N A S C A R Scene Church Meeting

[Jack Harrington]

http://www.scenedaily.com/news/artic...the_sport.html

No explanation is necessary, but what's possible...-cap

[MoparsRule]

Part Two of Six: Fixing NASCAR: More personality, shorter races, bigger emphasis on winning keys to stopping ratings decline

[skypigeon]

Part Two of Six: Fixing NASCAR: More personality, shorter races, bigger emphasis on winning keys to stopping ratings decline

In other words, adapt to the times... hmmm...

[atrackforumfan]

Exactly how would increasing the importance of a win improve the quality of the racing? Is there something that teams might do to make their cars go faster that they aren't doing now?

It might make fans think that winning is more important, which is great. But at the end of a Cup race, the guy in second place would write you a check for a million dollars on the spot to pass for the lead. It's sound business. How much more important can you make it?

Increasing the importance of a win won't make any difference to the guys who've figured out they're "runnin for them valuable championship points" today. They aren't fast enough to think about winning. Maybe they'd throw a hail mary tire or fuel strategy, but they'd probably do that today if thought it wasn't crazy (see preceding paragraph).

The only other case I can think of where it might make a difference is if there's a way you can prevent a few cars from using a few races as test sessions. Good luck with that without eliminating the Chase, which would be fine with me. From a purely financial perspective, Knaus and Johnson would write a check for more test sessions. And they'll happily trade a few race wins for another championship. Probably every win, except that it would be embarrassing (note that the purse income difference wouldn't matter to them) to win a championship without winning a respectable number of races.

If you increase the point value of a race win like, say, F1, teams will be locked into the chase sooner, and will switch to test mode. They might be caught by one team, but it would be impossible for multiple cars to snag enough of the few juicy points positions to knock them all the way back to 13th.

The difference between first and second in the championship is $3m. I can't imagine a purse structure where playing safe to win the championship would cost $3m in purse money you could make by taking more risks to win races.

F1 has a points structure that is heavily biased toward winning and running in the top half of the field. It isn't famous for actual passes.

[MoparsRule]

I don't confuse passing for racing, but that's just me.

[indyracefan]

I don't confuse passing for racing, but that's just me.

I don't consider rubbing, bumping or wrecking the car in front to be a skillful pass. I also don't believe the amount of wrecking done in a NASCAR race translates to good racing or skilled driving.

[KevMcNJ]

Part Two of Six: Fixing NASCAR: More personality, shorter races, bigger emphasis on winning keys to stopping ratings decline

They blamed dropping ratings on the World Cup?

Beats listening to the fans I guess

[Jim Wilke]

Nobody seems to notice that football fans root for their teams and don't really care who's wearing the uniform. Losing the Ford vs Chevy vs Dodge angle hasn't helped. I honestly can't tell you what brand most of today's drivers are running.

[MoparsRule]

Fixing NASCAR: More interaction between drivers, fans one way to help fill seats

To me the biggest fallacy ever sold was that nascar drivers were either "accessible" or "fan friendly".

Having been to over a hundred Cup races I have no idea how that came about, based on my experience, I know it hasn't been the case from '86 till now.

Maybe it's just that they don't allow scooters in the garage?

[Jack Harrington]

They blamed dropping ratings on the World Cup?

Beats listening to the fans I guess

kev:Whaddya' mean? They draw the same audience...

[Nick Gurtz]

They need to make it more like real racing. Stop all the phony debris cautions and eliminate the start and park cars.
Cut the field to 30 cars not 43.

[KevMcNJ]

Fixing NASCAR: More interaction between drivers, fans one way to help fill seats

To me the biggest fallacy ever sold was that nascar drivers were either "accessible" or "fan friendly".

Having been to over a hundred Cup races I have no idea how that came about, based on my experience, I know it hasn't been the case from '86 till now.

Maybe it's just that they don't allow scooters in the garage?

They were at one time. We met Bobby Allison after the 600 in 1988. He was just walking down pit road. Got an autograph from Neil Bonnett @ Dover in the infield one time a few years before that. The races were over and he was just walking across the grass behind pit road. He was probably walking to his rental car or something.

I got Rudd and Morgan Sheperd to scribble in my autograph book too.

(I was curious so I grabbed my old autograph book. David Pearson signed something for me,so did Lennie Pond, junior Johnson, Gant, Earnhardt, Ron Bouchard, Lake Speed, Kyle Petty and Jimmy Means. It was do-able back then. One just had to hang around the garage gate and pit road after the races ended.)


This was when Big League auto racing was still our little secret. And it was back when the popular drivers were doing well but not pulling down $20M a year

It was easier for them to mingle when the crowds were 50K and not 150K.

Also many of them were stuck in the same traffic jam we all were stuck in after the races back then. They didnt run from the race car to a golf cart to a chopper to their private jet. They had a couple hours to kill before they were going anywhere just like the rest of us. They could hide in the garage or they could kill time by making some of their fans happy

I think it started getting out of hand in the late 80 or early 90s and Im thinking when Petty had his fan appreciaiton tour in '92 the idea of just running into your favorite driver at the track was all but over.

Cant really blame the drivers too much. They would get nothing done at the track if they wandered out into the crowds today. It would be chaos

[MoparsRule]

I think it started getting out of hand in the late 80 or early 90s and Im thinking when Petty had his fan appreciaiton tour in '92 the idea of just running into your favorite driver at the track was all but over.

Without a doubt... but it hasn't stopped them from saying that it hasn't been over for 20 years now.

[Jag-lover]

They need to make it more like real racing. Stop all the phony debris cautions and eliminate the start and park cars.
Cut the field to 30 cars not 43.

Maybe NASCAR can hire an octopus to call the race winners.

[KevMcNJ]

Maybe NASCAR can hire an octopus to call the race winners.

Well the World Cup is over. Hes free for the next 3 years