When Did Nascar Start Going Downhill?

Question

when do you think it started happening?

Economy?

CoT?

Sponsors?

T.V. Broadcasts?

When Dale Sr. Died?

Small Teams Getting Pushed Out?

Etc..

Answer 1

the phantom debris cautions at "timely" parts of the race.

thats when my friends who got into Nascar a couple years ago got feed up and stopped watching.

Answer 2

Wow. you answered your own question...all  the above you listed!

Answer 3

One thing that everyone is leaving out is that today drivers are all talent and no c*ck 'n b@lls.  Back in the day, drivers had a dare devil mentality...they had to be crazy.  All the talent in the world wouldn't mean a thing if you didn't have the guts to go out and drive 190 mph with no safety equipment.  Don't get me wrong, I applaud NASCAR for making driver's safety a priority, but once you take they crazy SOB's out of the picture, you are left with this politically correct dog and pony show, and little punks like Denny Hamlin whining when other drivers won't let him pass.  Gee...I wonder if David Person ever whined when Richard Petty wouldn't let him pass?

Answer 4

too many rules and too many commercials.

Answer 5

It's a mixture of many things. Keeping these drivers on the little puppet strings has had an impact. We want to see real emotion, not sponsor influenced emotions. Most of the original watchers are gone due to the influence of the new generation. The new technology has forced mechanics to earn a degree in engineering just to understand the rules of the sport (sarcasm). Back in the day, you had a handful of drivers that were known as "spoiled." Now every single driver has a rich father buying his kid into the sport. You earned your way into the sport, not given the chance at 18 because your father has a fat check book. Go to your local short tracks, be at dirt or asphalt, see how many guys are scrapping pennies together to go race every week. Many racing cars older than the individuals posting on this site. They have so much talent because they are understanding of the work of going into a car. How many drivers do you see getting there hands dirty in NASCAR? I'd say maybe 2 of the 43 each week. If you look at the underlying factor, money is the reason NASCAR started going down hill. More money equals more greed. I feel this started happening before around the early 1990's, when corporate American wanted to be placed on the cheapest advertisement available. Think about it, a super bowl commercial cost about 5 million for one add, and a NASCAR team probably gets 4 million for one big sponsor. 36 races, numerous public appearances, and the ability to place your name on one individual.....pays off in the long run.

Answer 6

Sometime in very late 80"s when the France Family decided there was a lot of money to be made and decided that the business end was more important than the fan getting a good race to watch.

Answer 7

It started by the loss of Dale Earnhardt Sr. It's not just because he's not still racing. It's because his death  sent NASCAR on the quest for safety that accelerated the development of the COT, NASCAR getting stricter on aggressive driving, the lucky dog rule, the green white checker (which was a side effect of the lucky dog rule).

It put NASCAR into this total control mode that just takes away from the sport.

It's not that I think the safety mode is wrong. It's just it's been a long hard road of unfair and inconsistent  penalties in NASCAR's quest to improve the sport.

Also the way they are stretching out the broadcasting and trying to reach to the younger audience makes it less appealing for the adults. Sports use to be for when after adults worked all week then they would have something to enjoy on Sundays after church while the kids were outside playing. Now days it's being presented more like a cartoon or wrestling with "Digger" an "the Young Guns" and drivers fighting with their helmets on and can't get mad and speak out.

The thing that pushes it over the edge is one team dominance. After all of the above takes place the last thing you want to see is one tam dominance. I would not  want my driver to win "all the time". It's more exciting when you can say "We'll get you next week".

Answer 8

WTH You talkin about?

Answer 9

i dont think nascar has done down hill..its changed over the years due to the fact we has people have became smarter and build things safer. Im sorry that dale sr. died but get a life people...i love nascar i'm a Jeff Gordon fan myself. People dont like change, so most of the hicks that like nascar, if it was up to them it wouldn't be safe at all and more people would of died in the sport.

Answer 10

i think multicar teams have had a big impact, some owners became too powerful, also guaranteed spots and not having to qualify to actually make the race has hurt all around. teams in the top 35 can work on race set-up, while the others are fighting with a qualifying set-up that won't help in the race.

Answer 11

If fox 5 could keep the broad cast all season round there would be no problem.  

I would not call it down hill, just annoying because:

COT-cookie cutter car

chase-12 instead of 10

Rules, rules, rules

Small Teams Getting Pushed Out--at least Robby is still here

Gosh darn commercials!

Answer 12

When the owners and drivers gave nascar the power they now wield. Nascar dictates everything, even driver behavior. Tony Stewart is the only driver with a set of cohones. Listening to a post race interview is like an interview with miss america, all sweet and polite and politically correct. Makes me want to ralph !!

Answer 13

when the 2003 season was over and the recent allstate 400

and also when they brought in  the c.o.t. plus i hate kyle bush

Answer 14

c**p of Tomorrow (CoT)

Fuel prices

Absurd number of commercials

Small teams being pushed out

INSANE NUMBER OF CAUTION LAPS!!!!

Answer 15

I would say the economy because gas prices are up

Answer 16

Reality TV.......

Answer 17

Not just Nascar but all pro sports in general has been gradually becoming more and more about corporate America instead of entertainment for it's fans.  

The almighty dollar has ruined pro sports, which is why I don't watch it anymore, except for the occasional NY Giants game and Nascar.

Answer 18

When the 2003 Winston Cup Season ended, and the 2004 Nextel

Cup Season started with all the new rule changes.

Answer 19

H. All the above

Answer 20

Hey Frankie...  Remember when they used to cover racing on TNN.... h**l TNN doesn't even exist anymore, or when a bunch of NASCAR drivers got together and made a country music album, or made cameos in movies like Stroker Ace and V6's were used in the Sportsman Series, and 'Cup was the Grand National, Ahhh those were the days. Owners actually stayed loyal to their drivers, and you weren't fired for having one bad season... I could go on and on, but I'm running late for work.

Answer 21

Dont recall it going down hill. I have a question though. When did you being a fan start going downhill?

Answer 22

It started this season with this new car. Most teams cannot find the handling for it, and it makes for LOUSY races.

Answer 23

After Dare Sr. died.  I don't think his death had anything to do with it.  I just think that is the time when they started down the wrong path.  His death brought a tremendous amount of publicity to the sport.

TV contracts and sponsors go hand and hand.  With more TV time the sponsors had more of a say and push.  I firmly believe that sponsors are pulling out because of the high costs and the sport transforming into big teams.  Almost the MLB issue awhile back.  Big teams with deep pockets.

Broadcasters.  Well there are some personalities up there and some are annoying to listen too.  Just becasue they were good drivers does not mean that they are good broadcasters.

COT was a good idea for safety.  Where I think they really failed was they rushed it into service without enough real testing.  I think they just assumed that everything would work itself out.

It is a shame, this was once a great sport and loved to watch and go to races.  Now it is almost a hollywood event.  

Answer 24

my balance must be off because i didn't realize we were going downhill, other than the "tire collapse" at the brickyard. but if i had to say, probably when they let foreigners in - especially those "brothers" from las vegas - sounds like some place in mexico.

even their last name is some beer company owned by belgians...

;-)

Answer 25

the year was 2003 and Brian France was just the gasoline on the match. THANKS BRIAN!!!! ya dumbass

NASCAR has made more of an effort to become a form of entertainment rather a sport

I cant wait until Jeff Burton is put in charge and takes care of this mess... I used to watch every Truck, Busch, Cup race and now i watch an occasional truck, no Busch, and 4 of 5 cup races... I watch more F1 now

Answer 26

You listed many good reasons how Nascar has changed but I don't think there going downhill anytime soon.

The 'T.V. broadcast' reason cracks me up because you must be too young to remember catching only brief highlights of Nascar on Sunday morning's on Wide World Of Sports between Ice Skating and Curling!

You know, before VCR'S and MTV!?

Answer 27

Feb. 2001

Answer 28

small teams being pushed out of the sport by rising and uncontrolled costs

Answer 29

it started in 2001 the only driver nascar would listen to is gone!