November 22, 2009
By Matthew Pizzolato
Matthew Pizzolato
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If it's not broke, don't fix it. In retrospect, that old saying carries a lot of weight for NASCAR officials. Attendance figures at all tracks are estimated to be down 15 percent, not to mention television ratings have dropped and many teams are suffering from a pronounced lack of sponsorship dollars that may very well result in several of them closing up shop.
The lagging economy has been blamed for the drop in NASCAR's ratings. Sure, the economy is part of the reason but there is a lot more to it than that. The economy has started to improve, it's certainly in not as bad a shape as it was a year ago, yet the ratings haven't gone back up with it. Why?
NASCAR introduced the Car of Tomorrow and killed their racing product. The only advantage to the COT is the added driver safety features the car has provided. Surely, there would have been ways to incorporate those features into the old car without having to start over from scratch.
There was nothing wrong with the racing that the old car provided for the fans. Why did NASCAR see fit to "fix" it with a totally new racing platform? It makes no logical sense. Neither does that fact that NASCAR officials decide to change the things that aren't broken, but don't make changes in areas that need to be changed.
NASCAR has received a lot of criticism lately because of the recent accidents at Talladega, especially from their drivers. And it’s a miracle that dozens of people weren't killed when Carl Edwards hit the catch fence at the end of the April race this season. Seven fans were injured with two of them going to the hospital.
The restrictor plate races are the most popular with the fans and garner the highest television ratings, so are making changes to those races or eliminating them from the schedule on the agenda? Absolutely not, according to Brian France, NASCAR chairman and CEO.
"Those are our signature races, no question about it -- starting with the Daytona 500, going to the Pepsi 400 and going to Talladega twice," France was quoted as saying in a Joe Menzer article for nascar.com. "Those are the highest-rated television races, and we've got to make certain the racing is safe for sure. And then we need to make sure it's a typical Daytona-Talladega kind of race, and that's what we work on."
Such an attitude makes it appear that NASCAR officials care more about keeping what ratings they have then they do about driver safety.
If it's not broke, don't fix it. However, if something is not working properly, then changes need to be made. The COT is broke and needs to be fixed and so does the racing at Talladega.
There was nothing wrong with fan attendance at the tracks or with NASCAR's television ratings until the Car of Tomorrow was introduced. Instead of sticking their heads in the sand and waiting until something tragic happens, its time for NASCAR officials to wake up. The ratings aren't going to come back on their own.
If you would like to learn more about Matthew, please check out his web site at matthew-pizzolato.com.
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.