NASCAR ~ Is It Done?
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Today
I was rolling through Twitter and I saw a post by one of the funniest guys on
Twitter, and one of the very first people I followed when I joined, Drunken
Brian France. He said,
““Short
tracks, short tracks!” Everybody screams for short tracks. If y’all love ‘em so
much, how come there’s only 36,000 tickets sold for tomorrow’s Cup race @BMSupdates?
Yes, you read that right, 36,000”
And
this inspired some thought on my part, so I figured I would share my personal
views on this with all my readers, so here goes.
Back
some years ago when Brian France took over NASCAR in Sept of 2003, he had a
vision. After a few years heading up the NASCAR Entertainment Division,
he saw that the “Wine and Cheese “ crowd that followed the SCCA race cars
around had lots of money; their average yearly income was nearly double what
the average NASCAR fan’s was at that time.
So
he envisioned bringing those fans to NASCAR, which in his eyes would benefit
NASCAR because he could charge more for admission, and the people would gladly
pay it.
He
then negotiated a title sponsorship from Sprint Nextel, thus putting
more money into the pockets of NASCAR. Soon after that came the “Chase For The
Sprint Cup” putting more emphasis on the end of the season racing, giving
NASCAR a “playoff “ type feel. While he was doing this the core group of fans
who had flocked to any NASCAR race for years were suddenly hit with higher
ticket prices, and as the prices rose, the attendance fell, the “Wine and
Cheese” crowd never really took hold with NASCAR but by the time France
realized that all the little gimmicks he had worked so hard on to try and raise
the average income of the NASCAR fan had failed it was too late. The core
group of fans that had made NASCAR the huge success it had come to be were
leaving in droves. They hated the “Chase Format” they hated the “playoffs” at
the end of the season.
Thus
started the “Dog and Pony Show” that has come to be NASCAR as we know it today.
As
the attendance dropped, fans watching on TV could see it; the stands looked
empty at almost every track they went to. So to fix this NASCAR decided to
remove seats from the tracks to keep it from looking so empty, and here is
where the biggest mistake of all happened, in my humble view.
Instead
of taking the seats out, NASCAR should've offered these seats to charities;
offered them to our Vets and Service men and women. This would have killed two
birds with one stone so to speak.
It
would have showed that NASCAR had a heart, and was trying to give back to the
fans it had run off, AND it would have filled the seats! This is a win-win for
everyone.
But
then you look at the stands today at Bristol, empty, and they are charging for
parking in places that have always been free. It is little things like this
that shows to the everyday fan, as GREED! Now while it actually may not be the
case, it is perceived as greed. In order for NASCAR to survive and make a
comeback, they are going to have to appeal to the core fans to accept NASCAR
back and give the fans what they want for a change.
I
want to say that I love NASCAR. I love the racing, but it’s hard for me to
grasp 2 heats and a feature stuff they’ve got now, or the point debacle they
use. Recently I was at a dinner with lots of NASCAR greats and Travis
Tiller made a comment that truly sums it up. “NASCAR was about racing 500
miles; if you can’t go 500 miles, then GO HOME!”
The
era we live in today is vastly different from years gone by, NASCAR feels the
fans have to have constant action, and non-stop excitement. The recent
qualifying ordeal proves how wrong that is, with everyone screaming for single
car qualifying again. Drivers are scared to speak out too loud, due to the
plethora of clauses in the contract’s they have signed. So it is vastly
different from what it used to be, and while I doubt it will ever go back to
how it was, there are still many ways to make it better. But the powers that
be, don’t want to hear what the fans have to say; they are only looking at the
$$$$ … it’s sad.
So
for now, the fans who have for years planned vacations around NASCAR
events will slowly begin staying closer to home, and attending local races at
the “Grassroots” level.
These
are my personal views, as I see them.
C-ya
at the races!
The
dr.