Racin' or Rasslin'?

WWR,,,,,,,,, for World Wide Racin'

It is a reality TV show where even the loosers and back markers make more per year in salary than the fans, where you get "sold out crowds" by reducing the number of seats and making the remaining seats wider.

Cherish that record that Smoke set by being the first to run an official average speed of 200mph on a 1.5 mile track,,,,,,because next year there is going to be 75-100 less horsepower in those 9000 rpm smallblocks. (2015 rules package)

I am right on the edge of leaving all interest in that sport, after following it and participating in it since 1965. (disclaimer, I only got to the Wis Late Model Sportsman, CWRA, ARTGO and old ASA level, no Cup or Nationwide stuff)

But, there is a new breed of fans in the 21st century,,,,,,and the sport is all about dragging eyeballs across web pages for more dollars, to spend to get more eyeballs dragged across to get more dollars, to spend to,,,,,,,yeah, ad infinitum.

Rex

I wouldn't watch either,thank you.

Well, since NASCAR put most of its races on cable, I see little of it.  Watched the US Gran Prix on NBC yesterday, though, good event with very good TV work.

I've been a F1 fan for probably 50 years.

Rex, I miss the ASA; got to see them on tv back in the 90's/00's when they were being aired; but haven't seen it in a long time. Gotta love short track racin'.

Talking about ASA and short tracks,,,,,,,,did you hear that Jim Sauter passed away? He passed on friday back home in Necedah, (well, probably Mauston) while his son Johnny was running in the truck race in Ft Worth. They didn't tell Johnny until he got back to the hauler after parking on pit road at the end of the race.

Our farm was in Adams, Wis, just across the Wisconsin River from Necedah,,,,Jim and his sons were a regular part of the racing experience in that "eight speedway circle"

In reference to this brawl being "real racing",,,,,,I only saw one fight in 20+ years of being in the 4 short track associations I listed in my previous post. In fact, most of the time I saw the complete opposite of fist fighting,,,,,,,guys giving each other tires, carbs, springs, shocks, body panels, what have you.   And that one fight was between two unsponsored drivers,,,,,,no drivers with a sponsor ever took that risk of loosing their sponsor's good opinion. (drivers and teams did talk about other teams sometimes, but, never a clear the benches deal like we see the Millionares doing for tv)

Rex

I also miss ASA.  It was the sanctioning body for races at the Mn State Fairgrounds track during the fair, until they tore up the track to make a music venue of the place :-(

As far as the fights, I remember awhile ago NASCAR loosened the rules/penalties for fighting.  They had been getting criticism from fans for being too politically correct in trying to lower violence level.

They have to do something to keep viewers' attention. In its basic form, motorsports is just riding around in a circle for several hundred miles. Without the drama and road rage, it could get very boring.

I was racing at Atco Dragway in '59, '60, and '61. Never saw a fight except up in the stands. As Rex said, guys were always helping one another any way they could. Would have kept on racing but with a family starting, welllllllllllll, you know how it went.

Jim 

NASCAR is in trouble. Period. They're having trouble selling seats, and getting fans to spend the outrageous amounts of money that it takes to see a race these days. This "tactic" is, I have no doubt, probably scripted or at least tolerated because it fits in with the current unfortunate trend of lowering standards and appealing to people's base instincts. You see it everywhere nowadays--the media appealing to Humankinds' lowest possible instincts in shows like Honey Boo Boo, WWF, UFC, and other "reality" shows like Ultimate Catch and other featuring basically people yelling at each other and basically fighting every episode. And of course, then there's a certain "news" outlet which is a cesspool of the worst of human impulses. Fighting, throwing punches, cussing out--ah yeah, that's the red meat for much of the average viewer out there.

The trouble is more than just race ticket prices. It's the disgusting infection of greed and avarice around the entire experience--the concessions, the hotel fees, restaurants around the race tracks and different industries which cater to race fans. There was a report recently which documented how especially hotels jack their rates up to unbelievably ridiculous prices around race weekend. Everybody trying to squeeze another drop of blood from the stone.Unfortunately, that's America these days. Greed is destroying entire institutions. NASCAR Is just another victim of the pervasive infection.

bleacherreport.com/.../1864315-how-can-nascar-fix-its-attendance-problems

News flash, but many hotels jack up prices just before major events. Try getting a room in Louisville, Kentucky this weekend. A four star room will run around $100 a night.

Now try to get a room within a 50 mile radius of Louisville, Kentucky during Derby Week which is the first Saturday in May. A poor room in a seedy motel 60 miles away from Churchill Downs would cost more than $100 a night. You can't find a room in a 50 mile radius.

I am getting to feeling a little bit better about this, Nascar is handing out fines, probations and now suspensions for these incidents.

I am thinking that they will make a couple of changes over the winter before the new cars come out (again), they are taking away some downforce and a lot of horsepower from these Gen-6 cars (making them "Gen-6 Light"?)

I just hope they add a reinforcement bar to the rear half of the lower side skirt, that will make it impossible to pull out the back end of it like they do now on the first pit stop. They create knives that stick out, supposedly to increase down force, but, they sure make great tire cutters A La Grease or Death Race 2000. (and yes, the fix is that easy, just make it impossible to bend by hand,,,,,then fine or suspend anyone that still does it with some tool)

As recently as last year, Jeff's car would have been fine in this body slam incident, but, that knife hit the tire.

As for watching, yeah, if you don't know the nuances of driving one, Stock cars seem boring until there is a crash,,,,,,,,,but, if you have ever raced 15 laps to get to that one spot to take the air off of a car just right to make it wiggle without touching it so that you can pass him,,,or had it happen to you,,,,,then you know how much fun a clean driven stock car is. (it is just that clean driven cars don't get Pepsi or Miller or any of the hundreds of other "huge sponsors" put on them, so they are never on TV)

Rex

Jim, did you see any of the talk about how everyone helped Norm Benning out at Eldora when he made the field? Even at the "3rd level" of Nascar, the truck racing, they swarmed all over his truck to get him some new stuff when he raced his way into the main event.

That reminded me so much of short tracks all over the US.

I wish those "3rd level" races got better tv coverage. They are a lot more entertaining.

I remember hearing about how guys like Kenny Schrader and Mark Martin, and others, who paid their dues in those series; and you can tell that they know how to take care of their equipment; especially shunning the post race burnouts...those drive me crazy; seems disrespectful to the engine builders.

Sorry to hear about Jim Sauter.

I really miss USAC events on TV. I have heard they really don't care much whether they get TV or not.  I recently watched the 2014 Chili Bowl on Youtube.  Wow, lots of drama without any fights.  Those midgets are so maneuverable you can put a bunch on a very short track, and it is unbelievable how close they get in turns without touching!  To me that is exciting racing, watching positions change several times per lap!

Rob Gronovius

News flash, but many hotels jack up prices just before major events. Try getting a room in Louisville, Kentucky this weekend. A four star room will run around $100 a night.

Now try to get a room within a 50 mile radius of Louisville, Kentucky during Derby Week which is the first Saturday in May. A poor room in a seedy motel 60 miles away from Churchill Downs would cost more than $100 a night. You can't find a room in a 50 mile radius.

and that's for a race that lasts less than 5 minutes.

Don, one of the fun races that was on some time ago was when the World of Outlaws went to Bristol, and they put dirt down on the track. They were turning laps quicker than the Cup cars...I think they only did it once.

Bristol is also hosting the Tennessee/Virginia Tech football game in 2016...it oughta be huge!