So there was a nice, big, whiny-toned expose in the USA Today this week about how the economy is affecting NAZICAR attendance and TV ratings and sponsorship dollars. As I’ve said before, the economy is a convenient excuse for these guys, who refuse to look in the mirror and see the REAL reasons why NAZICAR is suffering. Here is a list of the real reasons NAZICAR is going through a down time, a slide that may be impossible to reverse. Listed in no particular order, all of these things add up to what’s really wrong with the sport.
1. Toyota. When they allowed Toyota bodies into the sport, like it or not, it turned off a lot of people. You don’t have to be jingoistic to not want Japanese cars in your sport. Jingoism comes into play later in this list but not here. Fact is, stock car racing is built on rear-wheel drive, American V8-powered cars. Antiquated thinking or not, the top level of stock car racing in this country equates to “the Big Three”. No matter what kind of trouble GM, Chrysler and Ford are in, no matter where their cars are ultimately built (Canada) or whether one of the Big Three is foreign owned (as Chrysler was by Mercedes in recent years), even no matter how close the cars are to street cars (for most of the 90’s, the Cup cars were based on front wheel drive GM, Ford and Chrysler counterparts), NAZICAR did fine. And while things like front wheel drive cars being bastardized to fit rear wheel drive chassis hurt NAZICAR to some extent, it was still nothing like the sting of having Toyota…f’ing Toyota…running around American ovals.
2. The obvious and nurtured right-wing slant of the sanctioning body. Look, NASCAR, a majority of it’s competitors and a majority of it’s fans have always leaned somewhat to the political right. But it was never so apparent as during the G.W. Bush years, when they blatantly went off the charts with their love and promotion of the far-right agenda. Many midwestern and West Coast fans, who began to follow the sport as it grew out of the south and became the major reason why it’s popularity soared in the 1980’s and 1990’s, went back away when we had to have religion – make that christianity – and jingoistic thinking regarding war shoved down our throats consistently by NAZICAR. NASCAR became NAZICAR to many of us during this time, not only for their amazingly dictatorial ways of running their shows, but for the jingoism that went with it. Too much “god”, too much “country” has driven millions away from the sport.
3. Template racing. It used to be “he who builds and brings the best car wins”. But then one make (Pontiac, in many cases) would show up with a better mouse trap and the other drivers (Ford and Chevy whiners) would cry about it until NAZICAR finally got fed up and built a template car. Stock car racing enjoyed a huge advantage over open wheel racing for many fans because of the ability to identify cars, and the loyalty that people have for certain makes of cars. They blew it when they went to the open-wheel style “templates”…cars all look EXACTLY the same save for a few lame graphics. NAZICAR thinks fans root for drivers, no matter what they drive. In the case of many young don’t-care-what-they-drive-we-only-cheer-for-the-cute-driver fans, they don’t care. But for the core of the audience, make and model was important. I personally always rooted for cars, not drivers. I was a Rusty Wallace fan in the late 80’s as he piloted his Pontiacs…I stopped rooting for him when he became a Ford man.
Put it this way, if you love the Chicago Bears and hate the Dallas Cowboys, do you become a Cowboys fan if Walter Payton gets traded there? I think not.
There are many more reasons, that will be discussed in future posts. That’s enough for now.
5 responses so far ↓
1
vonster
// May 26, 2009 at 4:37 pm
Congrats – you just Godwined yourself.
2
ChrisW
// May 26, 2009 at 6:56 pm
#2 has to be the dumbest thing you have ever said. You are saying that Bush is the reason behind NASCAR’s failure? When are you left-wing nutjobs going to realize that you can’t just blame Bush for every single thing. Every sport changed their patriotic outlook after 9/11. Prayer and the singing of songs like God Bless America has been happening for a good period of time before Bush became president. Explain how “war” has been shoved down our throats by NASCAR? Is it that they use military jets for flyovers? Or how about a color guard for the national anthem? Just to give you a heads up, they’ve been doing that, too, well before Bush became president. Your precious Messiah is president now. Move on.
The real reason NASCAR is doing poorly? It’s actually a combination of the economy and the because of point number three on your list. The cars are way to similar, making for really boring races as there is almost no passing on the large ovals.
3
bjstone
// May 27, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Chris, read it again. Where did I say “Bush is the reason behind NASCAR’s failure.” I never said that.
I was discussing WHY NASCAR is experiencing a DOWNTURN, and I blame it on more than the economy. I blame it on many things, in part because of what I wrote in #2 above. NASCAR went way over and above simple “patriotism” after 9/11 and jumped enthusiastically into jingoism. There’s a big difference. As far was “war being shoved down our throats”, NASCAR continued to blatantly support a war that most Americans believe is unjust and illegal. Where am I “blaming Bush”? NASCAR CHOSE to openly and outwardly support that administration’s failed policies, that’s not Bush’s fault, it’s NASCAR’s. Like I said, millions of fans are turned off by the right-wing nature of the SANCTIONING BODY in what should be an APOLITICAL sporting event.
Oh, and I’ve never called Barack Obama “precious” or “the Messiah”…I don’t know anyone who voted for him who actually HAS uttered those words to describe him. It all comes from right-wing radio. Maybe you’re the one that should move on…to something more constructive than Rush and Hannity.
4
ChrisW
// May 27, 2009 at 2:42 pm
You never explained HOW they “blatantly went off the charts with their love and promotion of the far-right agenda.”
“NASCAR continued to blatantly support a war that most Americans believe is unjust and illegal.” How did they support it? I don’t ever remember NASCAR coming out with a Bomb Iraq advertising campaign. Yes, many of the FANS were southern war supporters, but that doesn’t mean that NASCAR went out of their way to support war. They went above and beyond (as has many other leagues) to support the TROOPS, which is entirely different. But if THAT is what you were talking about when you say that they were shoving war down our throats, then you have a major problem, my friend.
5
Neal
// May 29, 2009 at 4:23 pm
I never buy foreign cars, but I do not resent Toyota coming into NASCAR at all. Toyota raises the standard of any racing league they enter and tend to dominate a few of them. The COT has been a real turnoff for me. I drove all the way to darlington when the first CoT race was there and that was a snoozer….I wont go back. All the locals and regulars out there didnt like them either and said that affected the racing. I think COT has adversly affected the racing. The inability to green flag pass, rules irregularly enforced, cookie cutter tracks are a few things that coould be corrected. I use to not like road races but now I look forward to them……just to see some passing! Joliet is the worst track on the circuit…hands down…..not even debatable. They have added ZERO seating since first built, I think that says alot. (check me if I am wrong).
I do not enjoy NASCAR as much as I use to.
Leave a Comment