NASCAR Layoffs

[raaizin]

Kids today are not interested in cars today. Add in hybrid and electric vehicles and what Nascar sells has no bearing on young adults today. I went to a NHRA event a few years ago and I would say 75% of those in attendance were older than me and I am 57. As the baby boom generation dies off so will racing. Same thing happened to horse racing, a dying business. I wouldnt be suprised if they allowed gambling on NASCAR racing to make some extra cash

 

[bdcardinal]

Originally Posted by raaizin
Kids today are not interested in cars today. Add in hybrid and electric vehicles and what Nascar sells has no bearing on young adults today. I went to a NHRA event a few years ago and I would say 75% of those in attendance were older than me and I am 57. As the baby boom generation dies off so will racing. Same thing happened to horse racing, a dying business. I wouldnt be suprised if they allowed gambling on NASCAR racing to make some extra cash


Gambling was legalized last year. The Dover fall race was the first race to have gambling on side thanks to the Dover Downs casino being at the track.

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted by BMWTurboDzl
Originally Posted by JLTD
That's what happens when you make too many rules, everyone is required to be exactly the same, no one actually races and the "standings" are corruptly manipulated.


Isn't all of racing like that? You want to see a turbine powered car or something?

There are racing series that are not spec series. That's the problem with spec series. How can one get interested in a Ford versus Chevy NASCAR rivalry when first off, there's nothing resembling anything on the track available in a showroom, and secondly, it's almost spec racing. Formula 3 is spec racing, but no one even tries to maintain the illusion that there's any rivalry between engine or chassis manufacturers, simply because there isn't.

At least with GT3 racing and the like, it's something you can actually buy and drive. BOP issues in GT racing might be problematic, but at least the Porsche you see on the Ring is a real car, not a chassis with fibreglass panels to make it resemble a Lumina or a Camry, which cannot realistically impress anyone on the planet.

 

[Bonz]

Originally Posted by Mr Nice
NASCAR died when # 3 was tragically killed.

Its now so boring people stay home and watch Kim K and her sisters on TV instead of watching cars going around an oval.





Huge loss for sure, not sure it died then, but Jeff Gordon and Dale JR retiring a year apart sunk it.

Agree, as someone else said, road courses are gonna help with some interest. NASCAR actually has interesting road courses, F1 and Indy are boring as crap on road courses, and believe it or not, Indy cars should run MORE ovals, they make a good show there.

I get zero interest in NASCAR now. I was a rabid fan from the day I was a 10 year old kid and Richard Petty won the 500 on the fuel only stop. Then this kid Jeff Gordon ran his first race on Richard Petty's last race. Got 25-ish years out of me until Gordon retired. Sure, I payed attention for the time Gordon was subbing for Jr during the concussion season. Then it was Jr only and now he's retired.

Sooner rather than later, tracks are gonna have tumbleweeds blowing round and round, not cars.

 

[bbhero]

Great post garak...

I've said this before on here... That's why Street Outlaws kind of works in a way... Many of those cars are real cars... Not spec cars... Yeah the motors certainly are not stock... Weight taken out by seat removal and other things.... And no radiator either... But when Megolodon aka 69 Camaro won the $200,000 Bristol race... It was a real car. No stupid rules every which way... Street Outlaws has a chance to be real viable. No prep racing and real cars... I think that has some potential to work. Plus the guys and ladies out there doing it... Seem like real everyday people. Which is helpful. U like NASCAR which has devolved into Rich kids parents paying their kids way into NASCAR. Like Richard Childress boys... Or Paul Menard...

 

[Garak]

There certainly is a place for spec racing. I can't argue against it completely or call it useless. But, proper spec racing is a focus on the drivers and not so called manufacturers or constructors. Look at it this way. Really, Chevy and Ford and so forth aren't accomplishing much of anything, beyond marketing, in NASCAR. They're not participating, per se. They're gaining some marketing. They're not gaining any of the technical benefits you can get from innovative racing.

You look at a company like Williams in F1 and they've gotten so much technical skill and low volume manufacturing ability that trickles into the automotive industry, not to mention other high tech applications, particularly in the UK. They even made all the batteries for Formula E for the first seasons of that series, which, as much as I hate to admit it, has actually attracted a lot of OEM interest. Williams is now considered a low budget team, and that's with a budget over twenty times what a NASCAR team has.

GT3 seems to have become what NASCAR was, albeit mostly in Europe. They are closer to "stock cars" by the definition. To be a GT3 car, it has to be available at a dealership, provided one has the money to purchase the thing; after all, they aren't Impalas or Ford Five Hundreds. They are 911s and so forth. But, they're real cars.

Someone once said here that no one would pay to watch things like a Camry or a Ford Five Hundred race. I agree with that. So, the OEMs involved shouldn't pretend that's what's happening. At least in Europe, if you're racing a Golf on the Ring, you're racing a Golf on the ring, not a creation superficially resembling a Golf.

I'm not saying NASCAR should spend itself to death. To the contrary, they should not. However, it's hard to root for a Chevy chassis or engine when that's only a fiction.

As for pay drivers, I'm not sure what the answer is, aside from people continuing to be hobbyists. Just about every form of racing for years has relied on pay drivers of one sort or another.

 

[CT8]

Originally Posted by bbhero
Great post garak...

I've said this before on here... That's why Street Outlaws kind of works in a way... Many of those cars are real cars... Not spec cars... Yeah the motors certainly are not stock... Weight taken out by seat removal and other things.... And no radiator either... But when Megolodon aka 69 Camaro won the $200,000 Bristol race... It was a real car. No stupid rules every which way... Street Outlaws has a chance to be real viable. No prep racing and real cars... I think that has some potential to work. Plus the guys and ladies out there doing it... Seem like real everyday people. Which is helpful. U like NASCAR which has devolved into Rich kids parents paying their kids way into NASCAR. Like Richard Childress boys... Or Paul Menard...

A thought How would real cars handle and provide the protection the present top of the line NASCAR chassis provide. I used to love the Trans Am racing with the Camaros .Firebirds. Mustangs, Chryslers and AMC vehicles. Racing is not a poor persons activity. I'll hit a few local races of any kind every couple of years and they are wonderful .

 

[Garak]

They won't handle well and they won't provide the protection a NASCAR chassis will. That's why you don't choose Luminas and Camrys and Five Hundreds as race cars. Chevy, Ford, et al don't produce GT3 versions of their family wagons. Then again, neither does MB or BMW or Audi. They don't run an A6 wagon or a big S class four door at the Ring or LeMans for a reason. The reason is the same that a Camry or an Impala shouldn't be in NASCAR.

NASCAR has simply become a contrived series that holds no bearing on the real world. The only ones that are worse in that regard are F2, F3, and the like, but those are supposed to be contrived and are feeder series. There is none of this fiction about OEM involvement and innovation. I didn't like the idea of FCA pulling out of NASCAR, but it's pretty obvious why they did it. Someone at Chrysler realized a Dodge Caravan stock car could actually work, and then the epiphany of "why are we here" finally dawned.

Running spec chassis with spec engines with fake body panels and calling them "stock cars," a flat out lie, just has lost its appeal. It's not like many years ago. Is there anything GM, Ford, or Toyota could realistically do that would give them an absolute slam dunk advantage next year, to make fans say, hey, these guys did something right and sure got the jump on the competition, or, boy, Fords/Toyotas/GMs are fast?

 

[bbhero]

I'd bet those Street Outlaws cars are just fine CT8....

I have seen several big-time wrecks on the show... And the guys were all right...

And let's be real honest here... When you or I am in more danger driving to and from the track than the people driving around a track... It loses it edge. No one wants to talk about this aspect.

But it is true.... I am not against safer barriers, foam in the doors or the HANS device... I am very glad those safety aspects are in place. In fact one could make the case we should have foam in our doors in our cars too

Plus how about safer barriers around bridge pillars on a interstate??

Those are great to have in place. And not just inside of say Daytona...

But we also have the need has fans to feel like what someone else is doing is dangerous or exceptionally difficult and dangerous... No one watches UFC for safety... By the way I don't watch UFC... Driving a real race car at say 200+ mph is inherently dangerous. But we have sanitized it to the point to where it really does not hit that nerve within in all of us... And let's be clear... The NFL is headed towards a similar path as NASCAR if they aren't careful... I highly doubt people will watch the game if it turns into two hand touch...

 

[billt460]

NASCAR has failed in every aspect imaginable. And they managed to do it quickly. They changed the cars into something that didn't represent anything in the real world. And into what no one wanted. They abandoned their Southern core fan base who basically built that sport, along with racing on tracks where the sport originated, and had deep history and meaning to those same diligent fans. In favor of tracks and places where it, and they didn't.

And while their, "new breed" of young drivers can drive. They all lack the charisma, personality, swagger, and ability to draw fans like the last generation of the same did. They look and act like a bunch of video game playing, basement dwelling, millionaire kids. Who come out on Sunday to get some Sun and make some noise. They lack most everything that made the older NASCAR drivers so appealing to fans and the sport. Can you really compare the Earnhardt's, Waltrip's, or Allison's, to Austin Dillon and Erik Jones? If you watch the driver introductions, many of them find it laborious to even smile and wave to the fans.

And if that wasn't enough, they changed the rules into something that most fans hate. It's become nothing but a playbook of how to make something too boring to watch, and too difficult to understand. Then they exchanged the older, proven management team, who knew what they were doing, along with how to properly manage and invest money. In favor of 3rd generation, silver spoon fed family members, who don't have a clue of how to do either. It's become so bad you could almost use it at a college or university as a business model of what NOT to do.

 

[Wizz]

Originally Posted by JLTD
That's what happens when you make too many rules, everyone is required to be exactly the same, no one actually races and the "standings" are corruptly manipulated.

This. Caution flags are a joke in NASCAR. They throw them as soon as a big sponsored car is about to get lapped, even the announcers say, "it's about time for a caution." And when big name drivers failed to make the Chase they would simply change the rules. NASCAR is not true racing.