If NCTS Goes Under...

[Chamoo]

It must be a positive for the ICS. My opinion is less motorsports competition means that the ICS/AOWR gets a little bit bigger slice of the pie, which is a good thing.

However, there must be other benefits to the possibility of the NCTS being shutdown. I understand it is just rumors that the Truck Series will be shut down, but it seems to make sense.

If it happens, does anyone see other benefits out there such as some NCTS teams coming to the ICS?

What about young drivers trying out the ICS or Lights?

Possible sponsors realizing they can race for the same amount or less on the ICS car in the top series in the IRL instead of trying to spend millions more on the Nationwide series?

Any other benefits? Maybe tracks looking for dates to fill. Gateway?

[Rex Monaco]

This is the IndyCar forum, not the NASCAR forum. Go discuss NASCAR somewhere else.

[MDS]

It's not going anywhere. There's no reason in talking about something that isn't going to happen


They've already announced the schedule for 2009

http://www.nascar.com/races/truck/20.../schedule.html


A TV deal is in place with SPEED and a radio deal with XM and MRN, and Life Lock could be announced as the title sponsor soonish

[Dr. Krogshöj]

It's not going anywhere. There's no reason in talking about something that isn't going to happen


They've already announced the schedule for 2009

http://www.nascar.com/races/truck/20.../schedule.html


A TV deal is in place with SPEED and a radio deal with XM and MRN, and Life Lock could be announced as the title sponsor soonish

The manufacturers want it go... It's not PC anymore. I expect it go in 2010. Good riddance.

[-Helix-]

Less NASCAR is always a good thing.

[Jonesi]

It must be a positive for the ICS. My opinion is less motorsports competition means that the ICS/AOWR gets a little bit bigger slice of the pie, which is a good thing.
However, there must be other benefits to the possibility of the NCTS being shutdown. I understand it is just rumors that the Truck Series will be shut down, but it seems to make sense.
If it happens, does anyone see other benefits out there such as some NCTS teams coming to the ICS?
What about young drivers trying out the ICS or Lights?
Possible sponsors realizing they can race for the same amount or less on the ICS car in the top series in the IRL instead of trying to spend millions more on the Nationwide series?
Any other benefits? Maybe tracks looking for dates to fill. Gateway?

I don't think the truck series will go away, but if it does it probably won't help ICS and may hurt it. If the #3 pro racing series in the country fails for financial reasons, what does that say about the financial viability of the #4 series? If Nascar shuts it down they will come up with some good deal to move teams to Nationwide or GrandAm series.
Most likely any opening at race weekends will be filled by GrandAm, ARCA, West or North series. Does ICS really want to run on Friday nights as 3rd level support series? I doubt it.

[Chamoo]

Most likely any opening at race weekends will be filled by GrandAm, ARCA, West or North series. Does ICS really want to run on Friday nights as 3rd level support series? I doubt it.

I was thinking more like places like Gateway where the Truck series is the head lining event. Sure they will still have ARCA and others smaller Nascab series, but does Gateway come calling the IRL about making their way back to Gateway?

Also, would the IRL approach Truck series owners about moving to the IRL? Would they maybe come up with a deal similar to the deal put together for the CC teams?

What if the Truck series folded after the 2010 season? Are the truck series owners encouraged by certain members of the IRL employees to spend their money buying new IRL chassis then buying new Grand-Am or Nationwide cars?

[RaceFanStan]

It must be a positive for the ICS. My opinion is less motorsports competition means that the ICS/AOWR gets a little bit bigger slice of the pie, which is a good thing.

However, there must be other benefits to the possibility of the NCTS being shutdown. I understand it is just rumors that the Truck Series will be shut down, but it seems to make sense.

If it happens, does anyone see other benefits out there such as some NCTS teams coming to the ICS?

What about young drivers trying out the ICS or Lights?

Possible sponsors realizing they can race for the same amount or less on the ICS car in the top series in the IRL instead of trying to spend millions more on the Nationwide series?

Any other benefits? Maybe tracks looking for dates to fill. Gateway?

The anti-nascar rumor-mongers are really working overtime.
Don't be digging a grave for the Truck Series as it is VERY healthy & will be around for several years !

Craftsman is pulling-out of the Truck Series but the bidding war for a new sponsor has already begun.

The fact is that the Truck Series is a footstep to Cup racing ...
it is also a fact that many successful Cup drivers came from the Truck Series
it is also another fact that many openwheel drivers WANT to be in nascar !
(however most openwheel drivers are so arrogant that they think they can start at the top level.)

There are NO real nascar drivers leaving for openwheel racing & I wouldn't expect any either.
The only drivers leaving nascar are :
the ones that are past the prime marketing age group (they are being subplanted by "young guns")...
openwheel drivers who failed in nascar may return to openwheel racing because they couldn't cut it in nascar ...

It is really pathetic that ICS hopes to draw sponsors, owners & drivers from the Truck Series ...
it shows what an utter failure that openwheel series (ICS) really is.

[nigelred5]

If it stays around it's gonna end up all Toyotas. Ford and Chevy already barely have anything to do with it, Dodge is pulling the plug on just about everything in Nascar that costs them anything. Toyota is going to ruin competetion in NASCAR just as it did in CART and the IRL. Noone can throw money at the track anywhere close to What toyota has to spend. If the TRucks go away, teams will simply re-organize into The Nationwide series and very likely some will be encouraged to go to Grand Am. Most of the ISC oval tracks could even host mixed Road Course/ Oval weekends if they really wanted to. It's good racing as Nascar goes, and a good training ground for NASCAR racing teams and drvers but trucks aren't selling, so why do it from the marketing standpoint.? THey might be better served to bring back the Goody's Dash series with smaller 4 cylinder cars like they were in the past.

[beachbum]

A discussion of NASCAR is pertinent to an open wheel forum as its illustrates how a series can grow to prominence, and how easily that growth can unravel. In the early 90's Open wheel was flourishing with CART, but then the infighting and big egos lost sight of how they got there and it all went poof.

IHMO, NASCAR is falling into the same trap. Cost control is a myth and the costs are getting so out of hand that finding big time sponsors is getting more and more difficult. Even well known, competitive teams can't find sponsors.

With spec cars and some cost control, the IRL teams cost a lot less to operate, but even at that level, sponsors are hard to come by. Opening up technology could be a disaster as someone would ramp up the spending to utilize the technology, and other teams less well funded would be left behind.

The truck series is still cheap enough that a person running local short tracks can put together with a single truck and make the field. They won't be competitive, but they can race and hope for better things. Even with that, the fields are dwindling, and full fields are becoming less frequent.

Single car teams in the IRL still have a chance to compete. Not win, but compete.

The truck series also shows the double edge sword of manufacturer support. Companies want to win, and one will outspend the others until they dominate. If the others leave, that opens a big funding void, and the overall series is damaged.

CART fell into this as manufacturer support faded, along with the factory support money. Even the IRL faced that when Honda pulled a lot of its funding to AGR, and they had to scramble for additional sponsorship to fill the void. Without factory involvement, the ALMS series would consist of a couple prototype backmarkers and GT2 cars. Can-am completely went away when manufacturer support drove everyone out, and the manufacturer left.

The Nationwide series is in serious trouble. With many Sprint cup teams using it as a testing ground, the little guy is heavily outspent to the point that many small teams find the cost of running Nationwide as great as Sprint cup. But the marketing value is much less, and sponsors are not very interested and many are leaving. The series may not go away, but the number of competing teams is dropping, and dropping fast. Eventually, there will be a few tops teams that dominate, and everyone else is a field filler. The difference between the "have's" and the "have not's" will expand. Wait, that has already happened in NASCAR!

Like any business, NASCAR is showing what happens when costs exceed the marketing value. It is the big Kahuna of racing in the US, but the costs are extreme as well. Add in a very weak world economy, and any series has to seriously look at cost control to reduce cost to match the available income.

If any of the NASCAR series falter, the racers will go back to their roots and local racing where the costs are much less. A lot already have. Expecting them to jump into another expensive series with similar economic issues is a pipe dream.

The IRL has a lot to learn from the other series about meeting matching fan expectations while keeping the show affordable for the participants. Growth for the sake of growth isn't helpful if the costs rise faster that the return.