Do we really need the All-Star race?

[Ann Dretti]

I would rather see it replaced by a real race somewhere, heck even Kentucky.

[KenK]

I thought all NASCAR races were all-star events. At least that's what the media tells us!

[Outlaw]

All Star race?? Are you talking about the Indy 500?

If so yes I think we need it.

[SamC]

The original theory of the "All-Star Race" was, and remember this is just 24 years ago:

- Be called "The Winston" and nothing else. Many TV outlets, particularly CBS would not call races by their commercial names, using their former names from the previous era and even calling the "Winston Cup" the "national championship". Since this race had no previous name, it got "Winston" mentioned on TV a lot, an end around the tobacco ad ban.

- Provide a race in the month of May. Previous era was that NASCAR shut down after Talladega until Charlotte, in deference to Indy.

- Be a short race. The TV people, particularly the broadcast networks (which were much more important in that era), were balking at carrying 4 hour races.

- Drop significant prize money. In that era, prize money was a much more important part of a team's budget.

- Add an extra event (at substantially lower ticket prices) in the NASCAR heartland.

- Re-inviogorate interest in the sport after several months of lesser events.

NONE of those presupositions apply anymore. A race at wherever (but not Kentucky, which must be driven into bankruptcy for what it has done) would be better.

[cbreez99]

The "All Star Race" at Charlotte should go by the wayside like IROC (they are like IROC cars anyway)...it has outlived any entertainment purpose...plus starting after 9PM, I feel sorry for those poor souls attending the event, dealing with charged up race traffic afterwards, etc. This is the 2nd year in a row, my TV went off before it ended.

[midtown]

The "All Star Race" at Charlotte should go by the wayside like IROC (they are like IROC cars anyway)...it has outlived any entertainment purpose...plus starting after 9PM, I feel sorry for those poor souls attending the event, dealing with charged up race traffic afterwards, etc. This is the 2nd year in a row, my TV went off before it ended.

I agree, there's no need for a NASCAR All-Star Race if everyone of these guys is in the other 36 events a year, but I wouldn't call the cars "IROC". The teams build their own, often pushing the envelope of the rules book to see what they can get away with. Actually, it would make more sense if these were IROC cars, then you'd see how the drivers perform when all of the cars are the same.

[WheelerDealer]

Apparently Speed Network thinks so. That's about all they talked about for a week.

[MarkDonohueFan]

It was similar to the MLB All Star game or the Pro Bowl...it was boring.

Charlotte is still running ads touting that they have tens of thousands of seats all under at what you would spend for a tank of gas or less - $70 or less.

With the hue and cry to cut Indy down to one less week, Humpy should be thinking about cutting Charlotte down to a Wednesday to Saturday night event and get back to basics. There was a lot of aluminum exposed last year on Memorial Day Sunday at Charlotte and I am expecting the same this year.

Combine that with the weaker than expected ROI the networks are getting for the investment in commercials and tying themselves to the product, Charlotte may be representative of a greater problem for NASCAR. They are proving that nothing, not even the behemoth, is immune from economic reality.

Run Charlotte on Saturday night and brag on the fact that 5 of your starters will be in the Greatest Spectacle in racing tomorrow. I would even watch the dreck then. But Sunday night? I am picnicking with family and talking about Indy.

Sunday is a 6.0 for NASCAR. Saturday night would be an 8.0. Humpy, are you listening?

[Brantoc]

Answer : No.

[Doctorindy]

What bothers me so much is that they change it too much. It's so contrived

I mean, look at all the different formats...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASCAR_Sprint_All-Star_Race

It really is a bit unsettling about how they really want the racing to be. Segments, required pit stops, inverting, competition red flags, green flag laps only. Thank goodness they haven't started adding this sort of stuff to the regular race (or is it just a matter of time?)

[mdkiel]

Apparently Speed Network thinks so. That's about all they talked about for a week.

Actually, they started hyping it 365 days before the event. Talk about taking a good strategy to the extreme.

[Jimmy Hendricks]

Yes, that All-Star race needs to go.

I mean, who enjoys making money anyway? And, that event makes A TON of cash, for most involved.

[AdamM]

Hard to see what's wrong with the event? Humpy has fun with it. The crews and drivers seem like it. The fans like it. The winner gets a million dollars.

[Brickyard500]

NASCAR should dump the getting more and more useless by the year All-Snore Race, replace it with a points paying race (A road course race?) & reconfigure the Budweiser Shootout into a real all-star race (The Shootout/Clash was around long before the ASR anyways)

[lkchris]

I would rather see it replaced by a real race somewhere, heck even Kentucky.

This is the business forum.

Samples of one don't carry much weight in business.