If it ain't broke, fix it anyway: NASCAR 2017 Thread

Actually, that might make things a little worse. I'm guessing spots on those shows are throw-ins to whatever package the advertisers purchased, or worse, make goods. Anyone paying for those isn't paying full card.

FOX and NBC still have to have production staff and talent, plus sets and studios. I'm certain the Golf Channel has to be a tax dodge for Universal, because there's no way the production costs are covered by ads for swing aids and miracle wedges. I still remember all the Vermont Teddy Bear and Shari's Berries ads that used to run on SPEED during Speedweeks because they couldn't find anyone willing to pay rate sheet for practices or the Twins.

When I see a Firestone or Verizon ad on an IndyCar broadcast, I wonder if that's just part of the sponsorship deal or there's actual money trading hands.

 

Legend Robert Yates, one of the best engine builders in motorsports, died.


Championship owner, soon-to-be NASCAR Hall of Famer Robert Yates dies at 74

 

When NASCAR finally switched from the antiquated carburetors to fuel injection, I had the opportunity to sit down with Robert and Doug Yates to discuss the transition. I was nervous and a bit in awe of two men who knew more about carburetors than anyone not named Holley, and worried about making a fool of myself. The closest I had come to their expertise was taking one apart in high school auto shop. Instead, they were incredibly helpful and patiently explained enough of the details for me to grasp a very technical subject. Robert was nearly deaf -- comes with tuning racing engines for more than four decades -- but was as nice as could be. After the story posted, Doug would seek me out in the garage area whenever he saw me just to say hello and thank me. A tremendous family and cornerstone of what NASCAR became.

 

Used to enjoy the ... Texaco? Valvoline? ... commercials with Robert Yates. As if that's the kind of oil they use in those engines ...

 

Actually, they do. But it's definitely not the same stuff you can buy off the shelf for your passenger car. Here's a very well-written article explaining the differences:

http://www.enginelabs.com/engine-tech/racing-oil-vs-street-oil-know-the-differences/

 

Eye-opening piece (to me anyway) on the state of NASCAR from Jenna Fryer. Eye-opening, because I haven't really paid attention to NASCAR for about 2 years.

As Sponsorship Dollars Dwindle, NASCAR’s Stars Fade | News, Sports, Jobs - The Intelligencer

I don't like the product. I HATE(d) the Chase format.

 

When there isn't a ride for a guy like Kenseth, you know things are going to shit.

 

The money is tight for sponsorships, but I wonder if this wouldn't be the time for a new series to take on NASCAR. Cheaper tickets, fewer races, maybe start with spec cars, hit up some of the tracks that now only have one Cup race but often put on a good show (I'm thinking of Atlanta). ISC tracks would be out, but there are still a bunch of tracks that could offer up a date: Atlanta, Kentucky, Charlotte, Dover, New Hampshire, Sonoma, Road America/Mid-Ohio, Gateway, Milwaukee ... you know the drill.

 

If this keeps up NASCAR wives may have to work.

 

Just looked to see what bumbling idiot at NBC Sports signed off on the 10-year NASCAR deal in 2013, when the sport was already in freefall. It was Mark Lazarus, who used to be my boss at Turner, and a really smart guy otherwise. Boy, did Lazarus ever guess badly there. And NASCAR's Steve Herbst apparently can sell ice cubes to Eskimos.

Every move Brian France has made since 2003 has bit him in the behind, and yet he's made a fortune off of gullible TV people -- first FOX, then ESPN and now Universal.

It took NASCAR 30 years to switch to unleaded gas, and eventually ethanol blend, and 40 years to discover fuel injection. NASCAR execs are still in denial about V-8 engines on a 1960 Ford Fairlane chassis, running mind-numbingly long races twice a year at the same 21 venues on the same 40 weeks. Combustion-engine racing worldwide is in jeopardy. But no series is more dependent on and less able to evolve its long-term strategy than the one in Daytona Beach.