bobsallyh wrote:
And the further it regress's the sooner I can see the France family unloaded the ownership to somebody else and I wish it would happen TODAY!
And the further it regress's the sooner I can see the France family unloaded the ownership to somebody else and I wish it would happen TODAY!
Bob, I agree. The salad days are in the rearview mirror. The heady days of easy sponsorship and big money TV contracts more than anything, changed NASCAR, but in the last decade plus, the most significant change and probably more detrimental, was Bill Jr. turning over the reins to Brian. If local media stories down here over the years have any truth to them, Brian's got 'issues' and personal excesses with various vices. More than anything, he's not the leader or executive his father and grandfather were. I have wondered why Brian's sister Lesa or his uncle Jim had no interest in the taking the big chair. Brian's more of a trust fund baby than he is a leader.
Lesa seems to be an effective CEO for International Speedway Corp. Sure the France family has the controlling interest in ISC, but they still have a board and shareholders to answer to. Maybe that's the difference, Brian has no one to be accountable to outside of his family members. Wonder how things would go if Mike Helton was promoted from Vice Chairman to replace Brian?
thomasmnile wrote:
Wonder how things would go if Mike Helton was promoted from Vice Chairman to replace Brian?
Wonder how things would go if Mike Helton was promoted from Vice Chairman to replace Brian?
I have a suspicion that Helton is just Brian France light.
It seems to me there needs to be a significant contraction of the sport, the question is what form of the sport comes out on the other side?
Every other motorsport that I can think of has changed to try and match current/future societal demographics and interests, including making their sport more TV friendly.
One example is desert trucks which have morphed into everything but the Desert racing of old. You see these trucks racing on paved courses with jumps, dirt courses with jumps in stadiums etc. I even saw one event where they were racing on a ski slope during winter. Two trucks, two separate lanes with one or two cross-over points that would result in direct collisions at speed should the timing be right.
All of this type of redesign of the venues, rules etc to make these sports fit better in our short-attention span, soundbite society today. To include more compact and more exciting television broadcasts.
I foresee more tracks becoming Event Destinations where the actual race is not much more than a side-show for the event attendees. Many if not most of whom are corporate people having their meetings in the "suites" while some other people are racing around a track down below somewhere. I wouldn't be surprised to see these events start to require more direct driver interaction with the corporate people - meet and greets in the suites, ride-arounds in a racecar with a big name driver.
Nascar is kind of in a pickle with their fixed venues, which are not easily changed, in a substantial way anyways. Plus you have the whole track owners, team owners, nascar sanctioning body mashup.
So there are some things that can be done, however there are other areas that are not easily dealt with. Such as the fact that today's society is not a car obsessed society like it was in the past. Other than a couple of younger guys who own or are crewing on local Saturday night race teams (Lemons/street stock type) I just don't see many young people interested in cars, much less racing.
I am very encouraged by many of the newer drivers entering the sport - Larson, Elliot, etc.
I thought about writing a more detailed post on the subject but didn't want to get too long winded...
![[emoticon]](http://www.coastresorts.com/sharedcontent/cfb/images/biggrin.gif "biggrin")
In the meantime, I will enjoy the show.
GO KYLE BUSCH! (don't forget,.....FOUR tires)
Willie & Betty Sue
Miko & Sparky
2003 41 ft Dutch Star Diesel Pusher/Spartan
Floorplan 4010
Blazer toad & Ranger bassboat
top 17 in practice
video
2002 Chevy Express LS 3500 8.1 155" WB passenger van 3.73 posi (GT4/G80)
2003 Thor Citation 41-ZBSR 41ft TT
Hitch Hiker
"08" 29.5 FKTG LS
thomasmnile wrote:
You may be right about the sideshow. The upcoming race at Daytona will be featuring MMA bouts as part of pre-race activities.
You may be right about the sideshow. The upcoming race at Daytona will be featuring MMA bouts as part of pre-race activities.
That doesn't surprise me, though to be fair the same thing is happening to some other sports as well.
I was listening to sports radio this week and they were talking about how MLB seems to be transitioning to the 'event' concept to some degree. Fans go to the stadium more for the social aspect than the game itself. They cited fans who would call in and know what the final score was but not know about key plays of the game such as bases loaded home-runs and such.
I listened to two people who called in and said they can often watch all the key plays of an hour+ game on youtube in 15 minutes or so.
Of course I suppose this should all be taken with a grain of salt given the mighty Seattle Mariners is our home team. May only take 2 minutes to watch the highlights from one of their games.
![[emoticon]](http://www.coastresorts.com/sharedcontent/cfb/images/wink.gif "wink")
FlatBroke wrote:
Nemechek wins Iowa, two in a row in the truck series. Nice guys can finish first. One car team, Things are looking up!
Nemechek wins Iowa, two in a row in the truck series. Nice guys can finish first. One car team, Things are looking up!
I watched the last segment of that race and it was a good one. That was some good driving by John Hunter.