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There's no singular reason for sure. I think you can point to the declining fascination with the automobile as one reason. I think the whole misconception about it just being cars going in circles is more of a function of the fact that driving a passenger car is the only relatable experience the bulk of a society has to compare it to. Most all of us have played football, basketball, baseball etc. at some point in our lives. We understand the difficulty and realize most of us aren't good enough to be professionals. With auto racing people seem to think anybody can do it, when the reality is they're in cars that are engineered to be easy to drive. They're predictable unless something fails or conditions like rain and snow cause loss of traction.
I'd also say that the tremendous increase in entertainment options seems to have also caused a huge decline in the attention span of people. Racing takes time to develop. The NFL really only requires the viewer to pay attention in about 10 second intervals at a time. MMA has short violent rounds.
Finally, I'd say the NASCAR or NAPCAR factor is huge. Its really the only option on mainstream tv consistently. They run far too many tracks ill suited for the cars in my opinion leading to really strung out boring races. Like it or not, they're the face of racing and what people think of first and probably as the only thing.
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