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NASCAR Has Become a Joke...

2K views 8 replies 5 participants last post by  Swift 
#1 ·
Seriously, it is becoming like a bad reality show or pro wrestling...

It's no coincidence that since the ratings started going down, these "brawls" in the pits have become a regular thing with cameras right there to catch it all...

They went to the "chase" format to keep one driver from running away with the championship, to keep viewers tuning in every week. Think about it, this time of year NASCAR has compete with the NFL, NHL, and the start of the NBA season. They are doing everything they can to get people to tune in week after week and injecting over the top drama into every race is what they are doing.

I mean, there always seems to be NASCAR officials everywhere after these races but they never stop anything. They just run a little interference as the drivers and their crews rumble, tackling, punching, choking, scratching, and clawing each other. And the Keselowski/Kenseth "incident" at Charlotte??? So a camera crew just happens to be following Keselowski between the rigs when Kenseth "comes out of nowhere" to tackle him???

Like I said, it is becoming a bad reality show or some WWE match every night. Literally every race now has some sort of rumble at the end of it and some smack talking to the media.

I like motorsports. Circle track really isn't my thing but I don't mind watching it now and then. But what NASCAR is becoming is really turning me off to it altogether. If this kind of stuff keeps happening after the races then NASCAR really needs to putting their foot down. BUT, they will never tell you this, I think they love it. Hey, when ESPN is leading SportsCenter with the brawl at the track every week, it is drawing more viewers, tuning in next week to see what goes down...
 
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#3 ·
steelerfan58 said:
Do you really want to see a clean, accident free race? 3 hours plus of nothing but cars turning left. NASCAR has to manufacture excitement.
Yeah, that's kind of the point. NASCAR has gotten a little too big for their britches it seems are are trying to, as you said, manufacture drama and excitement every week to keep people tuning in. A 1/4 of the viewers actually tune in to watch the race and the other 3/4 tune in for the wrecks and the post race mayhem and NASCAR is more than willing to oblige them by letting this stuff go on race after race. Only thing missing now is having the drivers be interviewed before the race, and in their best Hulk Hogan or Macho Man Savage voice, growl about how they are going to "bring the pain" on some other driver...

And the other joke is still calling it "stock car" racing. Back in the day, the care were actual production cars, with production engines that were slightly modified for safety and tire clearance. You could literally go down to the dealership and pick up a nearly identical car that was in the race...

Now they are $250,000+ machines that hardly resemble the "stock" cars that they represent and are powered by engines that the average Joe can't get his hands on. It's not "stock" car racing anymore, it's essentially an IROC race every week with nearly identical cars from each manufacturer (per NASCAR specs).

I used to race ATVs. My dad raced motocross all his life. You think rubbin in NASCAR is bad, try it on the motocross track. Sure, there were heated discussions in the pits on occasion but I have never seen it come to blows. You can't cram 43 cars onto a track and have them all racing for the win and not expect some rubbin that may lead to a cut tire or such. Ricky Craven said it best this morning when he stated that Keselowski is racing the way he is because NASCAR essentially forced him (and all the drivers) to go all out in these chase races to stay alive. You don't think that Jeff Gordon or Jimmie Johnson ever rubbed someone and cut their tire???

Look, I really don't have a favorite NASCAR driver because I hardly watch the races, but what I seem to be seeing is veteran drivers (Harvick, Kenseth, Gordon, Stewart, etc.) going after the young guns each and every race, as if only the vets are allowed to race hard and do some rubbin, yet when a young guy does it he is a moron and "needs to learn how to drive". Tony Stewart is a PRIME example of this attitude. HE is allowed to bump you, slam you, rub you, cut you off, spin you, etc but don't you DARE pull that with him or he will go off on a tirade about how you don't know how to drive...

The favorite driver of all time continues to be Dale Earnhardt Sr. and he would slam you and spin you and do whatever it took to win. And people loved him for it! Now, the slightest wiggle at 200 mph that causes one car to bump another is met with a crew on crew melee in the pits...
 
#4 ·
One thing about this post--they aren't all racing to win. It has become a team sport now. Too many of those 43 cars are not trying to win, they are trying to block. I honestly believe that this is one of the things that led to Earnhardt's accident. He had his 2 cars in front of him. Under any other circumstance, there is no way he isn't blowing out of Turn 4 at Daytona and going for the win. I understand the frustration of a upper level driver when he is getting bumped and blocked by a guy who isn't even trying to win.
 
#5 ·
steelerfan58 said:
One thing about this post--they aren't all racing to win. It has become a team sport now. Too many of those 43 cars are not trying to win, they are trying to block. I honestly believe that this is one of the things that led to Earnhardt's accident. He had his 2 cars in front of him. Under any other circumstance, there is no way he isn't blowing out of Turn 4 at Daytona and going for the win. I understand the frustration of a upper level driver when he is getting bumped and blocked by a guy who isn't even trying to win.
This is very true and yet another reason why I think drivers are ganging up on someone like Keselowski. After all, he races for LOWLY Roger Penske Racing while the Hendrick and Roush boys have strength in numbers and can't stand it when one of the the lone wolves is besting them...

The "trains" of cars at the super speedways now are a prime example of the "pack" mentality, with teammates ganging up to "push" one of their drivers for the win while the lone wolves get hung out to dry...

And then we see just how big of jerks some of these guys are after the race.

Kenseth tackling Keselowski from behind.

Harvick shoving Keselowski from behind.

One of Gordon's crew members grabbing Keselowski from behind in a choke hold and dragging him down.

Funny how people talk about NASCAR being a "gentlemen's sport" and how Keselowski SHOULD have done the "right thing" and not try to pass Gordon, yet we then see Gordon's teammate and one of his crew members attacking Keselowski from behind instead of facing him like a "gentleman"...LOL

Every sport has rivals and games/matches between those two teams usually draw the biggest crowds. Heck, the PGA even realized that with Tiger and Phil going up against each other and how much their ratings went up. NASCAR was losing viewers and knew they had to do something to gin up interest again. SO, they implemented this Chase format to make the final races of the year "more competitive" thus creating more rumbles in the pits after races due to somebody getting rubbed the wrong way (pun intended). Then these "villains" are created so that people tune in every week to see what happens. Remember when everyone hated Kyle Busch???

I'm not saying that the brawls are staged, but NASCAR sure isn't trying real hard to stop them. If they let this kind of stuff go on, it's only a matter of time before someone gets killed on or off the track. Think back to the Edwards/Keselowske spat and how that could have ended REALLY bad for both Keselowski and fans in the stands.
 
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