NASCAR TV Ratings Declining

[Rick Parker]

The only part of the entire Series that interests me is the Engine Tech. These guys are at the top of the Food Chain in the pushrod V8 crowd. I'd love to be a fly on the wall in one of the engine assembly rooms. Anyone that can spin a 358" V8 to 9500 RPM and make it live has got my attention, there are no others that have a pushrod V8 dialed in like these guys. If you follow the sampling of the tech information that dribbles into magazines such as Circle Track you can apply it to our engines to a lesser degree. Light parts, new superior materials, parts design and trends are all discussed to some degree.
The rest of the show is to me a bunch of Hype, much like Sensationalized Jounalism or newscasting, for increased ratings and viewership. I'd rather watch the old Can Am Clips on You Tube!

Maybe Vince McMahon and Rick Hendricks willl join forces????

[CobraEd]

I kinda like the Top Fuel engine technology. 9,000 hp out of a pushrod V8.

A HUGE blower with God know what volume running at 55 lbs of boost!!!

More HP in one cylinder than an entire NASCAR engine

2 1/2 inch fuel lines!! Dual spark plugs, 5:01 compression.


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[Don]

NHIS, north of Boston, has sold out every one of it's two Cup races since day 1. Burton Smith & SMI just spent $340 Million to purchase, which was not the high bid


Price for N.H. oval: $340m
By Michael Vega, Globe Staff | November 3, 2007

FORT WORTH - In announcing his purchase of New Hampshire International Speedway for $340 million in cash, O. Bruton Smith, chairman and CEO of Speedway Motorsports Inc., yesterday declined to disclose what, if any, changes he had in store for the 1.058-mile oval in Loudon he acquired from Bob and Gary Bahre.

Smith, however, did unveil one immediate alteration during a press conference at Texas Motor Speedway. He rechristened NHIS by holding up a blue placard that read, "New Hampshire Motor Speedway."

The acquisition increased SMI's holdings to seven tracks and 12 NASCAR-sanctioned Cup dates (including four Chase dates). According to the 80-year-old Smith, the purchase increased SMI's investment in racing to $2.5 billion.

"First, I want to thank Bob and Gary Bahre," said the flamboyant Smith, who now owns Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif.; Las Vegas Motor Speedway; Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway; Atlanta Motor Speedway; Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.; Texas; and New Hampshire. "I don't know if I've ever had to thank anybody for taking $340 million of my hard-earned money, but anyway, he did. I do appreciate the friendship I had with Mr. Bahre and Gary in putting this deal together."

Apart from the sticker shock of NHIS's purchase price, the remarkable aspect of Smith's acquisition was that he wasn't the highest bidder.

That distinction went to Jerry Carroll, co-owner and chairman of Kentucky Speedway, who, according to court documents filed in conjunction with a lawsuit brought against International Speedway Corp., offered $360 million in cash.

In May, when he was mentioned in the lawsuit, NHIS chairman Bob Bahre, 80, disputed Kentucky's allegation that NASCAR threatened him with the loss of his two Nextel Cup dates if he sold to Carroll's group. Bahre, who said he bore Carroll no ill will, vowed never to sell to Kentucky because of the track's association with Darrell Waltrip, the former NASCAR champion driver turned TV commentator who Bahre felt maligned NHIS as an unsafe track after the deaths of Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin seven years ago.

Smith competed against George Gillett, owner of the NHL's Montreal Canadiens who recently bought a stake in Ray Evernham Motorsports; Nextel Cup car owner Roger Penske; Fenway Sports Group; and Carroll.

A Penske Racing spokesman indicated the legendary car owner never made a firm offer. FSG president Mike Dee indicated his group had "one discussion" with the Bahres, who expressed a desire to get a deal done sooner rather than later.

"Soon wasn't soon enough, I guess," Dee said last night by phone from Boston. "We thought we had our hands full with our flagship [the Red Sox winning the World Series]. But at that reported price, we would've had a hard time reaching that level [to make an offer]."

And so Smith was left to jockey against Gillett and Carroll. In the end, Smith said, he believed his friendship with Bahre helped swing the deal. Although Smith admitted "we didn't start off" as good friends, "we ended up that way" even after butting heads over their forced marriage in the 50-50 purchase of North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway in 1996, which led to a split of the track's two Cup dates. Smith took his to Texas, while Bahre used his to create a second race at NHIS.

Yesterday, Smith said his acquisition of NHIS also gave him controlling interest in North Wilkesboro.

"I'm now the proud owner of 100 percent of North Wilkesboro," Smith said. "I offered to give that to Bob for a Christmas present, and he said, 'Go to hell.' "

Smith's purchase gave rise to speculation he would move one date out of the Granite State, where the track routinely draws 101,000 fans to a facility with a permanent seating capacity of 91,000. Smith has expressed a desire to seek a second date for Las Vegas, but he seemed intent on seeking it from elsewhere when he made a not-so-subtle lobbying attempt to get ISC to give up one of its dates on the 36-race schedule.

"I plan to talk to NASCAR within this coming week and see if they'll grant us another date [at Las Vegas]," Smith said.

Brian France, NASCAR's chairman and CEO, released a statement in which he said all sanctions for 2008 had been signed and finalized.

"As a result, there will be no location changes to the 2008 schedule that was released last month," he said. "This is important to the fans, competitors, broadcast partners, and sponsors who have already made plans for the 2008 races.

"Looking beyond 2008, NASCAR will continue to consider requests by any track operator, including SMI, to relocate race dates."

Smith indicated his desire to retain Bob Bahre as a consultant.

"Gary [his son, the track president] and I would like to thank all of our employees and loyal fans for their continued support of New Hampshire International Speedway over the past 18 years," Bob Bahre said in a statement.

[Wayne Maybury]

NASCAR seems to have lost their concept of what product they are supplying to their fans. Years ago the race cars were actually production cars that were modified for racing. The engines transmissions and many other parts were the same basic parts that were used on the street.

Today, they are using a spec race car that has absolutely nothing in common with the cars in the show room. Most production cars today are front wheel drive, automatic, V-6, with fuel injection and OHC while these race cars are rear wheel drive, 4 speed, V-8 with push rods and a carburator. One more thing, all the drivers have to be good looking and capable of doing an interview while in the car. Next thing they will be expected to tell us how they are doing, as an accident is occuring.

In addition, NASCAR has decided that the "show" is much more important than the race. They want close finishes so they keep having stupid meaningless yellow flag caution laps to bunch up the field and have scheduled pit stops. They even have the rediculous "lucky dog" rule so that guys that are a lap down can get back on the lead lap. IS THAT RACING?

As Ron said, there are many empty seats and if they keep on producing shows or events instesd of races, their popularity will continue to decline. Watch what happens when sponsorship money begins to get tight.

Someone said a few weeks ago that the best way to watch a NASCAR race is to only watch the last 5 or 10 laps. All the rest is little more than a very expensive parade.

Wayne

[shlbygt]

Originally Posted by Rick Parker

The rest of the show is to me a bunch of Hype, much like Sensationalized Jounalism or newscasting, for increased ratings and viewership. I'd rather watch the old Can Am Clips on You Tube!

I think TV networks have oversaturated the race viewer with hours of endless babble, useless drivel and contrived hype.
Practice, Qualifying, Pre-Race, Post Race, Post Race Analysis, Nightly Talk Shows, Weekly Talk Shows, etc, just show the darn race and shut up.

I miss the "old" days when ESPN broadcast most of the races. The typical telecast would start at 1:00 with a quick rundown of the starting grid and where the top driver's qualified. Usually the cars were already on the track for the warm up laps. A quick commercial break and we were back for the green flag at ~1:10. Once the race was over there was sometimes a Winner’s Circle interview but more often than not they cut to the next program. Wow, a race telecast that focused on racing, what a concept.
There was no fluff, no touching family background story, and no stories on how the driver took his wife’s favorite dog to the vet yesterday because it was sick.
I really don’t want to see or hear another has-been driver, crew chief, or big chested bimbo explain understeer or oversteer for the newbie to the sport while standing in front of a cut-away car.

People also may not be watching because the races don’t offer much variety. Three of the last six races were on very similar tracks, Charlotte, Atlanta and Texas. Yeah, let’s watch the same race over and over. At the same time there are tracks like North Wilkesboro (which has an elevation change between the turns), Darlington (with its egg shape) and Rockingham sitting vacant. Aren’t Chicagoland, Kansas, Las Vegas and Homestead the same track in different locations?
Just think if the road racing folks put copies of Laguna Seca, Road America or Watkins Glen everywhere, do you think people would still enjoy watching a race at a signature track when the next track looks the same but in a different city?

I can’t wait to watch the Australian V8 SuperCar broadcasts on Speed in a couple of weeks. Stock chassis cars with V8s on road courses. Did we used to have a popular series like that???