NPR on Nascar

http://www.npr.org/2012/03/21/148773520/americans-hit-the-brakes-on-nascar

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Grant Hughes

No synopsis? No opinions? No nothing?
Fingers broken?

What do YOU think?
Why should I click?

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

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NoCoast
http://www.npr.org/2012/03/21/148773520/americans-hit-the-brakes-on-nascar

Wow that makes me sad.. Also appears to be the truth..

At least I feel like I showed one kid how much fun driving could be this weekend at an autox/rallyx mix. Just need to work on another few thousand more.

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This isn't floor mat anarchy

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john vanlandingham
No synopsis? No opinions? No nothing?
Fingers broken?

What do YOU think?
Why should I click?

Talking about Nascar's decline and stagnation being due to the upcoming generations not really caring about cars. Cars are a tool to get you from one place to another quickly and without realizing the monotony of driving around. Racing makes that monotony worthwhile because it provides a level of excitement that you can get from your car by pushing it to its limits. However modern automobiles strive to remove the driver from the driving even further with multiple entertainment options, instant voice access to phones, no need to even know routes around cities when GPS will do, etc. So they are being distracted from the complete and utter boredom that comes with driving around a city, especially interstate driving. Thus the car has become simply a tool and a status symbol.

I was thinking about this yesterday morning in regards to our local rally community and also Colorado inhabitants in general. This is a state full of doers. Modes of transportation turned sports are huge here. Mountain biking, skiing, running, and biking are all insanely huge here. Colorado has one of the most fit and most active populations in the US largely due to the high density of doers. Maybe the problem with motorsports is that the focus has always been so much on getting more viewers instead of getting more doers?

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Grant Hughes

I think if Nascar focused on more doers they would probably have to lower their standards and I don't think they would want to do that. I don't know much about Nascar but when I think of it I think of an unubtainable sport for your normal average everday person. You look at their pits and cars and you just think millions of dollars and think WOW no chance of me doing that! I'm more of a doer so I would rather go and participate somehow rather than sit around and watch. Also as Grant mentioned cars now days drive them self, yeah they are nice and fancy and cater to every luxury and even park them selfs now ( My personal opinion on tht is if you cant park your own car on your own you shouldnt be driving.) but to me its just taking away the raw expeirence of driving and actually feeling the road.

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ChrisKobi
I don't know much about Nascar but when I think of it I think of an unubtainable sport for your normal average everday person.

never mind the fact that circle track racing (not necessarily at that level) is one of the most popular participant motorsports in the US, and probably the only one in the US that the average joe has a reasonable chance at breaking even, if not even making a little bit of money...

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KF7RWG
http://www.utahrallygroup.com

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Aaron Luptak
never mind the fact that circle track racing (not necessarily at that level) is one of the most popular participant motorsports in the US, and probably the only one in the US that the average joe has a reasonable chance at breaking even, if not even making a little bit of money...

Very true. A friend of mine used to campaign a mini-stock Opel Ascona at the local circle track. If he placed 5th or better (and he pretty much always did), he came out well ahead for the week, assuming nothing broke or got damaged from on-track incidents. If he placed 3rd or better, he had extra money in his pocket to spend on making the car faster. $80 entry fee and $500 payout for 1st place in the 'lowest' class.

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Opel is a 4-letter word...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10498579@N07/sets/

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I would rather attend an event featuring a car that gets 200 MPG (or runs on a cheap alternative energy source), environmentally friendly and economically viable.

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My god.. someone on there managed to suggest something even more boring than nascar.

I know back in the mid 90s it was still possible for a non-crazy-rich privateer to enter/qualify in the 'Saturday', bush grand national race. My dad worked pit crew a time or 2 for one of those cars.

You do have to take some of the NPR stuff with a grain of salt though.. Isn't most of their target market liberals who think they are too smart for their own good?

I need to survey some of the younger generation around the silly valley here. Most that I've run into (the sig other's friends) are just plain too broke to play with their cars. About 1/2 don't have cars.. and nearly 1/2 don't have their licenses and we're talking people in their mid 20s. The lack of license + car does tend to severely affect their income as well.

It also doesn't help that all the way up the peninsula the towns are incorporated cities and its damn near illegal to work on your own car in your own driveway.

Around here the people that could afford to do it really aren't interested at all. Heck, they have nannies, gardeners, and mechanics. The stuff I do for fun most think are beneath them, or the jobs of mexicans.


On the other hand.. I'll get calls from my mom in when she's in the south east. She and the rest of the extended family are out having a good time at some local dirt track in virginia.

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This isn't floor mat anarchy

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Aaron Luptak

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ChrisKobi
I don't know much about Nascar but when I think of it I think of an unubtainable sport for your normal average everday person.

never mind the fact that circle track racing (not necessarily at that level) is one of the most popular participant motorsports in the US, and probably the only one in the US that the average joe has a reasonable chance at breaking even, if not even making a little bit of money...

And thats how much I know about Nascar.

I only watch sports or events that are unatainable to me. I rather do the sports I can then watch them. I hate spectating Rally for example but am fine watching F1.

The car culture era is dead, we are some of the last lagarts. I am sure it will take a few more decades for it to really die and there is a posibility something will come along and rivive some part of it but the test I run for my self - is there a new car I really want to buy for less than say $150,000.

Nope nothing really turns my crank in that price range - well the Tesla is kind of cool but I expect the 3rd gen of that type of car will be much better and cheaper then the current one. The Honda S2000 is the car that gets closest for me.

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In the long run reality always wins.

Eh, only the decent car culture is dead. There are plenty of horrible ones thriving, and growing.

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Welcome to the cult of JVL drink the koolaid or be banned.

Hellaflush FTW YO!!!

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This isn't floor mat anarchy

I started circle track racing in 1976. Have a couple track championships, both dirt and tarmac. Being in the car racing is way different that being on the sidelines. It is different than rally or drag racing, but racing is racing, fast cars are fast cars and racers are pretty much the same every where. Show me the program where rally gets kids on the track at 6 and 8 years old. Circle track, carting and motorcycles all do. Kids are still growing up racing, but as those numbers decline some the rally numbers show it way more because of the small percentage of racing that is rally. If circle track or drag racing loses 100 across the US no one would really notice. If rally lost 100 cars, well that would be catastrophic.

NASCAR will survive a lot more years. The facilities have gotten so nice, the money so big that many families can't afford to go these days. Baseball is getting there also. Remember the housing market in 2007??

I've seen a huge decline in local kids messing with their cars. I don't know if it is because they are doing stuff themselves or just not doing it at all. Similar with the truck crowd, not as much going on. I'd guess between the economy still sucking and the ongoing insulation of drivers from driving it will continue...sadly.

Good news is the DOT is getting on manufactures about all the distractions being built into the new cars. Can you imagine a new car being sold with roll up windows, 3 on the tree, no radio and standard drum brakes?

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heymagic
Show me the program where rally gets kids on the track at 6 and 8 years old. Circle track, carting and motorcycles all do. Kids are still growing up racing, but as those numbers decline some the rally numbers show it way more because of the small percentage of racing that is rally.

That is a big thing that I have thought about alot lately and how to affect it and get more youth involved. Imagine if Dirt Fish went and sponsored every local motocross and gokart race and the winner got a free one day course for him and a friend. Parent's are required to come as well in order to sign waivers and such. Low pressure and informative sales pitch starts once the kids are on the track. What proportion will get into it right away? What proportion will become fans/volunteers in the future? What proportion will wait until they graduate college and get a real job and then start rallying? What proportion will just write a check then and there to start a build?

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Grant Hughes

Good thoughts Grant. Rally is not a child friendly sport in many ways. Yup they can go stand in the woods and watch, but no real participation until 16 or so.

Dirtfish with either Rhinos or small buggies might could work. Give kids a chance to learn car control basics. Lots of local parents here spend stupid money getting the kids in the 1/4 midget racing program. Off roading might be able to support a similar program.