Hey Tim did Nascar fine you? They didnt fine me either ---YET
Current NASCAR
Based upon 40 years in corporate America, I can tell you that there is a definite life span to family run companies. The first generation who start the business and the second generation who are brought up helping build it under the direction of the first generation are usually successful. By the third generation you have the "born with the silver spoon in the mouth" 3rd generation who have no understanding of the business trying to run it. They usually have college degrees in business, management, marketing, etc., and try to run a Harvard Business School model business rather than run the successful model they were handed by their elders who understood the fundmentals of their particular business. The fourth generation usually ends up selling whatever is left from what the third generation screwed-up at bargain basement prices. NASCAR fits right into this model. When they started trying to appeal to an audience outside their core fan base with gimicks like "The Chase" and turn races into demolition derbies with phantom caution flags and "green, white, checkered flag finishes, they lost a lot of long time fans. They have pumped huge amounts of money into diversity, while the demographic group that has shown the greatest decline in interest in the sport is white males, age 18 to 35. It is great to try to expand your sport to new fans, but you cannot do it by alienating you existing core fan base. There are two more dynamics at work besides the obvious one of the general economy. Do not underestimate the impact of the loss of RJR (Winston) on NASCAR. It was a rock of stability and source of a money that fueled the growth of the sport. When RJR left, the stability and money that it brought to build the sport left with it. A partnership of mutual benefit and growth was replaced with how much short term bang can I get for the buck. The same thing happened when Busch and Craftsman left their respective series. The final, and perhaps most fatal blow to the sport was Ralph Nader. From the end of WW II to the early 1970's speed was king and "cruising" was an adolescent right of passage. Sixteen to eighteen year olds worked on their hot rods during the week and showed them off (and illegally raced them) on the weekends. That era ended with the demise of the muscle cars and the introduction of all of the environmentally friendly devices on the engine that, unless you were also a computer technician, precluded a shade tree mechanic from working on his own car. Take away the car, the brand identification that went with it and you have the loss of interest that is affecting NASCAR today.
