Technical Difficulties

For those of you who know me, it will come as no surprise when I say that I am not a NASCAR fan. True, I do write about the sport on this blog, but I am not a fan. The NASCAR fan is my wife, "Honey". Because of Honey, I watch a lot of cars making a lot of left turns throughout the year and I have developed a grudging respect for the sport. I mean, c'mon, it takes some skill and talent to drive a car through heavy traffic at 160+ miles per hour for five hundred miles. Regardless of the skill of the drivers though, it has become apparent to me that NASCAR will never become a mainstream sport in this country unless it makes a few changes in its marketing. I do not mean marketing the way you may initially have thought. No, anyone who has been to a race (and I have been to a few) can see that NASCAR knows how to market its drivers as it sells everything that exists with driver numbers and faces plastered everywhere. What I am talking about is television.

For whatever reason, NASCAR markets itself in a way that can only be viewed as retarded on television, and since the old TV is where most people go for information, entertainment or to simply numb their mind, NASCAR needs to make some changes if it wants to be considered a major sport in America. Thankfully for them, I am here to tell them a few things to change to get them moving toward that goal.

First, pick a network (preferably broadcast, not cable) and stick with it. Currently, NASCAR has a television package that uses the FOX network for the first half of the season and then switches to ABC and its affiliated networks for the last half of the season. Unlike pro football where you know that the NFC is always on FOX, you have to grab a schedule and a calendar to see what station to turn your TV to. I know that different conferences of one sport use different networks and no one seems to mind. The difference here is that their is only one race per weekend, not multiple races or games. Just like NBC once was considered the network of pro baseball with its game of the week, NASCAR should try to do the same. By the way, even if NASCAR is intent on dividing the season in half between two networks, fine, just require the main branch to carry all of the races. In the first half of the season (when FOX is in control) the race could be on a FOX channel or FX or TNT or TBS. ABC does the same thing as you may find the race randomly placed on ESPN without any good explanation as to why.

The other big thing that NASCAR needs to do is set a uniform start time for all races. We all know that (barring a Saturday night race under the lights) a race is going to take place on Sunday, unfortunately, we never know when. I challenge you to pick a race, any race, and give me the start time to within fifteen minutes without checking a schedule. Go ahead, I'll wait for you to get back. . . . . . Done? You weren't even close were you? A Sunday race is as apt to start at noon as it is 2:30 or 1:15. Heck, if it is a race on the west coast, it could start in the late afternoon there, which means it is the evening on the east coast. How is anyone supposed to make plans for their Sunday when they never know when the race is going to come on? I'll tell you how they make their plans. Judging by TV ratings last year, they made their plans without watching the race!

NASCAR is trying its level best (at least it says it is, although the above policies make me wonder) to increase its fan base and make its sport more mainstream. That can not, nor will it happen until it addresses these problems with its broadcast. Look, the diehard race fan (Honey), will make sure she takes the time out of her life to find the race and watch it. The casual fan, or someone like me, is not going to look through every channel to find it nor am I going to worry about when it comes on. If it is on when I get back from church, then I will watch some of it. Otherwise, I will do other things with my family and not give it another thought. Continuity is a good thing and NASCAR needs to learn that.