Whats wrong with NASCAR?
A series that exploded into the mainstream during the mid-90's, is now seeing itself sloooooowww down. NASCAR's better days are now behind them.
NASCAR, for years now, has been searching to find the next "Intimidator", or "The King". It's not happening.
Different time.
Different era.
Now there is no questioning NASCAR's ability to sell itself, but attendance seems to be steadily going down. Talks of adding and taking away races have added to the average fans frustration with the sport. Yeah, we need another 500 mile race like we need 4 more years of President Bush.
NASCAR really reaped the benefits of the IRL and now defunct, CART, split in the mid-90's. That, paired with running at the Brickyard, sent NASCAR into the stratosphere.
Suddenly Chicago, Las Vegas, California, and Kansas came a calling. Left out in the cold were traditional, historic tracks and races like North Wilkesboro, Rockingham and The Southern 500 at Darlington, among others.
NASCAR was born and raised at these tracks. Not Vegas. NASCAR, with its southern roots, along with its "American" drivers, appealed to fans.
Also gone, is NASCARs ability to allow the Owner/Driver (see Ricky Rudd and Robby Gordon) to succeed. Everyone thought they could run with them good 'ol boys, until the "Superteams" like Hendrick, Roush, Childress and Gibbs came along.
The drivers weren't that different from you and me. They came up through the ranks, they weren't just handed the keys.
- B/R Ticket Guide
Now the cars, and drivers alike, all seem to be the same. Value the ones who grew up on racing, who know what its like to fight and claw your way throughout the ranks. The Jeff Gordons, Tony Stewarts, Dale Jr's, even the Robby Gordons of the world.
The cars are all built to NASCAR templates in order to make racing, of all things, "Fair". What?
They might as well go to the dealership in town for the brand that they all drive and represent, and buy the make and model car that they showcase on Sunday (at least that would boost the local economy) i.e. Impalas, Camrys, Fusions or Chargers. Take it to the track, and race it.
Hence the name "Stock Car", as in National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing.
You could tell what the make of a single car was by looking at it in the 70's and 80's. Just go watch "Stroker Ace". Now the make and model is nothing but a decal on the shaped nose piece, and the "outline" of the rear-side windows.
Over the 60 years NASCAR has existed, it has seen its share of changes as with any sport. Cars, drivers, and docations, but none more than the TV time that they now get.
It used to be that you could only find a NASCAR race on a cable channel like ESPN, CMT, or TNN, save for the Daytona 500. Sometimes you didn't know the results until the 11:00 pm Sportscenter.
Now, NASCAR has multi-billion dollar TV contracts, and it seems that we view more commercial time than we do racing. FedEx anyone? I understand they have to pay the bills, but cut out some of the commercials, you're already showcasing a product for 200 laps!
Let us watch the race.
Let us enjoy the event.
It used to be that Indianapolis 500 was the race to go to and compete.
Everyone wanted to race Indy.
Even the late Dale Earnhardt, Sr., thought about pulling the double (Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte on Memorial Day Sunday). Everyone wanted to be Al Unser, Sr. or A.J. Foyt, Rick Mears and Mario Andretti.
Indy was the measuring stick of racing.
But money took over, eliminating the little guy that could come in there and compete. Now it's big corporations.
Gone was the party and good time that was, replaced by luncheons and business suits.
Gone is racing in its purest form, replaced by templates and stickers.
NASCAR is heading in that same direction. The southern roots that helped propel NASCAR to where it is today have been replaced by Corporate America.
So if you have watched racing over the past 10 or 15 years, you have seen it at its best.
You're one of the lucky ones, because with today's formula in NASCAR, them days are gone.
Just like the little guys trying to race on Sundays.
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5 months ago
Well written
5 months ago
I thought NASCAR was all about racing and that it would not become like F1 - I am saddened!
from 5 months ago
Actually NASCAR is forcing parity on the competition so that there are 10 maybe 15 drivers that can win on any given Sunday.
NASCAR has done away with the complex Aero cars and reinvented the car to avoid the situation as it is in F1 where only 3 or 4 cars ... not drivers, cars ... have the engineering to win a race.
The car that NASCAR mandates now is more similar to the models raced in the '80's, smaller wheelbase, twitchier bodies with minimal downforce.
The drivers complain about non-passing but Brian Vickers performance at Michigan kinda negates that theory.
Personally ... they need to shut up and drive.
5 months ago
The cars that were run 8 to 2 years ago were not recognizable as production cars and , true, neither are the new cars. This areo mess started around 2000.
If there was a golden age of stock car racing it was from the early '80's to the late '90's ... when da money showed up ! You can thank Junior Johnson for that too.
Without the cash there would be no "fairness". You'd have a situation like the '70's when Richard Petty either won or broke. There were occasional hot rides back then but they could never keep up with that Chrysler cash long term. What the Wood Brothers did by building 3 to 6 cars in 5 years with nothing but scraps from Ford was a miracle but they didn't have to build a new car after every Wilkesboro / Bristol race.
The day of the driver / owner is looong gone and well it should be. The reason Richard Petty fell out of contention after 1979 was because the money was gone and he had to run Petty Enterprises, find sponsors, shake hands, keep Kyle from smokin' stuff and on and on. Same with Geoff Bodine, Brett Bodine, Robby Gordon, DW, Ricky Rudd and all of those "independents" ... too much paperwork !
Let 'em drive someone else's money, let 'em have a box to run in ... lemme see what a guy can do with what everybody else has.
Shut up and drive.
from 5 months ago
these are such apt comments, but off late drivers are seeming to whine more than race more - and it is more in F1 - I personally hate these blokes who find fault with everything.
from 5 months ago
I understand the shut up and drive concept, but the COT wasn't even suppose to be in a full time schedule until 2009. I just think that Nascar, much like old open wheel racing, is giving in.
from 5 months ago
"Giving in" to what Danial?
The answer to that is giving in to the owners who rebelled against NASCAR's lunacy of splitting a season by running two completely different cars in a single season. That idiocy did one thing, add exponentially to the cost to both large and small teams and should have never been attempted.
5 months ago
It's a shame that political comments are used to highlight a point about a sporting competition, of course it's NASCAR and everyone knows that commentators in NASCAR are all Political Science majors.
If the conclusion for NASCAR drivers is "shut up and drive", then equally a column writer should leave out their amateur political references and "shut up and write".
from 5 months ago
Where be the political commentary ? I missed it.
from 5 months ago
C'mon 'splain yourself.
from 5 months ago
What, you missed the ref to 4 more years of Bush?
from 5 months ago
Ohhh .... Yeah, I got it now, thanks Marc.
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