What size would a sellout crowd be?

 

Bristol capacity is 162,000...

Just looked up the attendance at the Bristol night race 20 years ago. 140,000

Just looked up the attendance at the Bristol night race 20 years ago. 140,000

Nothing like a race on a Thunder Mountain. I was there in 2000. Packed.

So is it an overall lack of interest in racing by fans now or is the experience better at home than at the race track?

So is it an overall lack of interest in racing by fans now or is the experience better at home than at the race track?

 

I've researched this a little bit. Evidently lots of people are being priced out of attending. In the Bristol example, local motels were charging triple for rooms on race weekend. With the facility expansions of the 1990's, perhaps ticket prices skyrocketed as well.

 

Bristol's capacity is something like 140,000 or more. But they don't even bother to open up the seating in large sections of it any more.

 

I've heard other theories; one of the most common being that "there just aren't nearly as many "car guys anymore". But that doesn't explain the precipitous drop in attendance over the past 15 years. It's more likely a combination of pricing and ever-increasing entertainment options.

Tracks are also downsizing and upgrading the seating, concessions, services, etc. I believe Daytona took out maybe 50,000 seats. If they had not downsized, even Daytona would likely have not sold out this year

I've only seen a NASCAR race at Kentucky Speedway, and I've always been able to see the track. I'd imagine with the dozens of camera angles available today, plus not being able to see the track in many places and the overall costs, more and more people will stop going to NASCAR races.

So is it an overall lack of interest in racing by fans now or is the experience better at home than at the race track?

 

I'll give you my completely biased and totally unbacked-by-research opinion that, at least a part of it, has been the disappearance (ie retirement) of some of it's stars. Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. to start with. Add in Carl Edwards, Tony Stewart, Mark Martin, Michael Waltrip, Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle and I'm sure some others from the past 10 years or so, and you've got a lot of fans who no longer have their favorite driver to root for anymore. And while NASCAR fans used to be (and maybe still are) considered some of the most "loyal" fans there are in sports, it's not like they were loyal to a team per se...it was to the driver. So, even though the #24 is still with Team Hendricks, there's simply not the following for William Byron the way there was for Jeff Gordon.

 

Now, you add in the affordability and quality of wide-screen TV's, and there's even less of a reason to shell out big bucks to travel any distance to a track to watch a race.

I'll give you my completely biased and totally unbacked-by-research opinion that, at least a part of it, has been the disappearance (ie retirement) of some of it's stars. Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. to start with. Add in Carl Edwards, Tony Stewart, Mark Martin, Michael Waltrip, Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle and I'm sure some others from the past 10 years or so, and you've got a lot of fans who no longer have their favorite driver to root for anymore. And while NASCAR fans used to be (and maybe still are) considered some of the most "loyal" fans there are in sports, it's not like they were loyal to a team per se...it was to the driver. So, even though the #24 is still with Team Hendricks, there's simply not the following for William Byron the way there was for Jeff Gordon.

 

Now, you add in the affordability and quality of wide-screen TV's, and there's even less of a reason to shell out big bucks to travel any distance to a track to watch a race.

 

This is an excellent point, I personally was a Dale Jarrett fan, since his retirement I have really not rooted for anyone special. Plus to be honest, I think the fact that one team dominating the race week after week, I turn the tv on , it seems either Kyle Busch or Martin Truex jr is running away with it, I was glad to,see some one different win Ky. Plus I,don't think the younger crowd is as interested as the older generation.

As a life long NASCAR fan, I can tell you it is not just one thing, but many things. Of course all of this is just my opinion.

 

NASCAR reached its peak in 2005. It had been rocked by the death of Dale Sr but managed to keep going strong on the backs of Gordon, Junior, and Tony Stewart.

 

In 2004 Toyota entered the truck series. In 2007 they entered the Busch series and Cup series. That turned a lot of old school NASCAR fans off. They viewed NASCAR as the great American sport. They absolutely didn't want to watch Toyotas. This was not a huge problem i n the beginning, because Toyota had a big learning curve, but as time went by and Toyota won a championship, it got big.

 

In 2008 NASCAR introduced the Car of Tomorrow. It was supposed to be safer and better. It was a dog. The cars looked like boxes, they didn't perform as well, and for the first time they looked nothing like a car you could buy. Watching that thing for 5 years didn't help.

 

The advent of the mega teams did not help. NASCAR was very rivalry oriented for all time. Suddenly those rivalries were disappearing.

 

The Gen 6 car came out in 2013. It was a better car which made for better racing, attendance was fairly stable for the next 3 years.

 

Then came the mass exodus. Six of the top 10 earners retired. Junior, Gordon, Stewart, Kenseth, Edwards, and Danica. Junior was voted the most popular driver in 2017, I think for the 15th consecutive year. He was on 68% of the ballots.

 

What is making the NBA so popular - Star Power. Nascar has no Star Power.

In 2004 Toyota entered the truck series. In 2007 they entered the Busch series and Cup series. That turned a lot of old school NASCAR fans off. They viewed NASCAR as the great American sport. They absolutely didn't want to watch Toyotas. This was not a huge problem i n the beginning, because Toyota had a big learning curve, but as time went by and Toyota won a championship, it got big.

 

This is such a backwards way of thinking, but completely believable with the NASCAR community.

It's not pricing, it's not Toyota's, it's not car of tomorrow...as stated earlier it's a loss in star power. People were loyal to drivers first, car brand second and teams/owners/sponsors third. The drivers are all cookie cutter drivers that give the exact same interview each week regardless of who it is...they are all the same. There are a couple of outliers of course, but those guys aren't likable enough to draw fans.

 

I was a huge Davey Allison and Bill Elliott fan, but with Davey's death and Bill's retirement my fandom waned. I think that is true of many fans, once their favorite driver leaves...they don't really attach to a new driver.

 

NASCAR needs to play up the Mustang vs Camaro vs Camry thing more and try to get fans to attach to the cars, then hope fans will get behind their favorite Mustang driver for example.

 

One other thing I would do, have some throwback races using paint schemes and sponsors from the past. I know the current sponsors wouldn't like that, but I honestly can't name one current sponsor of the top of my head except for M&M's :lol2:

 

A race with the Petty Blue STP car, Black GoodWrench car, a bright Red Coors car, a black and orange Havoline car and other iconic cars would bring back some older fans once a year for a throw back race.

 

In today's fast paced, wired world...NASCAR races just can't keep your attention long enough to build new fans.

I enjoyed NASCAR when more auto models were involved like Chevy, Ford, Plymouth, Pontiac, Buick, Oldsmbile, Dodge; and you could tell one from the other, the old race on Sunday sell on Monday days. The sheet metal now is exactly the same on all cars except for paint schemes on the front and rear to make them "look" different. Plus the car drivers were more "characters" back then.

Are fans leaving because racing is too safe? Does the typical fan go to a race just to see carnage on the track? Do they want heroes who take daring, life threatening risks to win? Do they want drivers who crash, get hurt and then rise up to win on a last second pass on the final lap? I don't think fans go to see racing teams that use computers to best manage fuel consumption. Pass me another beer, please!

I tend to agree with the posters above who lay the bulk of the drop in attendance at driver retirements. If NASCAR wants to boost attendance, market the drivers to the fans. Use the personalities of the drivers to create more fan loyalty and a following.