of the stick-and-ball sports and managed to fail miserably and either alienated or chased away fans in the process, something no stick-and-ball team owner or league president would ever do.
There are several things that made the Truck Series successful. One is the design of the vehicle itself. When they started, the trucks resembled what was being driven on the streets. Although they have the same basic design, they’ve been changed more for NA$CAR’s benefit than the manufacturers and been made more aerodynamic and more generic. Take a good look at the body lines of the Ford and Chevy that are running and the Ram and Tundra that are running. You have basically two body styles. But I digress. Second, the Truck Series ran at a lot of short tracks throughout the country, just like the old days of the Grand National Series. Short track action has been proven to get a lot of interest from the fans whether they live in Charlotte, Daytona, Taylorsville, or even Floyd. Then a side trip to a 1.5 mile track then back to the short tracks. Fans enjoyed seeing “their” particular brand of truck on the track. Fans were able to identify with the vehicles. Something that is currently plaguing NA$CAR with the generic cars they run. No brand identity with the bodylines of the cars. Then we had a change in leadership and things got screwed up. The short tracks became the side trip and the cookie cutter style 1.5 mile tracks became the mainstay on the schedule so they could be marketed in a 3 day race weekend package.
While the original mid-race competition caution for the Truck Series was changed to the pit stop that is used by the other NA$CAR Series, it pretty much remained the same until it became a lab experiment for changes to the other two tiers. And in spite of that, its TV ratings and the attendance for the stand alone races have still managed to climb while the other two series have declined. Why? Because the action on the track has remained consistent as has the majority of the rules. They still rely on a “winner take all” season champion which folks who have followed the sport enjoy. The trucks still look like trucks. If the falling ratings and lack of attendance during the play-off races for the Cup Series haven’t been an indicator to the NA$CAR leadership that it’s a failed system, then just wait til they make the same changes to the Truck Series. If there was ever something that would kill the Truck Series off once and for all, it would be using the same failed methods of determining a champion as are being currently used in the Cup Series.
On to some other things.
The financial figures came in for the HOF for the month of July and they pulled in less than 50% of what they projected. $818,364 in revenue for July, less than the $1.65 million it had projected. Big OUCH! That means NA$CAR’s 10% cut is going to be pretty meager. Yes, NA$CAR gets 10% off of the HOF even though they haven’t invested a penny of their own money. It seems that a lot of financial figures aren’t reaching their projected levels and were blamed on slow billing, like the advertisements we haven‘t seen yet. Just wait til winter gets here. The Old Farmers Almanac, which is 85% accurate, is predicting a very nasty winter. So if it is true, and fuel prices rise like normal, their winter projections are going to be way off. I doubt they’ll reach even 30% of what’s projected because people won’t be able to travel. Taxpayers…don’t build a HOF without them.
The Atlanta TV ratings are in and although they were off, they weren’t as bad as some of the other races this season. Maybe it had something to do with fans wanting to enjoy watching the last 2 race season at Atlanta from home. In 2009, they had a 3.1 with 5.9 million watching. The ratings this year were a 2.9 with 5.516 million watching. In 2002, the last year under Bill Jr., they had a 5.1 rating and the first year of Faux King Brian’s reign, 2003, they had a 3.0 rating. So even when compared to the first year of Faux King Brian’s tenure, the ratings were off. That’s 2 full points from Bill Jr’s last year running things.
Sue from Senoia dropped me a couple of e-mails. One regarding Atlanta and the other regarding racing overall.
In spite of the lie that AMS was a capacity crowd it wasn't what they brought in about 4 years ago. For example, it used to take us 2+ hours to get home (10 miles away) after waiting for about that same amount of time for traffic to calm down. Took my husband and son 1 hour to get home Sunday after the race and they didn't wait around for traffic to die down. There was lots of big spaces in the stands.
I know from watching the traffic leave there in the past when I was there, it took quite a while for the track to empty out. We’d be back at the campground enjoying ourselves, watching the traffic, and turning in for the night and there was still traffic backed up. So the crowd capacity was definitely down from what it was.
....and don't forget how BORING most of the races are/have been in the past years with the COT. If you think Bristol is boring something is wrong....and Bristol is boring now. Remember we fans wanted the race. They must use the same polls that the president uses and says he's still a favorite in this country. LOL
I was at the first race at Bristol when they ran the Car of Travesty, which was the last race before the reconfiguration, and folks were snoozing in the stands. And I have said in the past the same thing as Sue regarding Bristol and racing being in trouble when Bristol is boring. I think the empty seats over the last couple of years bear me out on that. Like I wrote recently, if you don’t deliver a decent product, folks won’t buy it, and we’re seeing that with Bristol and other tracks.
Jules the Engine Guy has his own idea for a play-off system. And yes, he knows there are flaws with it. But based on what we’ve had so far and the upcoming changes, what the heck?
If they ran a 30 race season they could reset the points back to zero after 10 races.
The winner could be based on the average or total of each 1/3.
I would prefer an average but that’s me...
If a driver/team had a bad 1/3 they could still be
a winner provided they did well the rest of the
time.
It would promote keener competition then the
chase and would put more value on the 26 races
outside the chase.
It would prevent a driver in the top 12 from
coasting along preserving their top spot.
Widen the gap between winning (12 points
instead of 10) and 2nd, 2nd to 5th (8 points
nstead of 5) and 6th to 10th (6 points instead of
4). From 10th on back leave the points spread
the same.
The math of this would make the points closer but no system is perfect.
The other 8 races could be shorter 250 or 300 mile races (with only 36 cars) at tracks where there were no points races.
The field for these races could be set by various things. Winner of a specific races (Daytona 500, Brickyard etc), points leader of each 3rd, driver who won the most poles of each 3rd, driver who lead the most laps of each 3rd... etc.
The balance of the field could be set by 100 mile consolation races where the top 8 or 10 transfer in. The field for these races would be determined on the date the team registered to enter the race. The consolation races could be run the day before.
No qualifying for these races!! Field set by draw.
It’s not that complicated as it sounds. In fact it’s less complicated then the current format. It would promote more racing. It would save the under-financed teams money. Reduce the amount of start and parks.
The plan has flaws and is not perfect.
FROM RACEMAMA: At this time I want to encourage each of you to visit Couchman's facebook page for helping children and families who come to them through the Muscular Dystrophy Association for the October at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He and his group go all out every year to help a child and their family Please help in any way you can, everything goes to the kids.Helping kids makes our Hearts Race.
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 REAL RACE FAN. Be sure to read the Fan Fables, LAIDBACK RACING’S adventures with the tailgating race fan at NASCAR tracks.
