Editor’s Note: To hear some tell it, NASCAR and beer are a natural fit. Some, such as our own John “Dawg” Chapman, see it more ways than one.
The thing I appreciate about John is his willingness to think outside the box. He’s a visionary, and I can admire that in a person. Today- John “Dawg” Chapman proposes changes that he can believe in….
If you’ve read my articles, you’ve read a number of changes that I feel would improve the product. Today, I’m going to key in on one change that could lead to other changes that I think could begin to reverse the downward spiral that the sport has found itself in lately.
Years ago my beer of choice was Schlitz. This was a top brand. Sometime around the early ’70’s, beer sales exploded. The major brewers were expanding to capture more market share. Expanding, by building new breweries was expensive. The owner, CEO, or whatever at Schlitz decided to expand production in a different way. He decided to change the formula, essentially watering down his beer, thus being able to put out more beer from the same
facilities. He got greedy, watered it down too much, and wrecked the brand.
Do you see where this is going?
I see a real parallel between what happened at Schlitz, and what’s happening to NASCAR. They’ve watered down the product by taking races away from where the fans wanted to see them. Killing off short tracks, the Southern 500, The Rock, etc., to put NASCAR into “glamour markets,” where they have no, or little fan support.
Cookie cutter cars on cookie cutter tracks are not going down well with many of the traditional fan base. The new fans that they courted so heavily, have proven to be pretty fickle.They’ve taken the short view. By putting racing at more cookie cutter tracks, because they can put more seats around them. Now they have the seats, but they can’t get people in them. Plus, they’re talking about adding another date at Kansas, because they’ve gotten a casino license, not because the racing is good. With NASCAR’s reputation for squeezing the last nickel out of everything- that really makes me look forward to playing in a casino they’re associated with.
I don’t buy the convenient hook that it’s the economy. We all know it is, to a point. If it were just the economy, TV numbers shouldn’t be effected. Make no mistake, when a company is making the decision about shelling out the big bucks to sponsor a car, that decision isn’t made based on whether it would race on a short track, or a mile-and-a-half track with more seats. They’re looking at the TV numbers. It’s a tough sell, with the declining numbers.
Here’s what I feel is needed. A change at the top.
I think NASCAR needs to be run by someone who understands racing, rather than marketing. If you delve into the roots of NASCAR- it was successful because Big Bill France understood racing. He could not have done it by himself. He also surrounded
himself with racing people, and as they say, "the rest is history."
I hesitate to put this forward, because I think it would be a blow to the IRL when it’s the last thing they need. But I think if Brian Barnhart were put in charge, and given pretty much a free hand to make changes, he could have the sport turned around, and poised to take advantage of the recovery, when it comes.
You might ask why Barnhart? He’s cool for the IRL, and it’s struggling. Too true, but he didn’t bring about the split, and that’s still the root of most of their problems. Also, the reunification came at a very bad time. As I said, he would need the free hand that he hasn’t had at the IRL.
I really have no idea if Brian Barnhart would ever entertain an offer to switch from open wheel, after all he’s an Indy native, and has been in Indy cars, most of his life, but he has the background and sense that I think are needed- and these people don’t grow on trees.
As an alternative, some might suggest Humpy Wheeler. I do think Humpy has a lot to offer, but maybe in another capacity. With him, you get back to promotion, and that’s really just marketing. Plus dealing with the Smith family would be necessary, and Humpy might have a built in problem there.
One big problem, I see is the incestuous relationship between NASCAR and the International Speedway Corporation- in particular- and SMI. If someone had the authority to take just one race from both of the majority track owners, and place them where they thought could put on the best show, it could help create some buzz. These could be at any track, including short tracks they’ve never run on. Winchester has the potential to be another Bristol, Oswego, Salem- the choices are out there. So what if the seating is not there? Bring in some temporary seating, but essentially make it a TV event. It’s the TV numbers that most need help currently.
If they wanted to, maybe a new person could go to the TV partners and renegotiate the seemingly sacred number of 43 starters. Maybe they could put on a better race with, say, 36 cars
on some tracks. Who would really miss 6 or 7 “start and parkers” anyway? If they were able to outqualify the real racers, so be it.
It would add some drama to qualifying.
They could even run qualifying races on Saturday, make cars actually RACE their way into the show. What a novel concept. I can guarantee better TV numbers on Saturday. That would provide better TV exposure for sponsors, as well as forcing the start and park teams to re-evaluate their business plan. Whatever they do, they need to shake things up a little.
The races wouldn’t have to come from the same tracks every year. They wouldn’t have to go to the same tracks every year. Maybe an alternative would be to have NASCAR, not ISC, buy Dover. Take one race from it, then ISC & SMI, would only have to give up one race every other year. I don’t know just brainstorming here. Just untie the guy’s hands, and give him a little flexibility. The schedule has gotten pretty stale.
A "new broom" could look at the top 35 rule, the Chase, the CoT, and anything else they thought they needed to change without having to try to save face. Another thing I think would help- and this might be easier for a new person also- would be a lot more openness. NASCAR is after all a business, and businesses aren’t democracies, nor do I think it should be, but shedding
some light on the decision making processes could go a long way
to dispelling the conspiracy theories that seem to abound. It was racing that got NASCAR where it was, and racing can get them back where they need to be.
After all, Schlitz has made a comeback, with it’s original formula. Think how much easier it should be for NASCAR. If the racing is there, the marketing is easy. I’m not totally knocking marketing, I just think that lately, the tail has been wagging the dog!
{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
Wanna fix Nascar? This is how you do it… 10 inch tires and 10 inch wheels… NO Power Steering… 3 inch rear spoiler… No right side windows to help hold the cars in the corner.., That window has never really been about safety, it is about making the cars drive easier… These 3 things right here would eliminate a need for a restrictor plate.
Run the Nationwide series and the Truck Series at places like Eldora, DuQuoin, Springfield, Illinois and the Syracuse Mile. You could not put in enough temporary seating to get everyone in. It is a no brainer…
Get rid of the “Chase” … It is racing for Gods sake, not the NFL playoffs…. Lock the top 30 in points and let them qualify, and the rest race their way in through a qualifying race. Put them on the tail behind the top 30… The extra track time will help those drivers get faster and make the racing more competitive…
It is never gonna happen… It is all about the brand and souvenir sales… The racing is just window dressing for the bottom line…
I agree with most of what you said!
But one of the major complaints is boring races!
You are basically sitting for 3 hours to see the last 30 minutes of action!
Nascar needs to start giving incentive to lead laps so it will help make the mid portains of a race more exciting!
A system that pays points to lead laps would be a great idea that they could experiment with!
They need to start making the race more important than the Chase!
I have yet gone to a race to see who is winning the chase or carry a spread sheet or calcualor to see who is winning on points! But I do go to see a great race ‘THAT DAY”
I agree with most everything said.I think every car that enters the race should run the t.t. and take the 43 fastest cars,period. No provisionals,no past hot dogs,run to race.If someone is a”star” and doesn’t make it,too bad.You take the chance when you buy the ticket as to who you’ll see.Bye the way if you bought your ticket to see Jr. ; you will as the hauler goes out the gate.Free it up and the fans will come back.NO MORE LUCKY DOGS YOU CAME TO RACE,NOT JUST PLACE.
I agree about the schedule, it is bland and there are too many races. Phoenix, NH, Pocono, Dover should not have two races a year. The CoT is ridiculous but I do have a little hope that they’ll see the light on that. Designing larger tires is the absolute dumbest thing I have ever heard of. The last thing the Cup cars need is faster cornering speeds. How about looking at simple ways of reducing horsepower? Do we really need 900 HP cars? Save money, lower speeds slightly, better racing, safer, what’s the down side?
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Lastly, the lucky dog rule has ruined any intrigue for the first 3/4 of the race. There is no consequence when a fast car loses a lap. You know he’s going to get a “free” pass. I can only imagine what Dale Earnhardt would say about this dumb rule.
You’ve all made some good points. Sometimes when I’m dreaming, I think about a Cup race on the Springfield Mile. Guaranteed to be the most antipicated, & written about race in NASCAR history. Too bad it will remain just a dream.
In the old days people raced hard for a very simple reason.
When you were able to put a lap on someone, they were pretty much out of contention for the day. Now, with the free pass, & the wave around, what’s the point? No real reason to race the entire race, just ride around ’till crunch time, then go.
These are the types of things a “new broom” could look at.
Pay the top fifteen or so cars per lap a percentage of the total prize money, pay the winner double what second place wins and make the championship about a trophy with no money attached to it and watch ‘em race!
I agree completly about Brian France and cookie cutter tracks/cars being gone. In the words of Dale sr. “Move the seats back from the track a safe distance and let us race!”
I know I know..”If wishes were fishes we could fill the ocean”. AND, it’s fun to throw out our ideas of what we think would make stellar racing. While I have problems with what is happening with NASCAR right now…I do think their base is solid..they just have gotten carried away adding too many “accessories”. Saturday “qualifying races”? Well if you had deep pockets as an owner it would be ok..but I think the fact is they already have one backup car at the track..you could see teams dragging two or more with the Saturday racing. I don’t mind the “Championship Provisionals”..it gives some old timers track time and I enjoy seeing them. I wouldn’t mind if they took the field down to around 38. It would be great if the “500″ races were set down to “400″. And the racing season..cut 4-6 races off the schedule…I’m pretty much done by race 30! The Chase…chuck it in the garbage. Give more points for winning, second and third. I think it would be fun to see if a team had engine trouble during a race they were allowed to “attempt” to change/fix the engine (already approved by NASCAR) during the race and re-enter for points. But, alas…it is what it is…I still enjoy watching.
Fixing NA$CAR is easy:
1. Hang Brian France from the tallest tree in Rockingham.
2. Sh*tcan the stupid & insulting chase
3. Get Rid of toyota. They make a fine car / truck but have no business in NASCAR.
4. Put THE Southern 500 & Rockingham back to thier rightful places on the schedule.
5. Hang Brian France from the tallest tree in Rockingham.
Damn,Ham
You must think Brian France is one tough dude. LOL
You left out the stupid gas mileage wins. My Father and all of his dirt track buddies up in Heaven must laugh themselves off a cloud at this crap. Throw a mandatory yellow at “less than a tank” and make them fill er up.
You need to do more than just replace the CEO of the sanctioning body. You need to replace all the Yes Men and his cronies who didn’t bother speaking up to prevent this disaster from happening in the first place. If you want to stop a cancer, you cut out the whole thing, not just a part of it. Humpy would be the best choice for the top slot.
Get rid of the cookie cutter tracks. North Wilkesboro and The Rock are alive and well and would make for some much better racing than what the cookie cutters offer. Bring back places like South Boston, Hickory, Bowman-Gray, and Texas World Speedway to add some excitement and variety for the drivers and fans.
Get rid of the cookie cutter cars. Give us something that resembles what’s on the street. Go back to engines that are based on production model engines. If you don’t produce a V-8 that meets the specs, so sorry, come back next year. Make the Cup Lite Series a Pony Car only series. If you don’t build a Pony Car, too bad, so sad. That would give the Cup Lite Series back some of the identity it’s lost.
If you want to shorten the schedule, get rid of the non-points events. Outside of filling the pockets of the sponsors and the sanctioning body, they serve no real purpose other than a big marketing and PR opportunity and increase the risk of injury to the drivers.
Dump the Chase. It hasn’t lived up to the hype and it’s a half-baked play-off system that doesn’t work.
End the Top 35 rule. Make sure the fastest 43 race on Sunday.
Put a rule in place that prevents the sanctioning body and the track owners from stealing sponsors from the race teams. Teams have a tough time finding sponsors on their own and having to fight both the track owners and the sanctioning body over the same sponsors leave the teams as the big losers.
Get rid of the Lucky Dog. Change the scoring so that all 36 races count. 43 points for a win 42 for second and so on down the line. All cars are in the hunt, the sponsors know they will be shown since they will never be out of the chase for the title based on a full season. Get rid of the Chase as we know it so we have a real champion instead of a 10 race champion based on reconfiguration of points. Also let the race be aqualifer for the next race with the first ten places locked in and everybody else qualifys for positions 11 thru 43.
What a great column and great ideas to help bring the racing back to NASCAR. I agree with putting a real racer, like Brian Barnhart, in charge. I especially agree with having qualifying races, heat races, especially at short track events. I would prefer having them on the same day as the main event simply because it would be cheaper for fans.
Heat races fix a lot of problems. There would be no need for the top 35 rule nor provisionals of any kind because everybody would get to race. The fields for short track races could be reduced to a realistic number which would eliminate many of the cautions and allow for a lot more real racing. Neither the heat races nor the main event would be boring because shortened events mean you have to get to the front in a hurry. And no need to pay points or cash for leading laps – everyone will be trying to get into the lead.
Finally, go back to stock configuration on bodies, engines, and tires. If Ford has an advantage over Chevrolet or vice-versa, so be it. Fix it next year. That’s one of the things that used to make NASCAR great.
Cotton
What is missing is what other sports / entertainment has and why folks have to watch the whole event. It is the old term “how the ball bounces”, when something out of the blue can turn the event upside down. (About now remember the other old sayings “racing is dangerous” and “life is not fair”) The best don’t end up winning EVERY dern time. To do this NASCAR would have to do something totally foreign to them, do away with a rule that turned their racing into crap. Go back over 20 years and do away with closing the pits under yellow. When the yellow comes out, the car at the entrance (of the pits) can come on in. That driver will come out first and could be the leader. Unfair to the one that was leading, I guess so, but “that is how the ball bounces”. I’m a Jeff Gordon fan, but when he had the fastest car and the fastest pit crew by quite a bit, you just couldn’t compete with the guy. Come on! The light bulbs have to come on in somebody’s head one of these days, Please!!!!
You hit the nail on the head with this arlicle. I haven’t been watching very often the last 2-3 years, why, all the reasons you listed and if I might add, simple spec series, staged shows, not races. I saw a clip of Jeff Gordon last year complaining on the radio that someone was racing him to hard. Hello, its a race. You can’t even get anyone to call it a race anymore, its “The Show”. If I want to see a show I’ll go to the theatre. Nothing wrong with a safer car, but all of them looking the same, I’m not going to watch. Get rid of the Chase crap, the locked in top 35 garbage, the fake yellows, the ever changing-week to week- rule changes, win a pole and your in the clash or shootout or what ever its called this year, and sombody please tell DW that BOOGITY crap should not come out of the mouth of anyone over 5 years old.
Glad to hear all these long waitted thoughts. I stopped wtching about 5 years ago because of all the bs with the chas and ct.
John, Can you imagine F1 with a Chase? Nope. They would become a laughing stock. Ditto for other race series. If it were such a good idea, other series would have picked it up by now. If Chad & JJ are so good they can win with or without the Chase. If Nascar keeps the Chase & JJ wins again there will be louder murmurs of credibility & WWE…& nothing will stave off the exodus from Nascar.
On Brian France’s behalf, perhaps he is not the one running Nascar. Maybe someone else is. Maybe BF is just the front guy who does and says what he is told. Marybeth
I agree with most of the thoughts here. I go golfing most Sundays for the last few years and check on line to see how it went. I don’t even tape it anymore and I remember watching ABC Wide World of Sports to see the short segments of NASCAR back in the day cause that is all there was. I gave up my seats for the 2 races I had because it wasn’t fun anymore to go sit and wait for a 50 lap shoot out or who saved the most gas.
I have been involved with racing on the home short tracks for 40 years and most of the ideas above are still being used today. If the COT and the Chase were brought in for parity then why has the same owner/driver/crew chief won for 4 straight years when in the history of NASCAR only one person even won 3 years straight and that is when you were allowed errrr should I say could get away with cheating.
Anyway, Mikey Waltrip had one good idea (besides retirement) and that was give one point per lap for leading. That would really help get the ride around the back of the packers at the restricter races and the cookie cutters on the gas and actually racing instead of stealing money from the fans and sponsors who paid to for racing.
The lucky dog should be left to the one that gets taken home from the animal shelter. How can someone have a major problem, loose 3 or 4 laps and come back to get a top 5 with out passing the race leader 3 or 4 times? At least he went on to win the 4th cup in a row so it wasn’t a waste.
No top 35, race your way in period. Maybe a small number of provisionals per car per year like the old days. They could always go to first day qualifying on Friday with the top 20 locked and a second round for 21 through 40 on Saturday and 3 provisionals. I think they had great sucess with that back a few years, you remember, when the seats were full and they had to build bigger tracks with more seats to see them empty shortly after.
A few other things, if it isn’t about the money then why is a Ford Mustang suddenly the pace car at Daytona when they haven;t had a Ford in over 40 years? Maybe a coincidence but Nascar, ISC & MSI I believe all sued GM because of non-payment. Oh, and if they win they will get our taxpayer bailout money.
And it makes me mad when the say that Richard Petty or any of the past Champions won the ’sprint cup’! No, they won the ‘Winston Cup’! Because without Winston’s money and marketing Nascar would most likely be back seat to ARCA or another series. So they even sold out the company that got them to the top. Besides they should either call it the Hendrick cup or maybe the johnson cup.
Sorry for the rant but if I still wasn’t addicted to racing I wouldn’t be prowling web reading this stuff.
There are a lot of good ideas in your article and the comments that follow. Then there are some less effective ones. And there are some dreadful ones.
Therein lies the problem. Democratically speaking, bringing all those opinions together into one cohesive policy is always going to leave a bunch of opinions unaddressed.
Dictatorially speaking, which ones do you pick to avoid alienating everybody else? And when you try transparency and try to explain why you made those choices, the Grassy Knoll People are going to say that’s just a cover story and there are much more nefarious reasons why you are making those changes.
The forecasts of gloom and doom that say the sport is on a never-ending downward spiral if they don’t change something (anything?) are simply wrong. Humpy Wheeler himself made headlines back in the 1990s when he predicted that the current interest plateau was coming. The sport may fall somewhat in casual interest but it is not going away.
Changes should be made including the concepts of race distance, racing surface, track size, schedule length, vehicle design and the myriad of other interconnected things that make this particular sport so intriguing, just in case something should provide an interest breakthrough. But each should be considered an experiment in isolation.
Then the experiments need time to be tweaked, establish themselves and then be properly evaluated without everybody and his brother predicting rack and ruin the whole time.
Freedom of speech? I guess so but my concept of freedom of speech is to apply an open mind and a lot of consideration to the subject, then watch to see what happens and then to make a judgement. And sometimes, even then, to keep silent despite my doubts. to give said changes the benefit of time.
God knows I have not been a fan of many of the changes currently seen in NASCAR but I have found, much to my amazement, that some have actually proven to improve the product I see on Sundays.
It’s a confidence game. If we are confident and spread the word that the sport is really fun to watch, our friends will want to see it. If we denigrate it at every turn as an off-shoot of professional wrestling — scripted, faked and controlled at every turn — only those interested in professional wrestling will want to see it.
A little patience on the part of those more invested in the sport would go a long way to providing the support the sport really needs to grow.
But in this day of everybody being capable of broadcasting their own agenda across the all-encompassing Internet, THAT is what never will happen.