In recent blog posts, I have been very outspoken in my criticism of NASCAR's practices of recent years and finally had my fill when NASCAR successfully engineered Jimmie Johnson's fifth consecutive championship.
In addition to NASCAR's blatant favoritism of driver Jimmie Johnson and his crew chief,Chad Knaus,there are other factors that I and many other fans are increasingly disgusted with. The Chase is another factor that has given us the train wreck that is NASCAR. NASCAR CEO Brian France wants to expand the Chase to 15 drivers with some sort of "eliminate as you go" scenario,sort of like the playoffs in stick and ball sports. This is the most absurd idea that Mr.France has come up with and that speaks volumes considering the lunacy of his other ideas,including the Chase itself. Mr.France is expected to unveil his folly next month. Apparently,he does not get the message that fans are fed up with the Chase and want it abolished. Either that or Mr.France is in denial. Under the old points system,the same driver would not have won the Cup championship the past five seasons. Eliminating the so called Car Of Tomorrow,or COT,would be another way of bringing back exciting and more competitive racing.
NASCAR claims to be a fan-driven sport and says they are fan-friendly but if they truly listened to the fans,the sport would not be in serious trouble as it is now with declining attendance at races and falling TV ratings. These factors came into play long before the economy tanked. If NASCAR was actually receptive to the fans,they would not show mockery of and contempt toward the fans and not force things on us that we do not want and are obviously not good for the sport. But NASCAR has been overcome by arrogance and condescension toward the fans,undoubtedly contributing to its eventual demise.
Other things that might win back lost fans include returning the Nationwide series to its original purpose,which is preparing up and coming talent for the Cup series. NASCAR should restrict participation by Cup drivers in the Nationwide series. NASCAR should restrict how many Cup drivers can race in a Nationwide race and how many Nationwide races per season a Cup driver can race in. Cup drivers should not be eligible for driver or championship points,only team owner points.
While women and minorities should obviously be allowed to race in NASCAR, affirmative action programs such as the Drive For Diversity are not the way of doing it. Just like their white male counterparts,female and minority drivers should have to earn their positions in races,not have it given to them. NASCAR is exercising the same sort of reverse discrimination that has discriminated against white males in society for many years. Like the Apostle Peter denying the Lord Jesus Christ, Brian France wants NASCAR denying its Southern roots and betraying the working class Southern fans who made the sport popular. Like Judas Iscariot,Brian France has shown himself as a sellout. Not allowing drivers to speak their minds,after drivers Ryan Newman and Denny Hamlin were essentially censored by NASCAR earlier this year after merely stating their opinions,has been to NASCAR's detriment. Drivers are no longer allowed to speak from their hearts by NASCAR. Gone are the fist fights of days gone by,such as the Allison brothers/Yarborough brawl at the 1979 Daytona 500. As is evidenced by the decline in race attendance and plummeting TV ratings,political correctness is killing NASCAR.
This brings us to the question,should fans boycott NASCAR? Well,I would say a boycott would send a message but at this point,NASCAR is destroying itself,as is evidenced by declining race attendance and falling TV ratings. A boycott would certainly add to NASCAR's woes. If millions of fans organized a boycott, NASCAR would probably cave,though not necessarily out of devotion to the fans,but as a means of saving themselves from bankruptcy and obliteration. I support whatever works to get NASCAR back to being the exciting,competitive,and all-American sport it originally was. There is still hope for NASCAR, but unfortunately time is running out.
Showing posts with label Jimmie Johnson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jimmie Johnson. Show all posts
Friday, December 3, 2010
Friday, October 15, 2010
More Reasons To Ditch NASCAR
I am amazed at how at how good NASCAR drivers are at pretending to be ignorant when it comes to NASCAR's declining race attendance and falling TV viewership, along with Jimmie Johnson living in denial as to why his predictable dominance is without a doubt a factor in declining TV ratings and falling race attendance.
NASCAR drivers know just like everybody else exactly why NASCAR's TV ratings have fallen and race attendance has declined. The races lack excitement anymore. The same driver wins the championship every year. NASCAR plays favorites with the #48 team by throwing alleged "debris" cautions and not penalizing crew chief Chad Knaus for his blatant cheating,as they did with driver Clint Bowyer and his Richard Childress Racing team. It should be noted that earlier this year,drivers Ryan Newman and Denny Hamlin were fined for just speaking their minds about NASCAR's questionable practices and blatant favoritism toward the #48 team so it could be the drivers are feigning ignorance to please Brian France,Mike Helton,Ramsey Poston,John Darby,and others. Since the Newman and Hamlin incidents, NASCAR has essentially placed a gag order on their drivers.
Jimmie Johnson's dominance of the NASCAR Cup series since 2006 is one reason,but not the only reason,why fans are losing interest in NASCAR and why TV ratings have fallen and race attendance has declined. Fans figure why bother spending their hard-earned money when they already know the outcome of the races and the championship? Few races NASCAR runs today even come close to the bumper-to-bumper,side-by-side,fight to the finish races of days gone by. Even tracks that traditionally have had exciting races,such as Bristol,are not as exciting now and do not sell out anymore. The Chase is a big turn-off and should be scrapped. The NFL will always dominate the ratings on Sunday afternoons in the fall and NASCAR cannot and will not change it. The fact that TV ratings have fallen and race attendance has declined since the inception of the Chase in 2004 should tell NASCAR something but like Jimmie Johnson,NASCAR refuses to look at the facts.
Another factor is NASCAR's refusal to listen the fans. They pretend to listen but they do not listen. If they did listen,the seats at race tracks would not be increasingly empty as they have been in recent years. The races would not be predictable and boring as most of them are now. TV ratings would not be declining every week. The problem is not with the fans. The problem is with NASCAR and those who run it. The excitement has also gone out of the Nationwide series,especially since its domination by Cup drivers.
Abandonment of heritage: It was hard working blue collar Southerners who put NASCAR on the map and spurred its phenomenal rise. Now NASCAR has abandoned and betrayed their Southern following and fans south of the Mason/Dixon line are letting their displeasure be known. The damage was only worsened with the dropping of a race at historic Atlanta Motor Speedway. When Brian France made disparaging remarks about the Confederate flag and started trying to lecture fans about diversity and multiculturalism,it sealed the sport's fate for the worse. Brian's Southern grandfather, William France Sr, was probably expressing outrage from beyond the grave at his grandson's treasonous statements.
In the old days,NASCAR races were often followed by knock down,drag out brawls in the pits. Nowadays,such activity would result in fines and suspensions but back in the day,it was the rule instead of the exception. Earlier this year,NASCAR decided to let drivers police themselves on the track and it has brought back some excitement to NASCAR races but not enough to reverse the decline of recent years.
Unless NASCAR,those who run it,and some of the drivers,get their heads out of the sand and put the emphasis on real racing again,NASCAR's future is no future at all.
NASCAR drivers know just like everybody else exactly why NASCAR's TV ratings have fallen and race attendance has declined. The races lack excitement anymore. The same driver wins the championship every year. NASCAR plays favorites with the #48 team by throwing alleged "debris" cautions and not penalizing crew chief Chad Knaus for his blatant cheating,as they did with driver Clint Bowyer and his Richard Childress Racing team. It should be noted that earlier this year,drivers Ryan Newman and Denny Hamlin were fined for just speaking their minds about NASCAR's questionable practices and blatant favoritism toward the #48 team so it could be the drivers are feigning ignorance to please Brian France,Mike Helton,Ramsey Poston,John Darby,and others. Since the Newman and Hamlin incidents, NASCAR has essentially placed a gag order on their drivers.
Jimmie Johnson's dominance of the NASCAR Cup series since 2006 is one reason,but not the only reason,why fans are losing interest in NASCAR and why TV ratings have fallen and race attendance has declined. Fans figure why bother spending their hard-earned money when they already know the outcome of the races and the championship? Few races NASCAR runs today even come close to the bumper-to-bumper,side-by-side,fight to the finish races of days gone by. Even tracks that traditionally have had exciting races,such as Bristol,are not as exciting now and do not sell out anymore. The Chase is a big turn-off and should be scrapped. The NFL will always dominate the ratings on Sunday afternoons in the fall and NASCAR cannot and will not change it. The fact that TV ratings have fallen and race attendance has declined since the inception of the Chase in 2004 should tell NASCAR something but like Jimmie Johnson,NASCAR refuses to look at the facts.
Another factor is NASCAR's refusal to listen the fans. They pretend to listen but they do not listen. If they did listen,the seats at race tracks would not be increasingly empty as they have been in recent years. The races would not be predictable and boring as most of them are now. TV ratings would not be declining every week. The problem is not with the fans. The problem is with NASCAR and those who run it. The excitement has also gone out of the Nationwide series,especially since its domination by Cup drivers.
Abandonment of heritage: It was hard working blue collar Southerners who put NASCAR on the map and spurred its phenomenal rise. Now NASCAR has abandoned and betrayed their Southern following and fans south of the Mason/Dixon line are letting their displeasure be known. The damage was only worsened with the dropping of a race at historic Atlanta Motor Speedway. When Brian France made disparaging remarks about the Confederate flag and started trying to lecture fans about diversity and multiculturalism,it sealed the sport's fate for the worse. Brian's Southern grandfather, William France Sr, was probably expressing outrage from beyond the grave at his grandson's treasonous statements.
In the old days,NASCAR races were often followed by knock down,drag out brawls in the pits. Nowadays,such activity would result in fines and suspensions but back in the day,it was the rule instead of the exception. Earlier this year,NASCAR decided to let drivers police themselves on the track and it has brought back some excitement to NASCAR races but not enough to reverse the decline of recent years.
Unless NASCAR,those who run it,and some of the drivers,get their heads out of the sand and put the emphasis on real racing again,NASCAR's future is no future at all.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
NASCAR: Sealing Its Own Demise
The hypocrisy coming from NASCAR is obvious. It showed even more today with the race win at Dover International Speedway in Delaware by four-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson. What makes it hypocritical is that the #48 Hendrick Motorsports team has been guilty of cheating to win races for years and has used some of the same practices and procedures for which Clint Bowyer and his #33 Richard Childress Racing team were recently penalized by NASCAR.
The #48 team has been penalized on rare occasions,but NASCAR has used kid gloves on the #48 team,compared with the harsh penalties they administered the #33 team. Many fans suspect that the #48 team still cheats but NASCAR lets them get away with it. Many fans and even some drivers believe that NASCAR throws phantom "debris cautions" for the #48 team's benefit if they have lost the race lead or are about to go or have gone a lap down. Denny Hamlin was penalized by NASCAR for merely speaking his mind about this. If what Hamlin said is false,why would NASCAR be so defensive and issue Hamlin a harsh fine? That makes most NASCAR fans justifiably even more suspicious.
If NASCAR is looking for answers as to why race attendance is down and TV ratings have declined,it should be obvious why. It is because of the blatant cheating by the #48 team,the equally blatant favoritism shown by NASCAR toward that team,along with the obvious hypocrisy of those who run NASCAR. Fans know something is wrong and are expressing their displeasure by cancelling their season tickets and tuning their TVs away from races that are increasingly predictable and boring.
NASCAR pretends to understand and says they are listening, but it is obvious they do not understand,or perhaps choose not to,and they are certainly not listening. NASCAR gives us more of the same boring rubbish every week. Most fans have had enough. Many fans are leaving NASCAR. NASCAR better be paying attention and act quickly to repair its reputation before it is too late. If Jimmie Johnson wins a fifth consecutive championship,there will be even more vacant seats at races,TV ratings will further decline,and NASCAR as we know it will come even closer to ceasing its existence.
Bring back real racing (the 1979 Daytona 500 comes to mind),drivers who can actually race for wins again,instead of playing follow the leader,which is what NASCAR racing has become in recent years,especially since the so-called Car Of Tomorrow (COT) was introduced. Let drivers have it out with bare knuckles and show emotion again instead of being corporate robots and politically correct pretty boys. Somebody wisely stated that NASCAR races are now nothing but corporate board meetings at 200 MPH every Sunday.
The sad part of all this is that NASCAR is so wrapped up in its own greed and political correctness that it will likely never have old school racing again. This is how NASCAR is sealing its own demise.
The #48 team has been penalized on rare occasions,but NASCAR has used kid gloves on the #48 team,compared with the harsh penalties they administered the #33 team. Many fans suspect that the #48 team still cheats but NASCAR lets them get away with it. Many fans and even some drivers believe that NASCAR throws phantom "debris cautions" for the #48 team's benefit if they have lost the race lead or are about to go or have gone a lap down. Denny Hamlin was penalized by NASCAR for merely speaking his mind about this. If what Hamlin said is false,why would NASCAR be so defensive and issue Hamlin a harsh fine? That makes most NASCAR fans justifiably even more suspicious.
If NASCAR is looking for answers as to why race attendance is down and TV ratings have declined,it should be obvious why. It is because of the blatant cheating by the #48 team,the equally blatant favoritism shown by NASCAR toward that team,along with the obvious hypocrisy of those who run NASCAR. Fans know something is wrong and are expressing their displeasure by cancelling their season tickets and tuning their TVs away from races that are increasingly predictable and boring.
NASCAR pretends to understand and says they are listening, but it is obvious they do not understand,or perhaps choose not to,and they are certainly not listening. NASCAR gives us more of the same boring rubbish every week. Most fans have had enough. Many fans are leaving NASCAR. NASCAR better be paying attention and act quickly to repair its reputation before it is too late. If Jimmie Johnson wins a fifth consecutive championship,there will be even more vacant seats at races,TV ratings will further decline,and NASCAR as we know it will come even closer to ceasing its existence.
Bring back real racing (the 1979 Daytona 500 comes to mind),drivers who can actually race for wins again,instead of playing follow the leader,which is what NASCAR racing has become in recent years,especially since the so-called Car Of Tomorrow (COT) was introduced. Let drivers have it out with bare knuckles and show emotion again instead of being corporate robots and politically correct pretty boys. Somebody wisely stated that NASCAR races are now nothing but corporate board meetings at 200 MPH every Sunday.
The sad part of all this is that NASCAR is so wrapped up in its own greed and political correctness that it will likely never have old school racing again. This is how NASCAR is sealing its own demise.
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