A well-reported story in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal raises interesting questions about NASCAR’s leadership.
Mainly, should Brian France still be in charge?
Using four sources, the WSJ reported France, NASCAR’s chairman and CEO, sold his stake in NASCAR to other family members “more than a decade ago.”
“As a result, these people say, Mr. France essentially works for his sister (Lesa France Kennedy) and uncle (Jim France) even though he is NASCAR’s chief executive,” the WSJ reported. “That means he runs the sport on a day-to-day basis but is supposed to seek approval from Ms. Kennedy and their uncle for major changes.”
The WSJ said Brian France did not inform his sister — who is in charge of International Speedway Corp. — before enacting a policy against Confederate flags in the infield. The story also said Kennedy learned of her brother’s public endorsement of Donald Trump by watching the news.
By his own admission in the story, France said he only attended roughly half of the Cup races last season.
In addition, the WSJ reported France did not attend a crucial December meeting between “racing-team executives, drivers, track operators and TV executives” in Las Vegas.
So based on this reporting, we know NASCAR’s CEO makes rogue decisions, does not show up to the majority of the races and is not very engaged in key planning for the future — all while presiding over the biggest decline in the sport’s history (the WSJ said TV viewership is down 45%).
After the WSJ report, it also appears confirmed France does not own a stake in NASCAR.
Kind of crazy, huh?
Wowee. At what point do fans start turning their wrath on Lesa France Kennedy and Jim France, seeing as they haven’t fired Brian and perhaps bear more responsibility for the sport’s decline?
I agree with you Garrett. The sport is suffering and declining heavily. Haven’t the fans suffered enough too? They need to clean house and get back to the roots of NASCAR RACING.
Not to mention the shitty deal with NBC. Showing most of the races on a channel no one knows exists..
And to make it worse the NBC coverage is appalling. Poor camera work and worthless commentary.
It hardly seems that either of these two take a real interest beyond extracting as much money as possible while they can. Nascar is on life-support at present with nobody watching the support machine!
Not good he needs to be there for all the race’s and find out why so many people don’t watch it
there is no passing because the cars depend too much on aero down force due to the car behind loses traction when it loses the aero down force and can not make moves to pass. it is no longer racing it is 400/500 miles of parade laps
Is anyone really surprised that the fans have more of a stake in NASCAR than Brian France does?
The last 6 years your racing has gone to its death and with Gordon retiring we don’t watch any more. From 1993 til 2011 we had attended 17 races Las Vegas, Phoenix , bBristol and Texas Ms. many times. The Chase took my interest away.
Keep the flag out of the infield and maybe the parking lot,don’t endorse anyone for political office, and the sport is Okay and the only thing I see wrong is booting the drop dead gorgeous black Monster Energy girl out of the winners circle. And Joey should be ashamed of himself the way he ignored her. I’m a Ford and Pensci
Fan. 71 year old fan who got my NASCAR news a day late in the Des Moines Regester news paper when I was a kid.
Sorry, no one driver is bigger than NASCAR. Greats have come and gone, NASCAR is still here. They will perish or thrive on their own merits not because one fan thinks all fans LOVE their driver and go to see them and only them. Insulting to all fans of all racers.
Wow…. What do you make of all this Jeff?
BZF went so far as to say, last year or the year before, that he believed he could be a better leader by working away from the track, on information provided by his representatives at the track. Great, that sounds all well and good. But that’s not the kind of leadership NASCAR’s teams and drivers are demanding. And sometimes, you have to balance the kind of leader you want to be with the kind of leader you need to be.
Jeff, you have guts!! I love it!
Wow… That seems a bit odd to be allowed to make key decisions but not have a stake in the outcome. Where is the incentive to grow the company/brand if you no longer own any stake in it?
Very interesting…
If NASCAR really wants to be like the big time sports, it’s about time they sell the sport to the team owners. Maximum of 2 cars to a team.
Also, it sounded to me like NASCAR fans are not that thrilled about teams pretty much needing to be rich to succeed. NASCARs current model seems like if you aren’t a team sitting on a fortune, you had better get really lucky. It’s just so out of touch.
I live in NJ, but my favorite basketball teams are the Spurs and Grizzlies. They don’t play in flashy markets or sign marquee players, but that doesn’t keep them from being able to compete.
NASCAR ought to be taking steps to level the playing field at least up until Monday morning of race week. I’d love to see everyone start the week off with the same equipment and limit any improvements to practice sessions throughout the week. Sure the bigger teams would have an advantage, but every so often a smaller team might hit on something and shock everyone.
Always said his sister should be in charge. Some of the reason he unloaded his stock is because of his personal missteps (multiple marriages/divorce settlements). This was report quite some time ago if I remember correctly.
I have always wondered!
HEY JEFF GO FUCK YOURSELF I HOPE YOU DIE A SLOW DEATH ASS HOLE…EVEYR ARTICLE YOU POST IS TROLLING NASCAR… GET A LIFE FUCK HEAD…. I LEFT A COMMENT ABOUT DAYTONA DAY YOU DIDNT POST THAT DIDNT HAVE ANY SWEAR WORDS OR PROFANITES AND YOU DIDNT POST IT… SHOWS YOU ONLY CARE ABOUT NEGATIVITY! GO TO HELL ASSHOLE… WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND KARMA IS A BITCH
Wow . What an idiot
Spoken like a, true, ingrate!!!
go f yourself fluck… you piece of shit I hope a car hits your head on
You hope a car hits his head on……
…..What???……
The top?
The left side?
A Tuesday?
Wow. Bless his heart! Little Johnny Boy has never been laid and got beat up by the Home Ec girls everyday in Middle School.Thatll all changesoon when he gets to high school where after 12 years of pent up sexual frustrations and confusion he discovers a gerbil and a beaker while attempting to cook up some crystal meth.
Actually, you sound like one of those little pricks who’s gonna snap and shoot up a school or rape a bunch of little girls(?boys?) one day. Go buy a hooker or smoke some weed and mellow the f*** out man for Christ’s sake!
He is ruining the sport
I have watch the sport from the days of Wild world of sports to today. Nascar has grown safer than ever before and better side by side racing than ever before. So how is Brian France ruining Nascar. Everyone thinks that can fix something that does not need fixing. Just ask Richard Petty who been to about every race since day 1. The only thing I have against it is restricter plates. But some people are comfortable with it. You want to slow them down making them harder to drive. Bring back manual steering for one thing.
AMEN
I thought this sport was over when the king retired,and then Kyle woke up for a few races then came Mr Gordon who was amazing to watch and then when Adam petty tragically lost his life ending the greatest run in racing family’s I almost gave up on NASCAR but then I seen Erik Jones drive and holyshit he is going to be the next king! no offense Mr Petty (you’ll always be my favorite driver)or Jeff G,or to Mr Big&littleE but boy this kid can drive the hell out of a car,now he’s just gotta learn how to avoid all the slower drivers like Elliott and few others I won’t mention, but between Jones and Larson I believe NASCAR is going to be here and kicking ass for years to come! Who’s this idiot that wrote this article anyways?
Must be in the WSJ tomorrow. Yes I still read the paper paper.
They should have also mentioned how Brian asks his wife Amy for advice on how to run NASCAR.
Brian divorced his first wife twice so he had to pay a divorce settlement to her twice. He dropped out of college. He is just not very smart. And proves it every day with how he runs NASCAR into the ground.
Wow…not good, huh? Thanks, Jeff!
I questioned this idiot from the moment he said that all us fans would love the Chase and that’s that.
I lost interest almost entirely after a few years, used to watch every lap of every race. Now they are breaking the races into stages and making things overly complicated, just for the last 10 races to still mean more than the rest, removing the need to watch until the end of the year… and then you forget it’s even on.
Keep the safer car and soft walls, run the races and determine the champion like it’s 1996 again, the fans and money will return.
I think I’m going to jump ship and start following/ going to NHRA events. At least in drag racing the average fan can get in the pits. I love the smell of nitro in the morning
IndyCar puts on a good show!!
I have been thinking this too. I hear it is awesome.
If NASCAR would fix the cars so that there was a lot more passing then they wouldn’t have to make all of these changes, gimmicks, that are chasing away long time fans. More passing, more exciting racing would draw in new fans and keep the old fans.
But Brian France isn’t smart enough to figure this out.
get rid of the stupid format they have only 4 cars running at the end for the championship. now this year they even made it worst. with this point system I am surprized that sponsers aren’t leaving
Gary ~ in actual fact sponsors are leaving and new ones are not beating down the doors to come on board. The whole series is in a downward spiral.
DE throne him he has done nothing to help the bad tv ratings and space crowds I don’t know if he came up with it or not but the chase is the only thing that has been a good change
The decisions he has made are driving me away from the sport. I’ve started following Supercross a lot more along with F1.
I know BZF is a popular punching bag among NASCAR fans (low-hanging fruit, if you ask me), but to me, the most egregious thing he does is not attend as many of the actual races as he possibly can. That, to me, is as big a red flag as anything else (if not more so); I would even consider it worse than his Trump endorsement, which to me read like a guy sticking up for a buddy of his (and let’s face it, pockets of fans aside, NASCAR is not and likely never will be a liberal bastion). The Trump endorsement can be brushed off as a public misstep; the conscious decision to not attend half of your events is… unfathomable to me.
Wow Jeffery…all that is insulting and politics too! Your arrogance and condescending tone no doubt will make your beloved Mama “My Jeffery” proud!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rest assured, no one else!
I and many others think it is far past time to get rid of the sex symbol Monster Energy Girls. I’ve always felt this image was not good for the sport but also feel like France (part of the good ole boys club mindset) is calling the shots. They are degrading to the sport, to themselves., and in my opinion embarrassing for the married drivers in the winners circle. The costume worn at the Clash this past weekend by the young Monster Energy girl looked like a Hooker dressed for the strip.
Thank god someone is speaking out against this man. You and WSJ. Hopefully this will continue and get the change NASCAR needs. Him out!
agree
Maybe there should be a competiting cup series operated by Smoke?? Lol!
Now that I think about it,I wonder how the sport would be if every race team and/or driver’s actually owned a percentage or NASCAR as a whole?& Lose the bimbo’s in the winner’s circle,if they were winner’s they wouldn’t have to prostitute themselves on TV and maybe get a real job they and their families could be proud of! Just my opinion of course.
Good idea. Run essentially stock cars on much shorter race tracks. Each car use the same paint scheme all season. Put Smoke in charge!
He has succeeded in “sanitizing” the racing so that all the cars are the same with no individual ingenuity. He has allowed a few large teams to roll over him and control everything. The result: A boring sport and quickly decreasing fan base. The fix: Start the fast in the back and run on Saturday nights under the lights. Limit the show to 2-hours including interviews with 90 minutes of racing.
Brian france has been so worried about expanding the already badass sport he has completely ignored the fact that he has alienated the sports core fan base he is the ruination of this great sport and as a true fan im heartbroken
NASCAR lost it’s appeal for me around the time Mopar bailed out. Now it’s identical cars with different decals and three different engine options which is not interesting to me. It’s millionaires driving cars for other millionaires who hire 1000’s of men and women to build and maintain their fleet of 50 cars. They’ll spend a million dollars to develop a water pump that uses half a horsepower less… And we indirectly pay for it… drinking a Miller while waiting for FedEx to deliver our NAPA order. I’m done!
NASCAR has always been family friendly. Years ago they made the drivers clean up their language. Since BF has been in charge it has gone back to being an unfriendly event for families to watch and attend. Since last Saturday’s Clash race Facebook and Twitter was on fire about the slutty Monster Energy girls dressed in S & M leather outfits posing like prostitutes. About 10 faithful followers said they were disgusted with having to hold the remote to be ready to flip the channel to protect their children’s eyes and ears from exposure to inappropriate material. So yes BF has not been good for the sport and has promoted sleaze. He needs to go.
Oh dear Lord, not the children!
Oh please…seriously???????????????? Stay home then, nobody will miss ya…Betcha you love the idiots in the music business? Go Monster Energy Girls, YOU ROCK, not Charlie! Sick of the whining hypercritical leftists….
Sadly, BZF lacks common sense and surrounds himself with people who are even stupider than he is. If Lesa and Jim don’t have the guts to take back the sport, there will be nothing left.
He starting ruining the sport the very first day he took over aftewr his dad died. Changing the “Chase” every year, Changing rules throughout the entire year for years, instituting this current “playoff” system. I’ve been saying, along with a lot of other fans I know that the sport feels manufactured, kinda’ like professional wrestling. AND THAT TURNED OFF A LOT OF FANS!!!
Makes you wonder.
When I was in the gsrage a few years ago, he was the only person from NASCAR that I didn’t see.
Very insightful, I had no idea…Really changes my view on the “leadership” of the sport and explains a lot of why drivers and owners are not happy. Thanks J .Gluck!
Heck No He Shouldn’t Be In Charge.. He Has Ruined So Many Things
NASCAR is not NASCAR anymore now it’s cookie cutter cars with no factory look you can not buy anything close at a dealers stock car racing was the name not look alike equal non factory junk riding in a circle
Bring back the stock body’s in other words go back to 1960 s style racing cut engine size for days n Daytona let them race stop the entertainment like wrestling syndrome oh bring back timed single car qualifying
Well…a family business is hard to continue in the same vein from generation to generation. Sports in general (excluding NFL) must change. I don’t think Brian has the passion Big Bill and Bill Jr had for the sport. Not his fault, but if that’s the case perhaps he should be CEO-emeritus rather than the day to day person in charge.
There are too many livelihoods at stake for a disinterested leader.
Bryan France has been the obama of NASCAR. Since he ridiculed the confederate flag I have not watched a race and withdrew from friendly wagers. I was a fan for over 50 years. A race champion is for a full season, not a few races.
Ronnie Lieupo
I always said, He’s not the CEO type ,To sleepy
Global Rally Cross is where it’s at! Every ticket is a pit pass. Drivers are very engaged with the fans. Not to mentione the racing is epic.
I’m finished with NASCAR ,rule changes ,playoffs,segments ,all crap ! Petty stating jr should retire ! Who the hell is that cat ?
It’s amazing the actual shareholders Leza & the uncle most have no interest in NASCAR except to collect the monies. I’ve been a fan for many years and can honestly say I’ve lost alot of interest between the bs rule changes,the beaurocratic debochary,and poor notifications when events are delayed or rescheduled your unable to view or record them because there is nowhere that informs as to when it will be aired or rescheduled. I find it very discerning that what used to be the largest sport for fan attendance is dwindling so exclusively from mismanagement. NASCAR has been around for ages there have never been so many rule changes as in the past few years,yet they are changed at the drop of the hat to benefit certain individuals. Some rules are over looked for certain individuals. NASCAR had a racing format that has worked for many many years and now seems they are toying with that previously it was the chase,now it these stages go back to ole school racing that’s what people want to see. Too many rules are killing the sport,please do not think I’m referring to anything immediately safety related I am strictly speaking of the format’s of the racing ie the Chase,now the stages,rules stating you must compete in a certain number of races to be in contention for the chase,(then changing that for certain individuals) allowing drivers to intentionally wreck other drivers with a car that has no possible opportunity of being capable of winning and therefore causing an accident preventing a perfectly capable driver from being a contender in order to secure the driver who caused the accident his spot ( Kevin harvick) who I used to have much respect for. All these things make us as fans really question the integrity of the NASCAR organization and its idealisms is NASCAR legitimate or just a fixed outcome grasping onto as many fans that will remain oblivious to the bs.
Does Lesa even attend Ben’s racing? Does he even have sponsorship anymore? What is the mamma to cheap? Paul Menard’s dad ponies up year after year..and it helps employ many!
No surprise at all. Jim and Lesa have always been happier taking the reigns with none of the limelight. Just be satisfied that these two wonderful people are running the show.
Promoting races is like promoting a pro wrestling event.You got to have your love hate relationships with your driver’s. Sponsors and NASCAR have tried to take the feuding and personal feel out of the sport so Fan’s can’t relate to a certain driver .
I started watching NASCAR when my dad was an engine builder at Holman & Moody Ford for alongside Robert Yates I think the sports sucks I don’t know what they’re doing let him start the race race to the end and also all these infractions after the race no other sport in the world will let you keep a victory if you were caught cheating after post-race inspection come on NASCAR get your head out of your ass
None of this comes as a surprise to me as the demize of NASCAR can be directly related to Brian France being its CEO. His father would be shocked and disappointed with the direction the sport has taken in recent years. The fan base is what makes up NASCAR. Without the hard working people both men & women. Purses, merchandise, Driver’s. Salaries, etc. would not be possible!! Wake up Lesa time to get rid of your brother as CEO.
I worked for prominent Nascar team from 1985, until 2003. When Brian’s father Big Bill France passed away leaving the control to Brian, the sport immediately became about “How can we make more money from this vehicle?” Bill always had the fan base in mind. He looked at making the tracks have better seating, and better accomadations. While the teams were allowed to be slightly creative for better competition. Once Brian took over, it became the cars should be closer together for more competitive racing. The radio and tv coverage needs to be available on satellite so everyone can have the opportunity to watch. Plus WE can make more! When Bill was in charge, it was about making the racing exciting. This brought the crowds. Brian says we need to expose it to the masses, and see what happens. We are seeing that now, with 45% DROP in attendance.
Tom… you hit it on the Head… Brian is all about the money first the fans second. His father knew that if he put the fans first…. the money would come
Thanks…good insight, not surprising.
if you worked for a team, any team, you would know that Big Bill was Brian’s grandfather..His father was Bill Jr.
While I’m not the biggest Brian France fan, I think we put too much of the blame on him. It’s like blaming a President for all of the country’s problems. He doesn’t help matters, but he’s just a small part. One thing that I think goes overlooked is the lack of car culture in the U.S. It still exists in small circles, but certainly nothing like it was 30 years ago, hell not even 10 years ago. People just aren’t into cars like they used to be. A lot of this falls on the manufacturers, not NASCAR. I don’t know the factors that led to this, but a few of my guesses would be the recession, technology, the “eco-friendly” movement, etc. Well, it’s time for the manufacturers to start competing again. Something similar to the muscle car wars of the late 60’s and 70’s would do wonders for not only car culture, but NASCAR as well. It will depend how hard the manufacturers want to push competition among themselves and translate the ideas to the track. With the move of Stewart Haas from Chevy to Ford, we may be seeing the start of this, as everyone tries to get up to par with Gibbs and the evil Toyota empire.
In addition, a small note on plate racing: bring back the sound. Not sure if anyone else noticed or knows what changed, but the cars just don’t give the same kind of vibe on the plate tracks as they did pre-COT. The engine sound used to be a more high pitched whine, which is honestly what I think contributed to the extreme popularity and allure of the plate races pre-COT. Now, they just sound like they do at any other track, except just a little louder in a pack. Small things like this are what the fans miss, and desperately want to see return.
Three things, go back to the original point system put the gall darn races back on regular Network TV because a lot of old folks can’t watch sports TV because of the price and downsize the team’s, one or at the most two cars per team
Nascar needs 3 things: (1) a shorter season; (2) shorter races; and (3) a new hero. Nobody has time to spend 4 hours a week for 11 months watching races. Cut the number of races down – 1 per track with 2 at Daytona, for history’s sake. If that makes Bruton mad, he can go do his own thing. ISC has enough tracks and the few independents to have a perfectly fine shorter season. Unfortunately, the new format is going to make the races longer, not shorter Hopefully, there will be more excitement, but who knows. These guys are smart enough to figure out how to capitalize on the new format and by mid-season everyone will have figures out the gimmick an we’ll be back where we were. As for the hero, the sport has more heros like Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, and even Jeff Gordon. Each one of those defined his own era. We have Jimmie Johnson but, while maybe the best of the best, he’s not a “character.” I had the fact that we have watched JJ make history pushed down my throat so many times, I’m choking. I don’t want an 8-time champion. I want 8 different champions who fought and clawed and bled and puked there way to that championship. That’s what’s missing. Brian France doesn’t want that. He wants a pretty little Nascar that will appeal to everybody (it won’t – believe me) and contrived excitement that isn’t really all that exciting.
Carol-
Pretty spot on here. I’m not in favor of decreasing the amount of races, but maybe moving a few to mid-week on some different tracks. This would create variety as well as condensing the season. Race lengths, yeah there are some that I would shorten, but there are also others that should never be touched. Some of these include the Daytona 500, Southern 500, Coke 600, and the 400 at Daytona in the summer. But 500 miles in the fall at Charlotte? Yeah that one could probably be cut down to 400 and not lose anything of the overall product. As for heroes, we desperately need a new in-your-face type driver that lays it all out on the track every week. Tony Stewart was the closest thing we had recently, be he wasn’t relevant for years, and now he’s gone. Dale Jr. is close, but unfortunately leaves the fans wanting more from him because they want him to be like his father; he’s just not. The fans want somebody they can relate to, not a driver that paid their way there, or are racing off daddy’s sponsorship dollars. What the fans want and what we need are less-polished average Joes, not corporate puppets.
They don’t want a hero..imo. The fans when somebody actually races…harkens back to the day of SENIOR, they scream they want THAT DRIVER LIKE DALE., BUT DON’T LIKE IT WHEN A DRIVER DOES IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!They are presented with two drivers who give 100 percent every race, and the idiot fan base say they “race too hard”. No dealing with lunacy!!!!! And they will be the death of the sport, the snowflakes that feel one should ask to pass. They and NASCAR itself!!!!!!!!!!!!
atta boy jeff
The sport I loved is in trouble–the average NASCAR fan does not make $75,000 a year, can not be true–tracks do not need more expensive suites–Smokey said in his book, if Brian France ever got control of NASCAR, it would go to hell–I once went to about five races a year–now I have been to one in the last five years–I do not even go to the Atl. race anymore–Fanatics says sales are not where they wanted–there once were local NASCAR stores–I once owned one–by the way Dale, your sister got most of the programs you got for your 40th birthday from my store–my customers, both young and old, do not go to races and are as fed up as I am–there is a point system no one understands, that seems to change ever year, rules that make no sense etc. how is the HOF doing?–all sports need to watch out, I had season tickets for the Falcons since early eighties, they cost me about $8,000 a year, same tickets now would have cost me over $50,000, so I will not go to anymore games–most sports are now only for kings–common folks need not come–I have always heard the saying “dance with the one the brought you” meaning do not forget the ones that made you what you are–sorry Dale, but drivers are not as fan friendly as they once were–I once met your dad at a car dealership–now drivers fly in, go to their motorhomes and never leave the track–I read the article in the Wall Street Journal, and for the most part, it tells it like it is–Dale, looking up at the stands and see empty seats, is because long time fans can’t accept change–don’t believe that–I feel insulted that you would even think such–instead of putting us down, why can’t y’all just say thanks for helping keeping the sport alive–how can you run a business and never go to it or keep up with what is wrong or even right with it–why does the Frances think they know what is going on without being at all the tracks, only listening to the people that tell you what you want to hear–sorry for going so long, but to see what as happened to a sport I once loved is a sore spot–guess Dale will not want me and my friends to attend, not that we can’t accept change, we just don’t like the change..thanks
All I can say is, I can’t wait until the Daytona 500 this weekend!! Brian has had some big shoes to fill, and while it hasn’t been a smooth transition into millinialism, he has made progress in safety, excitement and overall better racing. Remember the races from the 70’s and 80’s? 1-2 lead lap cars and loooooong green flag runs. No complaints in my book, shut up and let’s go racing.
Wow. WSJ usually pretty good with their reporting. This might explain why at times to me Nascar seems to lack leadership. Understand their may need to be change. But not disregard for those that got you where you are. Need a Roger Penske type person to lead the sport.
What happened to good ole boys sticking their necks out to race hard and the best won from green flag to checkered flag. Now it’s just like the other sports, everyone gets points and a trophy if you show up. Brian has buried the best sport NASCAR for s dollar. Go back to the rules when Petty and Earnhardt raced.
IMO, NASCAR must be cheaper. Put budget limits in all areas. This result in a closer gap into big and small teams. More and better racing indeed plus track tickets less expensive = less empty seats.
And…more “stock” cars…slow speeds …shorter races. More short tracks…one race/track in a season. Less rules changes and return to a classic point system. Get rid of the ridiculous chase/playoffs.
People cant afford it anymore. Its not Brian France’s fault. The drivers are getting paid more than ever and now they only want to be at the track 2 days a week. Fridays use to be for qualifying and the day they came out to the souvenir haulers. Today everybody wants more for less. You can’t blame NASCAR either for hotels price gouging. Brian France signed Monster Energy and a huge TV deal he cant budget all the fans checkbooks. You can now get tickets for races at the price they were 12 years ago.
Brian France has ran what was once the greatest sport ever, virtually into the ground, in my opinion, due to incompetence. I will give him some slack in saying that running a multi-billion dollar corporation cannot be an easy job but that’s what they make boards of directors for. If they want to survive as a legitimate sport and not be relegated to the trash heap of “reality tv”, they need to can the “manufactured excitement” and bring back the real racing that most fans want to see.
Well, Ms Buss just fired her brother from running the LA Lakers. maybe something is needed in Nascar. But, all sports are going through this. Declining attendance is happening at almost all live events for a multitude of reasons. Hell, we went to the movies the other day, 3 folks, and for movie and snacks it cost me $100. I would rather spend that money at a race track. The best racing bang for the buck is an NHRA event. But, Nascar with an estimated 75k fans per race can’t do what the NHRA does with 10-15k per event. TV coverage today is spectacular in all sports, I’d rather watch football on tv then go to a game, Nascar is about the same. But, I do love the smells and sounds of being at a race. It seems that most people just can’t commit the 2-3 days it generally takes to commit to a Nascar event.
In 2015 Sprint paid $75million for naming rights of the cup series, in 2016 they paid $50million, in 2017 Monster paid $20million, that folks is a 73% loss of marketing base value in just 3 years. There’s not one corporation I can think of that would keep a CEO after that performance report.
Return NASCAR to the way it was up until the stupid Car Of Alternate Universe (COAU, pronounced “cow”) forced everyone to run the same damn thing, get rid of the restrictor plates, get rid of the farcical green-white-checkered ‘overtime’ nonsense, get rid of dumbass ‘lucky’ rules, and get rid of the idiotic “stages” rule introduced this year for the Daytona 517.5 … and I’d likely pay more attention to this sport that has become a farce.
I just so the video of this so called “reporter”. I have to say, what a superficial piece of fluff, and inaccurate on several accounts. Sad today this female (I am a female) got exposure for generalities that did not enlighten anyone other than conjecture as to why the attendance is down. I know why it is down, we are long time fans and can tell. But this beotch got it wrong on many accounts, and of course it passes for fact! Bet she never has even gone to a race. Seems like a hit piece, a bad hit piece to me! She looked like she dug up some “facts” while waiting in line for her expensive latte at Starbucks. I am no fan of Brian France or the denial the runs thru the tight knit group of closed mouth good little soldiers, for the record~!
Ann, this WSJ piece is pretty well dead on the money. NASCAR has essentially lost their way while attempting to over market a sport that was doing just fine without the “help” from Brian’s meddling.
If you can’t see this you might want to change your glasses!
as someone whose first race was Darlington 1955 when we drove 2 1955 chevys there, raced them and then drove them back home I believe NASCAR screwed up when it went to all this down force so these less talented drivers who bring sponsors could race. the problem is once a car get a little out of shape the air holding it to the track goes away and the driver looses control. get back to mechanical grip thru the tires and get rid of the side skirts and front splitter for this sucked down to the track idea.