Does NASCAR Need a Hero?
Is it me or is NASCAR in need of a hero? Sagging attendance at tracks, diminishing TV ratings at home are things we see and hear about after every race weekend. The economy and the cost of attending a race weekend are often at the front of many opinions as to why. Sprinkle in the sometimes less than compelling races we often see on Sunday and you have the excuse field almost covered.
Something happened this past week that made me think of another possible reason. The sport has lost so many colorful personalities and stars and although they’ve been replaced by talented drivers, those drivers often lack the personalities that many of our old time drivers had. Is there a Darrell Waltrip, Lee Petty, Tim Richmond or anything remotely close to a Dale Earnhardt Sr. on the circuit today?
Talent wise I’d argue today’s bunch of drivers are every bit as good as any group we’ve had the pleasure to watch in the past. But there is too much vanilla and not enough color to drum up interest in that casual racing fan who seems to have turned away from the sport. I’ve written about the young guns in the sport in the past and perhaps out of that bunch comes a personality that captures the hearts of fans and turns the sagging attendance and television ratings around.
These past weeks we’ve seen NASCAR’s most popular driver have to step out of his car. Dale Earnhardt Jr. did not race last weekend in New Hampshire and his Hendrick Motorsports Team announced that he will sit out the next two races in Indianapolis and Pocono while recovering from what has been labeled, concussion like symptoms. This surely contributed to the many fans who showed up last week in New Hampshire dressed as empty seats and the reported sagging ticket sales for the race this weekend in Indianapolis.
Oh yes, Indianapolis. A crown jewel of NASCAR’s schedule. A track where the stock cars once drew crowds of over a quarter of a million. A track which saw a huge crowd earlier this year for the Indianapolis 500. It’s the same track where that once quarter of a million attendance figure has fallen to 75,000 paying customers.
It was going to be even worse this year if not for the announcement that Jeff Gordon was going to sit in for Junior in the 88 Nationwide Chevrolet. According to a published report, ticket sales for this weekend’s event were sagging once again. Within 90 minutes of the announcement that Jeff Gordon was coming out of retirement to replace Earnhardt Jr., the ticket sales spiked.
Diehard fans will watch every race and spend a portion of their expendable income on attending races. They’ll always be here. What has made NASCAR so successful was the driver’s personalities drawing interest from that casual fan. I’d argue that Gordon’s participation this weekend has captured some of those fans who would like one last opportunity to see one of the sports all-time greats drive once again.
I have a friend and work colleague who often talks about the “background stories” being something that pulled her into NASCAR. It’s often the personality which captivates interest. When Dale Earnhardt Sr. was taken too soon from us it left a huge void in this sport. I'd argue that the sport has never really recovered. As talented as the current crop of drivers is, there isn’t that same buzz around any single driver. Oh sure there are a ton of Junior fans and Danica has her group of fans but that “I gotta watch him/her Sunday to see what happens” is missing.
We’ve gone through the “Boys have at It” stage. We’ve had the Kyle Busch–Brad Keselowski tussle and the most recent Kenseth-Logano feud. We’ve even had some of the bad boy antics of Kurt Busch to heat our blood a bit. It just seems that NASCAR is just missing that star factor that can captivate that missing fan base. Where's our hero?
Thanks for reading. Listen to WTBQ radio on Monday and Friday mornings at 8:45 as I join Frank, Taylor and the Morning Show gang to discuss all the current happenings in NASCAR. You can also follow me on twitter @JimLaplante.
