re: Nascar is about to die

Every point you listed is why I don't make it a priority to watch anymore. I still will follow it though. I miss the days of if you aren't cheating you aren't trying. The contact sport seems a memory. Watching on TV cannot compare to being live or the pageantry of the track on race day.

But another mentioned already is the car culture. There isn't one anymore. Millenials prefer uber over ownership. Hot rods aren't as popular before.

I have never paid attention to NASCAR, so I have no idea. My sister and her bf are my gague. For years they loved Jimmie Johnson and they would go to at least one race a year...but I haven't heard a peep out of either of them about any of it in about 3 years, so that seems to correspond with the decline everyone is referencing. I guess I'll ask them why they aren't interested any more.

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Its got to be the most boring thing I have ever seen televised. A bunch of cars go in a big circle for several hours. How it ever got on TV in the first place is the mystery.

Now if they had giant Mad Max like weapons that would cut up the other cars I might watch, but .....

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Thanks for your contribution to the thread. You may not have ever liked NASCAR, but apparently millions do (or did) love it given how much it challenged the NFL in both spectator numbers and in TV ratings at one point. Plus, more Fortune 500 companies have become sponsors in NASCAR than any other sport.

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Well lets hear your suggestions, then.

And, no, "let's just get rid of the Chase," isn't going to fly

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Get rid of the chase.

Make half the cars run clockwise around the upper line and make the other half run counterclockwise around the lower line. At the same time. Then switch them for the second leg. Then for the third leg, let the top 20 racers pick direction and line, and let everyone else do the opposite.

Makes as much sense as the chase and the "3 leg" race thing, IMO.

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Get rid of the chase.

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Nope. Try again.

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Nope. Try again.

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OK, but last race should be ONLY the 4 cars involved. Of course, that would get kinda boring on a mile and a half oval, so run it at Bristol instead, on the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

My biggest problem is that they call this a sport. You're driving around a circle. If that's the case my grand baby is a hall of fame candidate

Go back to spoilers and air damn, and make the damn cars look more like the street version. Give a little leeway on body templates. Not a lot, just a little. The creativity has been legislated out of the sport. No one can find the "unfair advantage", because it would be illegal.

This belongs on the outdoors board not sports

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What was that racing game where you had missiles and shite like that?

That's what NASCAR needs.

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Haven't seen this mentioned, but a big killer was Brian France inviting Big Corporate into the sport.

We went from automotive, alcohol, and tobacco sponsors to pharmaceuticals, financial, and general business sponsors. Winston, Camel, Budweiser, Busch, GM Goodwrench, and Havoline were replaced by Nextel, Cingular, Viagra, and GoDaddy.com.

They want spokespeople. They don't want redneck racecar drivers doing redneck things. But that was want the core audience wants. The fun in NASCAR was just as much about the personalities of the drivers as it was the action on the track. Earnhardt, Waltrip, tAllisons, Pettys...heck even B and C-level drivers like Harry Gant and Jimmy fricking Spencer had a lot of personable characteristics (or where characters themselves).

The core fans don't relate to a driver who sounds like the spokesman fast-reading all the side effects in a drug infomercial. The casual fan is fickle. You cater to them at your own demise. That's what Brian France tried to do and it's blown up in his face. This has always been a relatively regional sport (or at least a regional fanbase). Dumping on them was a stupid thing to do. There's a reason why Dale Jr was always the most popular driver when he was finishing 15th or so every week the last few years. The rest of the drivers were as personable as dried dog poop.

The other thing was killing off tracks with a lot of their own history/character in favor of the standard 1.5 mile tri-oval. They did it to maximize stadium seating at venues with large population centers (Chicago, Kansas to name two). Gone are the days of great tracks like Riverside and Rockingham. A variety of tracks to put the drivers through their paces was needed and NASCAR tossed them out. It feels like half the races are at 1.5 mile tracks. Same action, same cars up front because two or three of them have that type of racing figured out...gets boring to watch. It also doesn't help that these venues price gouge the hell out of those who bother to go to those races.

Plus, this Chase thing is beyond stupid. It's just the shite sprinkles on dog barf the Frances slung around.