Half empty Bristol?????

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cat_man_mike

New member
It looked like they where lucky to be half full, probably closer to 1/3.(Even though the "official" attendance was 120,000) Is this what NA$CAR has become? What used to be the hottest ticket has now become another ho hum race? Repave every track into the progresive banking garbage that makes the track easier to drive an a lot less exciting to watch? Between that and Brian France's reluctance to accept the fact that most fans absolutely hate the chase no matter what points system it is under, NA$CAR's days may be heading tward the same fate seen by the IRL/CART series.
 
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cat_man_mike

New member
If the night race is that empty, that is the marker that they are in big trouble. Time to stop making decisions based on the TV contract and start based on the fan base. Otherwise, after time, you will have neither.
 
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windingtrailgal

Active member
I call Brian 'Lil Puke.

And what do you mean the fans don't like the chase for the chumpionship?? NASCAR TOLD me I would love it even when I told them it was gonna suck...they told me I just didn't know any better and once I saw how COOL it was I would love it.

20+ years of drinking beer and watching racin on Sunday afternoons (some Saturdays, some dirt track racin, truck races - the only non over-engineered form left - etc) all down the drain right when I thought of myself as having achieved pro status! My mom used to tell my bro and me "If they paid people to watch cars go around in circles while drinking beer, you two would be millionaires" (Ah, we dared to dream!?? :) )

The economy doesn't help - people have to make decisions and they would take their vaca time and their hard earned money and schedule it around racing. I know folks that are like "WOW! Who KNEW what else was out there!" I'd much rather spend my hard earned dollars at the local dirt track! I'll even take paved! ;)

And Mike, the powers that be at NASCAR stopped basing their decisions on what fans like the day Lil Puke took the helm. He invisioned NFL status. He was just like a greedy, dumb 2nd/3rd generation owner of a baseball or football team who has no passion for the sport but views it solely as a business. France Jr would have been WAY better off putting his daughter at the helm - at least she stayed in Florida working for the organization while lil Puke moved to CA - had to sell his Brentwood Estates shack to come slumming in FL when he got the job - POOR thing!

Sorry - it did feel good to unload a little bit. I feel like NASCAR racing was taken away from me and I'll never get it back...hot button issue for me...sorry for the verbal puke!
 
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cat_man_mike

New member
I have had no respect fot the NA$CAR higher ups after 2000 and even less after 2001. The deaths of Kenny Irwin and Adam Petty should have never happened. The IRL had pages of data reguarding basular skull fractures and their probability of happening on a racetrack in the mid to late 90's. But, the arrogant higher ups at NA$CAR refused to do anything about it chalking Petty's and Irwin's accidents up to stuck throttles and not looking at the true problem. Had they been proactive, maybe one or both of them would have had on a HANS device and would be here today. Dale Earnhardt definately would be here today. This goes back to Mike Helton who was calling the shots at the time. Bill Jr. was fading fast and had no real impact on the sport at that time. Then the dark day that Brian got the keys to the car in 2003. He let the TV contracts dictate what happened on the track moving races away from tracks like Rockingham (2004) and the labor day race at Darlington and giving them to failures like California. And when the ratings faded late in the season like they did every year and NBC complained (NFL DUH!!!!!) he came up with this chase to try and boost ratings and the sport was doomed from there. I can't wait till it all goes under and we get back to the way it used to be without all the money involved. Oh yeah, I almost forgot :)
 
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cat_man_mike

New member
By the way, there will be 2 more empty seats at chicagoland this year. We are saving the money of the 3 day event and spending it elsewhere. Part of which was taking my son to his first Blackhawks game(An overtime win over the Ducks where his favorite player, Kane, scored a goal) and in July taking him to his first NHRA race.
 
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windingtrailgal

Active member
LOL @ your :) Mike! ;)

Indeed about all you said....those darn TV contracts! Anyone who knew anything about NASCAR saw that as the end of the road for NASCAR as we knew it. One of my favorite writers was fired after his web site got bought out by a NASCAR affiliated company - he was SCREAMING at the top of his 'net lungs about how NASCAR was selling it's soul - lil puke!! :(

The only thing I'll add to any of that is that there were a lot of drivers that were resistent to wearing the HANS and similiar devices. I should put my disclaimer here that I've been a fan of Pearson and Petty (I was a kid...it seemed OK to root for both of them :) ), Davey Allison and Dale Earnhardt. Earnhardt was one of the drivers that would stomp and scream the loudest about these safety devices...not that he wouldn't have done what NASCAR mandated him to do...but he complained about losing his field of vision - which he felt was critical. He complained about restriction of movement. I'm in no WAY saying that NASCAR did the right thing...just that E was no fan - at least from what I've read...not like I had a conversation with him about it.

It made me ill when Irwin died...and I cried like a baby when Adam died.. "They" did indeed state all that BS about their lack of experience and stuck throttles and just general BS. It took until Earnhardt died for them to see that it was something other than "just one of them racin deals - it's a life and death sport!"

IMO, also, Earnhardt dying affected "drivers say-so" in a lot of the BS that NASCAR has pulled since that day. Who was gonna step up to the plate and lead the drivers? Where was there voice in any of this? I respect the heck out of a lot of drivers - even if I don't root for em come Sunday - but none of them stepped up to the plate to challenge the powers that be when they should have been screaming BS!

We won't start a union thread on this one!! ;) :) ;) (NASCAR makes me WAY madder :mad:!
 
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windingtrailgal

Active member
Mike - cool on the Hawks game and the NHRA event. Make sure he knows before he goes that there isn't constant action out there for drag racing like their is for stock car...

I told a buddy of mine that you couldn't PAY me to go to that cookie cutter piece of crap track they built in Joliet. He reminded me of that when he gave me 4 free tickets!?!? :) I took 'em! I admit it! Free's always a good price.

And don't get me started on the cookie cutter crap tracks they built so they could be DUAL use with open wheel while kick @$$ tracks like Darlington, North Wilksboro and Rockingham get the shaft? I hated New Hampshire for years too...but some of these new POS tracks make it almost watchable!?!? ;)

just sayin' :) :mad:
 
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joks79

Member
I went to Michigan for about 15 years (sometimes twice a year) and Talledaga once five years ago. It was the last race I have been to. I did watch the 500 and liked the ending this year. Now if I have time to sit down and watch a race I fall asleep.

I am tired of every other word being a sponsor. I understand they pay the bills, but let the driver and the owner plug them. Let the crew work on the making the cars run better and find ways to cheat. Let them push the limits of the rules without huge penalties.

I agree on getting back to the roots. Lets race on Darlington, North Wilksboro, Riverside, and Rockingham. The sport is too commercial. When I was young and wore a racing shirt to school people would make fun of it. Now those same people like NASCAR.

Ok I am done now.
 
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windingtrailgal

Active member
joks - I hear ya on this "When I was young and wore a racing shirt to school people would make fun of it. Now those same people like NASCAR." It's too true to be funny!?? :eek:
 
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dcsnomo

Moderator
I was stunned to see all the empty seats. Hard to imagine Bristol 25% empty (if you believe the NASCAR figure of 120,000). 40,000 empty seats!

I have pretty much stopped watching NASCAR after being a fan for years. It's just gotten kinda dull.
 
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windingtrailgal

Active member
thunderstruck - ain't that the truth!! :( I didn't wanna give up like I did after Davey died July 13, '93...not that I remember that date as well as DE's?!? So I made myself keep watching...mainly because of Jr. I've heard folks say of late that he's all hype - all I say is that 2 Busch Championships and 18? wins with a Daytona 500 win in NASCAR's big boy series ain't chump change. And when my dad died I didn't have the whole world watching!! I admired the heck out of him then and now. (just wish he'd gone to drive for RCR instead of Hendrick! :confused:

And NASCAR won't admit that it was that empty - and who knows? With ticket sales to corporations and what not it could have had that amount SOLD! If that's the truth, then that means that there were those people that said "AWE! F it! Even though I COULD go, I don't wanna!"

rakins - WoO rocks! I was sure that Dave Blaney was gonna set the NASCAR world on fire back when he switched to the dark side. He was amazing to watch. I don't have cable anymore but am sure could somehow find it on the 'puter nowadays.

dc - overengineered cars with flat cookie cutter tracks will do that to racing - make it boring and make ya sleepy!?! Daytona was the first race I actually watched in 2 years.

This topic makes me as sad as it does p'd off...

But I'm glad it got started so I could unload a little bit!?!? :eek:
 
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ezra

Well-known member
with money on it I cant hardly watch any more and if I have to listen to boogity boogity bs shut the f up and let me watch the race a roll of duct tape would not hurt
 
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windingtrailgal

Active member
LMAO @ ezra. DW was the BIGGEST jerk of a driver...but the "fans" LOVE the boogery boogery bs - NASCAR SAYS so!!! so it must be true!

and LOL @ bb
Everybody knows you gotta have a driver ya love and a driver ya love to hate.
It's true he doesn't seem to have many fans for some ODD reason?!!?

Remember when Jimmy Spencer punched Kurt? A great day!

Get rid of the CHASE! And not just because it's contrived...but because NASCAR said f u to the fans because they knew what was best...that's what makes me maddest (is that a word?) about the chase. Let drivers actually RACE again. And let them be themselves again! Jimmy Johnson is an amazing talent - I can appreciate that. I can appreciate that he and Knauss have this whole chase thing figured out...but really? The last FIVE championships? He's been THE BEST driver in NASCAR FIVE years in a row??

just sayin (how'my doin, Mike? ;) )
 
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thunderstruck88

New member
ezra said:
with money on it I cant hardly watch any more and if I have to listen to boogity boogity bs shut the f up and let me watch the race a roll of duct tape would not hurt
Click to expand...

AMEN on that EZRA I'll help you with that duct tape on that mouth ;) and THANK THE LORD for the MUTE button on the tv they should shoot digger also just show us the darn race and shut the heck up !!!!!!!!
 
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