Food for Thought....The Last Generation?

The discussion on banks forgiving loans to the NASCAR HOF seems to be a hot topic. I was browsing those comments and was glad to see that a lot of posts supported the HOF and many were hoping that a way could be found to better market the venue and increase attendance. I think the HOF is a beautiful facility that pays tribute to a host of NASCAR legends. Of course there will always be lively banter about the selection process and who should or should not be in the hall. But that's not where I'm going with this. The comments about better marketing the hall reminded of a post I read on an NHRA website. Basically it was soliciting ideas about the best ways to expand the sport of drag racing, and of course, what was wrong or right with the current ops plan for those folks. There were a multitude of ideas presented, as you can imagine. But one post really caught my attention. A fellow stated that he has a 13 year old son. Normal boy, in that he likes sports, plays football and baseball, likes music, and girls, etc. The dad is a diehard motorsports fan and stated he has taken his son to about every event that featured an internal combustion engine, lol. NASCAR races, truck and tractor pulls, and NHRA events. He said that at the last NHRA event they attended, they were watching the first round of qualifying for the nitro cars. After the first matchup, the son looks at the dad and says "Do we have to watch anymore of this?" Dad states son would much rather be at the Traxxas tent watching the R/C car stunts. He went on to state how few young people are attending live motorsports events of all genres and that we, whoever that applies to, might just be the last generation of fans for live motorsports. I think it would be easy to simply label the young man as a weirdo or throw rocks at drag racing or the NHRA. But that's not the point. I'm not taking any sort of position on this, but it did get me to thinking about our own NASCAR HOF. Spoken like the old guy that i've become, it does seem to me that young people have no interest in the legends or pioneers of any sport. Even more disturbing is, at times, a total lack of respect for the participants that built a sport. Given that, is the HOF doomed to fail, if for no other reason, that new fans simply do not care about the history of the sport and those who built it? Are our track facilities far behind? Does the "new generation" have enough interest in going to races to keep the sport afloat? Are fistacuffs after every race the only way to obtain and maintain interest in our sport? If I'm giving the impression that i'm down on youth, I am not. If live motorsports is not their thing, then that's no knock on them, as it is their prerogative. But what does it spell for our sport down the road? Thougts?

updated by @brian-hill: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM

There is so much truth to this post it is really scary. My three grandsons know about racing and they like to go with me from time to time, but it is not their passion. So sad.

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What a change! It's been awhile since I've checked in and I'm quite surprised. It may take me awhile to figure it our but first look it's really great.

Brian,

Thanks for posting this. Thought provoking for sure. I think we're definitely seeing a shift in youth interest in comparison to the types of motorsports we grew up on. The youth seem to like drifting and stadium trucks, and stuff like that more drag racing and stock car racing.

Your post is titled "Last" generation.I think one of the biggest hurdles in the survival of NASCAR is perhaps the "Lost" generation. I'm a fan because my father was. My son is because I am....etc. The last decade of NASCAR has been filled with all the stuff we told them we didn't like or want, and they did it anyway. The damage to the sport and its fan base brought on by things like the Top 35 guarantees, lucky dogs, and managed results created a long-term fan void. In their attempts to fill that void NASCAR has mounted multiple campaigns to capture new audiences. IN the mean time...many fathers stopped being a fan....a problem that I think will continue to ripple through the next generation. That's a real problem because none of those campaigns to find new fans have created any long-term fans...so to speak.

We do need the HOF to succeed. Thanks for sharing.

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Founder/Creator - RacersReunion®

Like Jeff said, a lot of fathers stopped watching, which will affect their sons following. But apart from that, you just have too much else to keep your free time occupied these days compared to the past, whether you're little or grown up. Back in the day, you had hardly any channels on TV, you had no internet and all the Netflixes, Youtubes, video games, facebooks and what not that come with it..

..and last but not least, you had far fewer alternate forms of motorsport itself that you could follow outside your region. Now you've got series that get over sooner, offer more excitement for your time and money and you can watch from any part of that world, so more and more people would rather watch that instead of a 4 hour marathon where you're simply logging miles for 3/4 of it.

Also has to be said that car culture is fading too. I don't think as many people work on their own cars anymore. And the cars most of them drive are not represented in NASCAR. The younger generation NASCAR wants so badly is driving hot hatches instead of big 4-door sedans.

So the sport will live on in some formand while we're not the last generation of its fans, it'll be smaller generations from here on out.