October 15, 2010
By Rebecca Gladden
I remember a few years ago seeing comedian Tim Allen talking about watching TV coverage of a breaking story on one of the cable news networks. Allen joked that he'd suffered whiplash while trying to follow all the images, picture-in-pictures, split screens, scrolling headlines, tickers, crawls, splashes, and all sorts of frenzied graphics competing with each other for space on the screen and for the attention of viewers at home.
While he was describing this experience, Allen moved his head frantically in all directions, recreating the scene in his living room as he tried to visualize all those words and images simultaneously. I laughed out loud watching him because I could totally relate. As one of my kids is fond of saying, "It's funny because it's true."
I mention this now because I've been wondering lately whether Tim's experience provides an apt analogy to what is going on in NASCAR today -- that is, simply put, overload. Too much hype, too many things to look at, too many sideshows and distractions, all pulling the poor fans' attention in divergent and conflicting directions.
Previously, I'd been of the mindset that there's no such thing as 'too much' NASCAR. But I've been hearing rumblings lately from the fan base that it's become increasingly challenging for even the most dedicated fan to keep up with everything that's going on in the sport on a daily basis.
It seems each day brings new driver and team news, sanctioning body press releases, sponsor announcements and contests, statistical data and analyses, and all sorts of pertinent and not-so-pertinent information, coming at us rapid-fire on TV, radio, satellite radio, via websites, email, message boards, text alerts, and, of course, Twitter and Facebook.
Keeping abreast of it all can be overwhelming, if not impossible. Trying to filter out the noise and focus on the fundamentals is a full-time job. Invariably, excessive hype leads to letdown, as I wrote in a 2009 article, "When the Expectation Exceeds the Excitement".
The problem with overexposure is that eventually, many fans throw up their arms in frustration and walk away, rather than face the exhaustion of trying to keep up.
Is it time to dial back the hype and put the emphasis back where it belongs -- on racing and race fans? Should NASCAR implement a less-is-more philosophy and bring into focus what really matters?
I recently received an email from one fan who thinks so. He's been following the sport since the late 1960s, when, as he said, "the only exposure to NASCAR was ABC's Wide World of Sports."
He wrote, "Why not cut back the schedule, weed out the boring cookie-cutter tracks, go back to Rockingham … Make your product wanted, not expected. Make it something to look forward to, not just, 'Oh, there's a race on, I'll watch it for a bit.' Shorten the races -- not every one needs to be 500 miles or 4 hours long. I feel that fans have been entitled a bit too much by this new wave of instant info."
For the past few years, NASCAR has talked about a desire to get back to basics, and the sport took at least one meaningful step in that direction with its have-at-it directive at Daytona this year.
But much more needs to be done to restore stock-car racing to its former glory by refocusing on what's essential. It is said that the sport can't exist without sponsors, but will sponsors continue to invest in a sport with a dwindling fan base, sluggish ticket sales, and alarmingly low TV ratings?
NASCAR needs to focus on the fundamentals now more than ever before.
And, when you get down to it, nothing is more fundamental than the fans.
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