Revitalizing NASCAR
Written by ChrisDiBenedetto, Tuesday April 12 2011
Photo Credit: Autostock
Nascar has a big issue on their hands, an issue that every sports league right now (save for the NFL) has. How do you attract younger fans while keeping the hardcore fans happy? What is extremely disconcerting to me as a huge fan of not only NASCAR but all forms of motorsports is the fact that NASCAR doesn’t even know who their fans are! Marketing and Business 101 will teach you that if you don’t know who your customers are you might as well pack up and call it quits. In NASCAR's case not only do they not know who their fan base is, but they had to hire an outside marketing agency to help them figure this out. This clearly shows the disconnect between the upper management of NASCAR and what is going on the ground.
As a "young fan" and a “long time fan” I fit into a unique bracket that NASCAR probably doesn’t even know exists. I believe that NASCAR is chasing a dream if they think that the 13-21 year old age bracket will come to the sport in droves if they put pretty faces and all sorts of technology in front of people. The only young fans who are coming to the sport are those who grew up watching motorsports with their family or young people who become interested via friends. Travis Pastrana will be a great addition to the sport, but the fans who he will bring are fans who will move on to the next thing after a year or so, even if he remains and prospers.
What NASCAR can do to bring back the environment and atmosphere they enjoyed between 2001 and 2006 is stop bracketing people by age and start focusing on what race fans want to see. Regardless of age all race fans want to see are passionate drivers putting everything on the line every weekend with no guarantee of coming out of the car in one piece. This is not however to say that we want drivers to get hurt, this is simply stated to emphasize the fact that true race fans understand the danger each driver puts themselves into each time they race,. We do not want to marginalize it with a dancing digger on the bottom of your screen.
I have come up with a few steps we can take towards revitalizing the sport in all aspects that doesn't necessarily require Dale Jr to win every single race:
1. Better TV Pictures- The COT has not been as bad as it was 4 years ago, sure it could be better but when the TV pictures leave many race fans hanging it does not do any justice to the COTs improvements. The Texas Race this past weekend judging by the scoring and the pictures available on RaceView was a pretty good one, however if you were to watch the broadcast you would be absolutely lost with tight single car shots. You know there is a problem when Bristol seemed boring on TV.
2. Better TV Commentary- Darrel Waltrip needs to go as does Marty Ried. Neither offer anything to enhance the excitement of the sport. Which is a shame because Darrel should offer more historical stories rather than ones that pat him and his brother on the back given his experience. FOX and ESPN should consider taking a page out of the SPEED coverage of Formula one and Grand Am with Bob Varsha and Leigh Diffey. Bob and Leigh conduct their broadcasts with a supporting staff who like themselves are passionate about racing and knowledgeable as well which creates for excellent broadcasts, especially for Formula 1 which often doesn’t produce the most exciting races.
3. More Short Tracks- The Cup Series needs to go to Iowa and needs to consider more tracks like Bristol, Martinsville, Richmond, Iowa, Dover, Phoenix, New Hampshire, Gateway, and Milwaukee to name a few where drivers cannot get away from each other, creates excellent racing and ultimately friction between drivers that can last for weeks to come.
4. More Track Variety- Was the answer to taking away an Auto Club Speedway race that has arguably been rather exciting the past few years giving a second date to Kansas? I am not opposed to going to Kentucky, because Kentucky is not similar to many of the other intermediate tracks, it has very flat corners and should create an interesting race with the speedy Cup cars.
5. Ticket Prices- In a tough economy the blue collar worker cannot justify $90 per person with a family of 4 just to get inside the track. I am a big believer in capitalism, but track managers need to stop looking at selling a $90 ticket for $45 or less as losing $45. They need to start looking at it as if they don’t sell the seat they are out $90 instead of up $45. Besides won't people inside the track buying food and beverages help the bottom line more than them not being there?
Hopefully NASCAR is aware of some of these issues and they can make the changes necessary to keep the sport we all love relevant and interesting for not only younger fans, but older long time fans as well.
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