Sprint Cup Headline News, Commentary and Race Coverage

StubHub.com

Alex Racing Gifts
Racing Gifts-Collectables







Tickets Make Great Gifts

SoldOutEventTickets.com
F1 Tickets
MotoGP Tickets

Click on button to go to
Home Page
Insider Racing News

Insider Racing News
Copyright © 2000-2009. All Rights Reserved.

Sprint Cup® and NASCAR® are registered trademarks of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc. This web site is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by NASCAR®. The official NASCAR® website is "NASCAR® Online" and is located at..www.nascar.com


Coping With The First Week Without Racing

An Opinion


December 2, 2009

By Chuck Abrams

Chuck Abrams

  • As we wait for the annual, often boring Sprint Cup Awards banquet (from Las Vegas this year) we are living our first week without a race. Egads, that just leaves us with watching NASCAR’s nemesis the NFL, the NBA and the NHL.

    With my favorite NHL team sucking wind, I am left to watch the NFL, which is sometimes OK, but not what I crave.

    So far, no big news has come out of the racing ranks this week.

  • Danica Patrick alluded to a major announcement on Monday but all it turned out to be was an IRL promo gimmick. I think many fell under the Danica spell and thought she might actually have important news, like, announcing that she is running a partial Nationwide season.

    But being the pro that she is in keeping her name at the forefront, even though there is no reason for it, Danica had nearly everyone fooled. I guess one can only hope that her crying “wolf” at every opportunity will get old and she will be ignored.

    But, as an attractive female racer that is not too shy to pose in bathing suits in a come hither fashion, the mainstream media is helpless in trying to ignore her.

    Personally, I wish she would lay off her shameless self-promotion and focus on being the best driver that she can be. I mean really, win another race or two and contend for an IRL title, then make us all clamor for you. To me, when she is focused on the “Danica brand” she is less focused on her racing prowess. If she takes care of the latter, the former will follow -- no problem.


  • Ford is supposed to get a new engine this coming year. That could be big news for Roush Racing. After making a big bang at the beginning of the year, Roush quietly let Hendrick, Gibbs and Stewart-Hass take over and make the irrelevant for much of the year.


  • Viewership was down again for Homestead and off for double digits for the entire season. Attendance was also off at the tracks and sponsorship woes seem to be as bad as ever heading into 2010. Blame Johnson, blame the Chase, blame the COT – whatever the reason, NASCAR has its work cut out for it in 2010 to right the ship and retain its shrinking fan base.

    While I have no proof other than anecdotal from race fans and my own opinion, I think the answer is multi-faceted and may have as much to do with its rapid and expansive growth over the last 10 years as it has to do with anything else. In my opinion, NASCAR may be bleeding fans that are more recent recruits who have found NASCAR not as “cool” as it was when they first came into the sport.

    Jimmie Johnson has won four straight titles and has been dominating the sport even in years he was not winning titles. If these new fans were not Johnson fans, they could easily have been turned off. In addition, fewer sponsors has meant a lot of driver movement, some teams have shut down, Toyota has entered the sport, a new car was introduced that has really not helped the racing product and the sport lacks the personality it had prior to 2001.

    And while NASCAR was out tending to these new fans and expanding tracks into non-traditional regions, some hard core fans have felt left behind and have tuned out.

    While a lot of media pundits think this old fan behavior is perhaps asinine and without base, I have heard from a lot of fans who are tired of NASCAR’s recent twist and turns and have tuned out. And while the number of fans who have stayed far outweigh the number of fans who have left, the fact of the matter is something is going on.

    While I have read many media accounts that don’t understand the anti-Johnson feelings, the dislike of Toyota, or the COT (heck, even the old car was really not stock), I don’t think you can discount the way people feel. You may disagree with them and think the reasons do not make much sense, but it is the way they feel and they are taking it out on the sport.

    I understand that the sport was not always the great product we remember from back in the day. I know there were lots of races where there were not that many cars on the lead lap. I remember Daytona races that were not all that exciting and full of single file racing. But a lot of things that made NASCAR the sport that people were drawn to back then and people still like to remember it that way – even when it is not.

    Like I said, it may not make a lot of sense, but it is how people are. We are funny that way.

    Enjoy the awards show. Let me know your thoughts.

    Drive fast, turn left and keep the shiny side up.







    Feel free to send Chuck your thoughts on this and other race topics at Insider Racing News.
    You Can Read Other Articles By Chuck Abrams

    The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.

  • St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

    Finding cures for children with catastrophic
    illnesses
    through research and treatment

    return to top
    Google
     
    affiliate_link