LouieLouie
Team Owner
Since this seems to be a slow NASCAR news week and we are all just waiting for the season to start, I thought I would throw a topic out there to get some feedback. I don't know if I have ever brought this up here or not, but I have certainly spent a lot of time thinking it through.
Anyway, my idea is to split NASCAR into 2 divisions East and West with a new rule that would require teams to split their cars equally among the divisions, i.e. 4 car teams can only have 2 cars in each division, not all 4 cars in the same division. On top of this, there would be 4 or 5 major races in which the divisions qualify and race together, i.e. the Daytona 500.
Also, each division would only race every other week except around the majors. So let's say after the Daytona 500, the East division would go directly to Atlanta the following week and then have a week off, while the West division would have a week off and then go to Phoenix (or some other track).
So the idea here is that the teams and their technical advantages would be diluted across 2 series which would allow underfunded teams to be more competitive in a single series. This also allows teams more rest in between races but the fans still get to see a race each week and the tracks don't lose any dates. There is also potential to add more race dates and different tracks. The cost of sponsorship goes down, which would hopefully attract new sponsors, plus with the large teams potentially having less money to spend, smaller teams could once again become more competitive. Ultimately with increased number of sponsors available, and increased fandom, the amount of money eventually goes up through growth rather than exclusivity like they are doing now.
When the major races come around, they become that much more important and exciting because there is 1) rivalry between east and west 2) only so many cars can make the race, i.e. true heat races to get into the 500 (kind of like the duels now), and 3) charters would be split across the 2 divisions and could still be guaranteed a spot in the majors with room left over for small teams (increasing the value of the charters). Think about 50 cars at the next 500 or 80 cars trying to qualify to get in. Or think about 50 cars at the next Southern 500!
This is all a pipe dream, but I think there are a lot of benefits to everyone involved. Eventually you could also have a European division, an Aussie division, Asian division, etc. I also think F1 could do something similar but we can leave that for the F1 board.
Anyway, there are a ton more details that I have worked through but aren't necessary at this point. Thanks for reading if you have gotten this far. I'm ready for the current season to start.
Anyway, my idea is to split NASCAR into 2 divisions East and West with a new rule that would require teams to split their cars equally among the divisions, i.e. 4 car teams can only have 2 cars in each division, not all 4 cars in the same division. On top of this, there would be 4 or 5 major races in which the divisions qualify and race together, i.e. the Daytona 500.
Also, each division would only race every other week except around the majors. So let's say after the Daytona 500, the East division would go directly to Atlanta the following week and then have a week off, while the West division would have a week off and then go to Phoenix (or some other track).
So the idea here is that the teams and their technical advantages would be diluted across 2 series which would allow underfunded teams to be more competitive in a single series. This also allows teams more rest in between races but the fans still get to see a race each week and the tracks don't lose any dates. There is also potential to add more race dates and different tracks. The cost of sponsorship goes down, which would hopefully attract new sponsors, plus with the large teams potentially having less money to spend, smaller teams could once again become more competitive. Ultimately with increased number of sponsors available, and increased fandom, the amount of money eventually goes up through growth rather than exclusivity like they are doing now.
When the major races come around, they become that much more important and exciting because there is 1) rivalry between east and west 2) only so many cars can make the race, i.e. true heat races to get into the 500 (kind of like the duels now), and 3) charters would be split across the 2 divisions and could still be guaranteed a spot in the majors with room left over for small teams (increasing the value of the charters). Think about 50 cars at the next 500 or 80 cars trying to qualify to get in. Or think about 50 cars at the next Southern 500!
This is all a pipe dream, but I think there are a lot of benefits to everyone involved. Eventually you could also have a European division, an Aussie division, Asian division, etc. I also think F1 could do something similar but we can leave that for the F1 board.
Anyway, there are a ton more details that I have worked through but aren't necessary at this point. Thanks for reading if you have gotten this far. I'm ready for the current season to start.
