I just turned the race on......damn.....it looks like there are a lot of empty seats....

$54 bucks a head for the cheap seats.

Got a family of four?  That's over two hundred bucks to even walk in the door.

Fuck em.

One foot in the grave.

It's not just them suffering in the U.S. as attendance is down at other motorsports events as well.
 

I agree.  Motorsports in general are in decline.  Only the extreme stuff (X-games style) seems to be growing at all.



 

Atleast nascar doesn't have IndyCar attendance numbers.... The USGP in Austin apparently is about sold out, which is positive, but who knows if attendance will go the same way as it went in Indy. The price to go to a race is so high once you include the tickets, parking and gas.

A lot of the X Games type events are very cheap to intend, they are made for TV events, and the promoters do not make their money off of attendees, unlike traditional motorsports.

Grassroots is growing, pro might be flatlining.

Nobody wants to pay to see a spec car race.

I thought Charlotte was one of the big deals in Nascar??  Attendance looked like shit tonight..

F1 is still strong

I live by MIS, the last two years have been noticeably less attended and those that do go, seem to have shortened their stay by a day or two.

I guess I was talking about American motorsports.



I can't figure out how Indy Car Racing keeps going.  NASCAR seems less relevant all the time.



The others are tiny by comparison.



 

Last week Talledega drew 80,000 to a speedway that can seat 250,000+ not including the infield. In the past they have had an actual attendance of 300,000.

nascar
 

As is MotoGP but in the U.S. based series there is a definite decline in the last few years.





 

I never understood the draw of it..
All the cars are basically regulated to be the exact same, (weight, displacement, etc)
The only difference is the stickers on the hood and the badge on the front.. and they make left turns at 150+
That's must watch tv??

Hey kabal, how the hell have you been?

Umm, good?
You?
Who you be man??

Sheit, two weeks ago I tried to buy F1 tickets for the race in November. Sold out!



 

A FAN member that remembers FANmily...

we're still there ya know, fangamers.net if you want to stop in and bullshit.

$54 a ticket for cheap seats?

Shit IF I was  going to watch NASCAR I would not pay that I would watch it on TV for free.

Maybe they need to lower the price.

Sorry to say, It's only a matter of time before the TV funds dry up too.  There seem to be a lot fewer companies willing to shell out the money to sponsor teams too.

This, largely.

and people expect F1, which good seats cost 600+, to do well here.  when 150 gets you a shit seat when that same money isnt even being spent in NASCAR for an awesome seat, you know its doomed.



 

Sweet keep making my tickets cheaper.  Already giving me  4 tickets to Martinsville and Richmond for free.  Cant wait ill my Charlotte tickets go down in price.

Overall . . . what KRPIND said



Myself personally , when Dodge returned to NASCAR in the early 2000's I was actually excited .  . . But over the years my enthusiasm drained away .



The rules , the fees , the bullshit drama .....all have soured me .



Then again , my enthusiasm has dropped on almost all forms of motor sports .


 

This list is hysterical!



Bank of America –– Official Bank




















 

It's going to be a special race.

I was at Austin executive in July, and they were pouring lots of concrete.

 

Turning left is a recipe for failure
 

Well the Austin race is almost sold out, but maybe part of that is its the return of F1 to the USA.  And a race in the NYC area will be a huge hit with all the money in that area.  NYC has a lot more money then Alabama, Kansas,  and Charlotte.  Nascar seems to have a large amount of young drivers, but it hasnt transferred into a young fan base.  I think part of it may be the redneck connotation with the sport.  Where as, F1 and MotoGP, is a more high class sport.  Who wants to be associated with a sport that has an announcer screaming "Boogity, Boogity, Boogity, Lets go Racin boys" at the start of each race?  F1 and MotoGP, with manufacturers like Ferrari, Infiniti, McLaren, Mercedes, Ducati, Aprilia, will never have that problem.  I will also venture to say you wont see many confederate flags flying at each of the US F1 events.  Just a hunch.
If F1 had a American driver, or a American Manufacturer, that was successful, that would lead to a very high potential for success in the USA.  That is one of the reasons I really enjoy MotoGP.  With Hayden and Spies you can root for Americans verse the international competition.  

Indy's US GP had a HUGE turn out its first year too.



we had a potential team... one night it simply disappeared and i still dont know how it collapsed





 

Money is tight and shit is getting more expensive.

That's all sporting events –– ball or motor.

With the TVs getting clearer and cheaper along with extra online content, it's cheaper to just spend the dollars on a quality home entertainment set up.

The United States Grand Prix for Formula One needs to be back at Watkins Glen International in October.

It was once the richest race on the circuit.

Now the area isn't classy enough for the F1 crowd. Sad.

It's a lot of money to host an F1 race.

I signed up for and could have bought F1 tickets but I didn't.

I bet I could have made a little on them now.

Money is tight and nascar sucks.

The economy is certainly a factor but not the entire factor. College stadiums are still filling up with 100,000 people. Still have people tailgating from Thursday night till Sunday morning and cooking spending a couple of grand easily on food for the weekend.

There's a long list of items that have come together to drive numbers down.



1. The economy



2. Change in NASCAR itself when it went from trying to appeal to an older rural demographic to a younger urban demo. About the same time they changed the shows at races from country to rock etc..



3. Jimmie Johnson. He's a great driver. However when you win 5 in a row it's not an appeal to watch the same driver win year after year. Another downside is everything he says sounds as if it is processed 14 different ways and got an up or down vote from the board of directors.



4. The "Car of Tomorrow". Look alike cars with tolerances so tight they check them with a feeler gauge. A new car is coming out next year which resembles production cars more closely.



5. NASCAR was slow to react. Wait list for races at tracks like Bristol used to be years. When the economy went to crap ticket prices were slow to go down and surrounding hotels were still requiring 7-10 night minimum stays at tracks like Daytona which killed off a lot of interest, which wasn't NASCAR's fault just a fact.



6. The move to fewer and more concentrated teams. While teams are restricted to 4 "teams" now they run satellite teams like Hendrick runs 2 cars out of the Stewart-Haas team. Penske left Dodge and now Dodge can't even field a team because while teams were interested none had an engine program. At some races 50% of the cars in the field will have an engine built by Hendrick who leases a ton of engiens. I believe in one race I counted 23 out of 43 cars running a Hendrick engine. Now that JGR has teamed up with TRD that leaves TRD to build Toyotas, Hendrick and ECR to build GM engines, Rousch-Yates builds all the Ford engines and Penske will be running Rousch-Yates engines next year after having built the Dodge engines this year.



7. The top 35 rule. Supposidly it's going away next year. Fans want to see the fastest 43 cars on the track, not 35 locked in on points. In the last year two different races had a faster car go home because they weren't in the top 35. At one race they ran in the top 10 of qualifying and yet didn't make the race.



8. Drivers being too buddy buddy with each other. They bum rides to the track on airplanes from other teams, have activities outside the track like golf with drivers from different teams. The list goes on. I don't want a group of guys who feel secure in their "job" who show up on Sunday and race and then on Tuesday play a round of golf with the same guy they were supposed to be racing hard.



9. What the teams are advertising is not matching up with what fans who attend in person are buying etc...Sure there is some crossover, but they are targeting younger fans who spend more and are more influenced by advertising in what they buy - however that isn't the fan who travels to a race, who are typically older and have the money/time etc..to travel and spend 3 days at an event.





There's tons more but start there.

This retarded "Chase" is an idiotic idea. Just fucking race & quit dicking around with all of the nonsensical bullshit.

Who in their right mind pays money to watch a bunch of millionaires drive around in circles?

The France Family is laughing all the way to the bank.

NASCAR needs to go back to North Wilkesboro and have a race like we do on the weekends.

Qualify, Heat Race, Heat Race, Race.

I realize we have the 125's @ Daytona, and the All Star Race,

But it needs a points race in this format.

It sucks.....even more with all the stupid changes made in the past decade.

I agree that the "car of tomorrow" is an issue...the other thing killing the sport is the "mega teams" another contributing factor is the series just below the big leagues (Nationwide I think) is dominated by major league players.....not a good idea guys......all of the above points to poor leadership at the top.....

i was curious how did it get put on ABC instead of college football? I thought NASCAR would be on ESPN or 2?

I agree with this.

I'm sure once the economy turns the corner (nice pun there) attendance will pick up.

Will it ever return to its heyday, I don't know...

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