Is NHRA out of touch? (1 Viewer)

[Super Mod]

::rag Racing Online::: Burk's Blast - Has the NHRA lost contact with its fans? - 07/29/10


I'm in agreement with Jeff. As things stand today,the end of the baby boomer generation will be the last nail in the NHRA coffin.

 

[super duck]

I hate to say it ,but this kindda makes sense.

 

[Tim5636sc]

::rag Racing Online::: Burk's Blast - Has the NHRA lost contact with its fans? - 07/29/10


I'm in agreement with Jeff. As things stand today,the end of the baby boomer generation will be the last nail in the NHRA coffin.

Then perhaps its time for race teams to change the status quo on their own...

 

[scsp390]

Working part time in the NHRA Drag Racing Industry at select NHRA National Events here in 2010 I would have to say that Mr. Jeff Burk is exactly right. For the simple fact that working so close to Professional Teams I see exactly what he is saying. As much as I LOVE & RESPECT the NHRA Professional Drivers all they are doing is pleasing there owners & sponsors. I used to say for the longest time the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing was all entertainment. Now it is just a business. I can remeber when it was a real BIG DEAL when the teams had only a 65 minute turn around between rounds vs. 75 minutes. Now- Hell the teams are most always done in 35 minutes or less. I am also a part time NHRA ET Super Pro Div. 3 Drag Racer. Whenever I am racing I always try and talk to some of the other racers. One question I always ask is how are you treated at other drag strips?? 9-10 I always here positive feedback. I really don't have much more to say on this. I don't see the problem going away any time soon.

 

[Mooseman]

I have a question as a drag racing fan to ask. When does it end when does it get to the point that the racing doesnt matter and its all about entertainment. Isn't this a sport? I find it really hard to believe that race teams are sitting in their trailer thinking "How can we be more entertaining" I would be more expecting them of them working out how to improve their combination for the next run. Am I missing something is me expecting racers to be racers somehow out of touch with reality? Did I fall inlove with the sport and others fell in love with the show? Am I just dreaming?

 

[jackass]

I think the NHRA has become complacient (sp)... more than out of touch... they are scared of rocking the boat so to speak unless its a proven method... and they thought the countdown copy of NASCAR was a way to go... they didn't wait long enough to see how much it hurt NASCAR's fan base... you have to maintain the core fan while trying to engage new fans...NASCAR has killed its core fan group with its past few years of changes.. fro mthe coutdown to the new car.. and they have been backing up ever sense...


i think the biggest thing hurting the NHRA is ESPN... they have stepped up on showing the sponsors more to help out the teams..but.. a person can only tune in to see a program so many times and not see the program... after while they give up and don't tune in anymore...


Drop the ban on testing or tweak it to allow for match racing... those events by some of the stars seen o tv will draw fans back in.... like a music act does a radio spot ..singing a song and talk a bit and that makes the listener to ride an hour or two down the road to go see them in concert... or around the same principal....lol.....


Billy

 

[JB3]

Then perhaps its time for race teams to change the status quo on their own...

Couldn't agree more Tim ... appears other motorsports are seeing the same rising emergency. NASCAR owners seem to be worried. Low attendance, number of competetive cars shrinking, rising cost of competitiveness at the top, teams now need multiple smaller sponsorship deals to make the full season, grueling schedule and TV ratings are down. Sounds similar, right?

I have said it before here, the baby boomers are approaching, or in, retirement and will become a shrinking fan base. Those of us that are the product of baby boomer parents will stop attending races sooner than later. The current 18-35 demographic as a mass group seem to have little, if any, interest in the current NHRA and quite possibly NASCAR. If it isn't a sport compact foreign built vehicle ... they aren't interested. To them its all about extreme motorsports with drifting, jumping, and fancy paint schemes. Hell, I am at drag races 13 times a year, my 12 year old kid could give a crap less. He looks at paint jobs and uniforms for the "coolness", outside of that ... no interest. Motorsports in the 2010's and beyond, will be markedly different I fear.

Top NASCAR owners hold their own town hall meeting - NASCAR - Yahoo! Sports

 

[mick]

YouTube - Denny
Savage Powers Steel TF/FC at OCIR 1-24-1981

YouTube - Gary Densham and Kenny Bernstein TF/FC OCIR 1-10-1981

IMO this was a special time in the sport of drag racing and i feel lucky
(although young) to have witnessed it.
this era was a pure joy to watch, smell, feel..........also think the sport was
still flourishing thru early and mid 90's as the speeds and costs were not
out of control, variety existed within the pro classes and the independents
still more than occasionally made the late rounds.

the days were long and the stands were packed - now everything is
shortened up and less attend..........get back to what works; the tv deal
is great and most likely needed today for sponsors, but IMO the same day
tape delay is fine.......don't think 'live' tv is the answer.
fill the bleachers and make 'live' show for actual paying spectator the best
it can be............beat nascar to the punch.

wish i would have made the drive to cedar falls last weekend, don't doubt
for a second the fun factor enjoyed there.

 

[JB3]

Drop the ban on testing or tweak it to allow for match racing... those events by some of the stars seen o tv will draw fans back in.... like a music act does a radio spot ..singing a song and talk a bit and that makes the listener to ride an hour or two down the road to go see them in concert... or around the same principal....lol.....Billy

I don't know Billy, we are the same age. It might work for a small portion of our age group 35-50 who grew up as a fan of, and love the sport of drag racing. I don't believe (JMHO) that the types of things you mention would draw in new fans from a younger demographic. That's what is needed. Each generation finds its niche for what gets them excited. In today's under 30 group ... its all about the X Games and other types of extreme sports. Guys like Travis Pastrana and Shaun White are becoming the idols of today's younger generations. My boy will stay up until 1am on New Years Eve to watch Pastrana jump over something, but he won't watch 2 minutes of a drag race.

By way of comparison, if you grew up in a house where your Dad was a baseball or football fan, in most cases the chances are you became one as well. Maybe you rooted for a different team, but you were a fan nonetheless. More than likely, our kids are doing the same thing. I don't think that necessarily translates out in Motorsports. I am a product of my Dad bringing me to Drags starting at a very young age. Naturally, I caught the bug. But I think this is becoming less and less common with kids of today.

 

[mick]

I don't know Billy, we are the same age. It might work for a small portion of our age group 35-50 who grew up as a fan of, and love the sport of drag racing. I don't believe (JMHO) that the types of things you mention would draw in new fans from a younger demographic. That's what is needed. Each generation finds its niche for what gets them excited. In today's under 30 group ... its all about the X Games and other types of extreme sports. Guys like Travis Pastrana and Shaun White are becoming the idols of today's younger generations. My boy will stay up until 1am on New Years Eve to watch Pastrana jump over something, but he won't watch 2 minutes of a drag race.

By way of comparison, if you grew up in a house where your Dad was a baseball or football fan, in most cases the chances are you became one as well. Maybe you rooted for a different team, but you were a fan nonetheless. More than likely, our kids are doing the same thing. I don't think that necessarily translates out in Motorsports. I am a product of my Dad bringing me to Drags starting at a very young age. Naturally, I caught the bug. But I think this is becoming less and less common with kids of today.

jim, nice post - i'm also a product of dad bringing at very young age.
my sons are 15, 24 and 26........started all of them young also and
they all express some interest in attending each year but not as passionate as i; my 24 yr. old holds the most interest and is planning on bringing 1 or 2 newbies to brainerd in 2 weeks. hope is not lost
but i agree the youth today have many options for excitement and entertainment - our big daddy = their travis pastrana

 

[FC138fan]

This thread reminds me of a discussion we had in a transportation class I took where we talked about different technologies (in transportation) and the technology S curve. This site had the best summary of what that subject is all about.

Technology S-curve

It seems to apply here, with the NHRA and NASCAR. It sounds like everyone thinks that the NHRA has been losing fans since the late 90's. I started to really get into the sport around then, and I can remember it was a big deal when the records were still falling (some records that stick out were KB's INSANE 314.76 speed record, and Cruz breaking records running 308, then 310.. 311.. and watching it creep up.) This pace kept up from what I remember till the early and even mid 2000's, but it became more about ET watching the TF ET drop into the mid .50's, then into the .40's! - peaking out with Doug K hitting low .40's (.42 wasnt it?). Speed records leveled off in the 330's, I think I recall Tony Schumacher running 338 in Brainerd, then the comment "these things aren't suppost to run that fast".. that kinda was the end of the record braking... and for me a huge part of the sport.

But to bring it back to that S curve, it seems like now the technology has leveled off, making things kinda less interesting to follow. I won't say that about being at the race, which is a whole different story for me, but watching it on TV every week, the same winners every week, no new records, I can see how it's not picking up new fans and losing some existing ones.

Something new has to be introduced, I don't know what that is (different classes maybe?) because the technology has hit the wall.

 

[Jim]

I don't think that necessarily translates out in Motorsports. I am a product of my Dad bringing me to Drags starting at a very young age. Naturally, I caught the bug. But I think this is becoming less and less common with kids of today.

Jim,

I think if you take a look, teens today are less interested in cars than we were in the 1960s and 1970s. A lot of my friends have kids and there kids tend to look at cars as an appliance that takes them from one place to another. Others have kids who reached driving age a couple of years ago but have not yet gotten around to getting their driver's licenses.

When I was a kid, we got interested in cars long before we could drive. We built model cars, raced slot cars and could tell the differences between brands of cars from hundreds of yards away. There was the annual September introduction of the new models that was a big deal.

When we got to high school, it was not enough to just have a car, the type of car mattered a lot. I had a 1964 Pontiac GTO when I started driving in 1974 and my brother had a 1966 Chevelle. Among the cars my friends had were a 1969 Mustang Mach 1s, Chevy Nova 396, 1971 Trans Am, a few 1969 Camaros, a couple of Dodge Chargers and a Barracuda or two.

Cars were a much bigger part of our lives back then, and by extension, so were motorsports. So I don't think the trend is limited to drag racing or motorsports, but to a lack of interest in cars in general.


Jim

 

[Toejam]

Considering Jeff Burk feels most comfortable with Nostalgia racing, for him to say this is kinds hypocritical! That's all you hear out of the 55+ crowd is "Back in our day", been hearing this for 20 years!

 

[Gipraw]

I think the NHRA has become complacent (sp)... more than out of touch... they are scared of rocking the boat so to speak unless its a proven method... and they thought the countdown copy of NASCAR was a way to go... they didn't wait long enough to see how much it hurt NASCAR's fan base... you have to maintain the core fan while trying to engage new fans...NASCAR has killed its core fan group with its past few years of changes.. from the countdown to the new car.. and they have been backing up ever sense...

so much so that nascar is now looking heavily at adopting some of the NHRA clowndown aspects .. specifically eliminating a couple of drivers every two weeks.

This countdown/chase crap is one of the worst things that has happened to auto racing of any kind. I hate it .. I don't care about roundy roundy racing that uses it, and I don't care as much as I used to about NHRA racing because of it.

My kids are both huge fans, but that is because I have been taking them to races since they were 4 years old. That bad part of it is that because of all the safety issues, and perceived safety issues, they will never know the joys of racing because my wife doesn't want them to race, and doesn't want me in a car anymore either.

every time I start talking like this I feel like I am channeling my father .. but things have changed. Kids aren't into cars anymore because the technology is too advanced. They can't go down to the scrap yard, pick up some parts and build a heap for 100 bucks and a lot of sweat. and even if they could, it would never pass emissions.

I am afraid that in another 10 years or so, it will ALL be nostalgia racing.

I hope I am wrong ..

 

[Toejam]

I'd love to see Jeff Burk try to run a track? Show everyone just how easy it is!

 

[Reese]

Drop the ban on testing or tweak it to allow for match racing... those events by some of the stars seen o tv will draw fans back in.... like a music act does a radio spot ..singing a song and talk a bit and that makes the listener to ride an hour or two down the road to go see them in concert... or around the same principal....lol.....
Billy

I think that's a great idea. Also free testing at Lucas oil divisional meets. Have the track operators advertise in advance. It would help the divisional track operators out(with attendance) and also get a lot of fans that can't afford to go to a big city and attend a national event see some of the stars on t.v..

 

[Bullard Anderson]

I would like to see drivers detest each other to no end. I mean really dislike his fellow driver. Also, be able to say anything they want and not care what the foes in the other camp think. Problem: Harder to do with 3 drivers under the same umbrella.

The 100% sponsor savy driver in not entertainment. All sponsors need to take the stand of "he's my driver and i'm standing by him no matter what."

Bold, brash, confident, cocky works on the track and on the mic at the top end, just ask Ric Flair.

Still, it's the best motorsport going for me.

 

[Raconteur]

I'd love to see Jeff Burk try to run a track? Show everyone just how easy it is!

Well Joe, looks like you failed to get the message again. Glad you think nothing needs to change, NHRA can do no wrong.

Wonder why all the empty seats...

 

[JB3]

Jim,

I think if you take a look, teens today are less interested in cars than we were in the 1960s and 1970s. A lot of my friends have kids and there kids tend to look at cars as an appliance that takes them from one place to another. Others have kids who reached driving age a couple of years ago but have not yet gotten around to getting their driver's licenses.

Yup ... agreed. On top of that, State laws about license eligibility are tightening every year, so they just rely on us taxi driving parents.

When I was a kid, we got interested in cars long before we could drive. We built model cars, raced slot cars and could tell the differences between brands of cars from hundreds of yards away. There was the annual September introduction of the new models that was a big deal.

My Dad had a '68 Camaro SS he bought brand new, I used to love sitting in the yard watching him work on it. I have son ... it was natural for people to buy him models and stuff to build for birthdays and xmas. Years later, they are all still in a closet or I have built them.

When we got to high school, it was not enough to just have a car, the type of car mattered a lot. I had a 1964 Pontiac GTO when I started driving in 1974 and my brother had a 1966 Chevelle. Among the cars my friends had were a 1969 Mustang Mach 1s, Chevy Nova 396, 1971 Trans Am, a few 1969 Camaros, a couple of Dodge Chargers and a Barracuda or two.

Now its Nissans, Hondas and Subarus with fart pipe mufflers.

Cars were a much bigger part of our lives back then, and by extension, so were motorsports. So I don't think the trend is limited to drag racing or motorsports, but to a lack of interest in cars in general.

You said it best Jim. Cars today are more of a necessity than a pleasure entity. 3 other reasons in my mind ... 1) People just seem to be more busy these days with jobs, kids and family, which isn't a bad thing. 2) We tend to turn our cars over in a shorter period of time. I know I am guilty, don't keep cars more than 5 years or so. 3) Today's cars are far more difficult to work on and driving people back to using repair shops and instant oil change places.

 

[JB3]

I think that's a great idea. Also free testing at Lucas oil divisional meets. Have the track operators advertise in advance. It would help the divisional track operators out(with attendance) and also get a lot of fans that can't afford to go to a big city and attend a national event see some of the stars on t.v..

The sportsman guys would just love that !!