Running 2019 Nascar thread

[playthrough]

Apparently there were layoffs today at the sanctioning body. Sorry to start a new thread with that, though I suspect a lot of the discussion in Nascar this year won't be along very positive lines.

 

[wicked]

 

[DanOregon]

Whoever wrote that used to work in newspapers I'm guessing....

 

[Driftwood]

Things aren't getting any better for this thread.
J.D. Gibbs passed away last night at age 49.

 

[maumann]

Terrible news about J.D. One of the nicest people in the industry. Gone way too soon.

Glen Wood of the Wood Brothers is now in hospice.

EDIT: Ganassi and Roush drop their Xfinity teams. At one time, those teams were so flush with cash, they had multiple drivers on "development" deals.

And media relations expert Mike Zizzo was let go by Texas Motor Speedway. The Mexican food buffet days were legendary.

 

[wicked]

Has there been any talk of tracks straight-up abandoning dates? With this TV deal probably not, but I’m talking down the road.

 

[maumann]

As far as I know, the tracks are still getting 65 percent of the TV money. So they basically don't have to sell a single ticket to make money. But all bets are off when the current deal expires or FOX/NBC ask to renegotiate because of ratings/ad revenue.

Some of the 50 or so NASCAR layoff victims were "lifers," from what I'm hearing. SpaceX is also pinkslipping 10 percent of its workforce in an effort to "get leaner." Lesson: If you're not related to the name on the letterhead, your continued employment is always in peril.

"Appreciate your lifelong commitment to making us rich. Enjoy the token severance and don't let the door hit you on your way out." -- Anyone not named France or Musk.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Terrible news about J.D. One of the nicest people in the industry. Gone way too soon.

Glen Wood of the Wood Brothers is now in hospice.

EDIT: Ganassi and Roush drop their Xfinity teams. At one time, those teams were so flush with cash, they had multiple drivers on "development" deals.

And media relations expert Mike Zizzo was let go by Texas Motor Speedway. The Mexican food buffet days were legendary.

Ganassi dropped its Xfinity team because DC Solar and its owner Jeff Carpoff are having federal prosecution issues. Roush’s problems go back years and are best symbolized by former Roush capo Geoff Smith telling the press in 2006 or so that he was more interested in drivers who represent sponsors well and relate to VIPs well rather than drivers who win races. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[DanOregon]

Was it ever announced what JD Gibbs had? It wasn't from an injury right?

 

[Driftwood]

The story I read this morning just said some kind of degenerative disease.

 

[tapintoamerica]

The story I read this morning just said some kind of degenerative disease.

If it was ALS, I'm glad his misery is over. Worst thing on this or any other planet.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Was it ever announced what JD Gibbs had? It wasn't from an injury right?

Some kind of degenerative brain syndrome, intimated to date to his football days.

 

[maumann]

Hall of Famer Glen Wood dies at 93. He and his brother perfected the modern pit stop.

NASCAR Hall of Famer Glen Wood dies at 93

 

[playthrough]

Bob Pockrass hired to write for Fox Sports. A year or so after Fox Sports laid off good writers to go to all-video on its website, go figure. But happy for Bob, whose reporting chops are unparalleled in the garage.

 

[wicked]

I was checking out Jayski (RIP) one last time and they had one story listing the seating capacities at ISC tracks in 2019.

International Speedway Corporation continues to reduce track seating

Wasn’t Michigan at like 100,000 at one point, and Kansas around ~80,000? Ouch.

 

[TigerVols]

I see where Cessna is sponsoring Jamie McMurray; I remember a marketing professor I had once saying airlines would never touch nascar cause they didn’t want to be associated with crashes.

 

[Moderator1]

I was checking out Jayski (RIP) one last time and they had one story listing the seating capacities at ISC tracks in 2019.

International Speedway Corporation continues to reduce track seating

Wasn’t Michigan at like 100,000 at one point, and Kansas around ~80,000? Ouch.

Richmond sold out a 100+ facility twice a year for 17 or so years. Now it is half as big and hasn't been half full.
Ouch is right

 

[DanOregon]

Honest question, is it a loss of popularity or the costs outstripping the ability/desire to attend or sponsor a team?

 

[LanceyHoward]

Richmond sold out a 100+ facility twice a year for 17 or so years. Now it is half as big and hasn't been half full.
Ouch is right

What has happened to ticket prices. Has track management gotten rid of the mobs in the cheap seats to concentrate on the affluent?

 

[playthrough]

I see where Cessna is sponsoring Jamie McMurray; I remember a marketing professor I had once saying airlines would never touch nascar cause they didn’t want to be associated with crashes.

Perhaps he didn't watch Nascar in the early '80s.