No, NASCAR is not selling cars

[unixknight]

I'm not a NASCAR fan, but I am aware of the goings on since it isn't too far removed from IndyCar, which I love.  I was watching a video that attempted to explain wby NASCAR has been declining in popularity in the last few years.  One of his points was that NASCAR, being about stock cars, was losing fans because people buy fewer cars these days,  preferring SUVs and trucks.  Thus, he said, people were less interested in watching cars race.

This argument struck me as incredibly stupid.   For starters, NASCAR does also race trucks.  As far as I know, they're having the same problem.  Second, nobody watches NASCAR for the cars' nameplates.  There are Ford Fusions in NASCAR...and I drive a Fusion myself, but I assure you there is not one single component in common between my car and the one Kevin Harvick drives around in races.  Not one.  His race car is as much a Ford Fusion as a Formula One RB-10.  People know this.

Besides, IndyCar is growing, and it isn't because car dealerships are selling open wheel racers to the American commuter.

As I said, I'm not a NASCAR guy so my opinion on the cause for the decline is worth beans, but I suspect it's because NASCAR has lost its character.  I did watch it when I was a kid, back when the cars actually did have some commonality with real cars, and the vibe was different. It was less corporatized and felt more like something relatable.  

Now it's all flahing lights, complex rules and cars that don't know what they're supposed to be.

 

[anatess2]

6 minutes ago, unixknight said:

I'm not a NASCAR fan, but I am aware of the goings on since it isn't too far removed from IndyCar, which I love.  I was watching a video that attempted to explain wby NASCAR has been declining in popularity in the last few years.  One of his points was that NASCAR, being about stock cars, was losing fans because people buy fewer cars these days,  preferring SUVs and trucks.  Thus, he said, people were less interested in watching cars race.

This argument struck me as incredibly stupid. 

 

They seriously said that?  I tell ya, man.  Journalism is a lost skill.  Or art.

So, this is my take on the matter:  People are still measuring viewership by TV Ratings which is so old school and not in keeping with the way people view things today.  Advertisers still gauge by TV Ratings, prices are still impacted through TV Ratings, etc. etc.  TV Ratings is like measuring music popularity through CD sales.  Not many people buy CDs anymore but they're listening to the music.

So, Nascar is failing, in my opinion, because they haven't transitioned to the new way of viewership.   The millenials who are now growing old hasn't been able to capture the spirit of the sport as they don't watch TV and Nascar hasn't branched out to capture their viewership.  The boomer folks are now getting too old to drive their camper vans to follow the circuit, the x-geners who are still filling the stands are not as connected to their gen-y kids (dang hippies!) and with the .explosion of viewer options for free on the internet for the gen-y and gen-z's, gravitating to their parents' traditions is just too... old schooly.

This, in my opinion, is the same thing for most of the entertainment industry that relies on TV that hasn't built a niche independent of it.  And, instead of leveraging the new way the young'uns view things, they're trying to force the TV paradigm into the internet, which just gets summarily rejected.

So yeah... my kids don't watch TV.  They are interested in football because they love their dad and they love hanging out with him.  That's pretty much it.

[unixknight]

20 minutes ago, anatess2 said:

So, Nascar is failing, in my opinion, because they haven't transitioned to the new way of viewership. 

I think that's definitely part of it, but to be honest I'm not optimistic that solving that problem would be enough.

I kinda feel like NASCAR could only exist for a moment in time.  It started when moonrunners would race their suped-up cars around and it became a sport.  Fans liked that character of it, with colorful drivers, racing on a low budget, driving cars you could actually buy...  but as the years went by the vibe changed into flashy, corporate driven showmanship with vehicles that are barely recognizeable as stock cars...

NASCAR was popular back in the old days for the same reason baseball is popular... you could get together with your friends and do the same thing.  These younger generations don't care about muscle cars and tinkering.  They can't.  An average car sold today has something like 5 or 6 computers in it, each more sophisticated and powerful than the one in the Apollo spacecraft.  The days of buying custom parts from a catalog and tinkering with the carburetor are over.  Those were the days when people could connect with NASCAR.

When I watch IndyCar and Formula One I don't expect to relate.  I know what it is snd how it works, and do it still delivers what it promises.

 

[anatess2]

13 minutes ago, unixknight said:

I think that's definitely part of it, but to be honest I'm not optimistic that solving that problem would be enough.

I kinda feel like NASCAR could only exist for a moment in time.  It started when moonrunners would race their suped-up cars around and it became a sport.  Fans liked that character of it, with colorful drivers, racing on a low budget, driving cars you could actually buy...  but as the years went by the vibe changed into flashy, corporate driven showmanship with vehicles that are barely recognizeable as stock cars...

NASCAR was popular back in the old days for the same reason baseball is popular... you could get together with your friends and do the same thing.  These younger generations don't care about muscle cars and tinkering.  They can't.  An average car sold today has something like 5 or 6 computers in it, each more sophisticated and powerful than the one in the Apollo spacecraft.  The days of buying custom parts from a catalog and tinkering with the carburetor are over.  Those were the days when people could connect with NASCAR.

When I watch IndyCar and Formula One I don't expect to relate.  I know what it is snd how it works, and do it still delivers what it promises.

 

Here in Florida, there are still tons of groups/clubs that tinker with their cars and race them through cones.  Although, they're mostly Asians with their Hondas and don't go to NASCAR...  I don't know if they still have the muscle cars.  I don't see very many of them driving around but there is a dirt track in town.  I've just never been to it.

[unixknight]

1 hour ago, anatess2 said:

Here in Florida, there are still tons of groups/clubs that tinker with their cars and race them through cones.  Although, they're mostly Asians with their Hondas and don't go to NASCAR...  I don't know if they still have the muscle cars.  I don't see very many of them driving around but there is a dirt track in town.  I've just never been to it.

Yeah they mod their cars mostly for aesthetics.  The only mechanical stuff you can really do anymore is lower the suspension or change the exhaust plumbing.  Stuff under the hood....  very little compared to the old days.  

The guys you're describing probably mainly do drifting on the track, which is the craze these days.  Nothing at all like NASCAR.

[anatess2]

2 minutes ago, unixknight said:

Yeah they mod their cars mostly for aesthetics.  The only mechanical stuff you can really do anymore is lower the suspension or change the exhaust plumbing.  Stuff under the hood....  very little compared to the old days.  

The guys you're describing probably mainly do drifting on the track, which is the craze these days.  Nothing at all like NASCAR.

Drag racing too.  They go crazy over their spoilers and fairings.