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  1. #11
    Senior Member Jag_Warrior's Avatar
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    Re: My ideal IndyCar schedule. Thoughts?

    Quote Originally Posted by zako85
    ^

    I think the problem is that Americans just don't care about motorsports. I lived from 20 to 35 in America and some people are obsessed about sports, but never about motorsports, not even NASCAR. And well, America is a big country and if I lived in the deep south, perhaps at least I'd find some NASCAR fans. But west of Indianapolis or the deep south almost no one cares. People treat cars as a form of transportation from place to A place B or a fashion accessory. The combined light truck, SUV, and CUV sales have been beating car sales for years. America is leading the research in driverless cars. It's pretty depressing.
    I don't think Americans care about open wheel motorsports, Indy Car or F1. But even there, F1 ratings aren't much different today than they were 10-15 years ago in the U.S.. Indy Car, on the other hand, has continued its spiral down since the split. NASCAR ratings seem to have peaked and did slip between 2005 and 2010. But they're back to ratings stability now, with Daytona 500 ratings up 30% last year. And with an average of 5.8 million viewers per race, NASCAR ranks only behind NFL football in terms of viewership in the U.S. Last year NASCAR signed a record $8.2 billion deal with NBC and Fox.

    As you say, NASCAR is, and has always been, most popular in the south. But other than certain high profile athletes in other sports (Tiger Woods, Eli Manning, Venus/Serena Williams, et al), NASCAR drivers have some of the highest Q ratings in the sports world.

    As for the popularity of cars, in general, and the popularity of high performance cars, specifically, I'm not aware of any data which shows that the mix of performance cars to grocery-getters (wagons, trucks, mini-vans, SUVs) is any lower now than it was before. With all due respect, I think this has more to do with personal perception. In fact, I would say that the OEMs are pushing performance again, now that the Great Recession is pretty well behind us. The offerings at the Detroit Auto Show seem to back this up. It's very possible that younger people are not as car crazy as they have been in the past. But let's not forget that in the mid 1970's through the mid 80's, we were in car hell. With growing emissions regulations and rising gas prices, we got a new Corvette in 1983 that had roughly 210 horsepower... from a 5.7 V8! That was the era of the 4 cylinder Mustang and the plastic Fiero. I came of age back then. It was not a fun time to be a gearhead - luckily we had the muscle cars of the previous decade to pull from. And kids were not THAT car crazy back then either, the way they were in the late 90's/early 2000's, when the import tuner scene came of age. But the late 70's is exactly when CART came to life! In the middle of a deep recession. In the middle of a time when the auto offerings truly sucked. CART and Indy sold an exciting narrative that turned fans on. And the people came. The people watched. That stopped (in the middle of an economic boom, when there were all sorts of hot cars on the road) and the fans went away. I love cars. I love racing. But I don't watch racing just to see certain types of cars. I watch because I feel tied to certain drivers or certain teams. That's where the bond is established - it's emotional. And for whatever reason, the IRL, LLC. Indy Car Series has lost (or never had) the ability to deliver on that front. It's more like GP2 (IMO), but the same drivers keep coming back year after year. Apart from nostalgia or sentimental reasons gained over the past 40+ years, why would I watch what they present now? I neither know, care nor like most of the people in the ICS these days. I think one of the major reasons why Indy Car's ratings continue to go down is because us "old heads" are either dying out or even we are giving up on the hope that what we have now will ever get back to something close to what used to make our hearts beat faster - and they've failed miserably in attracting new, younger fans. But hot cars? I just put my name on the list for a 2015 STI. From muscle cars to sport sedans to full out sports cars, there was shortage of offerings in my price range. And I have a line of people who want to buy my modified 2004 WRX - and not a one of them is over 30. Offer something interesting, sexy, crazy and fast... and they will come. You don't need a consultant from Boston to tell you that.

    Last point: F1 is hugely popular in places where people cannot even afford to own a car of any type, much less a high performance car. NFL football's fastest growing fan demographic is female - and despite the fantasies of many feminists, women do not and probably will never play NFL football (NBA basketball, MLB baseball or NHL hockey). But they still love it. So to me, this is further proof that people do not have to be participants (or have actual links) in order to enjoy and/or follow a sport.

    Kind of like when a girl breaks up with you and she tries to be nice by saying, "it's not you... it's me." In Indy Car's case, let's just be honest: "it's you."
    "Every generation's memory is exactly as long as its own experience." --John Kenneth Galbraith

  2. #12
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    Re: My ideal IndyCar schedule. Thoughts?

    4 words... Bring Back Surfers Paradise.

    Bigger crowd than any other race that isn't the Indy 500. Provided awesome racing.

    Oh, and it was only 45mins from my house. I'm not biased at all
    Sir! While I disagree with what you are saying, I will fight to the death your right to spell the words incorerctly and use heinous.. grammar yo !!!

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