Into basketball

[trent]

..................

[dpep]

Bristol Motor Speedway, in past yrs. was packed with appx. 150,000 seats and a 5 yr. waiting list for future tickets, Last Sunday, judging from pictures on TV, Bristol was had I'd guess appx. 25,000 folks there. It seems every time Nascar makes a change, their fan base gets smaller.

Or is NASCAR making changes as the fan base gets smaller hoping to stop the trend? There are a lot of opinions but from what I have read no real answers to explain the decline in NASCAR's popularity since the mid 2000s, I suspect there are multiple factors at work.

There are a couple of things though that I think could be underlying everything else that is happening, Maybe you, rphillips, as die hard fan can tell me what you think.

One thing is that the country's relationship with cars is changing, particularly among young people. Many of them don't even bother to get their driver's license in contrast to most of us who were down at the DMV waiting for it to open the day we became old enough. Technology has taken up much of the space in our national psyche that used to be filled by cars. Less interest in cars means less interest in car racing.

Secondly it seems to me that NASCAR has a unique demographic problem. It's origins and core fan base are southern and rural. But to expand beyond that and get enough butts in the seats to survive long term they will have to pull in more "city people"--younger and more diverse. Keeping the two factions happy at the same time has to be a real challenge. It is a problem most other sports don't have.

[marvinsc]

March Madness has not disappointed on day 1, many brackets already crushed.

[rphillips]

Well dpep, you could be correct, Nascar probably sees drops in attendance way before I see it, then make a change to try to stop that drop. By the time I see the drop, their changes have already been made. so it seems to me the changes caused it. I do know most all Nascar fans that I'm around and associate with feel much like I do. Almost too much to mention. All the cup race cars today are almost identically shaped, only the paint jobs make them look like Ford, Chevy, and Toyota.. Yrs. ago they were shaped like what was in their brand's showrooms. Folks around here weren't impressed when they started the chase for the championship, a driver now can win 1/3 of the yr's. races and not be in contention for the championship, just don't seem fair.. Didn't think they needed rest stops during the races like they have now, need to be tough enough to run the whole race, even the 600 mi. one like before.. Why the single lug nuts, No stock car ever allowed on a track ever came with a single lug nut, and why, the Busch cars and Craftsman trucks still use 5 with no problems while the cup cars are still struggling trying to figure out this new ONE. Don't see why they needed to move the transmission from the eng. to the rear end, Stock cars are nothing like that. Then the new points system, it's got so confusing you've got to have a computer to keep up with it, a few yrs back an 8th grader could keep up with it, no problem. Nascar covered Bristol with dirt to race on, took them 3 yrs. to see how stupid that was, everybody else knew it before they started it. Also nobody, around here ever liked the road course races, these cars have always been set up to turn left, fine for open wheel stuff, but Nascars just never turn right. Nascar for yrs. ran two, seemed 2 too many road courses, now this yr. they're running 5, now it's 5 too many... Well enough rambling about the neg. things, time for some pos. stuff...........Well can't think of any right now, I'll keep thinking.

[LAB3]

Can't say I'm a NASCAR fan but I used to love going to little out in the middle of nowhere short track races. It's like watching your local high school football game as opposed to the NFL, much more relatable to someone like me. Get an old beater to play with during the week and a "pit crew" together with a couple of buddies and have a good time on Saturday night.

[trent]

I know people that have went to indy 500 for years, they said they hardly ever watched race..In the infield partying and enjoying the whole spectacle lol

[dpep]

Well All the cup race cars today are almost identically shaped, only the paint jobs make them look like Ford, Chevy, and Toyota.. Yrs. ago they were shaped like what was in their brand's showrooms.

I agree with this. It seems to me that it would be nice if if the National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing actually raced stock car autos. But that process began well before the attendance stared falling. A big part of stock car's appeal was being able to cheer for a particular brand's cars because you had one in your driveway.

As to shape you can blame that on the higher speeds. Wind drag increases exponentially as speed increases linearly. It is in every team's interest to use the shape that creates the least drag within what the rules allow....regardless of what is in the showroom.

Not exactly the same but I saw a similar thing happening in motorcycling with Superbikes. I first stared watching them at Daytona In the 70's and early 80's when they were a support class running on Thursday or Friday before the 200 on Sunday, They were essentially the stock cars of motorcycling, Then Superbikes BECAME the 200 and things changed--not all necessarily for the good. .

[trent]

Been fun watching Iowa ..so far .

https://youtube.com/shorts/Cyt0J3IKAfY?si=oMW8PCCV0fClR2k5

[rphillips]

Nascar screwing up again. Last wk. at Texas, the Truck series, they had a caution with just 2 or 3 laps to go. The top 2 or 3 trucks were low on fuel, "THEY RED FLAGGED THE RACE" just so the leaders wouldn't run out of fuel. It's never happened before, if you're about, out of gas you make the decision, try to make it and hope for the best or pit for a splash of fuel. Nascar has never done nothing like that that before. Then Sunday at Richmond, Denny Hamlin obviously jumped the start on the last restart, TV announcers saw it and talked about it, other drivers saw it, most all spectators saw it, Hamlin's in-car showed it, and Denny admitted it... Nascar said they weren't reviewing it, the start was good.... It's like they want fans to go away.

[Rob S.]

Nascar has never done nothing like that that before.

The old quadrupole negative! That's probably why, every time I go south (south Jersey), I get into trouble. I just don't speak the language. (insert smiley here)

[rphillips]

We forgive you Rob, I had grand parents. aunts, uncles, and cousins from up there. They not only never learned to talk right, they never figured out that you come in for dinner at noon, when the dinner bell rang, They didn't come in for dinner till supper time, dinner was over 6 or 7 hrs. ago, and all we had for supper was the left-overs from dinner.. Dang I thought they's gonn'a starve to death.

[Rob S.]

What time is brunch?

My grandfather had an egg farm in south Jersey, tiny town, very rural. Every single day, at exactly noon, a loud sort of siren-like noise could be heard. Some people called it a 'whistle.'

It was near the volunteer firehouse. I wonder if the Dalmation was howling for food at precisely 12:00 noon every single day without fail. Never did discover it's source; it was sort of a lunch bell. Let's call it the Noon Noise.

[rphillips]

We missed out on a lot, never heard of "noon noises" nor "lunch bells" Maybe ya'll up there have probably not heard of, nor heard, a Dinner Bell...Just a little history... Dinner Bell A History: jacobcromwell.com... Dinner Bells date back to the beginning of the twentieth century where a farm bell (Dinner Bell) ringing at "noon" would signify dinner time... Read it again Rob, Noon; Dinner time. Sometimes I wonder how folks above the Mason Dixon ever lasted this long.

[Rob S.]

I think it was called the "noon whistle." Sounded like an air raid siren. Every single day, without fail at exactly 12 noon for a full 60 seconds.

Maybe the hens got a full minute break. Then it was back to earning their keep. Those who don't produce tomorrow's breakfast will be extra-special guests at the dinner table (I mean supper).

One night there was an unexpected freeze, and Grandma came in with an apron-full of lifeless chicks. She laid them out on a baking pan, and into the oven on low. Being only 3 or 4, I was freaking out. "Grandma," I thought, "leave those poor birds alone!"

Sure enough, in a few minutes we hear "peep-peep, peep-peep" coming from the oven. Darndest thang I ever saw.

But that's basketball for ya.

[rphillips]

Pretty slick grandma, seems she's probably from the south?