Jumping the shark...

[PabloTeK]

http://www.nascar.com/en_us/news-med...ck-series.html

[S griffin]

For me NASCAR jumped the shark two years ago when they decided to tweak the playoff into a one vs one last round showdown, higher finisher wins title. That's when it got too ridiculous for me

[FIRE]

What a joke.

[fieldodreams79]

Do *ucking what now?



They've lost it.

[Adam43]

Brilliant, just brilliant.

[JHamilton]

This made me so mad I was literally shaking earlier. To watch something you once loved just get driven into the ground is beyond frustrating. Everyone there is completely clueless and no one in the media has the balls to call them out and remains complicit. I'm done. I'm done with the 500 and all the rest. It's a joke.

[wolfhound]

Is this so the TV companies know they have a commercial break at least every 20 minutes?

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by JHamilton

This made me so mad I was literally shaking earlier. To watch something you once loved just get driven into the ground is beyond frustrating. Everyone there is completely clueless and no one in the media has the balls to call them out and remains complicit. I'm done. I'm done with the 500 and all the rest. It's a joke.

15 years ago, it was one of the best series in the world. It's an absolute laughing stock now. After the confusion (and slight rage) wore off, I pictured the FOX clowns talking this up, explaining and over-analyzing it during the first 20 broadcasts of the year. Media "propaganda" happens when the TV contracts with the series come first (looking at the NFL and ALL networks).

To put a nail in all three series now for me, we get to enjoy the "playoffs" for the lower 2 as well:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports...ries/79001538/

I hate plate racing but I am sure I'll find myself with a beverage watching the sh*tshow that is the 500 now, cause I am a glutton for punishment.

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by wolfhound

Is this so the TV companies know they have a commercial break at least every 20 minutes?

I am sure that has something to do with it, not that anyone is watching anymore.

[JHamilton]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

15 years ago, it was one of the best series in the world. It's an absolute laughing stock now. After the confusion (and slight rage) wore off, I pictured the FOX clowns talking this up, explaining and over-analyzing it during the first 20 broadcasts of the year. Media "propaganda" happens when the TV contracts with the series come first (looking at the NFL and ALL networks).

To put a nail in all three series now for me, we get to enjoy the "playoffs" for the lower 2 as well:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports...ries/79001538/

I hate plate racing but I am sure I'll find myself with a beverage watching the sh*tshow that is the 500 now, cause I am a glutton for punishment.

Where is Nascar's Robin Miller? Love him or hate him, he says what he thinks and gives the fan a voice even if he disagrees with it. I'm sure most are fearful they will have their credentials pulled or maybe they get fined like the drivers do for speaking their mind (what's left of it).

No so very long ago "Nascar Dads" was a term people used regularly. When was the last time anyone heard that? Why not look at what changed with the product over the decline? They blame everything on outside variables such as the economy. Well, we've had lots of different economies since the ratings started to decline and they rolled the tarps over the stands.

They have kept fixing it until it's FUBAR. I'm not sure how many people realize that there is a sanctioning body that takes Bernie Ecclestone's sound bite ideas and actually puts them into to action.

I've watched stock car racing my whole life. We listened to the races on the radio since many weren't on TV (but the stands were packed). When I was 12 I waited in line at their new store to spend my allowance on crap they were peddling. I bought my ticket to the 1997 race with my earnings from a part-time job in HS. I remember because they were $80 back then and that was in temporary overflow bleachers... the same year that they expanded capacity to 120k. I still watched every Nascar race after I discovered road racing. I'm their fan base. Ask me why I stopped watching and going.

[fieldodreams79]

Yes.

Agreed on Robin Miller. He and MP have been talking for years, MP being a bit more friendly, but your normal "nascar fan" whatever TF that is these days hasn't a clue who they are.

[wnut]

Originally Posted by PabloTeK

http://www.nascar.com/en_us/news-med...ck-series.html

Why don't they just call it the TV advertising clock and be done with it?

"This made me so mad I was literally shaking earlier. To watch something you once loved just get driven into the ground is beyond frustrating. Everyone there is completely clueless and no one in the media has the balls to call them out and remains complicit. I'm done. I'm done with the 500 and all the rest. It's a joke. " JHamilton

Plus 1, Motor Racing is just turning itself into a bad joke!

[BudLightJaguar]

This is so ridiculous. I can't even call it racing anymore. It's a WWE show with tube-frame cars.

[Mike E]

May I suggest any truck racing threads are moved to Parc Ferme?

[Number4]

I have just watched the truck race at Atlanta, which was a good race, apart from the two caution clocks. I think it is fair to say the caution clock was largely responsible for the re start wreck that destroyed Suarez and Crafton's trucks. So combined with the wreck at Daytona where they were trying to beat the clock, that is a lot of nice race cars damaged already after only 2 rounds thanks to a stupid rule.
Not surprisingly the Fox crew were touting how great it was, and reminding us that Sauter's engine failure did not matter, as he was already "locked in the chase".
Where do they get the idea that these stupid rules improve the series?

[FIRE]

Watched the race yesterday. I liked it but agree the caution clock makes no sense.

[R.Lee]

Being vey honest, having "jumped the shark" is not exclusive to NASCAR -- ALL of racing, EVERY series of racing has done the same thing, they have all "jumped the shark! Racing, as a whole, is in trouble.

[fieldodreams79]

I tried watching the Truck race last night, but couldn't keep my angry eyes off that damn caution countdown clock. Then Mikey W. mentioned it and I was out. What a joke.

[S griffin]

I used to like NASCAR, because it was exciting without the gimmicks, now it's just a joke. They won't even let drivers criticise the series constructively. At least the gimmicks in F1 for now has it's limits!

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by S griffin

I used to like NASCAR, because it was exciting without the gimmicks, now it's just a joke. They won't even let drivers criticise the series constructively. At least the gimmicks in F1 for now has it's limits!

Dale Sr used to keep them in line, but lots of the sport died with him, as cliche as it sounds.

[jimclark]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

Dale Sr used to keep them in line, but lots of the sport died with him, as cliche as it sounds.

Originally Posted by BudLightJaguar

This is so ridiculous. I can't even call it racing anymore. It's a WWE show with tube-frame cars.

And everyone else...no brag, just been stating fact for three decades...'seen it coming since the mid 80s... Sad, sad.

Worse, it's happening to every facet of auto racing....

[Number4]

Originally Posted by jimclark

And everyone else...no brag, just been stating fact for three decades...'seen it coming since the mid 80s... Sad, sad.

Worse, it's happening to every facet of auto racing....

I have been watching NASCAR for five years now, and to be honest I find what they are up to off putting. The TV audiences are going down, the stands are half empty, and I have not read anything positive by fans online about what they are doing. Hopefully whoever is coming up with these gimmicks is going to get the boot and someone with a half brain replacing them.
There are Chases in the top three series, and if one wasn't baffling enough, all three have different rules. Then there is now the Dash for the Cash in the Xfinity series, and the Caution Clock for the truckers.
The Sprint Chase is so dumb, the commentators were getting excited about a back marker puttering around on 7 cylinders and not being able to win the championship if he wasn't 30th in points by next fortnight.
Only three Chase eligible drivers have won in the Xfinity series because of the ineligible part timers winning so much, and the Dash for the Cash Heats were hopeless.
The Trucks are full of mad teenagers crashing and they already throw cautions for the slightest incident, the last thing anybody wants is more of them.

I just can't get interested in who's in or out, and who will win any of the championships as it is all so utterly random.




.

[fieldodreams79]

They've just about killed it but I'll still watch some of the Southern 500 this Sunday. They at least moved this one back to it's proper date.

[S griffin]

I love the way Indycars is a great deal better than a decade ago and I don't know how much people are going to the races and watching it on the television, but I don't have to worry about the future of the series anymore it's a great series now that the things that needed to be sorted out have been

The fact that the NASCAR series is not getting the spectators and the racing it was getting a little while ago shows that the series is a great joke and I don't even know who the champion was last year and a year earlier

[jimclark]

Originally Posted by Number4

I have been watching NASCAR for five years now, and to be honest I find what they are up to off putting. The TV audiences are going down, the stands are half empty, and I have not read anything positive by fans online about what they are doing. Hopefully whoever is coming up with these gimmicks is going to get the boot and someone with a half brain replacing them.
There are Chases in the top three series, and if one wasn't baffling enough, all three have different rules. Then there is now the Dash for the Cash in the Xfinity series, and the Caution Clock for the truckers.
The Sprint Chase is so dumb, the commentators were getting excited about a back marker puttering around on 7 cylinders and not being able to win the championship if he wasn't 30th in points by next fortnight.
Only three Chase eligible drivers have won in the Xfinity series because of the ineligible part timers winning so much, and the Dash for the Cash Heats were hopeless.
The Trucks are full of mad teenagers crashing and they already throw cautions for the slightest incident, the last thing anybody wants is more of them.

I just can't get interested in who's in or out, and who will win any of the championships as it is all so utterly random.

"I have been watching NASCAR for five years now, and to be honest I find what they are up to off putting. The TV audiences are going down, the stands are half empty, and I have not read anything positive by fans online about what they are doing."

Agreed, but, as stated previously, it's happening to all of racing. Watch any series on TV and you'll notice the fans are not there like they used to be. I don't go as much as I used to and racin' was/is my passion.

Some thoughts...

The worlds economies are not all that great.

The sanctioning bodies are trying "close competition" gimmicks to draw new fans (BoPs, wings that open to aid passing, yellow flags/safety cars to re-group the packs, etc., etc..... 'Drivin' true fans away, like myself.

The new fans they're trying to entice are people that just aren't into cars like many true fans. Just about everyone has been exposed to the usual sports (stuff kids play or do). Ain't so with auto racing fans.

Again, just a bit of how I see it.