New format for nascar

D

Dave Clark sr

Guest
Nascar and the big teams have formed a stronger bond since the distriction of the original rules. Attendance is down, fans are looking elsewhere for motorsports entertainment. As they change the rules sttendance goes down. Any insight there? I know that we have had a superbowl party for over 25 years and everytime there has been a rule change the attendance has plumeted. We used to have a small hall and had over 200 people show up under the old rules, way back when. Last year 29 people i was just told by the latest attendees that only 8 will be coming. Any ideas why? Just thinking.
 
You'd probably have to ask them why they aren't there.

If you want to simply complain about the changes, we've got about ten of those threads.
 
NASCAR fans really don't know what they want. If NASCAR went back to the way they were before all the changes fans would still find something to complain about.
 
Dave Clark sr said:
Nascar and the big teams have formed a stronger bond since the distriction of the original rules. Attendance is down, fans are looking elsewhere for motorsports entertainment. As they change the rules sttendance goes down. Any insight there? I know that we have had a superbowl party for over 25 years and everytime there has been a rule change the attendance has plumeted. We used to have a small hall and had over 200 people show up under the old rules, way back when. Last year 29 people i was just told by the latest attendees that only 8 will be coming. Any ideas why? Just thinking.
Click to expand...
Dave, welcome!

However, you've confused me. What does the Super Bowl have to do with this?

As to your question about declining attendance in motorsports, that's a frequent topic of discussion around here. The latest round is going on in the 'Big Changes Coming' thread over here:

https://racing-forums.com/threads/big-changes-coming.56549/page-17#post-1069934
 
Dave Clark sr said:
Nascar and the big teams have formed a stronger bond since the distriction of the original rules. Attendance is down, fans are looking elsewhere for motorsports entertainment. As they change the rules sttendance goes down. Any insight there? I know that we have had a superbowl party for over 25 years and everytime there has been a rule change the attendance has plumeted. We used to have a small hall and had over 200 people show up under the old rules, way back when. Last year 29 people i was just told by the latest attendees that only 8 will be coming. Any ideas why? Just thinking.
Click to expand...
People grow older and what is important in life also changes. Many of the old fans don't drive cars with big block engines and a 4 speed either. Many of those that went to races are now busy enjoying life with their grand children. Priorities change and life goes on.
 
Dave Clark sr said:
Nascar and the big teams have formed a stronger bond since the distriction of the original rules. Attendance is down, fans are looking elsewhere for motorsports entertainment. As they change the rules sttendance goes down. Any insight there? I know that we have had a superbowl party for over 25 years and everytime there has been a rule change the attendance has plumeted. We used to have a small hall and had over 200 people show up under the old rules, way back when. Last year 29 people i was just told by the latest attendees that only 8 will be coming. Any ideas why? Just thinking.
Click to expand...

I will leave the Super Bowl talk to others but regarding Nascar things have changed for a myriad of reasons just as they have with so many other things. When I started working we drank like fish at lunch and always had a bottle in our offices but that stuff will get you fired now days.The offices were blue with cigarette smoke and now many work campuses do not even allow you to have tobacco products in your car when you enter the premises. My point is that over the course of time attitudes, likes and dislikes change and some are positive, some are negative and some are neutral.

I can rag on Nascar all day but I believe the real reason it is suffering in attendance, interest and viewership is because traditional American motorsports are just going out of style. The only reasons I can think of is because most of the people don't find it stimulating, they are not exposed to it at an early age, it isn't something they can play at recess and a boatload of people don't feel like holing up inside on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. We are bombarded with choices and things to do these days and a lot of what we think we want is supplied on demand so we have a tendency to give things a fast hook if they don't do it for us immediately. Nascar also has a perception problem with a large segment of the population in that it is thought of as lowbrow, cursin', cussin', spittin' entertainment for the great unwashed. Obviously the perception is incorrect but once you have been branded as something people think of you that way regardless of truthfulness.
 
I've said this before, but the actual super bowl has mostly been boring blowouts, especially during the NFC reign of the 80s and 90s. Occasionally you get the Norwood missing right, elway/Favre, and a handful of games that come down to the last possession. Yet every year my family gets together and has a super bowl party.

The Daytona 500 on the other hand, during the time the Super Bowl was always a sleeper, was the exact opposite and it seemed like the next day everyone always talked about the big crash or how some 1 in a million event kept Earnhardt out of victory lane. Then Earnhardt died, the cars became bubble wrapped go carts, most of the drivers decided settling at their current position is better than getting injured trying to win the race, and now no one races for position anymore. The new rule change does nothing to prevent one team from running away with the race. The motors are still bullet proof, the tire don't wear, dirty air requires extra hp to overcome, and every driver is scared to death of concussions and broken bones.

So nascar can do 2 periods, 3 periods, or a 100 periods, and nothing changes. All it does is give drivers that dominate all day, but crap the bed on the last 10 laps, more points.
 
IMO NASCARs problem is it is dominated by the $30-60,000 income bracket which took a beating in the recession and races are pretty expensive to attend ticket wise. There are other things but first and foremost I would say is this


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
You are correct about that. That probably explains the loss of in person attendence. (but not tv viewership)
NHMS helps me out in that they take a small deposit initially
and then take monthly payments for the balance. That makes it just about painless. 2 tickets
for each of 2 races and the money removed monthly from your account is so small you barely notice it.
If I had to pay for them in full and all at once...I don't think I could afford that.
Do the other tracks offer that also?
 
Tickets are as expensive as your tastes when attending most NASCAR races. Almost all the tracks offer great ticket deals if you want to take advantage of them. If your the type that has to sit in the absolute best seat in the house, you're going to pay top $ for it. I'm paying about $65/seat @ Martinsville for one of their best seating locations. I don't consider that a high ticket price at all. Especially when I compare that to other professional sports.
 
Yeah, but there's more to the cost of attending a race than the price of the tickets, as you know yourself. Heck, sometimes the tickets are the expense of least concern.
 
ahudsonman said:
... NHMS helps me out in that they take a small deposit initially
and then take monthly payments for the balance. ... Do the other tracks offer that also?
Click to expand...
Darlington does. I believe Charlotte does but I don't clearly recall. I suspect most tracks / all SMI and ISC tracks do it.
 
People enjoy watching a racing series a lot more when they completely understand the rules .................. constantly having to relearn the rules is very annoying.
 
If you're waiting for someone here to disagree with you, it may be a while. In the four years I've been here, the rules have been under constant debate. However, almost all seem to agree the sport would benefit from sticking to one set for more than a couple of years, regardless of what's in that particular set.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
If you're waiting for someone here to disagree with you, it may be a while. In the four years I've been here, the rules have been under constant debate. However, almost all seem to agree the sport would benefit from sticking to one set for more than a couple of years, regardless of what's in that particular set.
Click to expand...



It seems like every time I turn on a race now that there are a bunch of changes ........... I know for a fact that its driving away long time fans.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
Yeah, but there's more to the cost of attending a race than the price of the tickets, as you know yourself. Heck, sometimes the tickets are the expense of least concern.
Click to expand...
Oh yeah, I'm well aware of that. I was only commenting on the statement that NASCAR is expensive to attend, 'ticket wise'. It's only as expensive as your desire to have the best seat in the house.

We have a huge investment in race weekends that we attend. We've cut back tremendously over the years. Fuel is my biggest expense when attending an event. The cost of staying in the RV and ticket/food/beer costs are minimal by comparison.
 
I’ve been a huge opponent of NASCAR’s Chase/playoff system since its inception. For me, it’s ruined all comparisons to champions of the pre-Chase Era. That’s my biggest beef with the format of selecting today’s NASCAR champion. I realize this Chase is never going to be abolished for the previous method. That would be admitting failure. It’s here to stay.

The Chase, by design, is made to promote excitement. Elimination style playoffs are the definition of excitement but if you’re going to do it, you’ve got to do it right. That’s where NASCAR’s struggled over the years. Not enough thought was given to it in its beginning stages. That’s the reason that we are now on the 5th version since 2004. It’s been a work in progress since the beginning. I really hope that they’ve finally reached a point where it can be written in ink so we can get consistency back into the way our sport crowns its season champion.

Obviously, without having seen this new concept in motion, I can only imagine how the season will play out under this new format.

I like that these stages/planned cautions are going to soak up some of the commercial time allowing for more green flag action to be televised. Let’s see if it actually plays out that way. It won’t be hard to tell. Those numbers are available each week, the day after the race.

The fact that they are stopping the race at the conclusion of these stages doesn’t bother me as much as the ‘Caution Clock’ did. No, they aren’t the same thing. Sure, that leader is going to be giving up whatever on-track advantage he/she had but they are also getting rewarded by earning points be used in the playoffs should they make it. That makes it a huge difference in my eyes.

NASCAR, giving a lap back to the 1st team a lap down at the end of one of these stages. I don’t really care about that either. If they are doing well enough to come back from that sort of position to do well later in the race is fine by me.

Are these bonus points at the end of a stage really going to make these guys/girl race harder? You always hear them say that they are racing as hard as they can already. Are they really? It gets pretty obvious that when weather starts rolling in and there’s a threat of a rain shortened race, things start to heat up on the track. Are those bonus points towards the Chase going to be enough to make them race harder. I’m guessing it’s not going to be at first until they come to realize just how important those points actually are during that final 10 race run of the season. That may take a season to figure out though so the benefits of those point may not be immediately recognizable. I really like that those points earned are carried into the three rounds of the Chase.

I’m also sold on the idea that it will make these individual races more important during the first 26 of the year. Maybe I’m going to be in the minority but I know I’ll be watching how those points play out during and after each and every race.

Another thing I am looking forward to is to see who can win the “Hat Trick’ or all three stages of a race. Obviously my first pick is going to be Kyle Busch. I don’t like him but man, this seems tailored to his liking. I think he or whoever else accomplishes this, along with that drivers fans, will take pride in the achievement.

Overall, I don’t mind saying that I really am looking forward to see this all play out.


Disclaimer – I use the word Chase because a Chase by any other name is still the ‘Chase’ in NASCAR.
 
I'm waiting until after the Atlanta or maybe even the Las Vegas race before I decide whether to attend any races this year. I'm still skeptical enough to hold off on spending thousands of dollars and over a month on the road pulling an RV if it turns out to be, in my opinion, a disaster.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
I’ve been a huge opponent of NASCAR’s Chase/playoff system since its inception. For me, it’s ruined all comparisons to champions of the pre-Chase Era. That’s my biggest beef with the format of selecting today’s NASCAR champion. I realize this Chase is never going to be abolished for the previous method. That would be admitting failure. It’s here to stay.

The Chase, by design, is made to promote excitement. Elimination style playoffs are the definition of excitement but if you’re going to do it, you’ve got to do it right. That’s where NASCAR’s struggled over the years. Not enough thought was given to it in its beginning stages. That’s the reason that we are now on the 5th version since 2004. It’s been a work in progress since the beginning. I really hope that they’ve finally reached a point where it can be written in ink so we can get consistency back into the way our sport crowns its season champion.

Obviously, without having seen this new concept in motion, I can only imagine how the season will play out under this new format.

I like that these stages/planned cautions are going to soak up some of the commercial time allowing for more green flag action to be televised. Let’s see if it actually plays out that way. It won’t be hard to tell. Those numbers are available each week, the day after the race.

The fact that they are stopping the race at the conclusion of these stages doesn’t bother me as much as the ‘Caution Clock’ did. No, they aren’t the same thing. Sure, that leader is going to be giving up whatever on-track advantage he/she had but they are also getting rewarded by earning points be used in the playoffs should they make it. That makes it a huge difference in my eyes.

NASCAR, giving a lap back to the 1st team a lap down at the end of one of these stages. I don’t really care about that either. If they are doing well enough to come back from that sort of position to do well later in the race is fine by me.

Are these bonus points at the end of a stage really going to make these guys/girl race harder? You always hear them say that they are racing as hard as they can already. Are they really? It gets pretty obvious that when weather starts rolling in and there’s a threat of a rain shortened race, things start to heat up on the track. Are those bonus points towards the Chase going to be enough to make them race harder. I’m guessing it’s not going to be at first until they come to realize just how important those points actually are during that final 10 race run of the season. That may take a season to figure out though so the benefits of those point may not be immediately recognizable. I really like that those points earned are carried into the three rounds of the Chase.

I’m also sold on the idea that it will make these individual races more important during the first 26 of the year. Maybe I’m going to be in the minority but I know I’ll be watching how those points play out during and after each and every race.

Another thing I am looking forward to is to see who can win the “Hat Trick’ or all three stages of a race. Obviously my first pick is going to be Kyle Busch. I don’t like him but man, this seems tailored to his liking. I think he or whoever else accomplishes this, along with that drivers fans, will take pride in the achievement.

Overall, I don’t mind saying that I really am looking forward to see this all play out.


Disclaimer – I use the word Chase because a Chase by any other name is still the ‘Chase’ in NASCAR.
Click to expand...

Now that is a sensible way of looking at things.
 
Agreed,I'll give a few weeks also. This new format with coffee breaks built in might be interesting, might not though. If they go to 6 to 8 minute commercials during the break, I wall change the channel and lose interest.
 
rocket dawg said:
Agreed,I'll give a few weeks also. This new format with coffee breaks built in might be interesting, might not though. If they go to 6 to 8 minute commercials during the break, I wall change the channel and lose interest.
Click to expand...
Just gives me longer breaks to work in the yard between stages.
 
Does anyone know how long the yellows are between segments and if the yellow laps count? If a segment ends on lap 100 will it go green on 101 or 105 or110?
 
Brigeton said:
Does anyone know how long the yellows are between segments and if the yellow laps count? If a segment ends on lap 100 will it go green on 101 or 105 or110?
Click to expand...
Segment ends and no laps counted until restart. The time between will be about 6-7 minutes allowing 5 minutes of commercials.
 
Team Penske said:
Segment ends and no laps counted until restart. The time between will be about 6-7 minutes allowing 5 minutes of commercials.
Click to expand...
I hope that's the case. I think I like the changes but I don't want the race shortened by yellow laps between segments.
 
Brigeton said:
I hope that's the case. I think I like the changes but I don't want the race shortened by yellow laps between segments.
Click to expand...
I am waiting to see how the pit stops and run back to the track are handled before the restart.
Could they actually line up?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom