2010 NASCAR running thread

I'd give credit to IMS, though with few tickets sold in a particular section they might simply not allow access to that section (wouldn't look good on TV to have two people sitting by themselves in a big section).
In all honesty, IMS struggling with Brickyard 400 attendance isn't a surprise. All tracks are struggling, plus IMS adds the debacle of a couple of years ago. Oh yeah, and the Brickyard isn't exactly a great track for stock cars.

 

Yeah, Marty said that.

Truthfully, other than saying "I've been to Indy" I can't think of a real reason to go there at all. You can't see anything except what's right in front of you. It's like going to Churchill Downs.

 

That's a tricky thing for any non-Indy 500 event at IMS.

I still see references to how the USGP "failed" at Indy. Even after the 2005 debacle they still drew crowds in excess of 100k. Since it's at IMS it's a failure, but when the Italian GP draws 80k to Monza it's a success.

I read an article on F1 in the US and it included a shot of turn 2 with a completely empty grandstand in the background. You couldn't tell from the shot that the grandstand was probably at least 300+ feet from the nearest section of track, and the nearby grandstands with an actual view of the racing were packed.

 

From the AP notebook:

That's HALF THE CROWD gone in four years. That's not a good ratio.

Also, those are NASCAR estimates, which means it was actually like 230K to 120K, but still the same.

 

Wouldn't mind them using the grand prix layout at Indy.

 

Joliet used to force you to buy tickets to the Indy race, Indy Lights and ARCA just to get a NASCAR ticket. Now I hear radio ads about great seats still available for the Joliet NASCAR race.

 

People in Indiana are smart. They know a shit race when they see one. The Brickyard has never been exciting, never been dramatic. Throw in the contrived NASCAR bullshit of the last decade or so and I'm proud of Indiana's race fans for walking away en masse from that shitty excuse for a race.

 

What was somewhat hilarious this morning was listening to Brian France talk himself into more contrived b.s.

Since the COT, the Brickyard has been a really dull race. The only real excitement came in '07 and '08 when we were all wondering whose tires were going to shred next.

To the untrained eye who rarely attends races not at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, there seems to be quite a bit more action on the track at the Indy 500 than the Brickyard. There always seems to be something to watch. That the cars lap the track about 10 seconds/45-50mph faster a lap might have something to do with it -- you go long stretches without seeing any cars.

At the last several Brickyards, you can pretty much watch the first two laps after every restart and go get a beer until the next pit window/debris caution, because the positions aren't changing ... and if one guy dominates the race, he's either going to get a b.s. penalty or a well-timed debris caution to jumble up the field. I get bored, and even today, can't think the fans left with anything close to a satisfied feeling because the strongest 2 cars didn't win -- and got shuffled back into the field by a debris caution. It just felt manufactured.

That, and the NASCAR fan doesn't like to not be able to see the whole track, so he'll sit home and save his money for Chicagoland or Michigan. Most Indy 500 attendees are either used to the 500 or road course racing, where they're thankful for big-screen monitors that allow them to see what's going on in the other half of the track -- they're used to not being able to see all the way around. The crowds are significantly different at both races.

 

Crimson -- as I mentioned a few posts back, they're not saving their money for Chicagoland. Unless it's to go to Team Demolition Derby, one of the greatest fucking things I've ever seen.

NASCAR in Chicago lasted as a novelty for a short while, but it doesn't register at all locally any more. The Chicagoland ads are selling... the first NASCAR appearance by Danica. More ammo for my arguement that NASCAR needs Danica more than she needs it.

 

I told my wife the same thing yesterday on the drive home from Indy. NASCAR is suffering the same issue that IndyCar suffered in the couple of years before the split -- all of the front-line stars that carried the sport for a generation are retiring, uncompetitive or getting long in the tooth, and the new guys replacing them don't move the needle. Dale Sr. is dead, Dale Jr. is barely competitive, Gordon hasn't won a race in so long nobody hates him anymore, Johnson just doesn't move the needle with the average person, Martin has been in and out of semi-retirement, Elliott and Bobby Labonte are pretty in semi-retirement. Tony Stewart doesn't engender the emotions he used to. Who's replacing them? Kevin Harvick, Jamie McMurray, Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch -- they have fan bases (or people who hate them), but they don't have the panache that Dale Sr., Elliott, Gordon, DW and others carried for a generation.

It's like when Rick Mears, Emmo Fittipaldi, Johnny Rutherford, Gordon Johncock, Bobby Rahal, Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Tom Sneva all retired within a couple of years of each other. Even had there been no split, Michael & Al Jr. (and Nigel Mansell) couldn't have carried the series by themselves.

NASCAR is also hurting because it's trying so hard to be relevant that it's relying on gimmicks and tricks to get the casual fan to watch. But the casual fan watches, sees a bunch of guys he doesn't know, sees Jeff Gordon in 17th, Dale Jr. in 23rd and Tony Stewart in 10th and then turns it off.

It needs Danica because it needs the rock star, although the NASCAR hype machine will chew her up and spit her out.

NASCAR is hurting for a lot of reasons -- two being that "country culture" isn't as cool as it was 10 years ago (and my thesis is NASCAR's mainstream popularity was more cultural than sporting) and that much of its core fan base has been the group hit hardest by the recession (and with the least amount of disposable income). The other big one -- and it's killed all forms of racing -- is the ban on tobacco advertising, which used to provide NASCAR, IndyCar and other series with gobs of money.