The statistics for the 2006
Nextel Cup Season are in, and the numbers indicate that interest is waning, both at the ticket booth and in front of the television
screen--up to ten percent in some cases.
Clearly, this is not what the
NASCAR juggernaut had in mind when they created “The Chase”, nor a trend that big sponsor money wants to see.
Just as NASCAR has risen quickly, they also could fall, or so the critics say.
Well, maybe. The fact remains
that there is no close second in the world regarding auto racing, as any track owner can attest to.
Nevertheless, a negative trend
is not desirable. Let’s break it down.
First, there are basically
two types of fans, and NASCAR has alienated some from both camps.
Old school fans are generally
not happy with the closing of the traditional tracks—even Darlington has been threatened from
time to time. They are not pleased with the Chase, feeling that it creates artificial excitement and is not fair to a team
that has built a lead in the first 26 races. Drivers no longer show emotion and the ones that do seem to whine a lot more
than they did in the 70’s and 80’s. Competition cautions, the lucky dog pass, aero-push, all of this and more
has driven some hardcore fans back to the short tracks on Saturday nights.
As far as the newcomers, confusion
regarding what they are seeing is the rule, not the exception. Rules that are, shall we say, flexible from week to week and
depending on who the offender is do not help, and a points system that could only please a statistician muddy the entire perception
of the sport. When a newcomer asks an experienced fan what is going on, more often than not the answer is “Hey, that’s
NASCAR, who knows?”
But the real problem is that
most weekends a NASCAR race is more effective than prescription sleep aids in producing a mild coma, and eventually folks
from both camps find other activities more interesting to do on a Sunday afternoon.
So, what is a sanctioning body
to do?
It is simple, but not so simple.
Fix the cars, the tracks, and the rules—and that is the easy part.
The fix for the cars is, thankfully,
on the way. There is much complaining about the “Car of Tomorrow”, but it has a front end and windshield that
looks a lot like a Craftsman truck and that series has produced the best racing in NASCAR for some time now. It will take
a while for the teams to get used to it, and maybe one will have an initial advantage, but it will all shake out and be better
in the long run.
The tracks, well, that is not
so easy. Texas
has been reconfigured, and Loudon, Las Vegas, and Homestead…
if the viewing numbers keep dropping, something has to happen. Mile and a half tracks are b-o-r-i-n-g. Plate tracks may be
interesting for newbies, but like Dale Jarrett, many of us snooze until the last 20 laps or so. Bristol is the bomb. Purpose
built short tracks could handle just as many people, and the pits and pit road issues could be worked out with a clean sheet
of paper. Boxy cars, short tracks, perhaps with variable banking, would produce nonstop action--Period. NASCAR was willing
to build an eight tenths of a mile track on Staten Island. The New Yorkers don’t know just what
they will be missing, but clearly, tracks of a similar length can be built—or shortened—elsewhere.
Finally, the rules…NASCAR
has more formal rules than the IRS does, but really, the “rules” seem to change from week to week depending on
who is involved on the track and the whim of the officials. Anyone can tell that this is becoming more like the WWE all the
time, and that causes a loss of trust and credibility. As far as specific rules, create an exception to the top ten (or being
within 400 points of the leader) with a certain number of wins—say five, regardless of points, earning a place in the
show. This way teams would be racing for the win rather than battling for 10th in the standings. Additionally, the Chase is
actually a good idea for creating excitement, but the Chasers need their own points system that would then inherently reward
winning instead of finishing in the top five or ten, and this would keep the points during the final ten events closer.
Where did the sanctioning body
go wrong? On the surface, this is much simpler. They paid attention to greed, and not the show. However, similarly to many
of the true problems that we all must face, this would be the “hard part” to fix.
As with most things in life,
what appears to be the short road to happiness rarely is, and what initially seems to be the most difficult can, in fact,
turn out to be the most rewarding.
Listening to your heart and
doing for others is the ticket, whether it is you doing for your friends and family during not only the Christmas Season but
the rest of the year as well—or a national racing series and how they treat the competitors, and fans. The France
family will one day understand this, one way or the other. They used to put on a heck of a show, minute after minute, week
after week, and pay the little guys that needed it expense money to make the next race. Like the rest of us, they have hearts
that softly speak as to what is inherently “right”. And like the rest of us, the trick will be in the execution.
2007 will be a new season
for us all. There is no better time to make the most, not the least, of what we already have in racing, in life, and in our
hearts.
2006 StockCar Review.
