Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

Well if we are going to air out the grievances with NASCAR I may chime in a bit though this is a sprint car forum....

Go back to normal start times (1pm on Sundays) I'm always looking for a race then and as a causal fan of it's not on by then I'm done and on to other things for my day. Saturday night shows don't work. I am always at a race track on Saturdays from March-September. 
 

Leave it on regular TV and stick with one channel. I have rabbit ears and watch on Fox for the first half of the season. Get most races except a few pesky ones on FS1. Don't have it and the plan is to never pay for TV in my life. That's what commercials are for. (Sorry for the tangent) Then we go go over to NBC which blows my left... you know what. It's on NBCsports network like 50+ percent of the time. After multiple weeks of causally flipping channels on a Sunday with no race I'm over it. Out of the groove and rarely return once Football starts for that very reason.

The "Chase"... cancel that along with the "playoffs". Idk what kind of hot garbage that is but it does not depict the best overall car for the year end of story. Materialized drama doesn't have the same effect as natural drama.

Track selection - getting better

Cost to attend - needs work

Tic tack penalties like uncontrolled tires - clean it up. NASCAR officials aren't the show

Stages - indifferent

I can go on and on but must stop. To bring it back to sprints, the only way I go to Bristol is if it has sprints on dirt and then you can bet your bottom dollar I will be in those stands.

I agree with everything except for the Kyle Larson portion.  No one person is bigger than the sport.  NASCAR went on after Richard Petty, it went on after Dale Earnhardt, it went on after Jeff Gordon and it will continue to go on when Jimmie Johnson leaves.  Those are the most successful drivers in NASCAR ever, and the sport has survived.  NASCAR doesn't need Kyle Larson, Kyle Larson needs NASCAR to maintain the lifestyle he'd like to live.  I'm sure Antonio Brown felt the NFL needed him but within about 6 weeks he went from being considered the best receiver in the NFL to nobody wanting anything to do with him.  The Antonio Brown and Kyle Larson comparison is apples to oranges though.  But my point is nobody "deserves" anything.  Is Kyle Larson's penalty fair?  In my opinion, no, it was the worst timing for him to say that.  But I don't care what anyone says, Kyle Larson is not innocent.  The penalty he's paying seems to be extreme but it was his own doing.

I agree with everything you say here.  As for the TV portion.  I understand why half of those races are on NBCSN.  Sunday Night football is on, which is king.  However if they stuck with a 1:00 start time the race would be over by the time Sunday night football started.  Personally, I wish once the NFL season started they would just have Saturday night races.  I know college football is on but that would be much easier to compete with than the NFL.  No matter what anyone else thinks, the NFL is king,  I think there's only been one time in history the NFL has been beat.

As for the sprint car racing portion.  I also heard it was a nightmare to bring the dirt in and get it out.  From a business standpoint I would think if you're going to go through that much work, I would think you would invite any dirt racing series you could for however long the dirt is on the track.  So if I had to guess both the outlaws and allstars will race there

Yep, the popularity of NASCAR has fallen off of a cliff.   I don't watch it any more and in recent years was only watching because of Larson, especially after Smoke retired.   This is an attempt at regaining some of the fans who have left recently.  It may work with some people, but it likely won't with me or any of the other seven guys in my family who love racing.  The upcoming changes in the cars and the more recent trend to switching to road courses instead of ovals won't help them either.   It's no secret that they are steering it in a direction to be like IMSA, which they also own.   How many of us on here watch IMSA?   I don't see that going well for them.  

Boring, that's what you get when you turn on a nascar race today. The cars are getting to the point that you need to have the best engineers on your team or your going to be a also ran. 

Will bristol take some of that away ? I'm sure it will. The track itself is going to be harder than concrete and a 1 lane Choo Choo race. If they finish it I will be surprised. 

Nascrap if you really wanna get it right. Park the grocery getters, and put them in cars that look like dirt cars. You can have there fab'd chassis and windshields,  huh windshields on dirt, who would have ever seen that coming. Open up those fenderwells, let them do some bumping and banging, the place would go nuts.

In the end I know nascrap is going to screw this up. I say it's a complete disaster and they either cut the race short or nobodies going to be left on the track.

Agree on almost all.  If a casual fan, like most of us are, are sitting around on a Sunday afternoon half asleep, one might look for the race------and either not find it, or find out it was already run on Saturday night.  I do think Saturday night short track racing is a good idea.  But, like you said, have a regular Sunday start time at 1:00.  I have gone weeks at a time without seeing a lap of Nascar because I don't see it while flipping through the guide and simply forget it's on.  And this used to be a Sunday religion.  

All of your other points are good.  As far as the stages go, I actually think it works for those types of cars/races.  At the very least they get the cars all collected.  These cars are hard to pass with and restarts are sometimes the only passing you'll see at some tracks.  

Back to sprints----I would love to see a race at Bristol as well. 

I see what you're saying, and I meant it a little different.  I meant I believe Larson is an opportunity to get a buzz around their sport.  (or any driver that can generate some excitement)  I believe the headlines he has been making from the moment he was suspended, up to the national headlines he has made with his incredible dirt run, could (could) have a positive impact on Nascar's TV numbers at the very least.  If he were to start winning at a good clip in exciting fashion, it could accelerate this even further.  I know a ton of Late Model guys who really did not follow Kyle because he never drove in their division.  Every one of them has now ordered a Kyle Larson Late Model shirt and was blown away by how he jumped in that car and did what he did.  Dirt track racing is still a niche sport, but it is gaining enough popularity again that I think it could have an impact on Nascar's numbers should Kyle, or someone like Kyle, starts winning.  I was down to watching very few laps of Nascar before Kyle was put in the 42 car.  I didn't become a religious follower of Nascar when he was put in a car, but if he was in the hunt, I turned it on and watched.  Then, when he got suspended, (not that I blame Nascar) I have hardly watched a lap.  I think the last 50 laps of Vegas were the first Nascar laps I've watched in over a month.  I think there are many with the same thinking so having Kyle back would help them.  

When the sprints ran at Bristol before, they reduced the banking quite a bit.  At least I thought I heard that somewhere.

Yup, you are correct. 36 degrees down to about 22 degrees.

From what I see there are no garages at Bristol. Not neded anyways.

I tell it like I see it.

I'm big on the normal start time (1pm Sunday). Even when I was a diehard Nascar fan who would not miss a Cup, Busch, or Truck race I hated it when they would come on a 1pm and do a 1.5hr pre race show and the green flag would not drop until about 2:45pm.

Saturday night shows used to be a special attraction but they started over doing them when every other race was a night race. Should just make the 2nd short track dates the night races, Coke 600, the All Star and Datyona if they want. Heck even sunday races turned into night races a lot of the time. I don't need to see Vegas, Kansas, Alanta, Homestead, Phoenix, or Kentucky (oops sorry lost your date) under the lights.

The chase & playoff thing while it added temporary interest & buzz when it first came out is one of the dumbest gimmicky things that Nascar has ever done trying to be more like stick & ball sports. A champion should be the driver/team that was the best from start to finish. They compete against each other each week unlike football, hockey, basketball where it is just 2 teams out of 30+. Even golf doesn't have all of the players competing at each tournament but Nascar its the same competition each week, the final 10wks should not count more than the rest.

TV is what it is. Wish they would stick  to 2-3 channels but that is how they make their money. I would just settle for better commentators all the way around. Quit getting excited every pass and saying words like strategy and intensity every 2minutes.

Tracks - Not a road course fan, just not my cup of tea so kind of hate that they put 6 on the schedule. Would rather see more short tracks and go back to places like South Boston, Memphis, Nashville Farigrounds, North Wilkesboro, or Hickory for the xfinity & truck series.

Cost to attend - Prices with obstructed view are good but if you want to be able to see the whole track cost an arm and a leg. I wouldn't mind the price however for the tickets if I didn't have to pay 200-300+ a night for a decent hotel.

If they have sprints at Bristol I'll attend and buy a ticket to each nascar race as well. 

Saturday night I switched football and NASCAR off and watched the IRA Sprint Car season finale on Floracing.  That is the beauty of having an annual subscription to the best strewming channel on the planet.

My only reservations about NASCAR Cup racing on dirt is how they're going to adapt the Cup cars to the dirt.  If it's anything like the truck race where the trucks lumber around a historic dirt track like Eldora at speeds equivalent to some junk Pure Stock class I will opt for whatever they're showing on Floracing.  The cars would have to approach the speeds and handling of a dirt Late Model or Modified for me to have any interest.  If I want to watch slow cars not well suited to the dirt I'll go to one of our local seven class marathons where I can watch multiple slow shitbox classes (Pure Stocks, 4cyl Hornets, Street Stocks and B Mods) for $15.  At least that way I am assured that I'll see some Late Models, limited non-wing Sprints and Modifieds at the featured classes.  Nothing against NASCAR, I watch when convenient, but if they're going to dabble in dirt at least put something on the track that goes fast enough to get sideways

Stan Meissner

I seem to remember that when the Iowa Speedway was getting off theground, they meet with Knoxville and the Ia speedway agreed to not run on Saturday nighs - that lasted maybe a couple of years before they started running on Saturday nights.

Also seem to rememeber a few years back that nascar - because their fan base was dropping they state that they were going to start working with the local track - I guess their idea of working with the local tracks was to start running more Saturday nights and putting it on the TV.

I don't understand IA Speedway's thought process on this at all.  I remember 2 or 3 years ago being at Knoxville for the WoO show in June and they were running a late-afternoon to early-evening Indy car race I believe.  (?)  (they tried anyways but mother nature won that night in Newton and "spared" Knoxville)  Why would you not run this race at 11:00 a.m. or noon?  I would have driven up to Newton in a heartbeat if I knew I could catch both shows.  What are they thinking?  And to compete against the WoO's at Knoxville?  If you're going to be dumb enough to try to compete with a track 25 miles away on the same night, at least have the brains to not compete against the 3rd biggest draw of the year.  That is the arrogance of the "upper" racing leagues like Nascar and Indy.  That is what has killed them----thinking they don't have to scrape and dig for every fan they can get-----and just assuming everyone will come because of their greatness.  It's biting them in the ass.  Hopefully they will come around.  Necessity is the mother of all invention.  

You know how they could make NASCAR more interesting? Go back to 1960s real wheel drive actual "stock cars" with 60s rules. Fords, Chevies, Mopars, Pontiacs, no generic "NASCARS". I'm sure there are enough old sedans around to make it work... couldn't cost any more than current high tech "things".....

I remember that year as well. I think something similar happened to the truck & busch race last year as well but I had overlooked it at the time. I myself would also drive 20-50miles, maybe even more if there are multiple tracks running events close to each other but at different times. The funny thing is that when it happens to them or one of their partners they throw a fit. Like Texas Motor Speedway's  Eddie Gossage when COTA ran the formula 1 race against one of the Nascar Texas races.

I think if the collaborated a little bit, well actually a lot more than what they do, with other forms of racing it would help motorsports in general. I like the idea of have a Nascar & Indycar weekend at a track. I think the whole dick measuring contest that Nascar seems to be obsessed about needs to stop and they need to learn the racing world no longer revolves around them anymore in this country. Fanbase is so spreadout among all forms of racing that if they partnered with all forms of racing I think the fans would be more likely to flock to those events and others.

They could do Bristol in dirt with the World of Outlaws, even Eldora and Knoxville. They can do a weekend at places like Charlotte, Vegas, Texas, and Knoxville (with Newton) where they could do the truck/xfinity race during the day and then at night have the Outlaws race. Even have the Late Models run those nights too. Run Texas and Indy road coruse with Indycar, then have the midgets run in the infield and/or at IRP later in the day with the Xfinity & Trucks along with Silver Crown or something. Hell some of the places you can even through in NHRA since some of them have drag strips. I think at this point all forms of motorsports need to look at how they can grow the pizza rather than seeing who can take more slices of the current size

I was at Bristol for the 1st race w/ the Outlaws, it was scary fast! They brought in 600 loads of dirt to do it, There were no seats allowed for the first 20 rows on the bottom of the stands (for safety) and they made the bank less by putting very little dirt at the top, but dirt was as high as the inside wall (3 ft?) getting in to the pits was like a ramp.  I believe that number that said Sammy was doing 165 mph, it was that fast .One of the Chesson boys flipped, destroyed the cars, parts flying everywhere, that's why they closed those 20 rows. Randy Kinser flipped too, 1 of Steve's cars,  same result. Thank the Lord, nobody hurt. The track was hard and slick in warmups, no cushion at all at any time. I think that was the plan. 

Can this help Nascar? IDK, Brian France sure did screw it up, but that's not the problem I see. Cars are not viewed like back in the day of "win on Sunday, sell on Monday". Back then a person could go out and buy a car that looked like the car in the race. Then, when cable came along, it exploded because of now everybody could see what it was, and the sponsers took notice and started throwing money at them. That was the meteoric rise of Nascar. Now, there ain't a Camry sold that looks anything on the track. Hell, anything on those cars that looks like any car we know is decals! 

I think they'te trying to bring back all the race fans they lost  but the casual fan has moved on.

Some diehard fans have too...

It would make more sense to run NASCAR on a mile track like the SPRINGFIELD MILE.  A nice track that is already dirt.  I would not be in favor of running WOO cars at Bristol.  With the          increase in speed you get a increase in danger,  These cars are not made to crash at 150 mph.  I do not think it is in the best interest  of drivers.

I think the Springfield Mile (which I have been to many times before) would be great for speed, perfect because it's already dirt................but, it would be a terrible race and most would turn it off by 1/2 way.  I think Bristol will be a pain in the ass for the track builders, but that doesn't concern me.  Bristol will obviously be slower.  But, I would expect a great race.  Strawser will have to record it and then run it fast-forward in order to be fast enough.