Future of NASCAR

Bobtempest

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
May 23, 2001
What would it take to bring NASCAR around to the fans. They know they need the fans. Can they make things happen to keep and win over new ones?
What do you think?
 
I started watching NASCAR when I was 14 which was in the early 90's. I watched pretty much every race until about 4 or so years ago

I can't even tell you who one last year. It just became boring and the TV coverage sucks now. I think it went downhill when they went to the tuarus's and similar cars. I helped out a few arca teams back then and got to meet some of the NASCAR guys that were running the same weekend. They were all dicks, including the drivers when the press isn't around.

In my opinion, NASCAR could fold and I would care less. Most of the fans are idiots and are not real car guys. I have come to like drag racing (nhra, adrl, outlaw blah blah, etc..) much more. More exciting and I have always liked the machinery aspect if racing more so than the driving part....which drag racing wins that battle for me.
 
Nascar died when Dale SR died. They have just been hanging on for the past 11 years in my opinion. Not much excitement any more. Too many cookie cutter tracks, point system and Chase setup sucks. I am going to watch more this year to see what Danica Patrick does. They are probably going to eat her up but at least it is something different.
 
I couldn't put my finger on it but it probably is related to SR......and the boring tracks. They should all be super speedways or half mile tracks.
 
Bring back everyday cars .. Win on Sunday sell on Monday. Cookie cutter crap isn't helpin either. I record the last 30 laps. AND most of the time I don't ever watch it. Kind of the same thing with NHRA.. I guess the big $$$$ sponsors consider this "progress" :rolleyes:
 
It came about when the NASCAR "gods" decided to control every last detail. The freedom to create a "better mousetrap" went by the wayside, and the cookie cutter cars became the norm.
$$... When it costs a house payment to take the family to a race, it's doomed. [That's why the camera crews are keeping close cropped coverage. They don't want the home audience to see all the empty seats.]
 
I agree with everything said so far, I hope they make some changes. They need to turn back the clock.
Dale Sr. was the Larry Bird of NASCAR, when he was gone it changed the sport.
 
I lost interest when cars aren't real models.....a v8 camary coupe???? Not.......
 
I remember when they could bang and trade paint without getting called to the 'red trailer'. I record them and FF through looking for excitement.
 
I agree with Dan and Chuck...

When I was a young boy I would watch NASCAR with my dad... early 70s.. when wide world of sports on a Saturday might carry 20 or so laps of a race and then cut away to something like the strongman competition and then come back to the race for the last 5 laps... (Oh would he get pissed off lol)....

Then we continued to follow it until the last 5+ years. It is way over commercialized today... cars are identical.... it sucks.

I like the run what ya brung mentality and see who can build the best car. Today it is almost like an old IROC race with sponsors on the cars.

It is definately a bland product they put out there today.
 
I still continue to watch. The Bud shootout was exciting. I'm wondering if NASCAR did too much to break up the two car dance. I hope the 500 isn't just a bunch of cars stacked nose to tail until the last few laps. Pretty boring if it turns out that way.
 
Well they now have fuel injection . I say take out the restrictor plates and let them go.That will thin the herd. After Sr I havent watched at all.
 
I still follow NASCAR. It def ain't the same since Sr.s gone. Getting beer spilled all over you in the stands, baking in the sun, sitting in traffic takes the fun out of it. I think the coverage is as good as it gets. It's hard to keep the attention of an audience watching "cars going around in a circle". Couple of things that keep me watching: no player strikes, steroids, murderers..... The fans at the track seem to ruin it for themselves. I was at Charlotte and Kyle Petty was going to the Sprint RV. he got flocked by adults wanting autographs on dollar bills, scrap paper, you name it. Some younger kids, 8 or 9, were trying to get to Kyle and the adults just shoved em outa the way. The good side of NASCAR: I was at Dover and Harvick was signing autographs at his souvenir trailer. There was a disabled child in a wheel chair that came thru the crowd. Harvick stopped what he was doing and motioned for the adult to wheel the child to the front. Harvick talked with him for awhile and gave him some stuff. It was def. a tear jerker moment I'll never forget.
 
There is a good article in the May 2012 edition of Hot Rod Magazine about modern day NASCAR. Titled "When NASCAR Mattered", it breaks down why people could relate to it more in the past than today.
 
They need to get rid of the chase format. And let driver fueds and "trading paint" exist again.
 
NASCAR is in trouble, did you notice the stands at the Dover race today. LOTS of empty seats, looked like the typical turnout of a Busch (Nationwide) race from years past.
 
I still watch on occasion, but lost a lot of interest when they allowed Toyota to compete. :mad: Maybe I'm wrong but don't the manufacturer's nameplate have to have, in production, at least a version of the engine they run in NASCAR??? I know of no place in the Toyota family that a push rod V8 is produced. Hopefully the new body styles coming out for the 2013 season will peak some interest.
 
Top