What happened?

ToyYoda said:
This is kind of what Chevy is doing with the SS today though. They only sell a handful of them every year, but enough to classify as a production car so they can run it in NASCAR. Only difference is that in this case GM didn't build an all new car, but instead knocked the cobwebs off of the 2008-09 Pontiac G8 and rebadged it as a Chevrolet.
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Its the VF Commodore, the G8 was the VE Commodore which was in production from 2006- 2013 . but all that really doenst matter as both used the Zeta platform.
 
I dont have rose colored glasses so I have no bias towards racing from a few decades ago, I cant comment on racing from the 80's as I was still a young kid and didnt strart watching NASCAR tell I believe it was in 92, and will agree that racing in the 90's , well, mid 90's from I can remember was good. My point for this reply is, sometime last year, I starting watching races from the 90's on Youtube, and one of those was the 1992 Hooters 500, and I know this may not go over well, but from what I watched, I saw racing that was just like racing in 2016. Yep, I said it, the racing was not that different from today.
 
NC HillBilly said:
I don't take issue with them expanding. I take issue with them expanding by building the same race track over and over again.
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We're in agreement there. Unfortunately most of the new tracks added in the expansion were Charlotte clones, it would have been nice to see a little more variety.
 
Well, 9 tracks hosting 12 races (one-third of the schedule) are similar length of a lap, ranging from 1.366 to 1.5 miles. And all golf courses are similar too, 18 holes, about 72 strokes at par. Ask a Cup driver how many of those tracks race like Charlotte. Or a crew chief.
 
LewTheShoe said:
Maybe a big blow to you. Not to too many others.

What do you think of the races so far this year?
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NC HillBilly said:
A big blow to me and all of the teams that operate out of this state, which is most of them.



Irreverent to the discussion.
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We'll assume you were in the grandstands for both of Hillenburg's attempts to bring NASCAR back to that hallowed ground.

How is the current state of racing not relevant to a discussion comparing the past to the present? Unless, of course, you're just here to preach.
 
jws926 said:
Its the VF Commodore, the G8 was the VE Commodore which was in production from 2006- 2013 . but all that really doenst matter as both used the Zeta platform.
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Didn't realize they were different. Gotta admit, they look pretty similar...
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CalTenn said:
I think at one time a manufacturer had sell 500 cars in order to use it to race.
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I found this on Wiipeadia (the article also talks about going from 500 to 1000 cars for the Homologation rule in 1964 - it kept the Hemis out for a year):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_car_racing

The 1970 Homologation rules were changed so that one car for every two U.S. dealers had to be built for sale to the public to qualify, hoping to delay the use of aero-bodies until tires could improve. Plymouth had to make over 1900 Superbirds and Dodge got the Superbee approved a year before Plymouth by producing few cars (because they had fewer dealers).
 
I've always been vocal about how much better I thought the racing was 20 or 30 years ago, and how much better the sport was in general. But the racing this year (and a lot of 2014, truth be told) is as good as any racing I've seen.

All the stuff that was better about nascar in the 80s and 90s is pretty much out of our control. There isn't much we can do about the sponsorship, economy, auto industry, rising costs, all the logistics and finances, etc. Personally I don't have a solution for any of that stuff, so I try not to think about it. My biggest complaint is the track/schedule variety (or lack thereof) and the structure of BGN/Trucks. Well, the Chase too, but that topic's been beaten to death.

The racing is better now than it's been in over a decade. That's a good sign for the future.
 
2 Sweet said:
I've always been vocal about how much better I thought the racing was 20 or 30 years ago, and how much better the sport was in general. But the racing this year (and a lot of 2014, truth be told) is as good as any racing I've seen.

All the stuff that was better about nascar in the 80s and 90s is pretty much out of our control. There isn't much we can do about the sponsorship, economy, auto industry, rising costs, all the logistics and finances, etc. Personally I don't have a solution for any of that stuff, so I try not to think about it. My biggest complaint is the track/schedule variety (or lack thereof) and the structure of BGN/Trucks. Well, the Chase too, but that topic's been beaten to death.

The racing is better now than it's been in over a decade. That's a good sign for the future.
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Agreed. Most of my problems with today's NASCAR is the background stuff, like the garbage chase format and faux cautions. The racing itself is solid though (and please don't try to convince me it's because of one of those two things I mentioned, you'll be wasting your breath :D).
 
ToyYoda said:
This is kind of what Chevy is doing with the SS today though. They only sell a handful of them every year, but enough to classify as a production car so they can run it in NASCAR. Only difference is that in this case GM didn't build an all new car, but instead knocked the cobwebs off of the 2008-09 Pontiac G8 and rebadged it as a Chevrolet.
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And before the G8 it was the jellybean GTO aka Holden Monaro
 
2 Sweet said:
I've always been vocal about how much better I thought the racing was 20 or 30 years ago, and how much better the sport was in general. But the racing this year (and a lot of 2014, truth be told) is as good as any racing I've seen.

All the stuff that was better about nascar in the 80s and 90s is pretty much out of our control. There isn't much we can do about the sponsorship, economy, auto industry, rising costs, all the logistics and finances, etc. Personally I don't have a solution for any of that stuff, so I try not to think about it. My biggest complaint is the track/schedule variety (or lack thereof) and the structure of BGN/Trucks. Well, the Chase too, but that topic's been beaten to death.

The racing is better now than it's been in over a decade. That's a good sign for the future.
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This. Exactly this. If only everybody in racing would un-learn sophisticated engineering, especially aerodynamics... But you can't un-learn important stuff about going fast. And if you do, someone else won't. Nascar has made tremendous gains in managing the situation.
 
Well lack of money certainly is not a reason for the change. There are 1000s of companies in the United States. Less than
100 are involved with NASCAR.
 
4tires17gals said:
Well lack of money certainly is not a reason for the change. There are 1000s of companies in the United States. Less than
100 are involved with NASCAR.
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I bet if you just added up all the primary sponsors that are on the Cup cars during the year, you'd come up with more than 100. That's not to mention the title sponsors, sponsors on the NXS and NCWTS cars/trucks, associate sponsors, manufacturers, companies that buy ads during races, etc.
 
Remember though Kyle's Larson's lsit are mostly Target branches. Paul Menard has Menard branches.
 
aunty dive said:
We'll assume you were in the grandstands for both of Hillenburg's attempts to bring NASCAR back to that hallowed ground.

How is the current state of racing not relevant to a discussion comparing the past to the present? Unless, of course, you're just here to preach.
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It was not relevant to the context of the post he was quoting. I wanted to have a conversation about the points I brought up that didn't degrade into "you don't watch" or "well it's good this year". A half season of decent racing doesn't even begin to make up for a decade of crap, nor does it have anything to do with what I posted (the south giving up all those dates/tracks).

To answer the question though: the racing of late has been mostly good because they've attempted to replicate what made it so good before they screwed it all up in the name of safety and attracting fans outside of their home region. I hope the trend continues.

Also I wasn't in the stands for the truck race at Rockingham. I don't travel for a truck race unless it's in Martinsville. I don't watch that series in person unless it's on the same weekend as a Cup race. I would be more willing to watch it if it came to my local track more than once a year. The only time I'm hyped up for the trucks is when they decide to race them on dirt.

I did stand in 32F weather to watch the entire 250 laps when they were delayed and had to run that truck race after the cup race the last time I went to Martinsville. I counted maybe 10 other people in the stands (not my section, the entire track). I was told I was "hardcore" by some dude in a camper that probably costs more than my house on the way out.
 
Nascar stream lined the teams into such a small box there is no grey area to find speed, the top 12 teams are very close. Cars changed for the worse around 1990, or at least it seemed that way to me.
 
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