Is NASCAR dying?

I never heard of Morris Stephenson before but he sounds like he could be any old forum member on here posting the same things.

Personally, I try not to worry too much about the perceived health of the sport. There's not a lot I can do about it other than attend and watch races, which I do. I'm not in a position to do any more than that.
 
No, it'll be around in some capacity for a long time. If American open wheel racing and sports car racing can go through everything they have and still be around then NASCAR can do the same. Thriving is a different matter though. It'll be interesting to see how NASCAR adjusts to the economics of reality if things continue in the direction they're moving in.
 
I pretty much agree with most of this article. Nascar fan for life warts and all. Drop the flag!

When you hear about the TV ratings and the attendance and people leaving the sport, you sort of shrug: Oh well, their loss. Unlike your favorite TV show that loses viewers, NASCAR isn’t in danger of being canceled. The fact IndyCar still exists (it pulled in a 0.27 rating this weekend!!!) shows NASCAR can go on in some form indefinitely.


But that doesn’t mean you as a fan have to get sucked into the negative energy. You follow NASCAR because you love it, not because you have the answers to save it. If you don’t want to participate in all the hand-wringing, then don’t let it ruin a good thing for you.

My advice? Put your scanner headphones on, block out the noise and smile. It’s only five days until race day.

http://jeffgluck.com/how-to-enjoy-your-favorite-sport-when-it-feels-like-no-one-else-is/
 
20df6ce7b11755fcdee5d45a6b36c334.gif


For now.
 
Every team is in extreme panic mode with regards to funding. Right now I wouldn't be surprised to see at least two cars no longer on track next season (from premier teams). It's not the end of the world (certainly not the end of NASCAR). The bubble is in full burst mode, and the market is readjusting. At some point, spending will be of equal value to a realistic revenue expectation, and all will be right in the sport again.
 
The thing I look at is the number of younger fans (under 30) attending races whether it's a NASCAR race or at a local short track. Any time I would do somewhere and see the crowd, most of what I saw were people 40 and over. Eventually those people lose interest, have declining health, have other priorities, or even die. It's up to younger people and kids to fill the void. NASCAR and racing in general is not doing that.

When I was a kid, most of my friends and myself were into cars, particularly fast cars. I don't see a lot of that these days. If younger people don't have an interest in cars, there's no way they're going to gow watch fast cars go in circles for 3 hours.

Baseball went through a dip and the same thing happened there - kids lost interest in it. College football is starting to see some of it because of aging demographics. The NFL hasn't fallen victim to it, yet, because of fantasy football and jerseys. But with them having at least 5 games on TV a week, they are also starting to water down their product and some fans are getting a little tired of it.

Racing has to find ways to get kids interested in it as both fans and participants.
 
MRM said:
The thing I look at is the number of younger fans (under 30) attending races whether it's a NASCAR race or at a local short track. Any time I would do somewhere and see the crowd, most of what I saw were people 40 and over. Eventually those people lose interest, have declining health, have other priorities, or even die. It's up to younger people and kids to fill the void. NASCAR and racing in general is not doing that.

When I was a kid, most of my friends and myself were into cars, particularly fast cars. I don't see a lot of that these days. If younger people don't have an interest in cars, there's no way they're going to gow watch fast cars go in circles for 3 hours.

Baseball went through a dip and the same thing happened there - kids lost interest in it. College football is starting to see some of it because of aging demographics. The NFL hasn't fallen victim to it, yet, because of fantasy football and jerseys. But with them having at least 5 games on TV a week, they are also starting to water down their product and some fans are getting a little tired of it.

Racing has to find ways to get kids interested in it as both fans and participants.
Click to expand...
I wish I could like this 100 times.
 
maybe robot driven cars would help. Jimmie Johnson is almost already a robot with his amazing skills
 
The article's author wrote:

"I have no clue what race or car sponsorships cost these days for the “big” races. At one time, some years back, I was told the amount was $5-6 million a season! I’d like to know how much Monster Energy Drink paid for its sponsorship of the sport’s top division."

Although I agree with some of his opinion on where NASCAR is at in this day and age, a little research an his part would've gone a long way toward me having more respect for his opinion.
 
If a race is run and nobody is there to watch it, does it still make a sound?
 
NASCAR is similar to other Sports of Kings.

Rich, powerful, successful men owning a stable of racing beasts and jockeys do battle with each other. THAT is the layer that pays the bills and pads their egos. They work within their resources, as well as influence among those in industry and commerce who want to also hang their own colors on the King's mount.

Smaller fiefdoms step up to challenge the larger kingdoms in competition.

The audience of peasants, pundits, and prognisticators join in to fill out the NASCAR landscape -- even as the hard work is being executed at immaculate garages and fabricators throughout the land, as the Kings' minions prepare men and beasts for the spectacle of the race.

TV contracts and streaming helps to distribute the NASCAR content across the land and globe, and contributes additional resources to keep this NASCAR spectacle before the mobs that seek such entertainment.

NASCAR and track owners are another layer that will continue to figure out their own way to entertain the mobs and pay their bills, as their evolving business practices and business model are refined.

===

As for NASCAR -- "Reports of my death are greatly exagerated."
 
MRM said:
The thing I look at is the number of younger fans (under 30) attending races whether it's a NASCAR race or at a local short track. Any time I would do somewhere and see the crowd, most of what I saw were people 40 and over. Eventually those people lose interest, have declining health, have other priorities, or even die. It's up to younger people and kids to fill the void. NASCAR and racing in general is not doing that.

When I was a kid, most of my friends and myself were into cars, particularly fast cars. I don't see a lot of that these days. If younger people don't have an interest in cars, there's no way they're going to gow watch fast cars go in circles for 3 hours.

Baseball went through a dip and the same thing happened there - kids lost interest in it. College football is starting to see some of it because of aging demographics. The NFL hasn't fallen victim to it, yet, because of fantasy football and jerseys. But with them having at least 5 games on TV a week, they are also starting to water down their product and some fans are getting a little tired of it.

Racing has to find ways to get kids interested in it as both fans and participants.
Click to expand...


I agree that you have to foster new fans of the sport. It takes a lot to do that though. First, as a parent who is a fan of the sport, you have to introduce your kids to it. Both on TV and in real life. Second, the local tracks have to do a better job with promotion and with keeping their fans informed. We live in a 24 hour news cycle where we have everything at the tips of our fingers in an instance. A lot of racetrack promoters are old, stingy, stuck in their ways fossils and they refuse to adapt with how people get their information. The amount of racetracks that cannot use social media to keep fans informed of results as the races are happening is insane. The amount of tracks that still use hand scoring is insane. Get transponders and get on the race monitor app. I go to races almost weekly and when I do not, I use the app to keep up with how guys did. I also use the tracks facebook, twitter and instagram page to see results and car counts. It is extremely frustrating that a track cannot designate a single person to update the FB page with results instantaneously for fans to keep in the loop. Most tracks cant even update their standing weekly. It's just pathetic. If you want people to invest in your product you have to present value. On the tracks side also, I think they need to get away from weekly racing series'. More and more drivers are racing for money and wins and less about Championships. Put together a decent schedule with some large payouts and draw big car counts. There is no point in having 5 divisions with less than 10 cars in each 3 times a month. When you pay to have the lights on and pay staff and only fill 500 seats you are losing and I understand that they lease the fairgrounds in a lot of cases. For instance, I went to a track that had recently reopened out here in CA. they were closed for about 3 years and there is a new promoter. I drove an hour to the place to see how it was going. There had been little buzz and very little noise from the promoter on how things were going. I got there with no updates on car count and saw 7 total cars in the pits for 4 scheduled divisions. I turned around and went home. They have since cancelled the rest of the season. Just terrible promoting. The cost must be efficient, but the product has to be worth the travel and worth the price of admission. Last, NASCAR , it's owners and the driver's have to do a better job of going home to race. You have to go back to the roots where people are accessible. I cannot express the effectiveness Kyle Larson's return had twice this year at Placerville speedway. The turnout for his meet and greet, the race was insane. They brought in portable grandstands and the pits and stands were SRO.
 
Allenbaba said:
Every team is in extreme panic mode with regards to funding. Right now I wouldn't be surprised to see at least two cars no longer on track next season (from premier teams). It's not the end of the world (certainly not the end of NASCAR). The bubble is in full burst mode, and the market is readjusting. At some point, spending will be of equal value to a realistic revenue expectation, and all will be right in the sport again.
Click to expand...


Hmm the 10 car I could certainly see as a possibility with sponsorship moving to the 14 and I can't really think who else
 
Using this logic, I'm gonna start talking about how "Supergirl" sucks and I'm gonna quit watching because the ratings were down a couple thousand viewers this week. :rolleyes:

Oh, wait, no I'm not. Because I like the show.

NASCAR fans are the only fans I've ever met who are so obsessed with ratings and attendance. The race at Richmond was good, so instead of focusing on that, let's bitch about everything else.
 
Allenbaba said:
Every team is in extreme panic mode with regards to funding..
Click to expand...
With reports of diminishing track attendance and TV viewership from previous years what company is going to plop down the 20+ mil to fund for a full season?
 
Fordracing7 said:
Hmm the 10 car I could certainly see as a possibility with sponsorship moving to the 14 and I can't really think who else
Click to expand...

The 10, 14, 20, 24, 5, and 31 have all had or will have unsponsored races this year. Next year you could potentially add the 2, 41, 42, 88 and 48 to that list based on if their current sponsors renew or not. That doesn't mean all these teams are going to go away but there isn't enough sponsorship dollars to cover all of them.
 
clarkfn2284 said:
I agree that you have to foster new fans of the sport. It takes a lot to do that though. First, as a parent who is a fan of the sport, you have to introduce your kids to it. Both on TV and in real life. Second, the local tracks have to do a better job with promotion and with keeping their fans informed. We live in a 24 hour news cycle where we have everything at the tips of our fingers in an instance. A lot of racetrack promoters are old, stingy, stuck in their ways fossils and they refuse to adapt with how people get their information. The amount of racetracks that cannot use social media to keep fans informed of results as the races are happening is insane. The amount of tracks that still use hand scoring is insane. Get transponders and get on the race monitor app. I go to races almost weekly and when I do not, I use the app to keep up with how guys did. I also use the tracks facebook, twitter and instagram page to see results and car counts. It is extremely frustrating that a track cannot designate a single person to update the FB page with results instantaneously for fans to keep in the loop. Most tracks cant even update their standing weekly. It's just pathetic. If you want people to invest in your product you have to present value. On the tracks side also, I think they need to get away from weekly racing series'. More and more drivers are racing for money and wins and less about Championships. Put together a decent schedule with some large payouts and draw big car counts. There is no point in having 5 divisions with less than 10 cars in each 3 times a month. When you pay to have the lights on and pay staff and only fill 500 seats you are losing and I understand that they lease the fairgrounds in a lot of cases. For instance, I went to a track that had recently reopened out here in CA. they were closed for about 3 years and there is a new promoter. I drove an hour to the place to see how it was going. There had been little buzz and very little noise from the promoter on how things were going. I got there with no updates on car count and saw 7 total cars in the pits for 4 scheduled divisions. I turned around and went home. They have since cancelled the rest of the season. Just terrible promoting. The cost must be efficient, but the product has to be worth the travel and worth the price of admission. Last, NASCAR , it's owners and the driver's have to do a better job of going home to race. You have to go back to the roots where people are accessible. I cannot express the effectiveness Kyle Larson's return had twice this year at Placerville speedway. The turnout for his meet and greet, the race was insane. They brought in portable grandstands and the pits and stands were SRO.
Click to expand...
Just when I thought this discussion was going to be just another rehash of the same old material, I read this. Thanks.
 
MRM said:
The thing I look at is the number of younger fans (under 30) attending races whether it's a NASCAR race or at a local short track. Any time I would do somewhere and see the crowd, most of what I saw were people 40 and over. Eventually those people lose interest, have declining health, have other priorities, or even die. It's up to younger people and kids to fill the void. NASCAR and racing in general is not doing that.

When I was a kid, most of my friends and myself were into cars, particularly fast cars. I don't see a lot of that these days. If younger people don't have an interest in cars, there's no way they're going to gow watch fast cars go in circles for 3 hours.

Baseball went through a dip and the same thing happened there - kids lost interest in it. College football is starting to see some of it because of aging demographics. The NFL hasn't fallen victim to it, yet, because of fantasy football and jerseys. But with them having at least 5 games on TV a week, they are also starting to water down their product and some fans are getting a little tired of it.

Racing has to find ways to get kids interested in it as both fans and participants.
Click to expand...

Drifting, Global Rallycross, and Drag Racing, don't seem to have a problem attracting younger fans. I believe the reason is because the younger fans can relate to the cars they use in those sports. They look like the cars they can buy, and drive, themselves. They know the cars have been modified to perform like they do, but at the same time, they know with a little modifying, they can compete in the lower levels. If you really want to know why they are interested in these sports, just ask them, they are more than willing to tell you. I could tell you why, like I have before, but everyone seems to think I'm spouting BS, because they don't like the answer. So I say to everyone, ask them yourself, but I don't think you will like the answers you get.
 
MRM said:
The thing I look at is the number of younger fans (under 30) attending races whether it's a NASCAR race or at a local short track. Any time I would do somewhere and see the crowd, most of what I saw were people 40 and over. Eventually those people lose interest, have declining health, have other priorities, or even die. It's up to younger people and kids to fill the void. NASCAR and racing in general is not doing that.

When I was a kid, most of my friends and myself were into cars, particularly fast cars. I don't see a lot of that these days. If younger people don't have an interest in cars, there's no way they're going to gow watch fast cars go in circles for 3 hours.

Baseball went through a dip and the same thing happened there - kids lost interest in it. College football is starting to see some of it because of aging demographics. The NFL hasn't fallen victim to it, yet, because of fantasy football and jerseys. But with them having at least 5 games on TV a week, they are also starting to water down their product and some fans are getting a little tired of it.

Racing has to find ways to get kids interested in it as both fans and participants.
Click to expand...

I agree and I don't think it is any secret that Nascar's real problem is with its aging demographic. On the TV thread a chart was posted that showed a Saturday night NHL game had 55% of the viewers of the Sunday Nascar cup race but still had more people in the preferred demo watching. It doesn't take a rocket scientist or a mortician to figure out what is going on as Nascar's audience is just aging out but it will always be around in some form just on a much smaller scale.

You hit the nail on the head with kids as not only do a lot of them have no interest in cars some of them are in open rebellion to them and would rather user Uber or a car/ride sharing service. A car is just a means of getting from A to B and in many of the urban areas a car is just a pain in the ass as parking is either cost prohibitive or impossible and insurance premiums are out of control. Public transportation in cities like New York, Boston, Toronto and DC make having a car non essential.
 
Yogisd1 said:
Drifting, Global Rallycross, and Drag Racing, don't seem to have a problem attracting younger fans. I believe the reason is because the younger fans can relate to the cars they use in those sports. They look like the cars they can buy, and drive, themselves. They know the cars have been modified to perform like they do, but at the same time, they know with a little modifying, they can compete in the lower levels. If you really want to know why they are interested in these sports, just ask them, they are more than willing to tell you. I could tell you why, like I have before, but everyone seems to think I'm spouting BS, because they don't like the answer. So I say to everyone, ask them yourself, but I don't think you will like the answers you get.
Click to expand...
So they're as into tinkering with cars as previous generations were, just in different ways?
 
Allenbaba said:
Every team is in extreme panic mode with regards to funding. Right now I wouldn't be surprised to see at least two cars no longer on track next season (from premier teams). It's not the end of the world (certainly not the end of NASCAR). The bubble is in full burst mode, and the market is readjusting. At some point, spending will be of equal value to a realistic revenue expectation, and all will be right in the sport again.
Click to expand...

You have to figure that one of the 10, 14 and 41 cars will be mothballed and if the other premier teams are JGR +Barney, HMS and Penske IDK who would lose a team but the obvious thought would be the 88/25 car.
 
Stacy said:
NASCAR is similar to other Sports of Kings.

Rich, powerful, successful men owning a stable of racing beasts and jockeys do battle with each other. THAT is the layer that pays the bills and pads their egos. They work within their resources, as well as influence among those in industry and commerce who want to also hang their own colors on the King's mount.

Smaller fiefdoms step up to challenge the larger kingdoms in competition.

The audience of peasants, pundits, and prognisticators join in to fill out the NASCAR landscape -- even as the hard work is being executed at immaculate garages and fabricators throughout the land, as the Kings' minions prepare men and beasts for the spectacle of the race.

TV contracts and streaming helps to distribute the NASCAR content across the land and globe, and contributes additional resources to keep this NASCAR spectacle before the mobs that seek such entertainment.

NASCAR and track owners are another layer that will continue to figure out their own way to entertain the mobs and pay their bills, as their evolving business practices and business model are refined.

===

As for NASCAR -- "Reports of my death are greatly exagerated."
Click to expand...

For sure as Nascar may end up looking like a person with 1 kidney, no spleen and 1 lung but even though it is wounded it ain't dead.

Dead parrot 2.jpg
 
What’s killing NASCAR?

Its the Dread Harvard Business Model: If It’s Not Growing Its Dying.
It's another example of pigs getting slaughtered: unlimited growth is an impossibility, but that doesn't stop organizations from chasing it. To that end, they start to drift away from the racing format that attracted their core audience, assuming that those folks simply can't do without their product, and put all their attention on the margins.

Taking for granted its core audience in order to reach out to the new fans who, as many predicted, proved to be almost entirely imaginary. When these show ever diminishing returns, they put even more energy into them and neglect their core rather than simply take them for granted. Then, they wonder where the audience they spurned in favor of the ephemeral margins disappeared off to.

Of course, they'll never admit it was their own fault, so they blame that core constituency for being disloyal or unprogressive, never admitting it was they who left, not the audience. The core audience mostly lost interest when the rules and structure started changing every other season

To emphasize how stupid that was... it would be like Jerry Springer reworking his whole show to appeal to new york city socialites.

And NASCAR has another problem besides chasing marginal audiences - America's love affair with the car is kinda on the rocks, for a few reasons. One, cars got boring and ugly. Stupid CAFE standards and accountants running the car companies turned everything into a lozenge-shaped blob. Two, cars are harder to work on yourself today. A guy used to be able to open the engine bay of an old Chevelle and work on it. Most cars today, there's hardly room for screwdriver under the hood.

But the worst thing, what's really killing the love affair, is the crappy traffic people have to deal with. Cars used to be a tool of freedom, you could drive wherever you wanted, not just where the bus or the train ran. Today they're a tool of being stuck in traffic trying to get to work.

NASCAR also made a stupid PR move when they doubled down on the redneck bootlegger image some drivers had, and tried to extend it to the series as a whole. They over-emphasized the connection with early bootlegger-racers, when the Nascar Series actually had its origins in Florida beach racing. Literally having an announcer going ‘boogity boogity’ live on air – honestly WTF?

Do the France’s really want to fix NASCAR??

"NASCAR will convene a summit next month in Charlotte, North Carolina, bringing in experts from various fields, to discuss the issue."
OK then:

1) Boot every SJW. On the spot. SJW’s = people who say “But...but...but...muh Danica! Muh duhversity!”
2) Boot everyone with an MBA. On the spot.
3) Give yourself a month to get a handle on how much stupid you've been doing for years.
Then go back to your original format that made you big to begin with and adjust from there.

But I'm just a F1 and open-wheel road course racing fan, who likes to watch a bit of Nascar on the side. So WTF do I know.

.
 
Depends on whether weather or not there’s a Camero in the field.
 
TwoZero said:
What’s killing NASCAR?

Its the Dread Harvard Business Model: If It’s Not Growing Its Dying.
It's another example of pigs getting slaughtered: unlimited growth is an impossibility, but that doesn't stop organizations from chasing it. To that end, they start to drift away from the racing format that attracted their core audience, assuming that those folks simply can't do without their product, and put all their attention on the margins.

Taking for granted its core audience in order to reach out to the new fans who, as many predicted, proved to be almost entirely imaginary. When these show ever diminishing returns, they put even more energy into them and neglect their core rather than simply take them for granted. Then, they wonder where the audience they spurned in favor of the ephemeral margins disappeared off to.

Of course, they'll never admit it was their own fault, so they blame that core constituency for being disloyal or unprogressive, never admitting it was they who left, not the audience. The core audience mostly lost interest when the rules and structure started changing every other season

To emphasize how stupid that was... it would be like Jerry Springer reworking his whole show to appeal to new york city socialites.

And NASCAR has another problem besides chasing marginal audiences - America's love affair with the car is kinda on the rocks, for a few reasons. One, cars got boring and ugly. Stupid CAFE standards and accountants running the car companies turned everything into a lozenge-shaped blob. Two, cars are harder to work on yourself today. A guy used to be able to open the engine bay of an old Chevelle and work on it. Most cars today, there's hardly room for screwdriver under the hood.

But the worst thing, what's really killing the love affair, is the crappy traffic people have to deal with. Cars used to be a tool of freedom, you could drive wherever you wanted, not just where the bus or the train ran. Today they're a tool of being stuck in traffic trying to get to work.

NASCAR also made a stupid PR move when they doubled down on the redneck bootlegger image some drivers had, and tried to extend it to the series as a whole. They over-emphasized the connection with early bootlegger-racers, when the Nascar Series actually had its origins in Florida beach racing. Literally having an announcer going ‘boogity boogity’ live on air – honestly WTF?

Do the France’s really want to fix NASCAR??

"NASCAR will convene a summit next month in Charlotte, North Carolina, bringing in experts from various fields, to discuss the issue."
OK then:

1) Boot every SJW. On the spot. SJW’s = people who say “But...but...but...muh Danica! Muh duhversity!”
2) Boot everyone with an MBA. On the spot.
3) Give yourself a month to get a handle on how much stupid you've been doing for years.
Then go back to your original format that made you big to begin with and adjust from there.

But I'm just a F1 and open-wheel road course racing fan, who likes to watch a bit of Nascar on the side. So WTF do I know.

.
Click to expand...
From reading that I would say you don't know a lot.
 
clarkfn2284 said:
I agree that you have to foster new fans of the sport. It takes a lot to do that though. First, as a parent who is a fan of the sport, you have to introduce your kids to it. Both on TV and in real life. Second, the local tracks have to do a better job with promotion and with keeping their fans informed. We live in a 24 hour news cycle where we have everything at the tips of our fingers in an instance. A lot of racetrack promoters are old, stingy, stuck in their ways fossils and they refuse to adapt with how people get their information. The amount of racetracks that cannot use social media to keep fans informed of results as the races are happening is insane. The amount of tracks that still use hand scoring is insane. Get transponders and get on the race monitor app. I go to races almost weekly and when I do not, I use the app to keep up with how guys did. I also use the tracks facebook, twitter and instagram page to see results and car counts. It is extremely frustrating that a track cannot designate a single person to update the FB page with results instantaneously for fans to keep in the loop. Most tracks cant even update their standing weekly. It's just pathetic. If you want people to invest in your product you have to present value. On the tracks side also, I think they need to get away from weekly racing series'. More and more drivers are racing for money and wins and less about Championships. Put together a decent schedule with some large payouts and draw big car counts. There is no point in having 5 divisions with less than 10 cars in each 3 times a month. When you pay to have the lights on and pay staff and only fill 500 seats you are losing and I understand that they lease the fairgrounds in a lot of cases. For instance, I went to a track that had recently reopened out here in CA. they were closed for about 3 years and there is a new promoter. I drove an hour to the place to see how it was going. There had been little buzz and very little noise from the promoter on how things were going. I got there with no updates on car count and saw 7 total cars in the pits for 4 scheduled divisions. I turned around and went home. They have since cancelled the rest of the season. Just terrible promoting. The cost must be efficient, but the product has to be worth the travel and worth the price of admission. Last, NASCAR , it's owners and the driver's have to do a better job of going home to race. You have to go back to the roots where people are accessible. I cannot express the effectiveness Kyle Larson's return had twice this year at Placerville speedway. The turnout for his meet and greet, the race was insane. They brought in portable grandstands and the pits and stands were SRO.
Click to expand...

Nascar doesn't have the same benefit of stick and ball sports that are played at school, in leagues and in neighborhoods and there are other factors like the lack of interest in cars by younger people and I am sure the rising number of families headed by females doesn't exactly help get eyeballs on auto racing.
 
Yogisd1 said:
Drifting, Global Rallycross, and Drag Racing, don't seem to have a problem attracting younger fans. I believe the reason is because the younger fans can relate to the cars they use in those sports. They look like the cars they can buy, and drive, themselves. They know the cars have been modified to perform like they do, but at the same time, they know with a little modifying, they can compete in the lower levels. If you really want to know why they are interested in these sports, just ask them, they are more than willing to tell you. I could tell you why, like I have before, but everyone seems to think I'm spouting BS, because they don't like the answer. So I say to everyone, ask them yourself, but I don't think you will like the answers you get.
Click to expand...

A lot of older people are dismissive of tuner cars and other cars with a strong resemblance to what can be purchased in a dealer showroom but it has always been important and always will. Some kid with a hopped up Civic that looks like the stock model is not going to get excited about some ugly box with Camry or Fusion stickers on it.
 
TwoZero said:
What’s killing NASCAR?

Its the Dread Harvard Business Model: If It’s Not Growing Its Dying.
It's another example of pigs getting slaughtered: unlimited growth is an impossibility, but that doesn't stop organizations from chasing it. To that end, they start to drift away from the racing format that attracted their core audience, assuming that those folks simply can't do without their product, and put all their attention on the margins.

Taking for granted its core audience in order to reach out to the new fans who, as many predicted, proved to be almost entirely imaginary. When these show ever diminishing returns, they put even more energy into them and neglect their core rather than simply take them for granted. Then, they wonder where the audience they spurned in favor of the ephemeral margins disappeared off to.

Of course, they'll never admit it was their own fault, so they blame that core constituency for being disloyal or unprogressive, never admitting it was they who left, not the audience. The core audience mostly lost interest when the rules and structure started changing every other season

To emphasize how stupid that was... it would be like Jerry Springer reworking his whole show to appeal to new york city socialites.

And NASCAR has another problem besides chasing marginal audiences - America's love affair with the car is kinda on the rocks, for a few reasons. One, cars got boring and ugly. Stupid CAFE standards and accountants running the car companies turned everything into a lozenge-shaped blob. Two, cars are harder to work on yourself today. A guy used to be able to open the engine bay of an old Chevelle and work on it. Most cars today, there's hardly room for screwdriver under the hood.

But the worst thing, what's really killing the love affair, is the crappy traffic people have to deal with. Cars used to be a tool of freedom, you could drive wherever you wanted, not just where the bus or the train ran. Today they're a tool of being stuck in traffic trying to get to work.

NASCAR also made a stupid PR move when they doubled down on the redneck bootlegger image some drivers had, and tried to extend it to the series as a whole. They over-emphasized the connection with early bootlegger-racers, when the Nascar Series actually had its origins in Florida beach racing. Literally having an announcer going ‘boogity boogity’ live on air – honestly WTF?

Do the France’s really want to fix NASCAR??

"NASCAR will convene a summit next month in Charlotte, North Carolina, bringing in experts from various fields, to discuss the issue."
OK then:

1) Boot every SJW. On the spot. SJW’s = people who say “But...but...but...muh Danica! Muh duhversity!”
2) Boot everyone with an MBA. On the spot.
3) Give yourself a month to get a handle on how much stupid you've been doing for years.
Then go back to your original format that made you big to begin with and adjust from there.

But I'm just a F1 and open-wheel road course racing fan, who likes to watch a bit of Nascar on the side. So WTF do I know.

.
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Unfortunately Nascar can't un-ring the bell that has got us to an often mind numbing, safety at all costs (unless at plate tracks) antiseptic kind of product. Times and tastes have changed and those of us left just watch Nascar circle the drain toward tiny niche territory.
 
Skoalbandit33 said:
Unfortunately Nascar can't un-ring the bell that has got us to an often mind numbing, safety at all costs (unless at plate tracks) antiseptic kind of product. Times and tastes have changed and those of us left just watch Nascar circle the drain toward tiny niche territory.
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Respectfully disagree. It's the cars, and it has always been the cars. Ever since the COT came out, the racing has been terrible. Look how many comments that other thread got today about removing the splitter and side skirts. The format is not perfect, but if the on track racing were good, the format would fix itself. Right now we have the tail wagging the dog, i.e. they are trying to mess with the format in order to get the on-track product to be more interesting. Fix what's broken, not what is in working order.
 
NASCAR future is more about Kings than peasants.

Good luck chasing the mob, NASCAR...
 
Rick Hendrick, Roger Penske, RIchard Childress, and Joe Gibbs aren't spring chickens. Drivers retiring might not kill NASCAR, but a guy like Rick or Roger passing away and closing up shop will.
 
StandOnIt said:
When you hear about the TV ratings and the attendance and people leaving the sport, you sort of shrug: Oh well, their loss.
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When most people hear their show is in a ratings decline, they don't go around and ****mouth it and tell other people not to watch. If anything, they do everything they can to keep the show on TV. Look at what happened with both Nashville and Supergirl last year.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
o_OLAX, JUST JOKING...

FUN READ.
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Skoalbandit33 said:
You have to figure that one of the 10, 14 and 41 cars will be mothballed and if the other premier teams are JGR +Barney, HMS and Penske IDK who would lose a team but the obvious thought would be the 88/25 car.
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The 10 has more races supported by other people's money than the other two combined.

I have no idea how much money Gene Haas is willing to spend. If I was guessing, I'd say all 3 cars will be out there in 2018.
 
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