Do your friends equate "race fan" with "NASCAR fan?"

**beachbum** · 26th February 2007, 11:50

In the Northeast US, if you ask someone if they are a race fan, they might ask which horse you like at the local track. For many auto racing doesn't even exist. A quote from Jayskis, that follows NASCAR

"It was difficult to look at 200,000 fans packed into Daytona Speedway and not imagine that auto racing has become one of America's favorite sports. According to a recent Gallup poll, however, auto racing isn't very close. The pollsters asked Americans to name their favorite sport. Football was the easy winner with more than 43% of the voting. Basketball was second with 12% and baseball followed with 11%. Auto racing landed fourth with just 4%. The poll results didn't mean that only 4% of Americans follow auto racing, only that 4% found it to be their favorite sport"

Open wheel in any form is less than a blip.

**ZzZzZz** · 26th February 2007, 20:19

Hoss, we still have ALMS at Laguna.

Beach, I've seen (old) statistics that show auto racing (as a whole) to be the most attended sport in this country.

I was thinking about the news of sinking attendance at Fontana and the general drop in NASCAR numbers. It's pretty obvious that you can't pry away a loyal NASCAR fan from their favorite sport, but who are these people who are leaving? Why are they disaffected? Are they open/willing to step up to a more exciting form of motorsports?

**beachbum** · 26th February 2007, 22:16

Originally Posted by ZzZzZz

Beach, I've seen (old) statistics that show auto racing (as a whole) to be the most attended sport in this country.

I was thinking about the news of sinking attendance at Fontana and the general drop in NASCAR numbers.

I suspect it is the most attended sport when you add in all of the local racing and all of the different types of motorsports. As long as it has wheels and an engine, someone will race it. Does lawnmower racing qualify as motorsports?

NASCAR is So-Cal has always had trouble getting attendence. A bit odd considering the car culture, but many people just aren't into US sedans or whatever they claim to be. The TV numbers dropping off many be a function of the crappy coverage. Last year at some races about 1/3 of the race was commercials. I don't care to watch hours of commecials to have them interrupted for a bit of racing. It is a great way to kill the golden goose.

While I am not a big NASCAR fan, I do watch. But sometimes I switch away in commercials and find something more interesting. I can always see the highlights in one of the dozens of highlight shows.