In 2017 NASCAR changed their field dropping from 43 car fields to 40 car fields. So far in 2018 ONLY Daytona has seen 40 cars and even it was not a given that the 500 woudl have 40 cars. So far every other race has had a short field with most having just the 36 Charter cars.

Add to that record low TV numbers for the first five races and the TV numbers steadily getting worse each week.

It is past time for the France family to wake up and remove Brian France and Mike Helton from their positions as the heads of NASCAR.

Interesting read:

More than a kneeling: Nascar's TV ratings decline is as worrying as the NFL's. Why?

(03-24-2018 06:09 PM)MemphisTigers2009 Wrote:  Interesting read:

More than a kneeling: Nascar's TV ratings decline is as worrying as the NFL's. Why?

I believe the answers to the questions in the article are very simple.

How many people today own pet rocks?
How many people today own mood rings?
How many people today go country line dancing?

ALL of these were VERY BIG at one time. That is until the next big thing came along.

In the later part of the 80s and early 90s NASCAR was the big thing to do in the US. You saw people wearing NASCAR jackets and going to NASCAR races who had never even stepped foot near a track before. Movies were being made, stars from other areas wanted to be associated with NASCAR. Races were selling out and tracks were expanding like crazy.

THEN the next big thing came along. A large number of the fad bandwagon riders jumped ship and began focusing on the next big fad in the US. Crowd which once were hard sellouts started to slowly lose their waiting list and then a few empty seats starting showing up.

It was basically getting right back to where it was BEFORE it became the big item in the US. Still one of the top drawing sports around just not the over flowing massive crowd during the peek era.

Brian France and Mike Helton failed to recognized the massive gains as what they actually were. A temporary boost. They began to panic and tried to change the sport to try and get those fringe fans back into the fold. But by doing so he began to alienate the core base.

First he created the chase and freezing the field and the lucky dog. Creating conditions which would have eliminated some of the biggest moments in NASCAR history. The infamous 1979 Daytona 500 with the last lap crash and the fight in turn four and Petty battling it out with Waltrip to be first back to the line for the win while the Allisons and Cale were duking it out in the infield. The field woudl have been frozen and the race would have been over as soon as the cars crashed. No drama as to who would win.

The last lap crash between Petty and Pearson coming to the line the field woudl have been frozen and you would not have had the suspense of seeing Petty trying to re-fire his car just yards from the finish as Pearson limps his car across the grass across the line for the win.

Of that was not enough he comes up with the Chase format which awards the title to which ever of the top 15 drivers who scores the most points in final ten races.

Still not enough he creates the playoff system. Where if you win any race you are in the playoff even if you are 25th in year long points. He creates a system where you could literally win the first 35 races and finish 2nd in the 36th and LOSE the title. Case in point in 1967 Petty won 27 out of 49 races and even won 10 in a row. If the current system was in place back then Bobby Allison NOT Petty would have been the 1967 Champion.

Now he has created this stage racing creating artificial racing in the middle of the race for artificial rewards. Making the win less important.

Last year he reduced the field from 43 cars to 40. Then just when you think he learn from his mistake and the 35 rule. Which guaranteed the top 35 in points a place in each race. Which also led to reduced car counts. He creates the new charter system which gives out 36 charters which will guarantee a team a spot in the race and allowed teams to sell or lease these chargers.

So far this year through 5 races ONLY the 500 had a full field of 40 cars and it only had 40 cars. This week there will be 38 at Martinsville. Every other race had either 37 or 36.

The smaller teams are not entering cars anymore. The series has lost it's luster and does not demand the same price from sponsors. The series Title sponsor is selling for less money than it takes to run a middle of the pack car these days. About 25% of what the series Title sponsor paid when Brian took over. The Indy Car series actually gets more per race from it's title sponsor Verizon than NASCAR Monster Cup.

Bank of America dropped out as official bank of NASCAR and the series could not find another bank who wanted the same complete deal that BOA controlled. The programs were split up into pieces and those pieces sold off to other sponsors at much smaller fees.

Even major teams are finding it hard to replace sponsors. Lowes is leaving Hendricks and the team has only found a part time sponsor 22 races to take over as primary sponsor.

Brian France has create a complete fuster cluck by not knowing the market and focusing on trying to pacify the wrong groups.

Field should be frozen at the time of a caution.

Period.

(03-25-2018 04:14 AM)AlonsoWDC Wrote:  Field should be frozen at the time of a caution.

Period.

Drivers used to have a gentleman's agreement that unless you are a lap down and with in a certain distance from leader then you would hold your position. And leader decided if he would race lapped cars back to yellow or not.

Indy had a rule that you held position and did not even bunch back up under caution. Which led to the classic moment when at the same time on a restart on different sides of the track both turbine cars broken a fuel pump shaft cotter pin and went out of race.

(03-25-2018 04:14 AM)AlonsoWDC Wrote:  Field should be frozen at the time of a caution.

Period.

Exactly. Too many "what ifs" without freezing the field. Short tracks like where we are now has too many chances of more accidents when people race back to the green. Ever watch an ARCA race? There is a wreck and 1 minute later they are still wrecking under caution. Not sure if they freeze the field but drivers approach an accident and never check up and have more accidents. Larger tracks not so bad unless the wreck is in front of the pack. Safety must be a concern in a very dangerous sport.

Maybe people got tired of watching guys make left turns

Yeah the new format gets old. It isn't like the old days.

(03-25-2018 05:16 PM)MemphisTigers2009 Wrote:  Yeah the new format gets old. It isn't like the old days.

Finishes like that are no longer possible under new rules or the 1979 finish either, the one which took NASCAR into the main stream.



Hope health continues to improve if so i may be taking an active part in helping a new 3rd generation driver get started.

(03-25-2018 07:41 AM)ncrdbl1 Wrote:  

(03-25-2018 04:14 AM)AlonsoWDC Wrote:  Field should be frozen at the time of a caution.

Period.

Drivers used to have a gentleman's agreement that unless you are a lap down and with in a certain distance from leader then you would hold your position. And leader decided if he would race lapped cars back to yellow or not.

Indy had a rule that you held position and did not even bunch back up under caution. Which led to the classic moment when at the same time on a restart on different sides of the track both turbine cars broken a fuel pump shaft cotter pin and went out of race.

I know.

I am glad both NASCAR and openwheel have moved on from their lesser days in this regard.

Do you also pine for the past where NASCAR would line lapped cars ahead of the leaders before the wavearound? Or when lapped cars held the inside line on restarts?

Whatever NASCAR's larger faults, they more or less have cautions and restarts correct these days.

You can't stay in the past. If you did open face helmets would be standard issue, there would be no pit road speed limit, teams could buy unlimited sets of tires, the hat man would be handing out hats in victory lane, there would be 8 men over the wall at every pit stop, Hoosier and Goodyear would be in a tire war and we would have to listen to David Hobbs announce the race. Fortunately those things are gone even though the hat man was a welcome sight. The 2 wide restarts, the segment racing, the playoffs and freezing the field on cautions are all positive changes that have improved the racing experience. At least it has for me. I really don't care what anyone else thinks about the present rules, I like them.

(03-26-2018 01:23 AM)karter25 Wrote:  You can't stay in the past. If you did open face helmets would be standard issue, there would be no pit road speed limit, teams could buy unlimited sets of tires, the hat man would be handing out hats in victory lane, there would be 8 men over the wall at every pit stop, Hoosier and Goodyear would be in a tire war and we would have to listen to David Hobbs announce the race. Fortunately those things are gone even though the hat man was a welcome sight. The 2 wide restarts, the segment racing, the playoffs and freezing the field on cautions are all positive changes that have improved the racing experience. At least it has for me. I really don't care what anyone else thinks about the present rules, I like them.

Old fart how many different forums are you going to stalk my every post???? Each race this year except Daytona has had short fields and this is AFTER they reduced the size of the field from 43 to 40 last year.

And ALL of them have had new record low TV ratings this year. A drop of 37.1% from just 3 years ago.

Dude, Hendricks just lost a primary sponsor they have had for over a decade and had to go with a part time sponsor because they could not get a 36 race deal.

Bank of America pulled out as official bank and the series could not get anyone to take over the same deal. They had to break it down into piece and sell it off to other sponsor for a reduced fee.

Monster Energy pays about 25% of what Nextel paid when they became title sponsor. Hell even the Indy Car series gets more per race from it's title sponsor Verizon than Monster pays per race for the Cup series.

No wonder you spent a month on here arguing with a map, if you think that is the right direction.