NASCAR Looks for Some Fast Buzz

[Crabtownboy]

I have always felt that watching cars race around an oval track over and over and over is as boring, if not more so, than watching grass grow.

DOVER, Del., May 30 -- From Carl Edwards's vantage point, few experiences match the thrill of racing at Dover International Speedway, where the steep banking and cramped confines exaggerate the sense of speed.

But sagging attendance and a double-digit drop in television ratings suggest that NASCAR is struggling to translate the exhilaration Edwards feels behind the wheel of his No. 99 Ford Fusion to fans who once scheduled their weekends around stock-car racing's calendar.

Halfway through NASCAR's regular season, TV ratings are down 13 percent from last year -- and that's excluding Memorial Day weekend's bust, the Coca-Cola 600, which dragged out over two soggy days before ending under caution with barely half the distance completed.

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

Nonetheless, NASCAR's boxy, redesigned racecar has created an aerodynamic handful on the track. In short, its bulky shape creates such turbulence in its wake, especially on the bigger speedways, that it's difficult for drivers to get close enough to one another to pass.

The upshot, all too often, is a nose-to-tail parade that no amount of speed can make interesting.

Many of these issues were debated last week at NASCAR's Research and Development Center in Concord, N.C., where NASCAR chief executive Brian France held a closed-door meeting with the sport's drivers and team owners to discuss ways of making stock-car racing sizzle again.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/30/AR2009053001696.html?hpid=topnews

 

[Palatka51]

Crabby, you are not going to win any Southern sympathies with articles that shed a bad light on NASCAR. :tongue3:

 

[Crabtownboy]

Crabby, you are not going to win any Southern sympathies with articles that shed a bad light on NASCAR. :tongue3:

LOL. Well I grew up in the South and even back in the days when the races were real races and not this modern new-fangled artificle race, I thought it was boring. Back then it was one moon shiners car against other moon shiners to see who had the fastest car. Now actually racing is exciting, but watching it is just deadly boring to me. Watching mushrooms and toadstools open is just about as exciting as a modern NASCAR race. My favorite driver way back when was Fireball Roberts. Just as an aside my favorite picther back when we Virgil "Fire" Trucks.

Why hush my mouth, but I bet NASCAR was taken over by them thar Yankee businessmen and they jest 'bout ruin'd hit ... nope, they done went and did ruin'd hit.

No NASCAR racing in the movie, but watch "Thunder Road," to see the forerunner of NASCAR.

Sorry abour that folks.

 

[Palatka51]

NASCAR is not just about the track. It is about a mechanic's skill in motor building. It's about a driver's skill and his knowledge of car conditions as he makes continuous left turns. About how well the pit crew handles the changes to the car in seconds during pits. These are just a few of the things that makes modern stock car racing a thinking man's sport. :smilewinkgrin:

 

[Crabtownboy]

NASCAR is not just about the track. It is about a mechanic's skill in motor building. It's about a driver's skill and his knowledge of car conditions as he makes continuous left turns. About how well the pit crew handles the changes to the car in seconds during pits. These are just a few of the things that makes modern stock car racing a thinking man's sport. :smilewinkgrin:

Well, to me, as a spectator, it is still boring. Sorry 'bout that. All those decisions and actions are taken by the pit crew, but for the spectator it is still just cars running round and round and round.

I find the Volve Round the World Race much more interesting ... even it is does take almost a year to finish. The next to the last leg in the race will start in early June. Now sailing one of these racing boats through the 'roaring 40's' and the North Atlantic takes skill and split second decisions.

Go to: http://www.volvooceanrace.org/

and watch some of the videos.

And, you can create your own virtual boat and race against over 200,000 other virtual sailors.

Or watch the TV program at: http://www.volvooceanrace.tv/page/FeatureDetail/0,,12573~1644196,00.html]

 

[Palatka51]

Well, to me, as a spectator, it is still boring. Sorry 'bout that.

It's ok Crabby, your secret is safe with me.

 

[Mexdeaf]

"Why am I not surprised?", he surmised, as he watched the Nationwide Series on TV.

 

[baptistteacher]

Well, I Likes me NASCAR, I does, I does! And Indy car, and Grand Prix.
The weird thing about it is, I'm not a "Car Person" - you know, one of those guys that if you cut their right arm it bleeds 10w-30, and the left arm bleeds transmission fluid. I don't even like to work on cars, I only do a few things on mine because it costs more than the budget allows to go to the mechanic.
Even weirder is my current secular job is working at an auto-parts store. It was a job when I needed a job, it puts beans on the table.

 

[Alive in Christ]

Well, heres a couple of things that just popped into my mind.

Regarding the issue of the identical "boxy" shaped cars that seems to be causing a problem...why not make it a strictly enforced rule that every "stock" model that the race car is *pretending* to be, MUST have a body that is IDENTICAL to the actual stock body that the actual street car has?

I mean, why not? I've seen film footage from the 1st few years of stock car racing, and the cars were pretty much the actual cars that people bought for the streets...only "souped" up to make them faster?

Also, the reference to the sameness of the tracks.

Well, take a cue from Major League baseball. The circuler "cookie cutter" stadiums that were built in the 70's turned out to be boring as all get out. So...the new stadiums of today are all unique. They are all different...just like back in the old days of baseball.

So, why not find some way to signifcantly alter every racetrack in Nascar? NONE of them a nice perfect "oval", and ALL of them having unique characteristics that the others dont have.

 

[ccrobinson]

I have always felt that watching cars race around an oval track over and over and over is as boring, if not more so, than watching grass grow.

You made this identical statement in a Nascar thread in the Sports forum. Did you get your feelings hurt when I, and the others in the thread, ignored you, so you thought you'd say it in this forum and get some attention?

Regarding the issue of the identical "boxy" shaped cars that seems to be causing a problem...why not make it a strictly enforced rule that every "stock" model that the race car is *pretending* to be, MUST have a body that is IDENTICAL to the actual stock body that the actual street car has?

This used to be the case. The problem is that Nascar doesn't follow their own rulebook, a copy of which, btw, has never been seen by anybody not in Nascar. There are numerous examples (1985, 1991 and 1995 immediately come to mind) where Nascar either a) had a loophole that was exploited by one manufacturer and not the other, or b) blatantly chose to allow the racecar to be substantially different from the street car.

Since Nascar's rulebook is a big secret, it gives them the discretion to do whatever they want, including make up the rules as they go along. What Nascar fails to realize is that by not publishing a rulebook, they lack the credibility necessary to be seen as anything other than a regional sport. Nascar isn't really a regional sport anymore, but the perception, clearly evidenced here, is that it still is just a Southern sport.

The circuler "cookie cutter" stadiums that were built in the 70's turned out to be boring as all get out. So...the new stadiums of today are all unique. They are all different...just like back in the old days of baseball.

So, why not find some way to signifcantly alter every racetrack in Nascar? NONE of them a nice perfect "oval", and ALL of them having unique characteristics that the others dont have.

I agree with you and it's very easy for you and I to say this, but the solution isn't as easy as just making the track different.

#1, it's really easy to spend somebody else's money. These tracks cost millions to build and the owners aren't necessarily going to spend the millions it would take to alter them when they don't see a compelling reason to do so. Just because I think the track at Fontana needs to be fixed because it provides horrible racing doesn't mean the owner(s) wants to spend the money to change it.

#2, it isn't just the track config that's the problem. The cars have become more and more aerodynamically sensitive over the years, and this has become a bad thing for racing. The #1 thing that Nascar fans want to see is passing, specifically passing for the lead. Since the cars have become so aero dependent, the COT even moreso than the cars in use prior to 2008, it's very difficult to pass and a race becomes a boring parade.

 

[moscott]

CrabTownBoy,

My wife felt the same way about NASCAR------notice I said felt. She always thought it to be boring. then this year I was supposed to take my son to the Daytona 500, but I ended up having to work. So guess who had to take him to the race. Well now I'm having to fight here off to keep my tickets for next year and go. She said the same thing as I've heard from virtually everybody----once you actually go to a race and experience it for yourself----you'll be hooked.

 

[JohnDeereFan]

When I was growing up in Alabama, I lived next door to a NASCAR driver and down the street from his brother, who was also a NASCAR driver.

I loved it. We'd go to Talladega all the time and go to BIR (Birmingham Intl. Raceway, which I don't think is there any more) to watch Red Farmer and I just couldn't get enough of it.

Now, it's like wrestling. It's just so fake and boring I can't stand it. I think of all of those years people made fun of me for watching it and how mad I used to get ("No, it's a real sport!", I'd say.).

At least in the old days, the drivers actually had a stake in things. This is back when Bobby Allison drove his own trailer to the track and when "catering" was Donnie Allison standing over a grill flipping burgers for family and crew.

Now, I realize that they were right. It's just a bunch of guys going around in circles.

 

[TC]

I don't care what anybody else says, I still like pro razzlin and I still like NASCAR.

 

[exscentric]

Observations of the problem:

1. They split the season for antenna folks and we don't get the middle half. Get first few races and the final few. Of course ratings are going to slide.

2. They seem to be marketing more and more like Wrestling - seems to cheapen what they are in my mind. No offence to the wrestlers :thumbs: fans.

3. NASCAR is micromanaging the sport to the point I think that one of the next rules may well be how much snot you are allowed to carry with you in the car.

4. Not sure all the swearing and crude language/topics are all that needed for a "family" sport either. :smilewinkgrin: