GM to quit NASCAR

[70 Forest Green Zee]

Anyone who has watched NASCAR for as long as I have knows that it's not the same sport as it once was. Back in the 70's the cars basically used a stock production body and you could actually tell what kind of car a driver was driving. Very few rules back then, the body was required to match the body template for that particular manufacturer, a limit for the maximum cubic inches an engine could displace, and various safety mandates and that was it, anything else goes. The teams that spent the time, money, and the R&D to make their cars go faster were the teams that had winning cars as it should be.

Todays NASCAR there are so many rules and technicalities the best NASCAR teams in the world usually can't get their cars to pass tech inspection on the first try and that's due to NASCAR's obsession with all the cars being identically equal. Today, a car would fail a post race tech inspection if a bolt or nut was out of place by as little as a tenth of an inch and that's just plain ignorant on NASCARS part. Darell Waltrip really said it best... Let's build a car, inspect it, race it for 4 1/2 hours in 110 degree heat on a rough bumpy track, beating and banging with 40 other cars, and then inspect it again and see what moved!

NASCAR better take a good hard look in the stands and see how the popularity is falling, and take the sport back to its roots where the cars used factory parts and resembled factory cars, and get over the obsession that all the cars be exactly equal before it's too late. It will make for better, safer, and more interesting racing and the fan base will grow again. If they don't, I wouldn't be surprised if NASCAR doesn't exisist in another 10 to 15 years.

[SS427]

Originally Posted by 70 Forest Green Zee

NASCAR better take a good hard look in the stands and see how the popularity is falling, and take the sport back to its roots where the cars used factory parts and resembled factory cars, and get over the obsession that all the cars be exactly equal before it's too late. It will make for better, safer, and more interesting racing and the fan base will grow again. If they don't, I wouldn't be surprised if NASCAR doesn't exisist in another 10 to 15 years.

Your whole post was well stated but with regards to the last part, I think we are way too late to fix this problem. The holes are too deep and I don't think we can ever climb out of them. It is just not fun to watch or participate in any more and there is just way too much greed involved. That will never change and that is what governs this sport like so many other sports.

[x33rs]

Originally Posted by 70 Forest Green Zee

Anyone who has watched NASCAR for as long as I have knows that it's not the same sport as it once was. Back in the 70's the cars basically used a stock production body and you could actually tell what kind of car a driver was driving. Very few rules back then, the body was required to match the body template for that particular manufacturer, a limit for the maximum cubic inches an engine could displace, and various safety mandates and that was it, anything else goes. The teams that spent the time, money, and the R&D to make their cars go faster were the teams that had winning cars as it should be.

Todays NASCAR there are so many rules and technicalities the best NASCAR teams in the world usually can't get their cars to pass tech inspection on the first try and that's due to NASCAR's obsession with all the cars being identically equal. Today, a car would fail a post race tech inspection if a bolt or nut was out of place by as little as a tenth of an inch and that's just plain ignorant on NASCARS part. Darell Waltrip really said it best... Let's build a car, inspect it, race it for 4 1/2 hours in 110 degree heat on a rough bumpy track, beating and banging with 40 other cars, and then inspect it again and see what moved!

NASCAR better take a good hard look in the stands and see how the popularity is falling, and take the sport back to its roots where the cars used factory parts and resembled factory cars, and get over the obsession that all the cars be exactly equal before it's too late. It will make for better, safer, and more interesting racing and the fan base will grow again. If they don't, I wouldn't be surprised if NASCAR doesn't exisist in another 10 to 15 years.

Eh, it will never be stock cars like they had up through the 70's. That's when safety wasn't shoved down our throats. Totally different today. As much as I'd like to see it, that's just not going to happen. They can't take a production car today and make it safe enough without starting from scratch. It's not a reality anymore, and hasn't been for decades.

The reason they fail tech isn't because of Nascar's obsession with the rules, it's because the teams are pushing the rules. They all do it, only some get caught. Not much different in NHRA.

[70 Forest Green Zee]

There's no real reason that I can see why NASCAR can't go back to stock bodied cars with todays safety mandates and have a car as safe as todays car. The 2 biggest improvements to safety over the years are the Hans device, and safer barrier walls that all tracks have implemented and that wouldn't and shouldn't change.

Lee...just how much longer do you think FOX and NBC will be able to afford to pay those kind of fees to NASCAR? Major sponsors WILL notice that the stands are more than half empty and also take a good hard look at TV ratings and find that no one is watching any more. Major companies who spend millions in advertising on weekly NASCAR events will find that it's no longer profitable to advertise during a NASCAR event and quit doing it. You know as well as I do the money doesn't come from the TV networks, it comes from sponsorship dollars, and when sponsorship of NASCAR events is no longer profitable, companies will quit doing it. You are right, the writing is on the wall, just not as you describe it bud!

[70 Forest Green Zee]

In conjunction with my post above... keep in mind that the 2020 NASCAR season will be the first season since Winston was the title sponsor for the cup series, that the cup series will not have a single title sponsor. Monster Energy pulled out after only 3 or 4 years and have taken on a much smaller sponsorship role for the 2020 season. Why? Because it's not profitable! 4 individual companies have grouped together and have assumed that role. What does that tell you???

[Late BrakeU2]

Originally Posted by 70 Forest Green Zee

NASCAR better take a good hard look in the stands and see how the popularity is falling

They know Randy, that's why they instruct camera operators to keep the shots as tight as possible to avoid grandstands, and why they paint the seats different colors so when they pan at speed it creates the illusion of a packed crowds. All tracks can't be Bristol, maybe in the end they will go back to being a regional sport. The big ad money is looking elsewhere these days. How many decades was R.J. Reynolds the series sponsor? How many title sponsors have they had since? The ratings are at historic lows..They are out of creative bullets,young people just aren't in to cars at the levels necessary to sustain interest like our gen is/was. JMHO