Nascar

he must have the best agent in broadcasting.

 

Oh gawd, they actually have that Diffey doing NASCAR now?

Frankly, NASCAR can have him. Get him out of the F-1 and Indy Car broadcasts at
all costs.

I'd rather hear finger nails on a chalkboard.

BHW

 

Here...allow me....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2IHwCUrFo8

Feel better now???

 

Better than Leigh Diffey any day that's for damn sure.

Back in May, I was contacted by the management of an event venue in Ft. Lauderdale
about the prospect of hosting a event called "Inside F1 Racing Featuring Leigh Diffey,
David Hobbs and Steve Matchett" when they were looking for input from the racing
community as to whether a sit down forum with the three NBC broadcasters would
be well attended and if people would spend $45.00 to be a part of it.

Here is what I wrote back to them...

I would go if only to throw a chocolate cream pie in that idiot Leigh Diffey’s face.

The guy is a complete imbecile. He and his faux accent (“HonDER" instead of Honda,
“heAHHH” instead of here, etc.), rambling false narratives and being a complete ******
has ruined watching F-1 on the U.S. broadcaster’s host network.

This Diffey's handling of the Fernando Alonso interview at the Barber Motorsports Park
Indy Car race last month was another in a long line of embarrassments. This Diffey
constantly interrupted Alonso while he was very nicely trying to answer every one of
his questions.

This Diffey blatantly cut Alonso off almost as if intentionally trying to throw him off for
some reason by not allowing him to finish a sentence before throwing another question
at him. The interview came off as less of an interview with Fernando Alonso and
more of a Leigh Diffey showcase.

I watch F-1 on SKY live streaming and know people whom are so offended by
this Diffey that they watch F-1 on UNIVISION (that’s right, the Spanish channel).

PAY $45.00 (or more) to hear this Diffey blather on and on, really? I certainly would
not walk across the street to see this moron live for free.

So, what is the point of this exactly?

If it's intended to be "The Leigh Diffey Show", count me out with prejudice.

There, you have the thoughts of a car fan.

It seems as though this notion was struck down for some reason...

BHW

 

That was a shock to me, I thought here's another wreck.
This is a strange year in NASCAR, the young guys in their 20s are beating up the older more experienced drivers. Lots of retirements of those in the 40 year old age group is just around the corner.

 

older drivers are being forced out due to $$$.

NASCAR is the last domino to fall in the pay driver game. If you're not bringing funding, you're driving for prize money only.

and the era of racing being a true professional sport closes.

https://www.sbnation.com/nascar/2017/8/10/16129220/driver-contracts-salaries-team-budgets-nascar-new-economic-realities

 

Their only real recourse now is a youth movement.

We see it in their advertising and articles online just about every day, the next generation
coming up and elbowing the old guys out of the way.

About the only way an older driver may survive in NASCAR is if he becomes a team owner
a-la Tony Stewart. Jr. Jr. Jr. will certainly move more in this direction as well no doubt and
the rest of them get TV jobs.

Think we may all agree, sending Leigh Diffey premaritally to NASCARland is in all our best
interests. If Diffey does to NASCAR ratings as he's done to F-1 and Indy Car, what is left
of the NASCAR TV audience will head for the hills and that will be that.

BHW

 

I think you missed my point.

for the last decade in sports cars, then junior open wheel, then Indy, then F1, now NASCAR we're seeing a fundamental business model change from well paid "hired guns" to kids bringing money to get good rides.

The GenX drivers (Kenseth, Edwards, Jr, et al) are being faced not just with a new generation, but a generation that will either drive for next to nothing or bring buckets of cash to the ride. I don't blame them for retiring early vs. doing the same job with the same risks for 10% of the money.

my point is, when the quality of the field is determined by their checkbooks and not their talent, it stops being a professional sport. when that happens, what's the point in watching it? would you watch the NFL if I could buy Tom Brady's job?

 

He didn't miss your point, he was making yet another "subtle" dig at NASCAR-yawn.

 

Some of these young guns are actually talented.

And there have always been some "never will be's" out there on the grid.

 

It doesn't help that the 3 drivers cited in that story--Kenseth, Kurt Busch & Kahne--aren't exactly setting the place on fire with their results. 2 past champions that have done nothing lately, and pretty boy Kahne given a spot at the best team in the sport and zippo for results before that freak win a week ago. As noted, the new kids are good, with Larson & Elliott at the sharp end of the grid every week.

 

Given NACASR's penchant for keeping drivers around that are years past their sell-by dates,
a youth movement is actually a good thing.

In what other series on the planet could a guy do upwards of 600 or 700 races and have
only one or two wins to account for (IE: Michael Waltrip)? I mean, seriously, when a driver
gets to that sort of level, wouldn't it be boring after a while, going to the same roundy-round
tracks year after year after year?

Actually noted that Derrike Cope is still racing in NASCAR occasionally. Checking his record,
here he is 58 years old with sort of one real NASCAR win to his credit, 1990 Daytona 500,
420 races spread over 26 years and he's out there racing against kids one third his age.
What is in it for a guy like Cope to keep doing this, really?

If it weren't for the fact that NASCAR drivers make more bank selling their little trinkets and
wares than they do on prize money, they'd usher themselves out long before.

Since NASCAR has tried everything in their bag of tricks to remain relevant, watering
themselves down to the lowest common denominator in the process, their best bet for
keeping any sort of positive attention is to bring along promising young drivers which is
one good thing they seem to grasp.

BHW

 

Going back the the 70's Nascar would let damn near anyone on the track provided they had a car and a license. Most of the cars were single teams, not mega teams, and had basically little funding. Those drivers worked on their own cars every day up till raceday (except for the biggest names). Guys like Dale Sr. would borrow money to race hoping to pay it back with any winnings. It was this kind of stuff that made Nascar grow in the 80's when I feel it was at its best. The late 80's and early 90's saw the real beginnings of regulating the cars with the restrictor plates and then areo. Fortunately the early 90's brought Gordon which helped maintain or even increase popularity. I do believe with Dale Sr. wreck that was the point that Nascar started downhill for all types of reasons.

As for drivers staying past their prime (if they even had one), happens in every sport. How many F1 teams are there that never make top 10 but show up anyway? Almost half the field? Lets go over to Weathertech, same thing. Indy, same thing. Sometimes its not the driver, its the team and funding that puts out subpar cars.

 

for sure- I'm a huge Larson fan, saw him win the Turkey Night GP years ago in California and was a fan ever since. and yes some guys (Kahne) never fulfilled their promise.

 

And Erik Jones!

 

The "win and you're in" BS is maddening. We have Kahne and Dillon taking up undeserved spots in the playoffs while other CONSISTENTLY good cars are top 10 in points without earning a spot. Terrible.

 

What are these "playoffs"??? (rhetorical)
In all the racing I ever did, I never thought I was "playing" anything........

 

Who knows....you would think since viewership and attendance has gone down since they started that nonsense they would start moving away from it rather than expanding it.

 

I hear ya.
I was really intimating that I find it rather offensive to think that racing of any kind (foot, car, animal, bicycle, boat, etc., etc.) be considered a "game" that is "played". Especially by a racing sanctioning body itself. Again, I understand they're trying to reach a different audience, but...."play"? It's sad.

(at least the SCCA has the sense to call them "Runoffs")

 

I have not watched an entire cup race in two years. I have not watched more than seeing clips on a TV as I walk by this year.

They are attempting to get a different audience, and lose their existing/past. They are succeeding in the latter, and the increase of the former is not yet offsetting it.

 

What is the intended demographic for the 'new' NASCAR?

 

As Watkins Glen is over, I'm done with formula nascar for this year.

 

Xfinity races at Road America next weekend, and Trucks are at Mosport the weekend after that.

 

They have mentioned this in press briefings, but I don't have quotes on hand easy enough for me to fetch and post.

 

millennials, because that's all anyone wants anymore.