Running 2019 Nascar thread

Should have turned the whole thing over to Lesa - as was often suggested in the garages at the time.

And while it's fair to say that anything rising so far so fast will likely fall, after the huge Nascar popularity bubble ten years ago no one did anything to improve the product or service the audience.

The whole series is not-so-suddenly untenable, from its collapsing tv ratings to the cost of fielding teams to a millennial generation that loves e-sports but cares not at all about real cars or racing.

Couple suggestions:

- cut the number of races in half. The season's too long with too much repetition and too many empty seats

- alternate Cup/Xfinity/truck races week by week as a TV package

- shorter races

- cut ticket prices

- cap the amount any team can spend per car

- loosen restrictions on engine and suspension tech while keeping safety tech uniform across series

- sponsor e-league racing to engage millennials (begun late last year)

- likewise, run half a dozen electric car races each year

- gotta get some folks of color into the cars and into the garages and into the stands

 

Just saw that.

Launched December, 2018. Oy.

 

Interesting piece here. But the likely answer to the rhetorical headline is 'no.'

http://businessnc.com/can-brian-france-reverse-nascars-slowdown/

 

Old. And BZF isn’t in charge anymore; likely won’t be coming back.

 

Let's review the Daytona 500 broadcast in terms of how it impacts the viewer. First couple hours: Cars go very fast in a pack while announcers babble about "stage points." Stage points are an admission that not much happens in the beginning and middle of races. Viewer, well, this viewer, feels free to check out golf and hockey, knowing nothing crucial is liable to happen until later. Last 25 laps of this or any other plate race. Theoretically thrilling, but the near-certainty of a big wreck means the channel-flipper is most likely to see many many replays of the big wreck followed by live shots of parked cars. This goes on for a half hour or more. Hey it's dinner time! Screw this.

 

True, but the problems are the same.

Jim France is "acting" chairman, right? And Mike Helton is vice-chairman.

So there's likely no change in strategy or philosophy imminent.

If BZ doesn't get the seat back, who's next?

And more to the point, what does he or she do?

 

I'm going to say the last 10 laps of the race last night took an hour+.

 

Broadcast didn't end until well after seven.

 

Even the broadcast team seemed exasperated by it.

 

Brian France is no longer part of the operation. At. All.

Jim France is the chairman and CEO of NASCAR; there’s no “acting” about it. In this year’s media guide, BZF is only mentioned in the history section. When it comes to auto racing, Jim’s much more interested and knowledgeable than BZF ever was; he’s publicity-shy but hands-on and has been at the track nearly every weekend. Mike Helton has stepped back, with NASCAR president Steve Phelps (ibid., above) running the day-t0-day operations in the job that used to be Helton’s (there’s no COO right now, with Phelps having hopped from that job to president).

I think the plan is that Ben Kennedy, Lesa France Kennedy’s son and former national series racer himself, is expected to take the reins in a few years. He’s been the GM of the Truck Series for just over a year and also owns a K&N Series team.

 

Thanks for the update, I haven't seen the media guide for a while.

No knock on Jim, but he's the same age Bill Jr was when he died. So they don't have the luxury of time in naming a successor and making a plan.

I wonder if they've given any thought at all to bringing in someone from outside the family.

And I think part of the strategic problem for Nascar is that it works at cross-purposes to ISC. Cutting the season down makes the series more valuable, but makes the tracks less valuable.

And it's certainly worth noting here that every racing series from F1 on down is struggling some of the same struggles.