OT - WHAT has happened to NASCAR?
 

Bristol was like 1/2 full today? This is not a bash/slam NASCAR post but I know that there are some knowledgable people who visit this board. Seriously, what is it? Ratings and attendance have continued to slide the past 4,5 years at least.

One friend said when I asked him his opinion said, "they've made it so corporate... won't let the drivers say what they really think and won't let them settle disputes off the track without big fines..." Man I don't know, but this is really interesting to me. What's your serious opinion? Again, not a bash post.. but curious

Re: OT - WHAT has happened to NASCAR?
 

The spring race hasnt sold out in about 7-8 years in fact most about half full. Fall night races has always sold out.

Most tracks have removed from 1/3rd to 1/2 of their seating.

Re: OT - WHAT has happened to NASCAR?
 

A group of us used to have season tickets for Bristol. MY buddy gave them up about 10 or 12 years ago when it got super expensive, and got to be a pain to attend. We used to park the motor home within sight of the track for a reasonable price, and all of the sudden your parking a couple of miles away for $120. They were so greedy, they let people park in the aisles to use up every square inch. Saw a man have a heart attack and because responders could not get close, watched him get passed about 100 yards by fans trying to get him help. Kind of figured I could do a month of racing around here for that kind of cash, so I guess you could say it was a no brainer. One thing to remember, even with the empty seats, it still seats a lot of people.

My son and I used to do the night race but it got old and the place was fairly empty the last few years. Parking is high, along with most everything else, and wayy too much corporate crap going on. I don't give a crap about the pageantry because someone won some stupid contest, I wanna go in and watch some good racing and go. Not make a all day affair out of a few hour race.

Re: OT - WHAT has happened to NASCAR?
 

Would help if the talent was also as great as advertised. Theres some good drivers but some shouldn't even be out there.
Corporate sponsors need people that sell products not win races. The drivers today are more like actors, do, say and give people what they want. Actually they are more of a sheep/actor clone. Stay in the herd, no following the beat of your own drum here. You need not win to be successful in Nascar, ask Danica how she's making out. Convenient yellows, gotta love them also. Not to mention Earnhardt dying, dislike nascar would watch anyhow to see Earnhardt drive.
The only racing I know that 40 cars are all in one pack and it's still boring. I got plenty more.

Racing in general is pricing its self out of business for the fan and racer alike.

As the prices went up 15 or so years ago the quality of the product was declining. They made so many changes that took a lot of the real racing out of it that it has become near unwatchable. In 10 years I've gone from watching virtually every race on tv to just catching glimpses now and then. The product is just boring most of the time these days.

I get my racing fix at the dirt tracks. It seems that the dirt racing product is getting better all the time in terms of the quality of racing. Saw an outstanding late model mods and mowa sprint show at granite city Friday. There was a big crowd also!!

Re: OT - WHAT has happened to NASCAR?
 

Oh man...just off the top of my head...

- Races take entirely too long these days. I don't want to sit on the couch for 4 hours to watch a race that's strung out on a mile and half track that has 12 of 40 cars finish on the lead lap where the only lead changes come during pitstops. Even at Daytona they just rode around the top all day single file until Hamlin decided to make a move in the last mile.

- Too many gimmicks. These "cautions" for a piece of debris or a water bottle that is on the apron that everyone knows is meant just to group the field back up or the need for a "caution clock" is absurd. Or how about giving Jr. his own update segment each quarter of the race. I understand he's the most popular but focus on the guys that will actually win the championship not him or Danica whose in the back fighting to stay on the lead lap. And then we have "The Chase" which is ridiculous. In that system you could win the first 35 races of the season but if your engine blows in race 36...you just finished 4th in the standings....but I can see how that could make a ton of sense (sarcasm)

- Not even half the field is competitive. You can guarantee a Gibbs, Hendrick, Penske or Stewart-Haas car is going to win. Yeah a blind squirrel may find a nut once in awhile but that still leaves 25 other cars there are out there just going in circles and only impact the race if leaders are in lapped traffic.

- Prices are way up, used to have tickets up at MIS, decent seats near the end of pit road which is where all the good cars are pitted. But for a race thats usually pretty strung out I'm not gonna pay $100 per ticket. That can get me in the gate at 4-5 USAC shows where I'll see more passing for the lead in heat race than I will in an entire 400 mile NASCAR race. If you're married and have a couple kids and wanna go to the races you're gonna pay damn near 500 just in tickets and to park...thats crazy.

There are a ton of things wrong and these are just a few that personally have turned me off of their product. Sure I'll flip over to watch the last few laps and to see what Yeley or Larson are doing but thats about the extent of my involvement with them.

Re: OT - WHAT has happened to NASCAR?
 

When racers call their team, "THE COMPANY" That says all you need to know on WHY?

Re: OT - WHAT has happened to NASCAR?
 

NASCAR? That still going? Haven't watched a race for quite a few years now. Too busy on Sundays, anyway. . . .

Attendance and Bristol dropped off after they redid the track. The progressive banking produced more side by side racing but that is not what fans want out of Bristol. They want the bump and run. NASCAR attendance in general really took a hit during the recession. I go to Talladega every year and noticed a sudden drop off around 2008. So I think a combination of high prices and the recession has a lot to do with it.

While I agree NASCAR races are boring, today's generation is about instant gratification. Vidio games, X games, etc. And today's generation, for the most part, is not interested in auto racing or cars in general. I, like many of you, grew up in a Motörhead environment that does not exist in the young people of today. Time marches on.

One thing that has not been mentioned is that the popularity of NASCAR exploded for a while and became something it had never been. There was a confluence of events which drove growth outside of its traditional fan base. However, that is over just like many other fads. The base is probably larger now than before the boom but NASCAR has come back to earth.

Re: OT - WHAT has happened to NASCAR?
 

1- No heroes and villains..... There has to be a routing interest, as simple as that!! Heroes are easy but villains are the problem....Nascar and Corporate America have taken away the villains. They do not want their person representing them to be the center of any negative press. I, like most of you, am sick of watching drivers with their drink bottles have to take a drink before each interview, they actually accumulate points for each time they get their drink on tv and get bonus pay.

Last year after Kenseth took out Joey the interest was at a season high, not so much from the crash but the anticipation of what was to come next...There was a Hero and a Villain!!! The only real villain right now might be Joey (actually my favorites are Joey and Stewart)?

Find me a season when the interest level was high and there will be a routing interest involved. There doesn't have to be crashes, just someone the fan wants to see win, or the fan wants to see lose!

Today the drivers are like the cars, cookie cutter, I have a few from the midget/sprint days I still route for but if all the midget/sprint fans would have been at Bristol yesterday the place would have still been 1/2 empty.Tony Stewart is the last of the "tell it his way" drivers! When NASCAR was King the sound bites were stellar, there was controversy, there were Heroes and Villains!! There was a reason to go, to watch, to route for those you liked and boo those you did not. Today they all say the same thing, they all stay on script! AND on SCRIPT is boring and there is no interest.

2- First understand that if promoters did not open the stands they would still make money!! Yes, the purse is more than paid for by the TV money...BUT, that TV money is based off contracts that were written when vewing ratins were high...new contract are a coming and ?

Fans attending events....the cost is just to much for the watered down product!

Side note about cost : Local track here in Indy (Speedrome) had there season opener Saturday with throw back prices ($7.50 at the gate and $1 hot dogs) Without a doubt the biggest crowd they have had there in years for their weekly show. This week back to normal pricing and 70% of those fans will not be back! Because of the $1 dollar hot dog the concession lines were long all night, but things that make you go hmmm, those buying the $1 hot dog also had $3 cokes $3 french fries $5 tenderloins, ect... This week there will be the normal 800 fans at $12 each for a gate of $9600 and the concession will be down drastically! This past Saturday there were about 1800 spectators at a front gate of $13,500...and you do not need a calculator to figure out more people, more merchandise, more concessions, more SPONSOR interest, all equal more money...THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO HMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!:10:

Re: OT - WHAT has happened to NASCAR?
 

NASCAR became trendy in the mid 90's. It was the old "nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd" mentality. The Brain Trust if you want to be nice and believe Brian France is using his. Thought NASCAR was on an NFL trajectory and they started messing with what got NASCAR to where it was. They turned the cars into IROC prototypes were aero was more a key then a driver. The drivers became sponsor spouting puppets and the on track racing really started to look pretty bland.

I used to do about 4 to 6 cup/bgn races a year from the late 1970's until about 1998. I've not been to a NASCAR race other than the Modifieds since 1999 and see nothing today that would entice me to go back.

Re: OT - WHAT has happened to NASCAR?
 

Not any more. Not since the track reconfiguration. You can buy a ticket for the night race the day of the race.

It is no longer racing, it is now a show. The chase, green white checker, the lucky dog, the charter, double file restarts. The one that did the best the whole season used to be the champion, 500 miles used to mean 500 miles, if you wanted your lap back you raced for it. I stopped watching Nascar a few years back.

When drivers complain about being "raced too hard "that pretty much says it all!

Re: OT - WHAT has happened to NASCAR?
 

David, I think you nailed it with the "trendy" comment, people had to have something to talk about at the water cooler at work on Monday, and if you fit, you fit, motor home, hats, T shirts, jackets, banners, plus, there seemed to be a lot more folks willing to spend their butts off to go, now they got kids that have to be "involved", trips over a weekend to play some sort of "game", is the trendy thing now, still costs money, but it's the "in" thing now. Times they have changed. Just sayin! Bob

Re: OT - WHAT has happened to NASCAR?
 

NASCAR has abandoned the Walmart crowd in favor of yuppy money, there's fewer yuppy's. It's that simple. :22:

Re: OT - WHAT has happened to NASCAR?
 

I can remember going to a NASCAR race at North Wilkesboro in the mid-80s.
I never seen so many people eating chicken and drinking beer in one spot and actually people having fun in so many varieties. It was almost Charming. There were funny folks, fighting folks and people that liked to talk racing. Many just having a good time. At the time the cars were loud, people in the stands would yell at people in the pits and they would respond. It took about three hours to get out of the parking lot, but it was almost a show in itself.

After years of Indy and Dirt Champ attendance, I never really understood the NASCAR scoring. Seemed like someone could be in, and in and out of the pits all day on the green, then had some type of restart with 4-5 laps left and be in 2-3rd position.

Like many have said "times have changed".