I’ll admit it, I’m burnt out. I’ve finally reached the point, after seven months, for the 2009 NASCAR season to end.
That’s a difficult confession. I consider myself a die-hard NASCAR fan, and unlike some of you fans, I do not consider myself a disgruntled fan. Oh, there’d be things I’d change- the top 35 qualifying rule, some track configurations, among others- but this sense of being tired has nothing to do with that. I just feel like I’ve had my fill.
I am quickly becoming of the opinion that we get too much of a good thing. Suddenly, I find myself echoing the sentiments of Darrell Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt Jr. before this season, that a part of the magic of the NFL is that they satisfy you with just enough product, enough to leave you hungry for more.
You know football’s works. Crazed football fans block out draft Saturday to see who their favorite team and tide themselves over, fantasy leagues start, in some cases, as early as July, and you get fans hungry even for pre-season games!
I don’t think a radical reduction is in order. I simply propose cutting back to a 31 race schedule, as in days gone by. In my opinion, it’s time for NASCAR to acknowledge that NASCAR shares a significant amount of fan base with football, and while a lot of NASCAR fans will follow football, there are a number of football fans who won’t follow NASCAR.
That’s just the way it is. In spite of it’s best efforts, some people will never come to appreciate NASCAR the way we do. It’s high time to acknowledge that when comes to the NFL, the only real competition they have is the NCAA, with whom there is rarely conflict.
If it were up to me, I’d start the NASCAR season just like they do now- let people catch their breath after the Super Bowl in mid- February. I’d also give some real serious thought to kicking off the season not at Daytona, but one of NASCAR’s other historic tracks, especially if they are blessed with favorable February weather. I’m not sure which one it would be, but between Bristol, Martinsville, Charlotte, Richmond or Darlington, there has to be one that can be relied upon for good weather.
Here’s another thing I’d do. Knowing that football and NASCAR can’t help but overlap some, I’d go to Saturday night racing by September. A lot of local tracks have ended their seasons by then, and you avoid direct conflict with the NFL. As far as that goes, there is not generally much conflict with NCAA football. The vast majority of their games are Saturday afternoon.
Let’s END the season with the Daytona 500 under the Saturday night lights.
The benefits would be many: you’re not competing against what you can’t beat, you don’t burn out your fans, and you save a tidy amount of money in the process. It also clears some second dates at places where it just doesn’t fly.
A big old satisfying meal feels good once in a while, but do it all the time, and it makes you fat. When it comes to scheduling, I think NASCAR has overfed its fan base and the law of diminishing returns has taken over.
It’s time for a break. A real respite from the sensual assault that is NASCAR. A little bit of portion control is not only good for the waste line, it’s good for the pocketbook.
{ 7 comments }
I agree. A shortening of the schedule would strengthen the sport.
I do like Daytona in Feb. The weather makes it a destination for many snowbirds, the NFL is over, and no major sports have playoffs. Also the short tracks around the country haven’t started and the night time satellite events are a big part of speedweeks.
But Richmond, Bristol, Charlotte, Darlington, and Martinsville are all still subject to winter weather in February. Richmond used to run in Feb. right after Daytona and battled snow and fridgid temps. There is a reason they eagerly moved their date to May. Heck, Atlanta in March can be brutal. Fontana? Miami? Phoenix? Sonoma? Bueller? Bueller?
Please please NASCAR shorten the season. If money is so tight for the teams..this would certainly help. (I realize it wouldn’t help the tracks cut..but some tracks aren’t making their overhead now..so cut the tracks where attendance and viewing is the lowest.) I love racing..almost any form..but it’s over the top, If I need a race during the off season to get my fix one can almost always find a race of some type (probably a rerun of a lessor series..they are fun to watch) on the SPEED Channel. Also do something with the Chase. It’s ridiculous..Five Chase races are plenty. Have a 25 race regular season and a 5 race Chase. The Chase is off kilter anyway..NASCAR wants to have their version of the “World Series” or “Super Bowl”…but there are 43 cars on the track. When is the last time during the Super Bowl or World Series you saw players from non contending teams sprinkled throughout the playing field joining in the championship games??? Just doesn’t make sense. As far as I am concerned get rid of the Chase..fix the points so they really give the top 5 finishers a point advantage and race the entire schedule towards the championship.
Yeah, February in those places is just wonderful weather….
Leave Daytona alone. It’s called tradition.
true, the vast majority are on Saturday afternoon. Apparently you have missed the primetime games that are on every Saturday. Usually marquee games that smoke nascar’s ratings. Saturday nights, and friday nights, are tv’s worst nights. That’s why all the crappy shows are on those nights. If you haven’t noticed a conflict with college football, you haven’t been paying attention. Because I see fans on message boards nearly every week complaining about missing part of a race or pre-race due to football scheduling conflicts. And, another problem with moving more races to saturday is the conflicts with the nationwide and truck series.
Personally, I’m all for shortening the season. I’m also for shortening the races. If I were in charge, the season would end the last week of August. No race would be over 300 miles. But moving Daytona would be a travesty.
Sorry, I like the number of races we have. I would like to see more Sat night races and a uniform start time. Cut down on the endless pre-race show which is so repetitive and have a longer post-race show, Start the chase with a Thursday night extravaganza and go from there. I am not an NFL fan at all, so that doesn’t enter into the equation for me at all. It might also help if we didn’t have so many races at tracks that can only charitably be called boring. Put tracks like Darlington and Richmond in the chase and limit the chase to drivers who have won a race that has hasn’t been shortened for rain. Oh yes NASCAR, please quit insulting our intelligence with the phantom debris cautions when you want to close up the field and get rid of those damned “male enhancement” commercials. There are way too many commercials to start with, but there are way too many that are offensive.Why can’t we have a split screen like other sports, so we don’t miss on track action, instead of the minimal amount of coverage that is squeezed in between commercials that we have right now?
Please don’t move the first race of the year. I’ve been going to the Daytona 500 for 22 years and i look forward to it every year. Don’t shorten the season. I find myself missing racing about 2 weeks after the last race. If your tired of it, just don’t watch. I agree with yankeegranny on the phantom debris and too many commercials.
I agree, shorter would be better but with the current rulers of NASCAR it will never happen. They don’t care about the racing so much as squeezing as much money out of the business as possible.
I agree Jim. I am burned out and I bet the media that have to fly to every race would love to see a shorter season. Seriously, if we eliminate the boring races, Auto Club is an example, we could do it. But as Ed said before me, not happening.
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