In this week’s Monday Forum I want you the fan to sound off on what you would do to increase NASCAR’s TV ratings which as we all know are down. I wrote about my take on the reason over the weekend, but what would you do to increase the ratings?
Of course there will always be the certain percentage of people calling themselves fans who will blame the head of NASCAR or some such other nonsense, but what I want to know this week is what you would do to increase the ratings…use the comment area below and please leave your name; anonymous comments, personal attacks or bashing will not be tolerated and those comments will be deleted.
Also we are into our second week of an exclusive partnership with SPEED TV’s Race Hub. It’s a great deal that allows you to ask questions of this week’s guests. Race Hub airs weeknights at 7:00 p.m. and we have access behind the scenes after the show to have your question answered. Here’s how it works. Tuesday afternoon at 4:00 Eastern I send the list of reader submitted questions to the producers. They then choose one to ask the guest after the show is over; the question and answer is put on video and I repost the response here.
Now here’s a little disclaimer. Sometimes there may not be time for the question to get answered on video; in that case the text response will be posted here. And as I did last week, I’ll try and get every question answered by the driver via email.
Last week Kasey Kahne answered the viewer question; I’ve posted the video on this page on the lower left hand side of the page. This week it’s Bobby Labonte. Bobby is the 2000 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion and has 21 wins in NASCAR’s top series.
So submit your questions for Bobby Labonte to me via email greg (at) cupscene.com with Race Hub in the subject line and you must include your first and last name and your hometown and remember I the cutoff is 4:00 p.m. Eastern Tuesday!
Comments
There is no reason to watch anything but the first 2 or 3 laps and the last 10. The rest can be seen on the highlights. The COT has killed all brand identity, the drivers with a very few exceptions are all plain vanilla. The chase is a joke. In short the race is 95% boredom inter-spaced with 5% excitement that will be covered on Dave's show or the other wrap-up shows. So lets watch football or baseball or whatever.
There is no reason to watch anything but the first 2 or 3 laps and the last 10. The rest can be seen on the highlights. The COT has killed all brand identity, the drivers with a very few exceptions are all plain vanilla. The chase is a joke. In short the race is 95% boredom inter-spaced with 5% excitement that will be covered on Dave's show or the other wrap-up shows. So lets watch football or baseball or whatever.
Probably main thing is shorten the season. Next, do away with the manufactured excitement, aka chase and lucky dog rule. Last thing is to give some huge bonus points for first thru third, and give the same points to anybody 30th on back.
Fewer races and only four 500 mile races (the old Winston Million). Road America. Only teams in the top 35 can run Chase races. 200 pts for 1st, 160 for 2nd, 140 for 3rd, 120 for 4th, 100 for 5th. 7 pts for each position 11th to 20th. Then zip.
Hey Bobby! How is the transition from team to team been for you? and whats the outlook on rest of the year and onto next year in your new ride over in the JTG camp?
And to increase TV ratings, quit throwing cautions to help all of the big teams of nascar, quit talking about how the popular people are doing and start talking about everyone, not just for a second but for a good amount of TV time, there is 43guys on the track not 12.
NASCAR needs competition. Tony Stewart and other drivers say 'closest and best competition we have ever had' this is true if we disregard the fact that Chevy dominates nascar racing.
Some facts to consider; Chevy has won 26 manufactor (sprint cup) titles. Ford 8. Plymouth 5. Dodge 4 Olda 4 hudson 3. Chrysler 3. Toyota 0.
Chevy has more top rated teams. more engine shops to test and get more power. more employees,spends more money. amoung if not the best deivers. gets more testing because of number of cars.
For better racing NASCAR could change rules making more even competition. Dont allow teams to spend millions to lower weight from top to bottom side of cars.smaller teams cant compete. standardize parts for cvompetators.
Race fans are tired of bad nascar racing
Anyone know why nascar race teams try to compete against chevrolet and all the money they bring to the sport? Would other auto manufactor be better off to spend noney in another activities or sport? NASCAR don`t care about good competition.
It won't change cause you can't change greed. Nascar, the owners and the drivers, they don't care about the fans, they care about the almighty dollar. You need some tough love here to save Nascar. But even the easy changes needed are too much for this baby to swallow. Did someone lose the History of what made Nascar great????? Did you forget what got you here??? Well here are a couple of bandaids:
New point system. - I already worked it out and it is easy and based on history.
Limit these big owners from controlling almost everything about the sport. 2 cars max (should be one)
Run stock cars - atleast the actual frame. Decals are nice but really? Must run the block of the engine also.
NO SPRINT DRIVERS IN THE NATIONWIDE SERIES.
What other sport does this? stupid~!
Ahhh thats enough, I am gettng fed up and thats why I don't watch hardly at all anymore.
I think NASCAR headed down the road of ruin when they started allowing tire/aero packages that allowed the cars to run nearly wide open around many of the tracks. That changed the dynamics from being a driver oriented sport to an engineering oriented sport. In the end, the teams that could develop the best engineering programs came out on top. NASCAR needs to revert back to the kind of car package that doesn't "stick" through the corners. This will remove the requirements that all cars look exactly alike for the sake of aerodynamics. It will also greatly reduce the advantage of those teams who can get their engines to produce more horsepower. It will also put the emphasis back on driving skills. So what if it means the cars can't go 200mph at Atlanta anymore? Let the cars slide around - it certainly would be more entertaining than the BS that passes for "racing" now...
Oh, and get rid of any track longer than 1.5 miles. That's not racing, that's a Sunday drive in the country. Preferably, there would be only four or five races on tracks longer than 1 mile.
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