Sorry, sorry. I read your post and thought it said show me another major series that has more than 43 cars. My fault. Oh wait, that’s exactly what your post said.
I don’t believe I’ve ever seen just 27 cars in the Daytona 24 hour. Not even at the end of the Daytona 24 hour.
Speaking of silly pointless arguments, the car count isn’t the reason NASCAR is on a steep downhill slide, it’s merely a symptom. The much more worrying factor is the lack of fans in the stands and on the tube. They can’t even manage to get customers into the hall of fame in Charlotte. The word is they’ll move the hall of fame to Daytona after the makeover. Probably where it should have been built to begin with.
Ok, last post on this because I’m the only one using facts. You’re just grouchy.
If you don’t believe me that last weekend’s Rolex event had 27 cars TOTAL look it up. The Daytona24 is a special animal obviously, and they had 57 cars. Not counting the 24 Rolex has only topped 30 cars entered at one race, and again that’s across 3 very different classes. That’s like comparing that series to Cup, Nationwide, and Truck combined.
As for TV, read the ratings. Fox’s ratings were actually pretty great this year. Better than any other sport, and actually second best overall programming among men 18-54. Not bad for something that is generally too long and sort of boring really. And on the attendance, they’re still putting more people in the stands that any other event in the nation. There are empty stands because these tracks went crazy adding stands that they never had the butts to fill them. Yeah, tracks appeared full on TV 15 years ago. There were 1/3 the amount of seats then, if that.
[QUOTE=luke81;129025]Ok, last post on this because I’m the only one using facts. You’re just grouchy.
If you don’t believe me that last weekend’s Rolex event had 27 cars TOTAL look it up. The Daytona24 is a special animal obviously, and they had 57 cars. Not counting the 24 Rolex has only topped 30 cars entered at one race, and again that’s across 3 very different classes. That’s like comparing that series to Cup, Nationwide, and Truck combined.
As for TV, read the ratings. Fox’s ratings were actually pretty great this year. Better than any other sport, and actually second best overall programming among men 18-54. Not bad for something that is generally too long and sort of boring really. And on the attendance, they’re still putting more people in the stands that any other event in the nation. There are empty stands because these tracks went crazy adding stands that they never had the butts to fill them. Yeah, tracks appeared full on TV 15 years ago. There were 1/3 the amount of seats then, if that.[/QUOTE]
You’re quitting just as it gets interesting? Darn. Well i’ll continue on a bit. The Daytona 24 is no more " special animal " than the 12 hours of Sebring, and there are far more cars in that race than 43.
As for attendance figures, i’d be very surprised if there were anywhere near 100,000 people at Daytona or any NASCAR race in this decade. I’ve seen the published figures, but I’ve also seen the empty grandstands. Mind you, that doesn’t make me smile. Just the opposite in fact. I always loved NASCAR racing, but’s it’s become a very sad imitation of the real thing. And to go back to the reason for this thread, the overblown, pompous, out of touch, marketing types and NFL wannabes that run it are directly responsible.
And lastly, no one but you thinks the tv ratings for NASCAR are anything like good. Higher than two or three years ago? Maybe, but that’s a long way from good.
There is no longer a way to compare attendance figures… Nascar has officially quit announcing attendance figures. No way to compare (or to embarrass them) by having FACTS about the decline they’ve been going through.
Only the tracks themselves, and the IRS know for sure… and I’ve LONG suspected that the IRS doesn’t get the whole truth. There’s an awful lot of cash transactions going on, with nothing but a roll of ticket stubs to account for it. All they have to do is ‘lose’ a single roll from a single day of Infield Parking fees to rake in a boatload of un-accounted for cash.
Either way, they either save themselves embarrassment, or get to play shell games with a bunch of cash green money.
Once again, Nascar isn’t having to hold the brown end of the plunger.
[QUOTE=Matt Albee;129027]Just the opposite in fact. I always loved NASCAR racing, but’s it’s become a very sad imitation of the real thing. And to go back to the reason for this thread, the overblown, pompous, out of touch, marketing types and NFL wannabes that run it are directly responsible.
And lastly, no one but you thinks the tv ratings for NASCAR are anything like good. Higher than two or three years ago? Maybe, but that’s a long way from good.[/QUOTE]
Last one, for real…I agree with the first part of that. The on-track product is stale and boring most weeks. And I totally agree that it’s way too much of an overblown marketing exercise than it is sport anymore. I see it like this: It costs an incredibly crazy amount to field a cup team, so teams need to seek sponsors, BIG sponsors. Companies that pay out big money want their car up front. To make sure almost every car has at least a chance to get to the front they basically dumb down the racing to a spec car package which has lead to a ton of boring races. Totally with you there on all of that.
And as for the ratings, I didn’t invent the numbers I just read them. There’s no situation where being the number 2 program in the most important demographic should be called doing poorly.
The tv ratings sure are an interesting exercise of people trying to sell you their version of the facts. But the facts are that like any statistic, numbers can be manipulated to prove just about anything. For instance, that NASCAR is the second most popular televised sport. The interesting part is that we only have NASCAR’s word for attendance figures.
Anyway, maybe it is second in popularity, and maybe it isn’t. I can only speak from my own experience. I’ve been to the Daytona 500 and seen every seat in the house filled, including the full backstretch stands before they removed half of them. I’ve seen Bristol night race tickets go from being handed down generation to generation, to a lot of empty seats on race night. And Daytona is sending over 40,000 seats through the ejectors during the upcoming face lift.
Daytona International Speedway is one of the best places in the country to watch racing. Whether you are there for the Daytona 500, Rolex 24, or motocross, the track offers a great experience for fans. This article highlights some of the top fan-friendly features at Daytona, including seating tips, infield access, and food options.
The grandstands provide excellent views, and there are plenty of great spots around the infield and paddock to catch the action. Facilities are clean, food and drink choices are solid, and the tram system makes it easy to get around the grounds.