NASCAR aiming for younger, more diverse fans, quicker finishes

dpkimmel2001 said:
Decent read.....

When racing’s attendance and TV ratings fell in recent years, NASCAR officials knew they needed a change.

After decades of growth under the iron rule of founder Bill France Sr. and his son Bill France Jr. – both enshrined in NASCAR’s Hall of Fame – current Chairman Brian France pushed his organization to listen more to the people who were the backbone of the sport.

Working with the team owners, drivers, tracks and sponsors, NASCAR came up with an “Industry Action Plan” that aims to help the sport rebound from the economic downturn and changing consumer habits that have affected all sports.

The goal? Inject more youth and diversity into a fan base that is mostly white and aging by ramping up digital and social media offerings, consider changes to the cars to make the racing more exciting, and even contemplate more radical moves.


Read the rest here
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This is why I think Nascar will do everything in their power to make sure Dillion wins the title this year.
 
Hell, just look how much it pissed the purists off when Toyota came in. Nevermind the fact that Toyota employs more Americans than the "American" car manufacturers who build their cars in Mexico and China... they didn't want Toyota in the sport because the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor 72 years ago.
 
Hell the only reason the want more fans in the stands is that it looks good for TV. Ratings are up this year BTW. Looks like it is alive and well despite Fox footballing the coverage all over the place and cutting racing shows.
 
StandOnIt said:
Hell the only reason the want more fans in the stands is that it looks good for TV. Ratings are up this year BTW. Looks like it is alive and well despite Fox footballing the coverage all over the place and cutting racing shows.
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This is one reason NASCAR will start running more short tracks at least in Crappywide and Trucks. Better to have 10,000 fans occupying 10,000 seats and a quality product on television than 10,000 fans occupying 100,000 seats and a boring, craptastic product.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
A Danica Patrick victory would help the sport A LOT with all kind of different audiences. It's just too bad she's not a good driver.
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It's obvious that Tony is giving her the 'crappy ' equipment and giving the good stuff to Ryan .
 
Getting fans to the short tracks is integral though. It used to mean something when a driver from your home track moved up the ranks. Part of that falls on the tracks but part of it falls on NASCAR as well. They've been competing with themselves and local tracks for the last 20 years... moving Nationwide and Trucks away from short tracks and in to the cookie cutter tracks. With that, they took away chances for someone like a Lee Pulliam to run a race and garner attention.

What NASCAR's done with the Nationwide Series is just tragic.

Move the Nationwide Series back to short tracks. Sell the places out. Have the local divisions run along side the Nationwide Series and give the little guy the stage. It'd help everyone, a lot. Brings back the sense of "hometown pride" that every other sport has.
 
Danica sucks as a driver she may get better but its not in SHR's best interest to give her subpar equipment.

I dont konw what you do to draw younger viewrs.. I dont love cars but my dad is a mechanic that restores hot rods in his spare time. I like those cars... A Nascar itself is not appealing to me, I just love the sport. Iloved it more growing up when drivers were real people
 
Lazyking said:
Danica sucks as a driver she may get better but its not in SHR's best interest to give her subpar equipment.

I dont konw what you do to draw younger viewrs.. I dont love cars but my dad is a mechanic that restores hot rods in his spare time. I like those cars... A Nascar itself is not appealing to me, I just love the sport. Iloved it more growing up when drivers were real people
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This. Drivers who used to race at a short track somewhere, build up a fanbase and move up the ranks. There was a lot of track pride and hometown pride when this happened. People say "I watched that guy race at Old Dominion when he was 16".

Now, these drivers have to be pre-packaged. They get their start running that Summer Shootout at Charlotte, then move right up to UARA, CRA, PASS, K&N and ARCA. Then there's the people who buy their rides and hang in the sport until they get a breakout win.

Football, basketball, baseball -- all these sports have feeder systems, hometown fans, hometown teams and so on. A player from a local high school goes on to play for a college team and then a pro team and there's pride on the line. NASCAR doesn't have this. NASCAR has a bunch of spoiled rich kids who either buy their way in to NASCAR or get noticed in the Summer Shootout.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
This. Drivers who used to race at a short track somewhere, build up a fanbase and move up the ranks. There was a lot of track pride and hometown pride when this happened. People say "I watched that guy race at Old Dominion when he was 16".

Now, these drivers have to be pre-packaged. They get their start running that Summer Shootout at Charlotte, then move right up to UARA, CRA, PASS, K&N and ARCA. Then there's the people who buy their rides and hang in the sport until they get a breakout win.

Football, basketball, baseball -- all these sports have feeder systems, hometown fans, hometown teams and so on. A player from a local high school goes on to play for a college team and then a pro team and there's pride on the line. NASCAR doesn't have this. NASCAR has a bunch of spoiled rich kids who either buy their way in to NASCAR or get noticed in the Summer Shootout. And part of that is because NASCAR competes against short track racing.
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yep as usual, you have stick n ball confused with auto racing..running around like chicken little. relax dude..Nascar has been doing just fine despite ya. They used to compete with open wheel years ago..they don't have any competition now...you might can twist that into a problem if you try real hard though.
 
StandOnIt said:
yep as usual, you have stick n ball confused with auto racing..running around like chicken little. relax dude..Nascar has been doing just fine despite ya. They used to compete with open wheel years ago..they don't have any competition now...you might can twist that into a problem if you try real hard though.
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NASCAR's doing fine? Might want to let them know because they don't seem to think so.

When NASCAR was competing against open wheel racing, they weren't competing against own farming system.
 
Give me drivers with a personality, a car that is not so areo dependent, a tire where taking 4 tires means something and more short tracks and I'll be a happy Nascar fan

Make the racing better and maybe instead of young peple passing Nascar by, they'll watch for a few mins.

Everything else takes way too much too grow the sport.. great women drivers dont grow on trees, great minority drivers dont grow on trees etc
 
Nascar has what no other stick and ball sport has . A consistant cast of 43 competitors . You learn their names and you are good for at least a couple of years . I gave up trying to learn all the names in the other sports.
 
beantownkid10 said:
Here's an idea....stick to NNS. Leave the long races to us NSCS fans.
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Here is an idea ...why is interest in Nascar Cup falling? I am a fan since 1965 there young whipper snapper, so you don't have to tell me what to do.;)
 
As far as manufacturers joining, I always thought Mazda or Honda would come up into Nascar. Mazda has been involved in the mexico series and Honda is a very popular brand in the US. The Accord is suitable for a stockcar. One problem with a new manufacturer joining Nascar is finding a team that can win. Would take a couple years to become competitive. $$$$$$$$
 
As an 'older' fan and younger person..

A purist who NASCAR is ****** whilst chasing my demographic. STOP ****** WITH MY RACING.

There is no place for OHC engines in NASCAR. These cars are hot rods, not compact economy cars. If that day ever comes.. Kill me. I also love the imports FYI, but they don't belong in stock car racing.(engines not cars, Nissan can build a badass small block and bring it)
 
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Kia is probably the most popular brand in America as of late. How odd would that be on the track
 
Would LOVE to see them shorten some of the races. Tracks like MIS and Pocono had me almost falling asleep sometimes. And yeah I know they already shorted Pocono, but it need to be shortened more, the Pocono 300 would be perfect (actually what would be even better would be get rid of 1 of the Pocono races AND shorten the remaining one...). Races in series like ARCA, K&N, Canadian Tire, its pretty rare to have the boring moments like a 500 mile cup race has. I don't think the cup races need to be as short as those, but I think cutting some races to 350 or 300 miles would not be a bad thing. Of course some of the bigger events of the schedule (like the Daytona 500, Charlotte 600, Brickyard 400, maybe Talladega, maybe a few others) should still be long, but every race doesn't need to be a 500 mile endurance race... I guess it helps them sell more beer at the tracks, have sat next to some people at Cup races that are getting up for a beer run every thirty minutes or so...
 
Mopardh9 said:
That's why you have companion races on the same day, trucks, NW, Cup, hell all three.
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That may be your dream weekend but not mine. Mine play out like the fall Bristol events. Four races over four days. I don't want to sit in the stands from sun up to sun down trying to get in a CWT, NW, & shorter CUP race in. I think what is done now with the race weekends and race lengths is just fine.
 
If NASCAR wants the new hip demo they should probably tell their young stars to quit wearing those stupid cowboy hats and stop with the prayer crap before each race.
 
Mopardh9 said:
I'm an old timer when it comes to Nascar and I'd like to see the races shortened to what the Nationwide runs and run both these races on the same day when they are at the same track. Races are way too long, I usually watch the first third and then the last 50 laps now, no point otherwise. Shortening the races would create more.... go for it mode... and I think the racing would be better.
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Doesn't make sense. Shorten the races yet run both races on the same track on the same day.
 
It makes sense that NASCAR consider the future of the sport. Us old curmudgeons will be leaving the sport at some point in time. Until then, NASCAR has to balance the product we like vs. the short attention spans of the young. I don't think NASCAR can sell itself to a group that isn't already interested in the sport. Most of my friends aren't interested in racing, some like to watch guys walking around a manicured lawn (golf).

Rather than radically changing Cup, they might try some grass roots ideas. Legend cars was a good idea. My interest in racing started before I could drive - reading car magazines and a getting a Strombecker road race set. I have always been interested in cars but never owned a cool car.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
Television ratings are more important than attendance now.
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The best way to create a new nascar fan is take a non-fan to a Cup race. I would never have become a hardcore nascar fan if I had never attended my first race. Being there in person to see the race and everything involved is what made me a nascar fan.

You're not going to get new fans just from watching it on TV. Getting new people to the track will get you new nascar fans.

Ratings may be more important than attendance, but if they don't try to get (new) people to the track, this sport is headed for a massive drop in attendance and ratings.
 
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