for the same team?
King Brian: Our preference is to see as many non-team members compete, but that’s the nature of some of the teams that have multi-talented, good drivers. Nothing you can do about it. I actually think that Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson – just because of the last two tracks – I think that Jeff is going to run better here and I think it could be very, very close going into Sunday, a week from Sunday, rather. All things being equal, we would like to see 12 different drivers from 12 different teams, sure, but that’s not how it always works.
Mad Mikie: Non-team members compete? So you want to see Joe Schmuckatelli from Podunk Center Iowa compete? You want to see some Average Joe off the streets compete? Give me a break. It’s pretty obvious that since this wasn’t scripted you have no idea, as usual, what you’re talking about Your Highness. If you wanted single car teams to compete, you wouldn’t have the Top 35 rules in place and there would be a rule on the books prohibiting a car owner from owning more than one car. So every team would be a non-team member. One idea behind the COT/POS was to promote parity. The idea behind the mandated gear rules was, in part, to promote parity. We haven’t seen any parity. We’ve seen one team dominate the COT/POS races. The Top 35 Rule was to protect sponsors. All it’s done is hurt the single car teams and the racing because we're not seeing the best of the best drive every weekend. So get rid of it and the COT/POS and maybe you might see a few fans return.
QUESTION: Anything you can do to the Chase, tweaking it, to improve that?
KB: No, we can’t predict who is going to be good … in a given year. We can’t predict that. That’s why they race.
MM: Uh, what does this answer have to do with the question that was asked? The best way to tweak the Chase for the Chumps is to get rid of it. It’s been nothing but a fiasco. Look at how boring the races have become, the lower TV ratings, and all of the empty seats at the tracks.
QUESTION: Expanding the Chase and adding the bonus points (for wins in the first 26 races), how has that worked out and will you make any tweaks to the Chase next year?
KB: I think it’s worked. We may do a little more of it or something. What Jimmie Johnson did, I actually called him on the phone and told him that by going after that win (at Richmond, the final race of the regular season) because he knew how close that was. He knew that those bonus points may be necessary to win it all. I think in the old days, a couple of years ago, somebody might have settled for second. He took a lot of chances, and I hope that it was because the rewards were such that that counts. That’s what I’m hearing.
MM: Adding the points hasn’t done diddly except to possibly rob one driver of a championship because of the resetting of the points. Drivers are still points driving and settling for second. Just ask Matt Kenseth about his recent remarks on settling for second. And you may do a little more of what? You said there weren’t going to be any more tweaks. So you’re contradicting yourself. And have your hearing aid checked because what you're hearing is from a bunch of Royal Bootlicks and not what the fans are saying.
QUESTION: Jeff Gordon said today that the only thing that concerns him is you can’t compare era from era with the Chase. Is that a concern of yours that the legacy of the sport has been altered a bit with the Chase?
KB: We thought about that and the truth is it’s had lots of changes over the years. Used to have 50 or 60 races. We have lots of different periods in our history; it would be hard to compare apples to apples anyway. That’s just the nature of it.
MM: Jeff Gordon is right. You can’t compare the different eras. And the correct phrase is comparing apples to oranges, which is what the comparison would be. A win by Billy Wade in a 1964 Mercury Marauder purchased from a car dealership is nothing like a win by Steve Park in a hand-made, “nothing stock in it” car. Even the course configuration was different. So you can’t compare them. Back when they had 50-60 races, the drivers raced for the love of the sport, not for sponsors or to glorify the ego of Your Highness and they didn’t complain about how tough a 36 race schedule was. Iron men, iron cars, and the love of the sport. Now... We won't even go there.
QUESTION: Your schedule is set, but have you thought down the road, now that Bruton Smith has bought New Hampshire, about what the possibilities are regarding moving some dates around if that were to come up?
KB: Yeah, we certainly have and have had conversations. They’re not anything new. It will make some realignment opportunities for SMI (Smith's Speedway Motorsports Inc.) more possible. We’ll have to see what they bring to us and what they think will work for them.
MM: Dang, almost a real answer. But not to worry Your Highness. You won’t be around to see the dates shifted around. Bruton will have two races at Vegas and if your uncle is smart, he’ll do the schedule in such a way that the dates won’t be close to Fontana’s. But Fontana still won’t sell out even if the dates are changed. Thy may have to give away 20,000 tickets next year instead of the 15,000 they gave away this year.
QUESTION: Do you want to keep two races in the Boston market?
KB: I think two events working as well as those two events were you would like to think that they would work best there versus taking one somewhere else. I think they’ve got to get in there, Bruton and Humpy [Wheeler] and those guys and determine some of that on your own.
MM: It doesn’t take a mental giant to know that one of the dates from Loudon will be moved for the 2009 season. Bruton is more concerned with a second date for Vegas than keeping two races in Loudon. Take that to the bank.
QUESTION: You talked last year that TV ratings were down to some degree because NBC wasn't promoting the races as well in the last year of their contract. This year you’re seeing some drops in the Chase. How do you look at that?
KB: Well, look, the television ratings for almost everything are down. Prime-time, daytime, sports, whatever else. We’re probably a victim of that to some level. You have to remember, we’re still posting big audiences, and our TV partners are very satisfied. We’d love to be growing at better rates but we’re not contracting at all. We’re pretty satisfied that the storylines in the future, as things go on television, we’ll be fine with television ratings.’’
MM: Funny, how is it that a lot of shows have higher ratings than last season, some new shows have high ratings, and overall NA$CAR’s ratings have been down double digits for a lot of the season. NBC didn’t do it. E$PN/ABCDEFG isn’t doing anything either. They’re treating NA$CAR like the illegitimate red-headed stepchild. Let’s face it, the races have been less than exciting, especially the COT/POS races, the 4 races leading into the play-offs, and the actual play-off races themselves. And as bad as the Fox coverage has been, E$PN/ABCDEFG is making them look great. You chased away and replaced the wrong fans Your Majesty. You went for the fickle fad fans with money and the short attention span crowd and it‘s biting you in the Royal Backside. There's something to be said about loyalty and it works both ways. If you're not loyal to the fans, they're not going to be loyal to you.
QUESTION: What about expansion abroad?
KB: Well, I'll take a look at it. There’s nothing on the horizon beyond Montreal and Mexico City that we’re looking (at), but we get opportunities to look at all the time. As I said in my remarks earlier (in a panel group), being in position one day to maybe take some advantage of those, it’s not in the foreseeable future, but we should at some point have an opportunity.’’
MM: You’ll take a look at it? Mexico hasn’t had
the greatest turn-out in the world and the teams
are still losing money for going there. And BTW,
have they managed to do away with the heavy
security and police escorts for the teams or are
they still needed? Oh, that’s right; you don’t like
talking about that. With the ratings drops and
poor attendance, you’re going to get lucky to be
invited to your uncle’s birthday party, much less
invited to expand overseas even more. The races
in Australia back in the 70’s didn’t do much for
NA$CAR in establishing a foothold. Racing in
Japan didn’t do anything except help the teams
sell off some old race cars and use up some of
the rain tires. And bringing in F-1 drivers isn’t
going to make fans clamor for NA$CAR in Europe or the rest of the world. They like fast cars and road courses. They like racing on different surfaces and not just asphalt. So unless you’re willing to go back to racing on dirt, don’t expect much of a crowd overseas. You’d have more fans in the vending and concession areas than you would in the seats.
Want to chat with other race fans about this article and other NASCAR stuff? Join our forums.
Motherhood, Apple Pie, & John Wayne
Mad Mikie, Curmudgeon at Large
Gotta comment, question or want to say hey there...email Mike here
Go visit our home page, called appropriately The Pits & check out our photos & pages.
Our most popular page; Race Recon is where you get all the info you need to go to the
races including local camping, hotels, bars, restaurants, tracks, golf & other important race weekend information. We also have attending a NASCAR Race tips, tailgating tips
& recipes, stories, trivia, quotes & more! While you are surfing see if you are a
adventures with the tailgating race fan at NASCAR tracks.
