The 2021 Running NASCAR/IMSA/other racing things thread

The 2022 Cup Series schedule is out.
Looks like the Daytona road course is out, but the Bristol dirt race is back.
Gateway will host a Cup race for the first time, on June 5. Its date will come from Pocono, which loses one of its two races.
The Indy road course is back. So is Fontana.
Homestead moves from the spring back to the fall, and will be a playoff race.
Phoenix is the championship race again, but some of the other playoff races will swap dates.

https://www.nascar.com/news-media/2...edule-world-wide-technology-raceway-signs-on/

 

Thanks.

The whole Coliseum thing is yet another "NASCAR jumps the shark" moment in a series of moments to which I can't even figure out where to start. The shark gave up long ago.

Forcing AT&T/GEICO out of the sport because of sponsor deals with Sprint/Nationwide? Car of Tomorrow? The Chase? Moving the Southern 500 to California? Goodyear at Indy? Good god, the list of moronic marketing gaffes is almost endless. NASCAR will eventually kill itself with thousands of self-inflicted puncture wounds.

The marketing wonks have been pushing for New York and Los Angeles for decades -- "gotta have eyeballs in the two major advertising agency centers because that's where the sponsorship dollars are!" -- but marketing wonks know nothing about NASCAR fans, so you've got this weird disconnect between what NASCAR does and what it should do.

Holding the banquet at the Waldorf=Astoria (REQUIRED by the sanctioning body to be divided by an equal sign because the logo shows two dashes) never ever moved the Madison Avenue needle one bit. NASCAR lost close to $100 MILLION on that useless tract of land on Staten Island before giving up.

Riverside was a great race track, and it wasn't NASCAR's fault the property was worth more as a shopping center. Ontario was a great race track, but again worth more as a shopping center.

California was a decent race track. But even though L.A. is a "car-crazed" place, that doesn't equal interest in "stock-car oval racing" over the long-term. Holding the race during Oscars weekend certainly failed spectacularly to bring out the A-list stars from 70 miles away. (I don't even think NASCAR could entice the guy who played Biff Tannen.) Isn't that why Fontana's getting sliced and diced, because nobody gives a damn about driving to Fontana to watch boring races in which nobody passes?

How embarrassing is this going to be? If you can't fill Bristol, does anybody think there'll be more than 25,000 at the Coliseum to watch the gimmick of Cup cars on a quarter-mile flat track? I certainly expect it to be a more expensive version of a Legends race, with nobody passing unless they crash.

Just merge with WWE already.

 

I do think going to Nashville for the awards ceremony is a start. As was giving Darlington back its second date. But there is a lot of damage to undo.

It'll never happen, but I'd be intrigued to see what would happen if Marcus Smith bought out NASCAR. And there was that Geely rumor.

 

There is no reason why NASCAR should be running more than 30 race weekends, with the season ending by the end of September. And with the exception of perhaps the Daytona 500, Southern 500 and Talladega, why any of those races should run longer than three hours.

 

One off week in 37 (including the all-star race) sounds pretty stupid.

 

I'm not wild about the LA Coliseum thing, but it's the GD Busch Clash. It's not a points race, so might as well try and put on a show. Better idea than Bristol on dirt, though I assume they'll have to do fuel and tires in the parking lot.

I thought I'd read that Indy was going to decide at a later date whether or not their race was on the oval or the road course. I know it's crap, but I think I'd rather see them race on the oval. Infield road courses are just kind of tacky to me.

 

StarCom allegedly sold its charter in late August. Quin Houff drives for the team, which has had 11 different primary sponsors this season.

 

23XI is still charter-hunting.

 

Should have shuttered the series Feb. 18, 2001.

 

I'm still waiting for a street race. Downtown Nashville, Miami, Chicago, Detroit. Though maybe only Salt Lake City has downtown streets that are wide enough to make it work.

 

Wouldn’t how low the cars are to the ground make it a disaster? Not sure how the Next Gen fares there vs. current car.