had gone from plastic forks to silver spoons. She summarized that money had taken over the sport. Moving out of the south where it was born and moving to big markets and marketing the sport to huge companies, forsaking the loyal fans who have been around since the beginning.

I have been saying this for years. Money has made the sport boring and not nearly as fun as it was. Corporate sponsors now have more say-so about who drives than does the owner. No longer can a good old boy who gets his hands dirty working on cars have a chance in the arena of big time NASCAR. Heck, for that matter, even in the lower tiers of autoracing, it takes more and more money, which means sponsors. Gone are the days of different auto manufacturers desiging their own cars, making the entire field virtually the same car (so as not to give any manufacturer and advantage). Today, in order to be competitive, car owners have to use exotic materials and machinery that boosts the cost to millions, which in turn means more sponsors, which in turn give those sponsors more and more say-so in the operation. Gone is the day when a driver has to come up through the ranks to get into good equipment, proving himself along the way. Yeah, gone are those days. I can go on and on about this, but I think you got my drift.
 
Pretty much the same in all sports. Anything that can be done to get an edge, no matter how small . We see it in Olympic sports even. Like swimming , cycling and bob sledding . Let alone professional and college sports. That's just the way it is . Fans demand the best. Add that to the culture of treating star athletes like some kind of Gods and paying them millions. It's not just Nascar. Ask yourself what those guys were making back when racin was fun.
 
buckaroo said:
Heck, for that matter, even in the lower tiers of autoracing, it takes more and more money, which means sponsors.
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yep, look at your local track for cars without sponsors and see where they place, if you can find one. people that sponsor the cars/drivers feel they have some say in how their money is invested. my nephew was up for a cc spot for a local kid in indy driving sprint cars. sponsor said no. nephew didn't get the cc position. there's no going back buck. sign of the times.
 
I just read that article in Si, she pretty much nailed it. Nascar has done this to themselves, but really I don't think it would of happened any other way. It has happened in all sports, just like it has happened in just about every faucet of corporate America. The dollar drives everything, Nascar is about making money just like any other sport. There will be highs and lows, Nascar is on the down turn right now, but eventually there will be a new angle that will bring back the fans. There is no going back to the old days where you could build car for your local track and not have a sponsor. In fact I remember back then it was always the guys with extra backing, whether it be a rich owner or a guy with a garage backing him, that usually dominated. The have nots always struggled, perhaps we just didn't realize it when we were younger. The concept was the same then as it is now, there are just bigger players in the game.
I'd like to see Nascar allow the cars to be different like they were back in the 80s', but the teams and crew chiefs pretty much did themselves in on that one. They complained every week that this guy had an advantage because he had the Buick nose or that guy was running better because the T-Bird had more of an aero advantage. What was Nascar to do? The evolution of the sport will continue, it will be interesting to see how it evolves from here. I think Nascar eventually will have to down size by eliminating a few dates from tracks that are not doing well. Maybe go to a 30 race schedule.... any way you look it Nascar 10 years from now will be much different then it is now. I think Nascar will do what it has to survive, hopefully that will incorporate more of the roots that made it popular.
 
Mopardh9 said:
In fact I remember back then it was always the guys with extra backing, whether it be a rich owner or a guy with a garage backing him, that usually dominated. The have nots always struggled
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Bingo! You're exactly correct. It's almost always been the guy with the best 'this' or the most of 'that'. I don't see where that's changed throughout the years of racing.
 
In case you haven't noticed, we do live in a Capitalistic society. Making money is the engine that keeps this country's wheels turning, and NASCAR is no different than any other enterprise in that respect. If you have any local short tracks, go there and I'm sure you'll still see plenty of plastic forks.
 
What it comes down to is that Pro and Sport form an oxymoron ... made up of the regular kind. There is no Sport when they turn Pro. It's Business at that point.
 
buckaroo said:
Selena Roberts, writing an article in SI says she finally understands why NASCAR is turning off Tobacco Road. She tells of finally getting an interview with Dale Earnhardt way back when and found him to be very human instead of the "hard-ass" that everyone thought he was. He told her of his first date, first car and first sip of beer at the age of 14. He was down to Earth and while telling the tells of old, he pulled out a can of tuna, opened it and ate it right from the can using a plastic fork.

Moving forward to today, Selena attended the NASCAR HOF ceremonies and induction of the first five members. What she saw there was its opulent and ostentatious setting. Now she could see why race junkies have been abandoning the sport. NASCAR had gone from plastic forks to silver spoons. She summarized that money had taken over the sport. Moving out of the south where it was born and moving to big markets and marketing the sport to huge companies, forsaking the loyal fans who have been around since the beginning.

I have been saying this for years. Money has made the sport boring and not nearly as fun as it was. Corporate sponsors now have more say-so about who drives than does the owner. No longer can a good old boy who gets his hands dirty working on cars have a chance in the arena of big time NASCAR. Heck, for that matter, even in the lower tiers of autoracing, it takes more and more money, which means sponsors. Gone are the days of different auto manufacturers desiging their own cars, making the entire field virtually the same car (so as not to give any manufacturer and advantage). Today, in order to be competitive, car owners have to use exotic materials and machinery that boosts the cost to millions, which in turn means more sponsors, which in turn give those sponsors more and more say-so in the operation. Gone is the day when a driver has to come up through the ranks to get into good equipment, proving himself along the way. Yeah, gone are those days. I can go on and on about this, but I think you got my drift.
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There's always Lemon's racing. You have to start off with a $500. car that you add a full roll cage a some minor brake upgrades. Then it's off to racing for 15 hours in a 2 day race. Winner gets a trophy and $1,500. bucks in nickels. :)
 
PB etal, yes, I know and understand the dynamics of capitalism and yes, I know that the teams with the most money will always have an advantage. I'm not disagreeing with that and have no problem with it. Just as life is, we move on and if we don't adjust, we just die away.

I was just going on about how I agreed with what Selena finally got.

I don't see NASCAR as changing, nor do I see any of the lower tiers changing. However, more and more of the local scene is being played with cheaper and cheaper equipment which is now including something called "U Cars" which are cheap 4 cylinder cars that go four laps in one direction and then change directions and run four laps in the opposite direction. Local tracks have to do something that will attract an audience. It kind of reminds me of the drag racing scene when they introduced bracket racing. I hated that, but in order for the tracks to survive, they had to come up with something new. That has survived and now bracket racing is the norm. I don't know what might change the scene in roundy round racing, but what ever it might be, it will have to have a large TV coverage, which means that nothing will change because of the contract with NASCAR.
 
buckaroo said:
I don't know what might change the scene in roundy round racing, but what ever it might be, it will have to have a large TV coverage, which means that nothing will change because of the contract with NASCAR.
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There now. If we can't define what needs to change then it's probably fine just the way it is.
 
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