NASCAR screwed up again!

[skunked_again]

The last straw for me was when they quit racing stock cars and went to this IROC-inspired car of tomorrow.

BINGO.

i say square them front fenders, decrease down force, and put some skill back into the driver.

too many ppl are hung up on pure speed when racing is much more exciting.

[detroit1]

Excellent point Rhino with the having to qualify to make the race. I quit being a fan when i couldn't identify the car make from a side veiw. I still watch some of most races, but could care less how the points are distributed, or who wins the championship. I guess i don't know enough of the sport to question you as to exactly how Nascar slapped you in the face and abandoned those who built the sport. (?)

[bass or bass ?]

NASCAR is desperately trying anything and everything they can to reverse their dropping ratings and to fill the stands.

................

They lose me when they show the races on cable only. Havent had cable for 14 years. Put races back on network over the air.

X2

[Root beer]

NASCAR is dumb. End of discussion. They should have stuck to running from the law with moonshine in their car. Actually they can't do that in some state since moonshine becoming legal. It still dumb! I rather watch soccer than bunch of cars riding in circle.

[B-Dozer]

NASCAR is dumb. End of discussion. They should have stuck to running from the law with moonshine in their car. Actually they can't do that in some state since moonshine becoming legal. It still dumb! I rather watch soccer than bunch of cars riding in circle.

That's why man created the remote. If you don't like something change the channel. Unless you watch something just to complain about it :-?

[Root beer]

There are people on this forum that complains about soccer and other sports, so why can't I add a complaint?

[BassThumb]

-An Outsiders Take on the Situation.

I watch the last hour of the Daytona 500 almost very year, although I pretty much hate NASCAR. I came from a family that loved racing and I grew up watching stock cars and sprints on dirt tracks, and we went to the races every other weekend when I was a kid and sat close enough to get sprayed with dirt and mud from time to time. I've lost interest in racing, but not other sports.

I can tell you from a avid sports fan's perspective that one of the main reasons NASCAR has lost is viewership because they don't have any exciting long-standing rivalries. NASCAR would benefit from a consistent Hero/Villain rivalry to spark interest. Take the New York Yankees, the Villain, The Evil Empire, and how they make ratings skyrocket whenever they get into the playoffs. It's not because people love them, it's because they hate them for their success and want to watch them get beat. Enter the Red Sox, the Hero...

Either way, love em or hate em, people love to watch the Hero and Villain go at it, but both have to be legitimate contenders in order to carry any weight. Who's on top for NASCAR but a teddy bear, the lovable and charming Jimmy Johnson, the Hero, who quietly kicks everybody's *** and basically appears to have a chokehold on the competition. Where's the Villain? Dale Earnhardt could be it, if he were actually relevant on the racetrack anymore. Kurt Busch maybe, if he weren't such a punk. It appears to me that NASCAR has made efforts to encourage rivalries in the recent past by telling drivers and crews to cut loose on each other to express their dislikes for one another, but a few shoving matches, verbal jabs, or middle finger salutes isn't gonna cut it. We need suspense!

People love a good story. NASCAR was once full of good stories, and they thrived because of it.

[preach4bass]

Well said Thumb.

[cart7t]

Again??

They sold out the original fanbase at the expense of growth.  Those new fans grew bored and moved on.  Meanwhile the old, core fanbase are now disenfrachised with all the changes the series went through in order to gain all those here today-gone tomorrow fans.  They've tuned out.

Cost to the fans.  A typical race ticket cost around $100 a seat.  Local hotels jack their rates on race weekends.  Nascar has found the spending limits of their fans.

For a racing series that originated in the south and has its majority of fans from that area, it has surprisingly few drivers on the track each week from that part of the country.

The season is w-a-y too long as are the races.  500 times around Bristol twice a year???  Gimme a break.  Races lasting 3 to 4 + hours are way longer than the attention spans of the majority of casual fans that might want to watch a Nascar race.  It's even taxing on race fans who are interested.

Too many cookie cutter race tracks that look alike.  All added at the expense of dropped races at places like Rockingham and the 2nd race at Darlington among others.

National Association of Stock Car Racing.  Stock cars my butt.  Remember the Plymouth Daytona Superbirds or the Ford Talledega's?  You could go to the showroom floor and buy a car that was very, very close to what was actually on the racetrack.  Win on Sunday, sell on Monday used to mean something.  Alas, only in sportscar racing does that have any relevance anymore.

Your season champion the past few years is about as exciting and colorful as a bucket of primer gray paint.  With the big money involved in the sport anymore, the racers are more about being corporate pitch men than they are live on the edge race car drivers.  Even Tony Stewart has managed to clean up his act.

Green-white-checkers, the Lucky dog, rule changes in the middle of races,  etc. etc.   They've long since become a sport that isn't a true sport at all and is in fact,  nothing more than a show where the outcome can be arbitrarily decided by the powers to be. 

NASCAR isn't the only racing series having problems.  F1 has had it's own problems,  Indy car racing is sliding into oblivion and sportscar racing has always had issues.  In the case of Nascar though,  most of the problems were created from within and driven by greed. 

[preach4bass]

Again??

They sold out the original fanbase at the expense of growth. Those new fans grew bored and moved on. Meanwhile the old, core fanbase are now disenfrachised with all the changes the series went through in order to gain all those here today-gone tomorrow fans. They've tuned out.

Cost to the fans. A typical race ticket cost around $100 a seat. Local hotels jack their rates on race weekends. Nascar has found the spending limits of their fans.

For a racing series that originated in the south and has its majority of fans from that area, it has surprisingly few drivers on the track each week from that part of the country.

The season is w-a-y too long as are the races. 500 times around Bristol twice a year??? Gimme a break. Races lasting 3 to 4 + hours are way longer than the attention spans of the majority of casual fans that might want to watch a Nascar race. It's even taxing on race fans who are interested.

Too many cookie cutter race tracks that look alike. All added at the expense of dropped races at places like Rockingham and the 2nd race at Darlington among others.

National Association of Stock Car Racing. Stock cars my butt. Remember the Plymouth Daytona Superbirds or the Ford Talledega's? You could go to the showroom floor and buy a car that was very, very close to what was actually on the racetrack. Win on Sunday, sell on Monday used to mean something. Alas, only in sportscar racing does that have any relevance anymore.

Your season champion the past few years is about as exciting and colorful as a bucket of primer gray paint. With the big money involved in the sport anymore, the racers are more about being corporate pitch men than they are live on the edge race car drivers. Even Tony Stewart has managed to clean up his act.

Green-white-checkers, the Lucky dog, rule changes in the middle of races, etc. etc. They've long since become a sport that isn't a true sport at all and is in fact, nothing more than a show where the outcome can be arbitrarily decided by the powers to be.

NASCAR isn't the only racing series having problems. F1 has had it's own problems, Indy car racing is sliding into oblivion and sportscar racing has always had issues. In the case of Nascar though, most of the problems were created from within and driven by greed.

There's no why the highlighted statement is true.  If it were, Jr. would win every other race.  I agree with a lot of what you said, but the outcome of the races is obviously not determined by the powers to be.

[Lund Explorer]

Sorry Preach4bass, but I fully agree with Cart7t on his statement.  When the announcers all start talking about "where's the hotdog wrapper" that causes yellow flags near the end of so many races, it has to make you wonder why.

IMHO, the why is that you can't see restart mayhem without a restart.  And mayhem sells.

There are a whole lot of other things about modern NASCAR that needs to be tossed out.  The first thing that needs to go is the COT, quickly followed by restricter plates.  Then they can breakup these garages that have three or four drivers where one runs to win and the others are simply blocking.  Nothing against the man as he was a legend, but Dale Sr. wasn't driving to win in the last race he was ever in.  Finally, they could prune almost everything else, from the number of races, to laps, and then the number of cars on the track. 

[preach4bass]

Lund, I agree that they intentionally cause drama at the end of the races, but they aren't determining the outcome (who wins the race).  If they were determining the winner, Jr. would win every once in a while.

[Lund Explorer]

Well, Jr. got his Daytona win, so after that I think he was on his own.

The powers that be may not pick who is going to win, but many times, they have kept someone who derserved to win from actually winning.  Pretty sad to see a car running away from the field near the end of a race, only to be pulled back into the pack from a phantom caution.  That was my issue. 

[preach4bass]

Well, Jr. got his Daytona win, so after that I think he was on his own.

The powers that be may not pick who is going to win, but many times, they have kept someone who derserved to win from actually winning. Pretty sad to see a car running away from the field near the end of a race, only to be pulled back into the pack from a phantom caution. That was my issue.

Yep, I think even the casual fan sees this, and is aggravated by it.

[5bass]

NASCAR started rolling downhill when I quit drinking and stopped attending races. Haven't missed it and haven't looked back.

[GLADES]

NASCAR is desperately trying anything and everything they can to reverse their dropping ratings and to fill the stands.

NASCAR shot themselves in the foot when they abandoned their long time, die hard fans to woo the wine, cheese, and croissant crowd.

The found out those they wanted were fickle, and chased fads. They offended those who brought them to the dance. slapped them in the face, in effect telling them, we don't want you and your damned rebel flags.

You don't do that to people without consequences.

The point system won't change a thing. It's a distinction without a difference.

Wanna make it interesting? Make every car qualify to make the race, like they do in the NHRA. None of this, the top 35 in points make the race regardless. Make qualifying mean something. That will put folks in the stands for qualifying.

If the points leader just has to start the final race to win the championship, they might as well hand it to him. He's automatically in the race. But if he actually has to race his way in................

Rhino is exactly right. NASCAR had a good thing going and they got greedy and blew it up.

I might add, I used to watch NASCAR religiously. Once they started reducing the size of the engines, and allowing the non-American brands such as Toyotas and such in the races, that killed it for me. To keep the cars on the ground, they should have limited the final gear ratios. I love the sound of big V8's winding out wide open without restrictor plates! That would again put the emphasis on great engine building and fuel use strategy. The cars would have better acceleration and not just circle the track like billboards. The advertising on the cars has gotten out of hand too. The color schemes are not traditional.

I grew up watching the races on TV in the 70's, and watched the Daytona from the grandstands in the 80's. NASCAR was just awesome in those days.

[B-Dozer]

Instead of qualifying, and the top 35 thingy, do what we do in dirt racing. Advance through heat races. Tony Stewart suggested the same thing. Far more interesting and won't take longer than single car qualifying. Race to get in, or go home.

[BrianinMD]

GLADES, what constitutes a "non-american" car?

[GLADES]

GM, Ford, or Dodge/Chrysler are American Brands. I said brand, not car.

All of the others, Toyota, Nissan, Subaru, Mitsubishi, and what have you are not American brands and should not be running in the NASCAR series IMHO.

I understand that the parts for all the brands are sourced and manufactured worldwide.

[J Francho]

Just curious....why?

[BrianinMD]

So Dodge is even though its owned by Fiat?

Gets even funnier when the cars are nothing like what the street cars are. There are no comparison's, they are to the point now of common templates. Oh excuse me, common pick up points, since common templates was deemed a bad thing. No difference between the two....

[tipptruck1]

I saw last night that nascar really messed up the chase now. Now they will reset 1-10 based on the wins the driver has. The last two spots will be decided on guys in 11-20 in points with the most wins. I think I am done with nascar now.

Here is some thing you long time nascar fans will like. It shows who would have won the championships if they didn't change it.

http://community.nascar.com/wirerat123/blog/2010/09/21/classic_points_system.

[bilgerat]

There's always the NHRA.

[tipptruck1]

I do watch NHRA from time to time. I use to be in to it a few years ago. For some reason I kind of drifted away from it. I really have no clue why I did. When I did watch it I did enjoy the races.

Nascar is not my main racing series I watch. That belongs to f1. If I could get other types of racing here I would watch them more. So I am stuck watching a lot of sports car racing from Europe on my computer.

[B-Dozer]

I saw last night that nascar really messed up the chase now. Now they will reset 1-10 based on the wins the driver has. The last two spots will be decided on guys in 11-20 in points with the most wins. I think I am done with nascar now.

Here is some thing you long time nascar fans will like. It shows who would have won the championships if they didn't change it.

http://community.nascar.com/wirerat123/blog/2010/09/21/classic_points_system.

Link didn't work. Tony Stewart would be one, maybe Kyle Busch, others I'm sure.