Let's Fix NASCAR, Part 2
11/05/2014
David Allen
Last week, we talked about the various things that I thought were wrong with NASCAR. I expressed, and many of you agreed, that if some of these problems aren’t fixed, our graying kids or their kids will never get to know this great sport we love. In my opinion that's pretty sad, because many of these changes could be made with very little effort. It's just a matter of someone taking notice and having the drive to make these changes. I'm not saying NASCAR isn’t aware of these changes; they just haven't decided to make them yet. The problem with that is if we keep up with the rate we're going, by the time they decide to make the changes there may not be a sport left to make them for. So what can we do? Well, it's pretty simple if you ask me.
NASCAR needs to decide who the audience is and plan accordingly. Back in the days of Richard Petty and the other founders of our sport, NASCAR racing mainly appealed to the farmers, the everyday common laborer. Today NASCAR is main-stream. I get it; times have changed; there’s a certain need to make money that goes along with that. Forty years ago race teams and drivers were the common everyday man. That’s what made it awesome; that’s what made the Earnhardts, the Pettys, and the Wallaces, just to name a few. I don’t want to take anything away from the young talent that is currently in the garage area, but we’ve got to get back to our roots. It’s like a farm field; as a farmer, you tend your land each season and after a few seasons farmers burn the land to remove any leftovers and restart the vegetation process of years past. NASCAR, it’s time you do that too.
It costs teams millions of dollars to race for one week. Why? As things become more refined, then the cost of participation rises. The more people involved, the more people that have to be paid that have families to feed. Now hold on! Before any of you get upset, I’m not saying we fire people. I’m saying let’s make our sport cheaper. I’m saying, we have a group of vendors and teams buy parts from those vendors. Maybe, let NASCAR supply the parts; keep all the money within the sport. There are plenty of talented drivers out there that aren’t getting the opportunities deserved, because their pockets are empty. Stick and ball sports have opportunities for walk-ons. We need that too.
If we don’t make the sport we love a little less expensive and more fan accessible, we will lose it entirely. It’s like having a choice. Take a million dollars now and that’s all you get, or take 2 million dollars over a period of time. Easy choice; right? I’m guessing NASCAR didn’t learn too much during the latest economic downturn when teams were forced from racing due to lack of funding.
So what are we going to do now to secure the sport we love for generations to come? NASCAR?