NASCAR is DEAD

selmaborntidefan

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It's been analyzed to death. There are many reasons for NASCAR's demise, most of them self-inflicted.

But let me point this out: I think one of the earlier posts said they'd downsized Talladega to 80,000. My goodness.

On the day of Bobby Allison's infamous fence crash thirty years ago, there were 135,000 people in the stands - that's back before the NASCAR boom of the 90s. That means they're down to just more than 1/2 of who was attending when nobody knew who they were.

Reasons?

Car of Tomorrow (they're all the same car now)
Jimmie Johnson winning all those titles without much competition
Changing the rules every time you turn around
Some of their needed driver safety rules (the race back to the line) has made races less competitive
Replacing tracks in your home base (Rockingham, N Wilkesboro) with tracks out West (KC, Chicago, California, TX)
Getting rid of long-term traditions (Southern 500 Labor Day weekend)
Boring races at the newer tracks
It costs too much to actually attend a race
Larger than life personalities from the glory years retired from racing or died
Fox Sports won the contract then put a bunch of races on FX, which not everybody got back in the day
The fad phase is over (like the hula hoop)

There are other reasons but those are many of them.
 

Bamabuzzard

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Where ever there's BBQ, Bourbon & Football
Larger than life personalities from the glory years retired from racing or died
Fox Sports won the contract then put a bunch of races on FX, which not everybody got back in the day
The fad phase is over (like the hula hoop)

There are other reasons but those are many of them.
I believe this is a big reason as well. People and their personalities/persona make sports entertaining. Many times a big component of the attraction isn't about the game. It's who's participating. I remember working in an ice plant in college and all those guys were big nascar fans. They talked more about the feuds, fights, and rivalries than they did about the actual races. But it seems there's no "characters" anymore in NASCAR. Dale Sr was a cocky son of a gun with a spirit of competitiveness that was unmatched. It's almost like NASCAR has discouraged individuality and put in rules to not allow all the unique personalities to show.

It's dang communism I tell ya.
 
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willie52

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Jan 25, 2008
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Arab, AL
Between the cost of gas, increased ticket prices, attempt to make all teams equal and a lot of stupid rules there was no way to go but down. I've been going to Talladega for over 10 years and have watched the slow decline. When they removed the back stretch grandstands, that took about a 1/3 of the seating and replaced it with more spots for the high end RV owners (Frontrunners Club) I believe. It didn't help and everyone complained when you get the single file drive around for 50 laps or more so people got tired of that and quit coming. They do that in the short period for the drivers to sort of take a break. With the new segment racing it seems to have improved most races as the drivers are racing for points to get into the championship run.

If you think about the engineering that goes into maximizing the cars performance it really is amazing. They drive a 3500 pound vehicle 180 - 200 mph a couple of inches off the bumper of another vehicle and design it so you have enough down force to keep it on the track. It's when someone makes a right that things get interesting. We like the people we meet also, not like watching it at home. Most are there to watch the race, socialize or just hang out and as some people have judged who watches it I would suggest go see one live. We stay on the infield at Talladega and the people are great. You won't know if they make $15,000 a year or $$15 million it's just people having a good time. AJ's grandfather is normally in the spots across from us and we see AJ when he is not playing or at camp. I don't consider them to be uneducated and there a many more there that own their own companies but they never speak of it. All in all it isn't what it used to be but then nothing is.
 
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Bama Reb

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Nov 2, 2005
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I'm not trying to go totally off the tracks here, but another reason was when NASCAR decided to ban Confederate flags from their tracks. That had a dramatic effect locally at Talladega. The loss of a huge fanbase resulted in not only empty seats in the stands but additional loss of revenue at both the concessions and souvenir stands.

Personally, not only do I not attend the races, I don't even watch them on TV anymore.
 
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GreatMarch

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Real men? I see 2 babies who can't get a grip on their own emotions. Why is being a "real man" giving in the basest of instincts?
Something tells me that you don't know the story behind that picture? Bobby Allison and Cale Yarbrough were a couple of tough men. Donnie Allison, I could never call him tough nor a man.

Those were also the days when every race team was not in Charlotte. You could actually go to Hueytown and watch the Allisons and the Bonnetts working and building the cars they were going to race in, whether that was at a Winston Cup event or some local track like BIR on Friday night. Built the cars in their backyard garages.
 

Crimson1967

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I find it very odd one wouldn't go to a NASCAR race if they couldn't wave a Confederate flag.
 

Intl.Aperture

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Aug 12, 2015
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Something tells me that you don't know the story behind that picture? Bobby Allison and Cale Yarbrough were a couple of tough men. Donnie Allison, I could never call him tough nor a man.

Those were also the days when every race team was not in Charlotte. You could actually go to Hueytown and watch the Allisons and the Bonnetts working and building the cars they were going to race in, whether that was at a Winston Cup event or some local track like BIR on Friday night. Built the cars in their backyard garages.
I did not know the history behind the picture. Maybe they were great guys every moment for the rest of their lives but they were big babies with no control over their own emotions in that moment. Hardly an apt picture to accompany the statement, "When men were men."

It's cool they worked on their own cars and that the teams were spread out.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

RTR91

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Nov 23, 2007
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I'm not trying to go totally off the tracks here, but another reason was when NASCAR decided to ban Confederate flags from their tracks. That had a dramatic effect locally at Talladega. The loss of a huge fanbase resulted in not only empty seats in the stands but additional loss of revenue at both the concessions and souvenir stands.

Personally, not only do I not attend the races, I don't even watch them on TV anymore.
My dad has worked every race at Dega for over 15 years now. Attendance was declining well before the confederate flag decision.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

bama2112

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Nov 19, 2006
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Real men? I see 2 babies who can't get a grip on their own emotions. Why is being a "real man" giving in the basest of instincts?
You know forget it you response shows me that you do not have a clue as to what NASCAR was. What it is now should be removed from TV.
 
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bama2112

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Nov 19, 2006
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It's been analyzed to death. There are many reasons for NASCAR's demise, most of them self-inflicted.

But let me point this out: I think one of the earlier posts said they'd downsized Talladega to 80,000. My goodness.

On the day of Bobby Allison's infamous fence crash thirty years ago, there were 135,000 people in the stands - that's back before the NASCAR boom of the 90s. That means they're down to just more than 1/2 of who was attending when nobody knew who they were.

Reasons?

Car of Tomorrow (they're all the same car now)
Jimmie Johnson winning all those titles without much competition
Changing the rules every time you turn around
Some of their needed driver safety rules (the race back to the line) has made races less competitive
Replacing tracks in your home base (Rockingham, N Wilkesboro) with tracks out West (KC, Chicago, California, TX)
Getting rid of long-term traditions (Southern 500 Labor Day weekend)
Boring races at the newer tracks
It costs too much to actually attend a race
Larger than life personalities from the glory years retired from racing or died
Fox Sports won the contract then put a bunch of races on FX, which not everybody got back in the day
The fad phase is over (like the hula hoop)

There are other reasons but those are many of them.
I agree with you, with the advent of FOX and NBC paying billions, they forced Nascar into what they thought it should be. Go back and watch some of the 80's ESPN races. The cars back then has factory bumpers and windsheilds. At least I could look at a Buick, or Chevy or Ford and know why type of car it was.

The paradigm has changed Millenniums dont have the same love affair that baby boomers had with autos.

Nascar was a Southern sport, sure they raced in Riverside, and Michigan, Dover and Ponoco. TV tried to make it into something it wasnt , and the France family was so greedy for money they allowed it to happen.

Its so broken it will never be fixed. I watched Bill Elliott make up 2 laps at Talladega to win the race the year he qualified at 212. Yes I have pics of Bobby Allisons car after he took out the fence, and Davey Allison was the first rookie to win a Nascar race the day his dad took the fence out. You can't write stuff like that it has to happen. I totally agree Nascar is dead but the Alabama Gang has written itself into the history of Nascar.
 

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