Nascar's attendance issues are simple.. too many events with too expensive a ticket.. and cars that look nothing like what is available today.. They have milked that deal to the fullest, and of course it's on the decline, it's part of the cycle. I think the "natural" number of events, to get full stands, is about a dozen, maybe 20.. not once a week for most of the year.. not unless you drop the prices back to '60's era percentage of the average family income.. Nascar has a long history of a lot of events, but that was when the cars were stock looking and powered, and the spectator tickets were cheap. Just looking at Daytona Tickets stubs at the Stock car Museum, online, it looks like a $20 seat in 1969, was $350 in 2013... nearly twice the rate of inflation. Now can you imagine the excitement created by a track full of Hemi Dodges, ZL-1 Camaros and Coyote Mustangs? With re-enforced stock bodies and minimal areo alterations? Give them a minimum weight, a maximum CI and boost figure, and the car companies have to produce at least 50 of them for general sale.. just like it used to be... and get out of the way. Coupled with $100/each tickets for the 500?.. you could not build enough seats. That is the roots of nascar.. remember "Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday"... Be nice to see it happen, who knows.. Let's not forget the current race car chassis/body shell car is an evolution.. required because the big three completely abandoned performance cars in the last part of the 20th century, for the most part anyway... and who the heck wanted to watch 1990's 6 cylinder Lumias and Ford Tauruses scream around Daytona at 115 Mph... boooooring, but that is what was available to base the nascar cars on in that time period. So the "look alike shell" over tube chassis was born, or evolved actually.. Today, performance has come back to the auto makers, and I predict that Nascar, once they are pushed up against the wall by declining revenue, will figure that out again. All that remains to be seen, is if they can figure out how to get out of the way enough to be successful again. And if Toyota wants to build a rear wheel drive v-8 car to compete, so be it.. JW
Nascar and the NFL are both in decline. Tickets and refreshments through the roof, and to many side shows.
I quit caring when the race cars were rwd and their production counterparts weren’t. For years I knew the cars weren’t production (like when my dad was a fan in the 50s and 60s) but, up until 1988 or so, they at least bore resemblance, had the same damn drive wheels and engine placement, and had some stock body parts. The only reason the Pontiac 2+2 and Monte Aerocoupe exist is to homologate the body for the track. I’d rather see real cars RACING, maybe going slower or for fewer laps, than hours of ‘follow the leader’ running 100% throttle and hoping for some wind trick to enable a pass. I didn’t watch a single minute yesterday. Patrick
Didn't the France family try to sell a non controlling share recently? No takers, not surprised. As for the cars we have the same issues here in Aus with our $upercar series. Common chassis, transaxles, brakes & suspension. Nanny state rules & regulation. The cars, like NASCAR have become too far removed from their production versions. I'd rather see slower cars, if it meant more action.
early 2000's were kinda interesting , chevy , ford , dodge , Toyota plus the goodyear and hoosier tire choice was a pit strategy to watch depending upon the track n weather etc . plus there was still some drivers that were old nascar characters , like sterling marlin getting out at a race stop to check for a tire rub and hoping the tech didn't see him yank on the fender , really , a million camera's sterling . but yeah , I also didn't even think about the race until like sunday morning , watched start and about 10 laps .
