…not real estate prices, not the stock market, certainly not my IRA, and not NASCAR either.
Anyone who has followed or been involved with racing, NASCAR Cup included, for any length of time has seen many changes. During the Go-Go days of the ’90s, tracks with Cup dates, couldn’t add seats fast enough. Add 3,000 more seats, they’re sold out before they’re put up. Want to turn that Cup date into real money? Sell the track. If ISC won’t pay your price, Bruton will.
No Cup date? No problem, we all saw the movie. Just build it, they will come. Kentucky, Iowa, Gateway. Out with the old: North Wilkesboro, The Rock, The Southern 500. In with the new:
Texas, New Hampshire, California. New TV contracts, 100 Million dollars plus. Neilsen numbers through the roof. Forget TNN, Speed and ESPN. Enter Fox and NBC. We got Network baby.
Owners… it was a great time to own a race team. Sponsors lining up to put their names on the sides of your cars. Sell the old shop, build a new one, three times as big. Hire more people to fill it. Forget the old days, with a primary and a back-up car.Now we got cars specially designed for every type track.30 cars in the nice new big shop and that’s just for one team. Add teams, after all you’ve got the shop and the people now. Trade in the old plane, buy a bigger faster one. Bigger, is better. Drivers…new contracts, souvenir sales, million dollar motor homes, endorsements, personal services contracts. Divorces? Regrettable, but it comes with success, right? Under contract, no big deal, If a new owner wants you, they’ll buy it out. After all, on one wants to hang on to a driver who wants to be somewhere else, right?
Fast forward to the present. Unsold seats, entire sections of grandstands being taken out. A track with two Cup dates, (Dover) with no buyers. The Rock with racing again. Racing slated to return to North Wilkesboro. Declining TV ratings.
Owners,….folding teams, due to lack of sponsors. Merging with other owners, taking on non-racing partners, just to survive.
Drivers,…fewer opportunities in Cup. Having to drop back to Nationwide or Trucks. In some cases, driving for a share of prize money. With no fat contact to fall back on.
You know what I’m talking about. You’ve seen it happen. We are seeing changes, that would have been unthinkable, just a few years ago. The real question is, what does this mean for us, as fans?
Just because there is less money in the sport, doesn’t necessarily mean that the racing will suffer. It could conceivably lead to better racing. Racing more closely resembling what made us fans in the first place.
When the money tap is running wide open, and there’s plenty for everyone, no one really has to stick their neck out. If NASCAR, the owners, and drivers have their backs against the wall- we may see what they’ve really got. Maybe we just saw a sample from Chip Ganassi and Jamie McMurray.
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Well said, Dawg. I think if we go back about a decade, and we do so with intellectual honesty, we look at some of the changes made, we realize they weren’t on the face of it bad moves. It made sense to strike while the iron’s hot, expand to new markets where fans seemed receptive. Of course, when you do this, you must be prepared to pull back if you find after you’ve tried to pull back. That’s where I think we are today. If a person doesn’t thinkl for a moment that Brian France didn’t to some degree execute some of Bill Jr’s plans, they best think again. That said, I think it’s tie to pull the plug on a few ideas, sadly, the teams and owners have been made to pull back due to societal evolution. We’ll survive it.
If you did not like the Daytona race then I would say you are not a NASCAR fan. Jr. ran the race just like Dale used to at the last minute make up impossable odds and come fish-tailing up the middle from 10 spot to win but foiled to 2nd spot. The Nation Wide race was true to expectations too. I am excited about the new/old rules Pedal to the metal get out of my way !
@ Jim
NASCAR will survive, & probably will be better for it. You know I don’t always agree with everything NASCAR does. One recent move I really disagree with is cutting the race purses. I would have much preferred they cut the points fund, if they had to take money from the owners. Keep the money out there, & reward performance week to week.
I’m sorry, people don’t watch to see drivers “have a good points day.”
@ Frank
Your reaction is exactly what NASCAR wanted when they made their changes. If the excitement can carry over, it will show in ticket sales, & improved TV numbers. I also was thinking of Dale, when Jr. made his charge. If he would have had Tony behind him he’d have won.
Last years fall Taladega race was one of the worst I’d ever seen. Daytona was one of the better ones.
In the words of Hank Williams, looks like, “They’ve Seen The Light.”
NA$CAR cut the purses so ISC could line their pockets during these “tough times”. More stupid moves are on the horizon, just watch. It’s always business as usual with BF. I’m sure he used some of Bill Jr’s plans. But I’ll bet Bill Jr. wouldn’t have let them blow up like Brainless.
Bill Jr was against the play-off system but Brian instituted it anyways. Bill Jr welcomed anyone who had the price of admission. Brian chased away, angered, and priced the tickets so high a lot of fans couldn’t and still can’t afford to go to races. When Bill Jr left, NASCAR was worth over $4 billion. With all of his bad decisions, Brian has reduced NASCAR’s worth to around $787 million.
While I hope saner minds prevail and some real leadership steps forward to straighten out this mess, with the current leadership left in place and the heavy financial losses NASCAR keeps incurring, the sport may not survive even with all the desperation moves made this season to bring fans back.
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