Fans Sound off about NA$CAR

[Racergiant]

I blatantly borrowed (stole) this from another site....

By RICK MINTER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 07/21/06

The experts had their chances. When asked why television ratings for Nextel Cup races in metro Atlanta dropped 28 percent in one year, they provided a number of reasons: weather backing up races at Atlanta and Talladega from Sunday to Monday; record ratings the year before that no sport could sustain; competition from other events – the Olympics, the NBA playoffs, the World Cup.

Metro area fans didn't buy it. In almost 100 e-mails and blogs, they said NASCAR is losing its audience for other reasons.

Staff writer Rick Minter breaks down the top five:

1. THE SOUTHERN EXODUS

Atlanta fans say they haven't necessarily tuned out NASCAR, but they believe NASCAR has tuned them out with obvious efforts to move the sport away from its longtime Southern roots.

Fans are still angry about races being moved from established Southern tracks to newer facilities. They're hurt that North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham, N.C., and North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway have been closed and that the Southern 500 no longer is run at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, which now has only one Cup race.

They believe the sport used to be about racing. Now it has become about something else.

2. TV MOVES FROM GRITS TO GLITZ

Fans think the television broadcasts and events are trying to reach a different audience. If there has to be pre-race entertainment, they would rather see familiar country-music entertainers rather than musical acts such as Fergie (right) of the Black Eyed Peas, who sang the national anthem at the Daytona 500 this year. And they would rather see more racing, less glitz and fewer commercials.

Take away the smoke-filled driver intros, such as at the all-star race in Charlotte, and keep the cameras out of the studios and on the racing.

"They've gone Hollywood on us," wrote Eugene Rhodes of Roswell. "Today the race is shown to start at a certain time, and low and behold, we are given an hour to an hour and a half of Hollywood-style entertainment."

3. TERRIBLE STARTING TIMES

Changing the starting times of races to accommodate viewers elsewhere in the country has broken the habits of viewers in places such as Atlanta.

"Races used to start about 1 p.m. on Sunday," Gerald Woodall of Acworth wrote. "Viewers had just enough time to get home from church or over their hangover (LOL  Too Funny) and it was time for the race. Watching the race was a habit, tradition, a way of life.

"By moving the starting time around, the rhythm has been broken and probably cannot be gotten back. Now, fans have discovered other things to do. They have lost the 'I don't want to miss a lap all year' mentality."

Fans have learned they can live without the sport.

4. TOO MANY DRIVER CHANGES

Racing hasn't been the same since Bill Elliott and other established Southern stars, including the late Dale Earnhardt, stopped winning. And the constant turnover of drivers has been confusing and a distraction.

"Older drivers that we liked are taking a back seat, and the young ones are coming so fast the fan base keeps changing," said Tom Hering of Norcross.

And, as Hering pointed out, a driver's true feelings rarely come out anymore because NASCAR frowns on confrontation.

"After driving 400 laps in a circle and getting wrecked, who is going to say, 'Golly, gee, he didn't mean that.'

"I don't think so."

5. THE SANITIZATION OF THE SPORT

Fans believe NASCAR has "cleaned up" the racing too much.

Charlie Edwards of Fayetteville said he doesn't like caution flags for pieces of debris on the track that don't seem to pose much of a hazard. And he was particularly turned off to hear on a recent broadcast that NASCAR was thinking of bringing Tony Stewart (right) to pit road because of a tire rub.

"NASCAR's become the baby sitter," he said. "It would have been part of the show if Stewart had stayed out there and blown his tire. It's not racing like we grew up to see in NASCAR."

[/size]

--In my opinion, this article is 100% accurate. We here on Frontstretch have pointed out just about everything that we think is wrong with the series these days. I'm glad I'm not alone in feeling the way I do about it.

[skool]

Good Job Racergiant!

But you know what? You needn't have gone to another site to steal that story! There was a much closer version a month and a half earlier, right here at FS.com!

http://www.frontstretch.com/jmeyer/3703/

Read the comments from that article and compare them with the reasons mentioned in the Atlanta Journal article!
And thats not the first time I written about that very same thing, but I am lazy and didn't want to go back any further in the archives!

Why is it that an ordinary long haired country boy like myself can see the future of NASCAR (as with all normal fans that have common sense) but the idiots that run it cannot?
Sometimes I almost wish they WOULD go to pay-per-view for NASCAR so Brian France could REALLY see the finger that the fans are giving him and ISC.

[Chris]

Yep,.. you guys are right...
I read Ricks article when It came out,... Wished I had a way to post it,... never knew It was posted on the web.  Glad you found it and posted it here RG.
Rick writes some good articles,.. and ain't afraid to tell it like it is...

[Yatesguy]

Gosh..I feel so......alone!

I LOVE NASCAR! In spite of all the changes, I KEEP WATCHING! What the hell's wrong with me? If they make a change..I..just..ADAPT! I learn the new times and the new driver's names and just keep watching like nothing ever happened. Am I going to be stricken with this disease for the rest of my life? I've tried F-1, IRL, ARCA, I even go to my local tracks once in a while..nothing works! I keep coming back to that damned NASCAR. How do they do it? According to some, they've been trying to ruin the sport for years now and it just keeps getting BIGGER! More and more teams want to compete, TV networks keep fighting over broadcast rights! I try to hate the COT like everyone says they do, but somewhere in my head this voice keeps saying.."~It will reduce aero and make for better racing~". How am I every going to learn how to hate this sport if they keep doing stuff like that? Is there some kind of electro-shock therapy that will make me normal?

Maybe someday...I'll get old and grumpy, forget some new kid's name, or miss a start time, have a flashback of North Wilkboro or something, and find a way to bad-mouth this sport. But I am far too young and in love to do that now.

Y'all can go back to your NASCAR bashing now, don't mind me, I've gotta go make my fantasy picks and figure out what kind of dip my equally diseased friends are going to have for the Brickyard (that's a boring race to you guys, right?...See, I'm hopeless, I love this race)     

       

[skool]

Yeah, it IS the only game in town, ain't that right!?

I like beer too, but I don't drink as much as I used too. It just does not have the magic that it seemed to have when I was younger.
Beer, NASCAR....same thing.

I don't spend as much money on beer, and I don't spend as much on NASCAR, but I do still have a few while I watch the TNT  Sunday presentation of commercials. 

Brain France for President!

[Chris]

SKOOL,.. you said a mouthful...

I do still have a few while I watch the TNT  Sunday presentation of commercials.

This is ONE of the things that has changed since the "old" days and WHY the "Southern" folks have quit watching and supporting Nascar...
Yeah... folks still watch it,.. but then again lke you said,.. what choice do we have.

Nascar USED to be about the RACING,.. NOW it is about the COMMERCIALS,.. and also about the Drama (and if there isn't any they'll try to create some)
Hell Brian even went so far as to QUIT calling it a SPORT to start calling it ENTERTAINMENT

You know "entertainment" is something like going to a concert, a play, a musical, the theatre, or the like...
a SPORT is where you go to watch ATHLETES use their athletic ability, skill, and mental and physical toughness against others in a competition. (be it individual or a team)

Well uuhhh geee.... Now which one describes a Nascar race more....
I think it would fall WAY more toward a SPORT,.. no matter what Little King Brian chooses to call it.

[Yatesguy]

"a SPORT is where you go to watch ATHLETES use their athletic ability, skill, and mental and physical toughness against others in a competition. (be it individual or a team)"
 
"Yeah... folks still watch it,.. but then again lke you said,.. what choice do we have."

You have plenty of choices..IRL, Champ, F-1, ARCA, not to mention Baseball, Tennis, Golf, and lots more. Why you could even put an end to your agony by..oh say...cleaning up parks in your area on Sundays or something, but no...I'm assumng that with all there is to do in the world these days, you make a conscious decision to watch the "entertainment" NASCAR provides, week after week. Probably with a notepad nearby to jot down everything you hate about it. It just doesn't make sense to me.

BTW, Chris, I mean no disrespect for you or your own personal opinions, this attack was not levelled at you, it is meant for all NASCAR nay-sayers in general. Thanks for letting me use your words in my rant.

Must be the heat     

[Chris]

Actually,... to be 100% honest...
GENERALLY,.... most EVERY WEEK
I turn on the pre-race show to see whats up, anyone going to the back, whatever...
Watch about the first 20 laps or so,.. and curl up for a good NAP,.. sleep threw MOST the whole thing...
The drone of the motors, is a REAL GOOD thing to put you to sleep...
ABOUT THE ONLY thing that has kept me interested the last 5 or 6 years in this fantasy pool I run...

Usually I wake up about 30 minute or so before the race is over and see how I am doing in my Fantasy pool...
Pretty much THATS how much I think of the sorry coverage that FOX / NBC puts out these days.

When it's a "SPORT".... and COVERED as such... it should keep you on the edge of your seat,... not put you to sleep with commercial after boring commercial, missing restarts, having announcers that 'favor' certain drivers (whether they are running up front or not), missing accidents and not coming back from commercials when they occur, missing pit stops that effect the new running order, etc etc... how long a list do I need.
The TV coverage just SUCKS<.. and thats the NICEST think I can say about it.
It's no wonder long time fans are tuning it out.