What went wrong with NASCAR? What will be the 'cause of death'? Mismanagement is the primary killer, but there are so many secondary factors. I will review a couple that NASCAR never addressed... at their peril.
Most older fans grew up during this country's love affair with the automobile... the car culture. These were the die hard NASCAR fans. They related to the speed, and mechanics of racing. Now, we can't tell a factory Ultima from a factory Fusion. How many people still change their own oil, let alone perform any after market modifications on their rides?
We went from car culture to an internet world, where everyone is connected and anything is available at the touch of a keyboard. NASCAR missed the boat on this conversion. Their biggest chance to make new, younger, fans was through the web. They should have concentrated on interactive, fantasy, virtual reality, type connections with potential fans. Instead, they are still ironing the wrinkles out of the worst website a major sport has ever debuted.
When NASCAR's biggest benefactor of all time, RJ Reynolds, was being regulated out of business, they went global to try and gain market share. NASCAR tried to emulate this globalism, when they should have tried to grow their base in the US. There are plenty of fans here to attract without going overseas.
Next: Can anything save the sport?
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Hello, "Now, we can't tell a factory Ultima from a factory Fusion." is exactly right! That's one of the things that makes it so BORING! I bought a new car this week. I had been driving a 2000 Ford Taurus, blue, the same model Dale Jarrett won the championship! It had 265,000 miles on it. I joked that it had a Robert Yates motor in it. But I could tell which car DJ was driving back then. Great post!
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