How did NASCAR 'ruin' motorcycle racing? | FerrariChat

How did NASCAR 'ruin' motorcycle racing?

Discussion in 'Other Racing' started by stever, May 13, 2018.

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  1. stever

    stever F1 Rookie
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    Apr 18, 2006
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    Steve R
    I have long ago stopped following M'cycle road racing, so don't have an idea what they did....can anybody help explain?
     
  2. GuyIncognito

    GuyIncognito Nine Time F1 World Champ
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    They applied nascar logic to it- assumed fans were lowest common denominator, wanted to see parity not trick factory specials which resulted in rules packages that alienated the manufacturers, manufactures pulled support (i.e. $$$$), changed race procedures to mirror NASCAR (full course cautions with pace car, not red flags-miracle they didn't kill a rider), treated the Daytona 200 like the only race that mattered, pissed off all the other track owners, screwed up tv coverage, drove away existing motorcycle media but couldn't attract new media outlets.

    shall I continue?
     
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  3. GuyIncognito

    GuyIncognito Nine Time F1 World Champ
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    btw it's early days but MotoAmerica seems to be doing a lot of things right, it's fun to watch again. I was a big AMA road racing fan from early 90s until mid 2000s, it's taken a decade but it's getting good again.

    much like Indy and sports cars...
     
  4. stever

    stever F1 Rookie
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    Thanks! Hard to figure such seeming stupidity. Didn't know about MotoAmerica, either.
     
  5. BartonWorkman

    BartonWorkman F1 Veteran
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    Remembering back to when NASCAR took over the AMA, motorcycle racing fan boy Dave Despain
    had Roger Edmundson on "Wind Tunnel" one night to explain the whole thing as it was breaking
    wide open.

    This would be the same Roger Edmundson whom the NASCAR heirarchy put in charge of GrandAm
    racing and who famously said, "We don't care about 'traditional' sports car fans" and "We want to
    make the cars irrelevant" (direct quotes not taken out of context) and who was now put in charge
    of ruining (running) motorcycle racing in the U.S.

    Despain, in his usual huckster style, guffawed at all of Edmundson's claims of reorganizing the AMA
    into NASCAR's vision of what motorcycle racing should be while AMA insiders and participants clearly
    reacted with raised eyebrows. Despain would literally cut off anyone in the sport who had a insider
    view of what was happening and he was losing what little credibility he had left with his motorcycle
    racing pals.

    Admittedly, I don't follow motorcycle racing all that closely but the resulting fall out as Chas states
    was that the big money professional factory teams started pulling out to the point where there were
    no factory teams remaining and the resulting effect was media and sponsor attentions went
    elsewhere. Essentially, the money dried up.

    As has been warned time and again over the years, this is exactly why U.S. racing cannot be
    controlled by a virtual monopoly as is NASCAR/ISC's intention. NASCAR failed at running the AMA
    and virtually put the body out of business. NASCAR's failed GrandAm experiment set U.S. sports
    car racing back nearly twenty years.

    And, as we are now witnessing, NASCAR with its constant rules changes, ridiculous "Chase" and
    in-race nonsense designed to control and manipulate results isn't going down well with long time
    fans as we're now seeing venues that used to packed to the rafters are now virtual ghost towns.

    What NASCAR did to the AMA should serve as a perfect example of why NASCAR's aims
    should be stopped.

    BHW
     
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  6. ferraripete

    ferraripete F1 World Champ

    there is even a more simple thought....they looked to buy up all the racing they could...ruin it in order to preserve the market share they cared about.
     
  7. GuyIncognito

    GuyIncognito Nine Time F1 World Champ
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    well they managed to help ruin IndyCar and didn't even have to buy that, just find a sucker named Tony....


    ;)
     
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  8. the_stig

    the_stig F1 Rookie

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    The motorcycle racing got so bad that as of 2-3 years ago tracks were actively soliciting media to come to their events and cover them.
     
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  9. GuyIncognito

    GuyIncognito Nine Time F1 World Champ
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  10. BartonWorkman

    BartonWorkman F1 Veteran
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    The basis for which NASCAR is/was buying up as many racing series as possible was so those dollars
    would flow into NASCAR, no doubt about that. That the AMA thought that NASCAR would open their
    checkbook and promote the series was wrongheaded. The Frances didn't become billionaires by
    writing a lot of checks.

    NASCAR recruiting media to attend their events was nothing new. At the height of the GrandAm/ALMS
    divide, in the lead up to one of their sham 24 Hours event, the good folks deep in the fake wood panel
    walled offices in Daytonner noticed that they had not gotten a single request for media credentials from
    any foreign outlets.

    I was immediately notified by one of my photo colleagues in the U.K. that European media members were
    being courted by D.I.S. which was offering airfare, hotel, rental car and other expenses if they'd come
    over and cover the event.

    Now, given the treatment of media at D.I.S. events (enough stories to fill volumes of books) this was
    seen as not only desperate but rather ballsy. IIRC, three foreign media members took D.I.S. up on
    the deal whereas by contrast, the ALMS at Sebring was heavily attended by foreign media from
    around the world which did not need to be cajoled into coming.

    Interesting article. That name, Roger Edmundson, pops up again. Since Edmundson was the
    France's henchman heading up their various dalliances, a lot may be placed at his feet. Wonder
    what he's doing these days? He's definitely not mentioning "Man on the street fans", "We don't care
    about 'traditional' sports car fans" and "We want to make the cars irrelevant" any more. Sounds
    as though he made himself equally welcome in motorcycle racing.

    Good riddance.

    BHW
     
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  11. rdefabri

    rdefabri Three Time F1 World Champ

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    Hey - you reap what you sow. I always hated the spec car concept, and for some reason these morons seem to think that's what people want.

    Killed my beloved CART, and I called it back in the day with the NHRA.

    I've been waxing nostalgic watching onboard videos of classic F1, and it's clear that the unique nature of the cars is what has always drawn me to the sport.
     
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  12. the_stig

    the_stig F1 Rookie

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    Often wrong but never uncertain seems to describe them fairly well.
    Not invented here coupled with blinders and arrogance and they may be about to get a long overdue reality check.
     
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  13. Turbopanzer

    Turbopanzer F1 World Champ

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    Why? You summed up the entire reason why motorsports is in the crapper.You can't top perfection in that paragraph
     
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  14. dmundy

    dmundy Formula 3
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    Arthur Dent
    CART died from its own hubris. The spec car phase was just a death rattle. The actual dying started long before that. Needs a different thread. Sorry I’ve had a glass or two. Carry on...
     

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