NASCAR is dying

[HooverOutlaw]

Today at Talledega 68,000 per NASCAR on sirius. ThatsThats down 112,000 from just a decade ago.

[954gator]

9 minutes ago, HooverOutlaw said:

Today at Talledega 68,000 per NASCAR on sirius. ThatsThats down 112,000 from just a decade ago.

Honestly, Nascar should have died out a long time ago.   How group C died out and Nascar lived is beyond me.  

[HooverOutlaw]

No real stars any more.

[ECHS05]

The moment Jeff Gordon retired, Nascar had no chance of recovery. 

[ECHS05]

31 minutes ago, HooverOutlaw said:

No real stars any more.

Chase Elliott!

A Georgia boy.

[954gator]

It's boring.  People were more excited with the reality TV-like drama after the race than the race itself.  

 

[AztecPadre]

I have never watched a full race in my life. I don't get it.

[Bormio]

It left its roots.  Whether it would have survived anyways is an open question, but people in the South have moved on in large part.  When it left all the small tracks in the South, people down here slowly drifted away.  It went for the big money and forgot who its real fans were.

[94Packer]

It was more fun before it became so P.C. I remember sitting on the back stretch at Talladega ... in the old wooden bleachers several years ago and listening to Dale Earnhardt cuss his pit crew for all they were worth on my scanner and watching a fist fight in the stands  down below me at the same time.... Oh yeah the race was amazing too. They did have restrictor plates but the teams still had a lot of room to play with the cars.  There were plenty of adult beverages being drank, and even though Winston was giving out free cigarettes by the bag full a lot of people opted for their own hand rolled funny smelling cigarettes.... They were so proud of their hand rolled smokes they would pass them down the isles for all to enjoy ?

[dan in daytona]

Saw my first race as a 9yr old on July 4,1964 ( Firecracker 400 ). It was a natural thing for a little Daytona born white boy to be a stock car fan. Ford/Mercury vs. Plymouth/Dodge, big engines, loud race cars and Miss Hurst Shifter in her bathing suit....  If I'd been born in Canada hockey would have been my game. In New York, baseball would have been it.  In Texas it had to be football and the Dallas Cowboys. Cally, San Fran area born, an acid dropping, weed burning, young one looking for free love, F*** sports. New Jersey born, probably a deli owner, running numbers, looking for some night action ($$$) off the books.... The joke around here has always been the rules and regulations of Nascar are written in sand. Here one minute, gone an changed in the next. No two drivers are ever treated the same. Many locals were priced out of tickets decades ago. A Daytona 500 high row Tower seat, that had been re-up'd year after year by Daytona working guys, now could only be had with a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday PACKAGE DEAL. No one day prime seat deals even if you had tickets for that same seat for twenty straight years. ( Not sure if that's still the case today ). Don't even want to get into the Caution flag throwing fiascos. This track money maker ( beer, hotdogs ) bunches the field and drags the race out for h-o-u-r-s. The man made contrived competition is a joke. Been there many an afternoon and the yellow flag comes out with no visable or explained reason. We looked at our half stoned friends in wonder, until someone would blurt out " Bill France ( the founder of Nascar ) threw a bologna wrapper on the track."  He needed the caution to sellout the concession stands. To my grave I'll believe this to be a fact. Some weekends I'll tune in for a few minutes, but not for long. The amount of commercials are criminal and there's always a caution coming up soon in turn four....Boring       

[dan in daytona]

3 hours ago, 94Packer said:

It was more fun before it became so P.C. I remember sitting on the back stretch at Talladega ... in the old wooden bleachers several years ago and listening to Dale Earnhardt cuss his pit crew for all they were worth on my scanner and watching a fist fight in the stands  down below me at the same time.... Oh yeah the race was amazing too. They did have restrictor plates but the teams still had a lot of room to play with the cars.  There were plenty of adult beverages being drank, and even though Winston was giving out free cigarettes by the bag full a lot of people opted for their own hand rolled funny smelling cigarettes.... They were so proud of their hand rolled smokes they would pass them down the isles for all to enjoy ?

Drove up to Talledega in 1981 with my best friend in a 4cyl, 4 speed manual Chevy Chevette. No A.C, no spare tire. Talked about it Saturday morning, no planning, filled car up with gas, and hit the road. We by passed Atlanta. Got to the track late in the afternoon. It was in the middle of NOTHING!!!  Didn't see a motel, restaurant, or gas station. Birmingham,Alabama was an hour away so that's where we headed. Saturday night was pretty dead until we stumbled across an old part of Birmingham. Red brick warehouses had been turned into a party district. We got wasted. Went back to the track Sunday morning. Saw the northerner Ron Bouchard nip Darrell Waltrip at the line for his one and only NASCAR race win. Filled up the car and drove straight back to Daytona. Oh, to be young again.....and foolish    

[HawgGoneIt]

I was at Talladega all weekend, and I agree, it is not what it once was. I was last at Talladega 20 years ago, and there was a difference in crowd size compared to now, but the excitement still seemed much the same. Quite the spectacle outside of the track on Saturday for sure. 

Having said that, the sport, like many others, has become far far too commercialized. 20 years ago when I went, every driver had their own souvenir trailers, where they would sometimes appear and do surprise autograph sessions or regular scheduled ones etc., now, one company has full rights to sell nascar/driver merchandise etc. If you want contact with drivers, you have to pay through the nose for the opportunity, aside from an occasional free opportunity. 

The revolving door sponsorship for the headline series is also an issue, although NASCAR does a pretty good job making the changes fairly seamless.

I had great access this weekend, infield hospitality parking, VIP access, garage, pits, driver q&a, driver red carpet, driver introductions, catered meals, all the craft beer that I could drink (Back Forty Brewery- Paw Paw's Peach was great). Sat in the Back Forty Paddock Club right behind the pits and directly across from the restart zone for both races. Very enjoyable weekend. Will post some pics later maybe. 

 

Anyway, it's not what it once was, but I assure you, it's alive and well. They definitely have some work to do if they ever want to get back to their hay days though. 

[181pl]

It's just an adjustment. It's stock car racing. Can be exciting but I don't think it was ever meant to be part of the main stream fabric in the sports pantheon. At one point about 12 years ago, NASCAR was right up there with the NBA and MLB in terms of popularity. Now it's way down the list.

[AztecPadre]

5 hours ago, HawgGoneIt said:

I was at Talladega all weekend, and I agree, it is not what it once was. I was last at Talladega 20 years ago, and there was a difference in crowd size compared to now, but the excitement still seemed much the same. Quite the spectacle outside of the track on Saturday for sure. 

Having said that, the sport, like many others, has become far far too commercialized. 20 years ago when I went, every driver had their own souvenir trailers, where they would sometimes appear and do surprise autograph sessions or regular scheduled ones etc., now, one company has full rights to sell nascar/driver merchandise etc. If you want contact with drivers, you have to pay through the nose for the opportunity, aside from an occasional free opportunity. 

The revolving door sponsorship for the headline series is also an issue, although NASCAR does a pretty good job making the changes fairly seamless.

I had great access this weekend, infield hospitality parking, VIP access, garage, pits, driver q&a, driver red carpet, driver introductions, catered meals, all the craft beer that I could drink (Back Forty Brewery- Paw Paw's Peach was great). Sat in the Back Forty Paddock Club right behind the pits and directly across from the restart zone for both races. Very enjoyable weekend. Will post some pics later maybe. 

 

Anyway, it's not what it once was, but I assure you, it's alive and well. They definitely have some work to do if they ever want to get back to their hay days though. 

Sounds to me like an experience everyone should do.  

[HawgGoneIt]

On 5/8/2017 at 1:22 PM, AztecPadre said:

Sounds to me like an experience everyone should do.  

Bro... You don't know? You better axe sombody! 

 

Me and some of Chase Elliot's entourage... The Hooter's Girls. Snapped those right before Chase and Dale's private Q&A session at the Nationwide Insurance hospitality area. 

 

 

[AztecPadre]

1 hour ago, HawgGoneIt said:

Bro... You don't know? You better axe sombody! 

 

Me and some of Chase Elliot's entourage... The Hooter's Girls. Snapped those right before Chase and Dale's private Q&A session at the Nationwide Insurance hospitality area. 

 

 

Oh I know hotties go to races. I use to date a chick that was a promo girl here at Laguna Seca Safeway. I been to lots of races there. Just not nascar. 

[Cossacks]

1 hour ago, HawgGoneIt said:

Bro... You don't know? You better axe sombody! 

 

Me and some of Chase Elliot's entourage... The Hooter's Girls. Snapped those right before Chase and Dale's private Q&A session at the Nationwide Insurance hospitality area. 

Gotta admit, you're taller than I pictured and I didn't know you were Jewish.

[HawgGoneIt]

19 minutes ago, Cossacks said:

Gotta admit, you're taller than I pictured and I didn't know you were Jewish.

 

Drank a few Back Forty Brewery beers with this guy I met who was from Santa Rosa California. The hospitality area we were in was branded by the brewery, so it drew in some craft beer fans from all over the country. Chilled with a couple from Alaska, a couple from Montana, the couple from Santa Rosa, Cali, and ended up making pretty good friends with a couple from Austin, Texas. 

 

 

 

[Cossacks]

3 minutes ago, HawgGoneIt said:

 

Drank a few Back Forty Brewery beers with this guy I met who was from Santa Rosa California. The hospitality area we were in was branded by the brewery, so it drew in some craft beer fans from all over the country. Chilled with a couple from Alaska, a couple from Montana, the couple from Santa Rosa, Cali, and ended up making pretty good friends with a couple from Austin, Texas. 

 

 

 

My city of Rosa was in the house. Small world!!

[Cossacks]

45 minutes ago, AztecPadre said:

Oh I know hotties go to races. I use to date a chick that was a promo girl here at Laguna Seca Safeway. I been to lots of races there. Just not nascar. 

I've worked the Infenion NASCAR races a few times, it's better in person, but just not something I've gone to on my own time.

Ive spent some time with the promo girls the days before the races. Yeah it's usually a set of nice tits in a low cut outfit, but after about 5 minutes...well it's a good 5 minutes.

[HawgGoneIt]

NASCAR has drifted away from what made it so popular. They are pricing folks out of the seats for one thing. Forcing people to buy multiple days packages to get certain seats etc. They've taken away the driver's merchandising trailers and replaced them with one big set up of tents and taken the personality out of the shopping experience by doing so. The drivers are less approachable than ever for the average ticket holder. It's pretty difficult to get near them even with garage and pit passes. If you don't get hot passes(not generally for sale but provided for sponsors and family of drivers and teams) you aren't super likely to get close enough for autographs etc. 

Then, the rules changes through the last few years and all of the experimenting trying to figure out how to make it more exciting for t.v. audiences that are happening don't help. 

To me they need to get back to doing what worked for them before, but the t.v. money is what they are after now, so in the meantime they are killing what it used to be in exchange for the big contracts for t.v.

Too many cookie cutter mile and a half tracks on the circuit now. They replaced some pretty good racing at Rockingham and dropped one Darlington race in order to go to some mile and half tracks in Chicago and Kansas. I get it though, they are trying to expand their base to include fans from those states by making it easier to access live racing for them, but the races on those tracks are snoozers at best. 

Maybe it will work in the long run, idk. 

[LeftOnBase]

6 hours ago, HawgGoneIt said:

NASCAR has drifted away from what made it so popular. They are pricing folks out of the seats for one thing. Forcing people to buy multiple days packages to get certain seats etc. They've taken away the driver's merchandising trailers and replaced them with one big set up of tents and taken the personality out of the shopping experience by doing so. The drivers are less approachable than ever for the average ticket holder. It's pretty difficult to get near them even with garage and pit passes. If you don't get hot passes(not generally for sale but provided for sponsors and family of drivers and teams) you aren't super likely to get close enough for autographs etc. 

Then, the rules changes through the last few years and all of the experimenting trying to figure out how to make it more exciting for t.v. audiences that are happening don't help. 

To me they need to get back to doing what worked for them before, but the t.v. money is what they are after now, so in the meantime they are killing what it used to be in exchange for the big contracts for t.v.

Too many cookie cutter mile and a half tracks on the circuit now. They replaced some pretty good racing at Rockingham and dropped one Darlington race in order to go to some mile and half tracks in Chicago and Kansas. I get it though, they are trying to expand their base to include fans from those states by making it easier to access live racing for them, but the races on those tracks are snoozers at best. 

Maybe it will work in the long run, idk. 

Talking about pricing.... My son and I went a couple of years ago to Talladega, and the O.V. Hill South Tower tickets were around $200 a piece. There were some more expensive. But I do recommend the "tower" seating. The 16 degree banking in the tri-oval makes it to where the people sitting down low can't see the cars coming by in front of them. Those are the cheaper seats.

[HawgGoneIt]

24 minutes ago, LeftOnBase said:

Talking about pricing.... My son and I went a couple of years ago to Talladega, and the O.V. Hill South Tower tickets were around $200 a piece. There were some more expensive. But I do recommend the "tower" seating. The 16 degree banking in the tri-oval makes it to where the people sitting down low can't see the cars coming by in front of them. Those are the cheaper seats.

 

I agree. I decided this time that I was going to go more for the over all experience than the race itself, so I purchased the Paddock Club infield seating. As far as live view of the track... I had just off of turn four through the tri-oval, including the restart zone. The start finish line was just out of view from my seat (covered seating btw) but I could freely walk up and down about a hundred yard area that covered the entire tri-oval including the finish line. There were several flat screen t.v.s in the seating area and the huge ISM Vision t.v. was just to my right which added to the experience for sure. The pit road entrance to the garage and winner's circle was right beside me and the Winner's Circle was 20 yards to my right from my seat as well.

 

This was right in front of me to the point that I was fist bumping the crew after stops... 

 

 

View of victory lane after the Xfinity race on Saturday

 

[HawgGoneIt]

I was gonna buy seating at the party deck on top of the tower adjacent to the spotters for around 285, but, the amenities that came with the infield hospitality were second to none. You could buy a similar vip experience to go along with a regular seat for 300 dollars for Sunday only though.