The View from Here: The Business of NASCAR

"Nascence": (n) the beginning or coming into being of something (Encarta World English Dictionary)

Two columns appeared in the last couple of days that were very interesting. The first, by Dustin Long in the Virginian-Pilot on May 11, dealt with the dominance of Hendrick Motorsports. It seems that Hendrick's drivers, as well as teams supplied by Hendricks (read Tony Stewart's shop and Phoenix Racing) have been driving away from the competition. In fact, according to Long, 67% of the top five finishes have been teams using Hendrick equipment. Except for a couple of wins by Roush-Fenway and Gibbs, nobody seems to be able to keep up. Long closes his article with "Just about anybody driving a Hendrick's car is having fun this year"-except those who want to see more racing.

And, in an article in scenedaily.com/news on May 11, NASCAR is studying the reasons for the drop-off in television viewership of NASCAR races-reportedly just over an 11 percent drop from last year at this time (and last year's viewership was down from previous years). What was interesting was the number of comments following the story (117 when I read the article!). Most were explaining the dropoff by complaining about Fox coverage, confusing times for starting races, not racing on Sundays, and the Car of Today being too "generic". Some of those providing comments simply said the racing was BORING!

As much as NASCAR can continue to say that the economy has impacted attendance negatively, there is simply no plausible explanation that those not able to afford to attend a race can't simply turn on the television. So, to answer my headline above, there simply is nothing to suggest a NASCENCE ("undergoing the process of being [re]born"). And that's the view from here. Jon

P.S.: Further proof? I gave up my season tickets to RIR!

Posted by at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Article in the Dover Post about sluggish ticket sales for Dover race. Jon Ackley is quoted.

Posted by at 3:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The big news about GM and Chrysler that erupted on Monday morning must be sending shock waves through the NASCAR headquarters, owners' shops, and track garages. My friend, Brian Tarcy (see "Free Cheezeburgerz" blog at right), asked me what I thought would happen if Chrysler wasn't able to make a deal with Fiat and went into bankruptcy--would that affect the Dodge teams? I think the bigger concern is that the new CEO at GM has not ruled out filing for bankruptcy in order to restructure its debt. How would that affect teams running Chevys? Certainly the Hendricks and Childresses of NASCAR would feel some pain of losing support of GM. I can't believe any bankruptcy plan would allow for inclusion of $$ set-asides for race teams (let alone sponsoring a Sprint race at RIR). Even Toyota will be cutting back despite Kyle B's showing in both Sprint and Camping World (and don't forget Todd Bodine as well).

On another note, how about them field-fillers last week? At least that's one way for NASCAR to have a full field. Lucky for Bodine that Sprint qualifying was rained out or he would have stayed around for Monday about $69K poorer.
And that's the view from here.
Jon

Posted by at 3:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I didn’t plan to write this blog—I wanted to talk about Kyle Busch, Dale Jr., Jimmy, and Jeff. But, a column by Dustin Long in this week’s Virginian-Pilot (Landmark Communications) with subsequent comments has forced me to spout off.

Dustin was writing about Fox’s decision NOT to put the long-running Las Vegas race on another Fox channel in order to air the Simpsons at its regularly scheduled time. He (and I) thought it was the right decision. Well, from many of the comments from readers of that column, you would have thought Fox Sports was un-American by keeping viewers from a new episode of the Simpsons.

It simply cracks me up—people commenting on an article in which they indicate they hate NASCAR, don’t watch it on TV, think it’s a stupid waste of time yet write about a column that they have read that deals with NASCAR even though they despise the sport. I don’t watch the NBA and thus do not read sports columns and reports about the NBA. I don’t watch MLB and thus do not read sports columns about MLB (can’t avoid the steroid articles, though). I seldom watch golf (Master’s maybe) or tennis (I once coached at the high school level) and thus seldom read sports columns dealing with these sports. And, I don’t write comments that denigrate these sports simply because I don’t care about them. People who don’t like NASCAR yet feel compelled to spew their venom simply need to get a life.

And that’s the view from here.

Jon

Posted by at 9:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

"NASCAR's Trouble at the Track," an overview of the sport's economic troubles, in Forbes Magazine.

Posted by at 9:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Well, the twice-yearly Fontana race weekend is over. Based on what I’ve been reading, some considered the racing terrific -- history was made by Busch and repeated for only the fifth time by Kenseth (wins first two Sprint Cup races of the season in a row). Still, many others are saying all three races — truck, Nationwide, and Sprint Cup — were B-O-R-I-N-G!!! And many have noted that attendance was down — AGAIN — and that television ratings (not yet announced) would also be down — too much competition with golf, Tour of California, and the Oscars.

So, what’s NASCAR to do?

First, I suggest going back to one race in Fontana and moving the second Sprint Cup date to Kentucky (I know, ISC giving a date to Speedway Motorsports Inc. is probably not going to happen). At least NASCAR could try it out to see whether Kentucky is viable (apparently it is for Nationwide and trucks).

Second, NASCAR needs to start races at a reasonable time; unless a race is a night race (like RIR), the race should start by 2 p.m. Eastern time. And, finally, NASCAR needs to do better research about competing events in and around the various tracks so as to maximize both attendance and TV viewership.

And that’s the view from here.

Jon

Posted by at 1:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)