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WSJ: NASCAR, Once a Cultural Icon, Hits the Skids

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by lcjjdnh, Feb 22, 2017.

  1. lcjjdnh

    lcjjdnh Well-Known Member

    Nascar, Once a Cultural Icon, Hits the Skids


     
  2. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    Story seemed to jump around quite a bit, including some parts on the France dysfunction that perhaps didn't belong. But a body blow nonetheless when the WSJ hits you on the eve of your flagship race.

    The charts were pretty jarring too.
     
    maumann likes this.
  3. justgladtobehere

    justgladtobehere Well-Known Member

    What was the work around involving Google for reading WSJ articles? I recently read that WSJ blocked it, but I didn't get how it was done.

    The dumbest thing is 5 or 10 free articles a month. An incognito or privacy window makes the limit a joke.
     
  4. lcjjdnh

    lcjjdnh Well-Known Member

    If you Googled the headline, you'd be able to read the article from outside the paywall.
     
  5. dixiehack

    dixiehack Well-Known Member

  6. Buck

    Buck Well-Known Member

    Could it be that NASCAR is just settling back into where it should be with regard to audience?
    It experienced a huge surge in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Perhaps that surge was just not sustainable.
    It was just a popularity bubble.
     
  7. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    Perhaps, Buck. But everyone rides the bubble and then, when it bursts, wants to know what the hell happened.

    And in Nascar's case, in the burst it's finding that some of the old fans are gone for good. That was the risk, trading some of those old Carolina fans for new shiny and richer ones in Chicago and California. It largely failed.
     
    Liut and maumann like this.
  8. Stoney

    Stoney Well-Known Member

    That's exactly what I think it was.

    And I suspect the indirect cause of the bubble inflating was the loss of sports stars elsewhere that white middle America could identify with. The major team sports had come to be dominated by players that were racially and culturally very different from them--and even the few players that weren't were usually genetic or physical freaks that made it hard for the average Joe Schmoe to relate to as being like him--and Indy Car racing had also come to be dominated by foreign drivers with weird foreign names instead of the A.J., Johnny and Bobbys that once ruled the sport.

    But then they notice NASCAR--an utterly and entirely American sport where the stars are all normal-sized white guys who look, talk and act just like us! Hey, I think I'll start cheering for these guys. I think there's just an innate thing where sports fans seek out sports heroes they can identify with as being like themselves--and in the 90s NASCAR provided an abundance of those right as they were disappearing from our other favorite sports.

    But that appeal has limited staying power. Eventually it becomes hard to deny that it gets old just watching a bunch of cars make left turns for four straight hours.
     
    Last edited: Feb 22, 2017
    exmediahack and maumann like this.
  9. Inky_Wretch

    Inky_Wretch Well-Known Member

    NASCAR isn't .gif-able, except for Montoya hitting the jet dryer and big restrictor-plate wrecks.
     
  10. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    That's a really good point. And crash .gifs wouldn't be the happy-cute stuff the young people crave. Maybe if you had cats emerging unscathed from the wreckage.

    Drivers rarely make truly memorable sounds bites anymore either.
     
  11. Captain_Kirk

    Captain_Kirk Well-Known Member

    From my viewpoint, Indy was the big name in racing in the 70s and 80s. Even though, NASCAR had Petty, Pearson, Yarborough, etc., they were the backwoods, bootlegging cousin to Indy racing. Then the whole Indy CART split really diluted Indy Car and gave NASCAR an opening, which they capitalized on big time with the emergence of Jeff Gordon as the sport's marquee star.

    Rode that wave through the 90s and then Dale Earnhardt's death in 2001 was another major event that gave them momentum for years to come.

    And even though I think they have the personalities in the drivers to make viewing compelling, I can understand the wane in popularity for at least a couple reasons:

    The sporting attention span continues to shorten: all the major sports are concerned with the length of their events. And a four hour auto race is fighting an uphill battle in a bite sized video on a smart phone world.

    The really core fan base that can relate to auto racing is going away: the guys who like to work on their car in their driveway, the guys who liked to soup up their own ride, power up the engine and the like--those guys are in their 50s and 60s today. Those are the ones who can relate from a craft perspective to what's going on at a race or in a racing league. How many 20 - 30 year olds are actually changing their own oil today? How many even know how to pop the hood?

    I moved to the south almost the same time NASCAR was rising in popularity, so I've sort of gone along for the ride. Live in an area where there are 3 of the big daddy NASCAR tracks within 3 hours of my house. Really enjoy going to a race in person. Where as the rest of the major sports all seem to be a better experience to me on TV than in person (except hockey), maybe NASCAR is one that goes the other way--where being there is by far better than watching 4 hours on the hi-def.

    Just one man's view from the outside. I know from reading these threads there's a ton of auto racing expertise that will be interesting to read their assessment.
     
  12. Tarheel316

    Tarheel316 Well-Known Member

    Whenever I drive past North Wilkesboro or Rockingham I get what you're saying.
     
    UNCGrad and maumann like this.
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