LewTheShoe
Seeking Skill-based Meritocracy... More HP Less DF
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- Apr 21, 2016
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"Driver X" has done a lot of thinking – and writing – to come up a with a template for a radically revised version of the sport he loves. Here is the first of a four-part series on what needs to change and why.
[Note: I'll reveal the driver at the end of this post... don't want his identity to color your receptivity to his observations and suggestions about what ails today's racing... as a sport and as a business.]
For some time now, and for whatever reason, there seem to be a lot of negative comments and chatter from people inside the business as well as from fans. Why is that? How did we arrive at this situation from a time not that long ago when things were mostly positive, viewership was huge, the cars were spectacular, we had some great personalities in the sport, superstar drivers racing the cars, and plenty of action and drama on the race track? Money was flowing into the business, and corporate sponsors as well as manufacturers were lining up to be part of the show.
Of course, there is not a simple answer to any of this. For sure, negativity today is partly due to easy access to social media for all, but it seems there are real elements of concern in the sport and they have arisen from a gradual process of poor decisions.
On the technical side, knee-jerk decisions were based on either a bad accident or complaints from fans about the racing not being good enough. Some decisions were based on pressure from certain teams or manufacturers to help them compete. And finally, but very importantly, a level of political correctness has crept in that has done nothing to make the racing any better, but has instead pushed costs through the roof, created greater division between the richest teams and others, and made the racing too predictable and less interesting to watch. [Note: political correctness includes OEM's pushing for racecars to be more relevant to road going cars. Racers don't care... they just want to RACE.]
As a result of all this, technology has evolved to where we are today, and most importantly, evolved to a point where budgets are into the stratosphere. At the same time, reliance on pay TV channels means significantly fewer viewers, so naturally there is less interest for sponsors to spend big money, as their metrics are primarily based on the number of eyeballs watching, and in particular, eyeballs with attractive demographics. Not all eyeballs are created equally in the minds of the sponsors. Hence, there are now numerous teams racing without one main sponsor, or if they do have one, it’s for a fraction of what a they used to pay.
Through all these various rule changes, racing has somehow lost its identity and I am not sure anyone really knows what it stands for anymore. I believe we are now at a point where another two or maybe three decisions in the wrong direction could spell the end of racing as we know it. People are already tuning out because they have either lost interest or it’s too predictable or not exciting enough. The younger generation doesn’t seem to care and motorsport in general is struggling to catch their attention.
In order to reach a solution that has the right balance between Economics, Competition, Entertainment, and Relevance, it's important to first identify the individual areas that matter the most, focus on getting these right, and eliminate the areas that matter least.
Part 1: Economics
The major cost is in the constant development war, with aerodynamics and engines being the largest contributors of excessive expense. I strongly believe that the current concept of racecar design needs a complete reset. There has been no real innovation in racing since the discovery of aerodynamics. It is always the first priority. It’s the #1 factor in driving the costs higher, it’s the #1 factor in making the racing less interesting, it has no relevance to anything automotive, yet it’s been the primary focus in every single form of racing the past 30 years or more. It’s time for a major reset.
There has been much discussion about a cost cap, and how to implement it. I don’t believe you can ever entirely control a fixed cost cap because teams will always find a way to circumvent a rule like that. The most effective way in my opinion is to limit the development in all the key areas on the cars that are irrelevant in the bigger picture. There are many areas or components on a car that I believe could be standardized and no one would even know or notice the difference.
[There is a lot more in the article about Economics... both cost control and revenue management. Part 2 comes tomorrow... Competition. Parts 3 and 4 will be Entertainment and Relevance. But what do you think so far? Is this a driver from the 1980's who "gets it" and isn't shy about a pattern of poor decisions that got us to here? Blame for the TV executives who care little about racing? The unfortunate evils of technology running amok, and how to disarm the engineering wars? Click the "spoiler button" below...]
[Note: I'll reveal the driver at the end of this post... don't want his identity to color your receptivity to his observations and suggestions about what ails today's racing... as a sport and as a business.]
For some time now, and for whatever reason, there seem to be a lot of negative comments and chatter from people inside the business as well as from fans. Why is that? How did we arrive at this situation from a time not that long ago when things were mostly positive, viewership was huge, the cars were spectacular, we had some great personalities in the sport, superstar drivers racing the cars, and plenty of action and drama on the race track? Money was flowing into the business, and corporate sponsors as well as manufacturers were lining up to be part of the show.
Of course, there is not a simple answer to any of this. For sure, negativity today is partly due to easy access to social media for all, but it seems there are real elements of concern in the sport and they have arisen from a gradual process of poor decisions.
On the technical side, knee-jerk decisions were based on either a bad accident or complaints from fans about the racing not being good enough. Some decisions were based on pressure from certain teams or manufacturers to help them compete. And finally, but very importantly, a level of political correctness has crept in that has done nothing to make the racing any better, but has instead pushed costs through the roof, created greater division between the richest teams and others, and made the racing too predictable and less interesting to watch. [Note: political correctness includes OEM's pushing for racecars to be more relevant to road going cars. Racers don't care... they just want to RACE.]
As a result of all this, technology has evolved to where we are today, and most importantly, evolved to a point where budgets are into the stratosphere. At the same time, reliance on pay TV channels means significantly fewer viewers, so naturally there is less interest for sponsors to spend big money, as their metrics are primarily based on the number of eyeballs watching, and in particular, eyeballs with attractive demographics. Not all eyeballs are created equally in the minds of the sponsors. Hence, there are now numerous teams racing without one main sponsor, or if they do have one, it’s for a fraction of what a they used to pay.
Through all these various rule changes, racing has somehow lost its identity and I am not sure anyone really knows what it stands for anymore. I believe we are now at a point where another two or maybe three decisions in the wrong direction could spell the end of racing as we know it. People are already tuning out because they have either lost interest or it’s too predictable or not exciting enough. The younger generation doesn’t seem to care and motorsport in general is struggling to catch their attention.
In order to reach a solution that has the right balance between Economics, Competition, Entertainment, and Relevance, it's important to first identify the individual areas that matter the most, focus on getting these right, and eliminate the areas that matter least.
Part 1: Economics
The major cost is in the constant development war, with aerodynamics and engines being the largest contributors of excessive expense. I strongly believe that the current concept of racecar design needs a complete reset. There has been no real innovation in racing since the discovery of aerodynamics. It is always the first priority. It’s the #1 factor in driving the costs higher, it’s the #1 factor in making the racing less interesting, it has no relevance to anything automotive, yet it’s been the primary focus in every single form of racing the past 30 years or more. It’s time for a major reset.
There has been much discussion about a cost cap, and how to implement it. I don’t believe you can ever entirely control a fixed cost cap because teams will always find a way to circumvent a rule like that. The most effective way in my opinion is to limit the development in all the key areas on the cars that are irrelevant in the bigger picture. There are many areas or components on a car that I believe could be standardized and no one would even know or notice the difference.
[There is a lot more in the article about Economics... both cost control and revenue management. Part 2 comes tomorrow... Competition. Parts 3 and 4 will be Entertainment and Relevance. But what do you think so far? Is this a driver from the 1980's who "gets it" and isn't shy about a pattern of poor decisions that got us to here? Blame for the TV executives who care little about racing? The unfortunate evils of technology running amok, and how to disarm the engineering wars? Click the "spoiler button" below...]
The article is from Motorsport.com and was authored by Stefan Johansson. He raced F1 in the 1980's for McLaren, Ferrari and others. He started 73 IndyCar races, including the Indy 500 three times. He won the 24 Hours of Le Mans. He's currently business manager/agent for IndyCar star Scott Dixon and others. And Johansson's four-part article is about F1's crisis, not the decline of Nascar, where he has never raced.
As I read this article, I was struck by the parallels between F1's situation and Nascar's. It is instructive for Nascar fans to know that we are not alone... the perils facing Nascar are similar in many ways to the perils facing other forms of racing... similar historical origins, similar present maladies, and similar potential solutions. There are also differences, for sure, but fewer than we sometimes think, IMO.
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/johansson-proposal-f1-awesome-economics/4374192/
As I read this article, I was struck by the parallels between F1's situation and Nascar's. It is instructive for Nascar fans to know that we are not alone... the perils facing Nascar are similar in many ways to the perils facing other forms of racing... similar historical origins, similar present maladies, and similar potential solutions. There are also differences, for sure, but fewer than we sometimes think, IMO.
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/johansson-proposal-f1-awesome-economics/4374192/
