Why is NASCAR healthiest in the west?

gnomesayin said:
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They tried here in the NW, south and north of Seattle ,during the boom years, but the deal never came together. I agree that Denver should have been an even bigger priority. Now I question when and if we will ever see another new Cup-level facility built anywhere.
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I would really be surprised if new tracks are built as if current trends continue Nascar will be trimming races.
 
The Nature Boy said:
Again

This is 20 million people in a VERY small area. If New York's metropolitan area were its own state, it'd be the 3rd largest state behind Texas and California.
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Yeah, and only 40% of them even own a car. Good luck selling them essential car culture when something like 75% of trips in that area are taken on public transit. For all the constant bitching on this forum about changes to keep those floosy casual fans, a NYC track would be just about the greatest sell-out imaginable. That entire fan-base would be casual fans too pre-occupied with their artisanal firewood and the latest blog post to care about NASCAR more than a few years until the novelty wears off. And if the MTA is slow or on strike that sunday? Yeah, no. Not worth the trek to those people.
 
Acs said:
Yeah, and only 40% of them even own a car. Good luck selling them essential car culture when something like 75% of trips in that area are taken on public transit. For all the constant bitching on this forum about changes to keep those floosy casual fans, a NYC track would be just about the greatest sell-out imaginable. That entire fan-base would be casual fans too pre-occupied with their artisanal firewood and the latest blog post to care about NASCAR more than a few years until the novelty wears off. And if the MTA is slow or on strike that sunday? Yeah, no. Not worth the trek to those people.
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Yeah.....This is why you'd put the track in the city where you can get to it by public transit.

And honestly, I don't give two ****s about "car culture" and I'm a lifelong NASCAR fan. Your urban millennial stereotypes are so off-base.
 
If ISC can pony up 178 million for an upgrade at Phoenix that isn't necessary aside from basic upgrades that would be much less, you could fund part of a new racetrack in a new market.
 
A once or twice a year event like a Cup series race draws from a region, not a city. I'm not even from the area, and I know that New York and Pennsylvania are in the top five of states with the most race tracks and that a lot of 'racing culture' exists there. I tend to think this is more indicative of how many potential attendees there are for a NASCAR race than how many people drive a Camry or a Fusion vs. riding the train to work.
 
gnomesayin said:
A once or twice a year event like a Cup series race draws from a region, not a city. I'm not even from the area, and I know that New York and Pennsylvania are in the top five of states with the most race tracks and that a lot of 'racing culture' exists there. I tend to think this is more indicative of how many potential attendees there are for a NASCAR race than how many people drive a Camry or a Fusion vs. riding the train to work.
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I live in central New York and have about 35 race tracks within 3 hours of driving
 
AuzGrams said:
If ISC can pony up 178 million for an upgrade at Phoenix that isn't necessary aside from basic upgrades that would be much less, you could fund part of a new racetrack in a new market.
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I dont think this is a great time for ISC or SMI to be building a new Cup level track, but if they did, we all know it would be another 1.5 cookie cutter track, NASCAR has a hard-on for them. Hell, I think one of the early proposals for the PIR upgrade was to flip flop the track and make the dog leg more of d-shape , I am surprised that Homestead hasnt got the Atlanta treatment yet.
 
gnomesayin said:
A once or twice a year event like a Cup series race draws from a region, not a city. I'm not even from the area, and I know that New York and Pennsylvania are in the top five of states with the most race tracks and that a lot of 'racing culture' exists there. I tend to think this is more indicative of how many potential attendees there are for a NASCAR race than how many people drive a Camry or a Fusion vs. riding the train to work.
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IMO the tracks do an absolutely terrible job of promoting races as I have 3 tracks all within 150 miles of my home and never hear anything about races being held.
 
Skoalbandit33 said:
IMO the tracks do an absolutely terrible job of promoting races as I have 3 tracks all within 150 miles of my home and never hear anything about races being held.
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Here in Northern NJ, you never see a TV ad, hear a radio ad (even on sports radio) or see a print advertisement for NASCAR...EVER. Pocono Raceway is less than 90 minutes away and I didn't know such a thing existed in my youth and early adulthood. I do recall hearing the infamous NHRA "Sunday, Sunday, Sunday" ads for Raceway Park in Englishtown which led me to actually attending a few races.

NASCAR needs a national campaign on the radio at least. Get them to the track once, and you'll make tens of thousands of new fans (if they can figure out the intricate Rube Goldberg points system.)
 
NASCAR was founded and built on outlaws and counterculture (hillbillies and rednecks). Now it is being cleaned up, dressed up, and tamed to the point of not offering the raw extreme entertainment it once represented which drew crowds to the spectacle.

What brought crowds to racing is the primal hunger for freedom from society -- speed, loud noises, rule-breaking, and risqué entertainment at the track. NASCAR drivers are now by-and-large metro-sexual, not as bad as F1 or Indy.

If you don't bring boys and girls to racing early, then it is difficult to sell them on NASCAR later and you lose that opportunity to achieve multi-generational fan support.

Plus the Virtual Race Track, awesome at-home entertainment technology, and online culture are taking over; so putting asses in the seats will continue to be difficult.

Monster Energy is the perfect company to bring the spectacle back to NASCAR; so if this doesn't work, then NASCAR is in deep deep...
 
NJJammer said:
Here in Northern NJ, you never see a TV ad, hear a radio ad (even on sports radio) or see a print advertisement for NASCAR...EVER. Pocono Raceway is less than 90 minutes away and I didn't know such a thing existed in my youth and early adulthood. I do recall hearing the infamous NHRA "Sunday, Sunday, Sunday" ads for Raceway Park in Englishtown which led me to actually attending a few races.

NASCAR needs a national campaign on the radio at least. Get them to the track once, and you'll make tens of thousands of new fans (if they can figure out the intricate Rube Goldberg points system.)
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IDK how well promotion would work but I do know you can't attend something you don't know exists.
 
They should go ahead and hit Sonoma while they are out there. That would be a 4 week span where they go from a 1.5 mile track to 1 mile track then 2 miles and a road course.
 
purple earl said:
NASCAR was founded and built on outlaws and counterculture (hillbillies and rednecks). Now it is being cleaned up, dressed up, and tamed to the point of not offering the raw extreme entertainment it once represented which drew crowds to the spectacle.

What brought crowds to racing is the primal hunger for freedom from society -- speed, loud noises, rule-breaking, and risqué entertainment at the track. NASCAR drivers are now by-and-large metro-sexual, not as bad as F1 or Indy.

If you don't bring boys and girls to racing early, then it is difficult to sell them on NASCAR later and you lose that opportunity to achieve multi-generational fan support.

Plus the Virtual Race Track, awesome at-home entertainment technology, and online culture are taking over; so putting asses in the seats will continue to be difficult.

Monster Energy is the perfect company to bring the spectacle back to NASCAR; so if this doesn't work, then NASCAR is in deep deep...
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^^^^ this

As a kid growing up in a northern inner city in the mid 60's and watching taped NASCAR races on Saturday afternoon on Wide World of Sports, it always fascinated me to watch these redneck southern boys going at it the way they did.

I couldn't get enough of it because, besides the great racing, there were great characters.

What was there not to like about speed, loud noises, rule-breaking, and risqué entertainment at the track, as well as a bona fide "danger is my business" mentality among the drivers.
 
ChexOrWrex said:
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The accuracy
 
purple earl said:
NASCAR was founded and built on outlaws and counterculture (hillbillies and rednecks). Now it is being cleaned up, dressed up, and tamed to the point of not offering the raw extreme entertainment it once represented which drew crowds to the spectacle.

What brought crowds to racing is the primal hunger for freedom from society -- speed, loud noises, rule-breaking, and risqué entertainment at the track. NASCAR drivers are now by-and-large metro-sexual, not as bad as F1 or Indy.

If you don't bring boys and girls to racing early, then it is difficult to sell them on NASCAR later and you lose that opportunity to achieve multi-generational fan support.

Plus the Virtual Race Track, awesome at-home entertainment technology, and online culture are taking over; so putting asses in the seats will continue to be difficult.

Monster Energy is the perfect company to bring the spectacle back to NASCAR; so if this doesn't work, then NASCAR is in deep deep...
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You left out the fact that human attention span has changed over the years. New fans would love a ten lap race if free Wifi was available.
 
Who was saying Fontana would be sold out this year?? Yeah right. There's significantly more vacant seats than last year. Time to "right size" this place again.
 
Acs said:
Who was saying Fontana would be sold out this year?? Yeah right. There's significantly more vacant seats than last year. Time to "right size" this place again.
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Yeah...looks like the track president was a little on the optimistic side there.
 
Empty seats? Contents settle in shipping?

Zucker's "they were under the grandstands shopping the vendors" is still one of my favorite Clintonesque explanations.
 
Telling you, ya'll better go while there is room in the stands.
If they keep downsizing and return us to the sardine years,
you will have wished you would of gone during
this "don't give a crap" era.
 
Vegas just had okay attendance. Phoenix attendance was not good. Fontana's attendance was okay, nowhere near a sellout. Keep in mind they give a way a lot of free tickets at Fontana.
 
MRM said:
Vegas just had okay attendance. Phoenix attendance was not good. Fontana's attendance was okay, nowhere near a sellout. Keep in mind they give a way a lot of free tickets at Fontana.
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Vegas = awful attendance compared to previous years, still probably more than Phoenix & Cali
Phoenix = not great attendance, but it wasn't much of a drop off
Fontana = OK attendance, but a slight drop off.
 
If it is healthiest west it may be caused by a lot of the drivers we see come from the west. Harvick, Johnson, Larson, Gilliland, Kurt and Kyle, Mears etc. All west coast guys and there is quite a few waiting in the wings. That would play a role, but really it boils down to introducing your kids to the sport to have generational fans. My 5 year old was introduced to the sport at 2 or 3 and he is entrenched in it to the point that we are at a track almost weekly. He is missing school Wednesday for us to travel to an Outlaw race in Placerville, CA. His first one and he is going to meet Larson and Rico Abreu and Brad Sweet. But it is because as a Father, like my Father did, I'm exposing him to the sport and all of the different types.
 
AuzGrams said:
Which is why it makes little to no sense why ISC doesn't build a track in Denver or the Northwest.
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Build a road course here in the PNW, takes care of the rain issue. Or, give us a summer date when rain in Seattle is actually pretty rare.
 
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