How much has NASCAR changed over the past 10 to 20 years?
Tuesday, August 8th, 2006 3:26pm CDT
By Tim Spencer, Thunder Lounge
Published on Thunder Lounge.
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[image:364:l:s=1:l=http://thunderlounge.com/articles/nascar/features/the-way-i-see-it/]How much has NASCAR changed over the past 10 to 20 years??? More than a lot of people would like to admit. Heck, how about over the last 5 years? Has it all been good? Or has some of it taken the regulars away, and not just off the track?
By no means has all the change been good. With the addition of corporate sponsorship and the complete coverage on the old tube it has taken the sport to another level for some, but has taken many DIEHARD fans and turned them into the occasional watcher, if they watch at all.
Why you might ask? It’s all about the mighty dollar and nothing more. It is all about who can make the most money the quickest. The average American these days can barely afford to attend one or two NASCAR races a year unless they put everything else in the world on hold with the price of tickets these days. Everyone is pretty much on the up right now with making their big bucks and that is what NASCAR is coming down to these days. However, they are now selling our tickets to cooperate America because NASCAR is now considered a cool sport. Well, I was NASCAR, before NASCAR was cool!!
Don’t get me wrong the old Tube thing is a great thing just from the standpoint that most of us can’t afford to travel the country every weekend from coast to coast to attend every race.
NASCAR these days is too worried about their image! What the hell if someone hit someone and then they got in a little yellin’ match on the track. They handled it and took care of business, but nowadays it’s all about fines and taking points away.
Who gets blamed though if something happens on the track and a bunch of people start throwing beer cans and such on the track? It’s us good ol’ boys that they have damn near priced clear out of the seats. So take a second look. It’s probably some of your corporate America world participants that are throwing the cans and whatever else they can get their hands on.
So what happens when there is a shake up in NASCAR? Could it be the next NHL? No, and I think it will just continue to grow until they push the average good ol’ boy who started the series right out the door completely.
It won’t be long and the average fan will be sitting on the front lawn Sunday afternoon watching the race on the tube. Just from the plan fact they can’t afford to attend the races anymore because corporate America has priced them out of what they started. $125 for a ticket, or more? C’mon now. that’s flat out ridiculous, and uncalled for for anything other than turning a fat profit. Some tracks aren’t so bad but others sure are. What’s really bad is people pay it. As long as the seats fill up the prices won’t budge. How much is too much? Something has to give.
Will it hurt NASCAR? To some degree yes. It’s the true loyal fans that will be there watching it on TV though because they can’t afford a ticket to the show. It will also be these same fans whose wardrobes are made up of NASCAR t-shirts, and their shelves lined with scaled down versions of the real cars that will keep NASCAR alive, once they eventually fall back towards earth.
As with the growth of all things, it eventually balances itself out. It gets a tick too big for its britches and then finds that sweet spot. So far it has been all skyrocketing growth. In time though things will balance out to a happy medium. After all, the universe tends to unfold as it should.
And… That’s The Way I See It!!
Filed Under: Features, Guest Authors, Nascar, Nextel Cup, The Way I See It, Tim Spencer
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