Contrary to popular belief, there was a time when NASCAR racing was one of the most popular sports in the United States. Sunday was the automobile Sabbath and fathers would take their children to the track to watch the famous drivers of the day. That didn’t last for too long.
As problems arose from its safety and culture, the sport has become increasingly distant from mainstream American sporting culture. NASCAR fell off the viewing pedestal for a good chunk of Americans, as we turned on the Super Bowl and World Series instead of the Daytona 500.
But all is not lost for the sport where cars drive around in a circle for a few hours. Here are some elements of the sport which need to be fixed before NASCAR moves back up to the upper American sports echelon.
Saturday’s horrific accident speaks volumes about how dangerous auto racing is. On the last lap in the DRIVE4COPD, the opening race of the Nationwide Series (NASCAR’s Triple A affiliate) at Daytona International Speedway, there was a crash which involved at least 12 cars and injured 33 spectators, some as far away as the upper deck. In the 1987 Winston 500 at Talladega Motor Speedway in Alabama, Bobby Allison had an accident which at the time was seen as the worst accident in NASCAR history. Saturday’s accident takes the cake. Kyle Larson’s 32 car went airborne and broke the catch fence that separates the cars from the grandstand. The engine of his car ended up in the stands.
There are dangers to drivers in auto racing but this illustrates the danger of being a spectator at a race. If NASCAR wants to prevent these types of accidents, then it needs to install stronger catch fences around its tracks or move fans farther away from the action. An example of this method is seen in Japanese baseball stadiums, where there are fences along the stands to prevent hard hit balls and thrown bats from reaching the spectators. While these measures may detract from the experience of being close to a race (or game), it will keep fans safer and prevent incidents like Saturday’s from happening often.
Another issue in terms of the racing is the track selection. There are only two road courses (courses that contain more turns, both left and right) on NASCAR’s schedule. Many Americans do not like watching cars make left turns for three hours. Road courses cause much more drama and intrigue. NASCAR could add more road races to their schedule to breakup the left-hand turn monopoly.
NASCAR only appeals to a certain demographic. The vast majority of drivers across all NASCAR series are from America. If NASCAR would like to have a broader appeal, then it should have a more diverse driver pool. There are no minority drivers on NASCAR’s top two circuits (Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series). The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (third tier) will have Darrell Wallace Jr. as the fourth black driver in NASCAR history. If Wallace Jr. succeeds, then he would be essential to engendering connections with minorities. If he does not succeed, then NASCAR needs to reevaluate its strategy in terms of branching out to these communities. According to NASCAR Fan Base Demographics from 2010, NASCAR’s largest fan base is in the South at 41%, which has a high white population. That’s not a strategy for success anymore.
In an effort to reach a broader appeal, NASCAR should focus on reaching the corners of the country or maybe going beyond. NASCAR could hold races outside of the United States in places like Montreal (Circuit Gilles Villeneuve) or Mexico City (Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez) in order to promote the sport to a different audience.
Also, auto racing faces a serious battle with being energy efficient. Cars need gas to run. Eco-friendly people do not feel an alliance to a sport which they claim is killing their earth. NASCAR is distancing itself from a wave of fans who care about the environment. What NASCAR could do, which would be revolutionary, is try to develop a car which runs on hybrid power or entirely on battery. It would make for some interesting changes in pit strategy, car shape and possibly the type of racing but it would generate more avenues to reach fans.
The sponsorship deals it currently has in place with Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford and Toyota could lead to innovative science in alternative forms of auto racing. NASCAR could also add a fourth major branch to its series in which cars need to be entirely independent of gas. This would cause positive publicity for the sport in its effort to go green.
Everything has its flaws. NASCAR is seen as the dominant racing league in the United States. However, it is falling far behind other sports, in terms of national recognition and popularity. And, while it is not too far behind, the sport does not want to keep drifting backwards before it is out of the race. It just needs to catch up with the times first.
Being a student at NYU and a NASCAR driver, you might want to research before writing. For instance, Kyle Larson’s engine landed in the catch fence, not the stands. The catch fence held a 1,000 pound flying hunk of metal, going 180-185 MPH. That is a pretty good catch fence.
The catch fence did its job. The tire and full right front assembly went OVER the catch fence. Just like a baseball goes OVER the wall.
The diversity of the sport is growing with NASCAR Drive for Diversity. A woman now runs at the highest level. Many international drivers have taken a turn at the top series and failed. Montoya is one of the few that remained.
Going “green” won’t attract more fans. Why didn’t you talk about the generation 6 car, the new car of NASCAR that resembles the street cars of Toyota, Ford and Chevy? Those companies are working on energy efficient cars. Did you not want to put a positive note in your already misleading article? Interesting.
The suggestion that NASCAR leaves a greater environmental footprint than any other major sporting event is completely ridiculous. A little bit of research on your part would have revealed that NASCAR switched to an ethanol based renewable fuel source over two years ago. Moreover, you would have learned that NASCAR vehicles have never run on “gas” as we know it, but on a concentrated fuel with efficiency ratings that are closer to jets than cars.
Consider the energy imprint of your standard NASCAR event; the venue is outdoors (no climate control) and almost always uses natural light. The cars run mostly on renewable resources (primarily corn). Compare that to energy consumption at your average NFL game at (for example) Cowboys Stadium (massive climate controlled, artificially lit megastructure) and suddenly your “NASCAR’s battling with energy inefficiency argument” goes out the window.
I don’t expect groundbreaking investigative journalsim from NYU Local, but would a little research kill ya?
Pieces of a race car should not end up in the stands injuring the spectators.The engine caught fire after it broke through the catch fence in the first row of the stands. If this happens, clearly the catch fence did not do its job. And how can a sport be diverse if there are only 2 “minorities” racing?
1) Engine was not in the first row. It was sitting in the catch fence. You clearly know nothing about what you are talking about, in any aspect. A car is going 180 mph and a piece of metal flies into it, the fence clearly held it.
2 minorities and women racing in NASCAR top series?, Here’s a little recap for you Sol.
1) Danica Patrick-Sprint Cup
2) Juan Pablo Montoya-Sprint Cup
3) Joanna Long- Nationwide
4) Kyle Larson-Nationwide
5) Jennifer Jo-Cobb-Nationwide
6) Nelson Piquet Jr.-Nationwide/Trucks
7) Miquel Paludo-Trucks
8) Darrell Wallace Jr-Trucks
Those are just 8, I can go on for another 15 min, but I don’t want to prove your ignorance anymore then myself and this Ryan Mallen already had.
“NASCAR’s largest fan base is in the South at 41%, which has a high white population.”
Lol! Are you ignorant of demographics? The South actually has a high black population. I looked at the 2010 census and the South has the highest black population of any American region. This article is full of so many inaccuracies that I am dumbfounded it was even published.
Richie, thank you for your comments and I understand where you are coming from. What I was merely trying to explain was that there are aspects of NASCAR which could be improved, just as there are in any sport. NASCAR has made attempts to go green but many people will not watch NASCAR on principle because of the perceived notion that the sport is harming the environment. In terms of minorities, it would be great if the Sprint Cup Series had more. They are off to a solid start this season with Danica Patrick and hopefully will continue to see more minorities succeed. That said, it would not harm NASCAR if there were more minorities at the top level.
The accident that occurred on Saturday was unusual. One does not go to a sporting event anticipating something like this happening. As Allen Bestwick, the announcer for the Nationwide Series Race on Saturday, said in an interview with ABC, “its still shocking to see something pierce that safety fence and wind up on the grandstand side. Drivers assume the risk of competing, fans don’t necessarily assume that risk when they come to watch the race.” More often than not, NASCAR is a safe sport. However, when accidents such as this happen, there are all types of analysis examining how to limit such an incident happening again. The above suggestions would help to limit these types of accidents occurring in the future. They do not happen often but NASCAR needs to be prepared for when they do, especially at superspeedways where the cars race in packs due to the restricter plates, which make for larger, more dangerous crashes.
Thank you again for your thoughts and I would love to meet with you to discuss more about these topics in the article.
For one, I am happy you wrote about NASCAR. And I respect your article but the fans do assume the risk. If you watched Sunday for the 500 they asked fans how they felt. Each fan says they rather sit on the wall to be closer, they understand the risks. Even fans moved up Sunday Ito seats that were vacated by those injured just to get closer. I grew up in this sport and the fan base. These fans are unlike any professional sport including European soccer or “futbol”. They are die hards, look up the photos of fans sitting on the wall on the backstretch from Sunday. If you want a drivers perspective ill be more than happy to tell you both sides of it. My fans are the lost loyal and something worth examining.
Terrible article and disgraceful journalism (or the lack thereof). Please, stop writing before you embarrass yourself and your school.