NASCAR 2015

season starts back up in a few weeks, so might as well have a new thread

you're welcome tervuren!

 

damn chas...hard to believe Tona is upon us!

let the games begin. seems like they just ended

 

I'm not sure which is more drawn out, the NASCAR season or the NCAA Football "playoffs"

I gotta say I do enjoy Speedweeks, even though I largely ignore most of the rest of the season now (road courses, Richmond, Phoenix, Iowa being the exceptions).

 

It's going to be the best NASCAR season ever!

So says NBC, it must be true.

BHW

 

I asked Joe Gibbs if he was excited for 1015, he said it was the most excited he'd ever been going into a season. He thinks he has the pieces in place, and is extremely happy to have 4 cars and Carl Edwards.

So he's going into it with high hopes in addition to NBC. ^^

 

the only piece the coach does not have is a chebby or ferd. that there toyodda ain't amerkin.

 

... straight from the horse's mouth, apparently, going on right under our noses wholly unbeknownst to us, NASCAR is a hotbed of spies, mercenaries, assassins, and international intrigue:

NASCAR driver accused of abuse says ex is trained assassin - Yahoo News

"Yeeeeeeeh, daugie! Comin' soon, to a town near you!" -- asj.

 

Considering NASCAR's moonshiner past, maybe this isn't so far fetched.

BHW

 

Thank heavens, finally someone has instituted monitoring all pit stops with video
cameras to catch infractions.

Not sure if this means our favorite white fire-suited pit stop inspectors get to keep
their jobs or not.

Some day, maybe soon, all racing will be this way...

NASCAR to use pit road video recording system to monitor violations - NASCAR news - AUTOSPORT.com

BHW

 

sounds like they're keeping the patrol officers and adding red light cameras for extra revenue sources...I mean compliance enforcement

 

What if she really is CIA or NSA. Wouldn't that be sumpin?

 

if she was, she wouldn't be dating a NASCAR driver, doing reality show pilots, or generally being a media whore.

 

Yeah, that's Danica Patrick's job, LOL!

BHW

 

Standard ninja cover to pose as someone that lives off public attention. Who suspects them?

 

NASCAR eliminates team and driver souvenir haulers from tracksides.

The top teams and drivers make literally tens of millions of dollars per year selling
their t-shirts and trinkets.

NASCAR restructures track-side shopping, eliminates souvenir haulers - SBNation.com

BHW

 

the continued trend of NASCAR trying to monopolize revenues for themselves.

the brilliance of NASCAR from the Big Bill France era was that everyone got rich...NASCAR, tracks, teams, etc.

now the third generation is trying to make themselves even richer by capturing revenue/profits for NASCAR wherever it can, even if that means taking from tracks and teams. I'll let you figure out how that ends in the long run...

 

I think NASCAR, instead of making their own brand, is looking at what is successful elseware and simply copying it. Its a bit frustrating as they had something great. They keep changing the championship to be more and more like the NFL.

 

exactly...except their business model isn't the same as the NFL.

so they're trying to put a square peg in a round hole with stuff like this.

now, I do understand reducing clutter and optimising space at a track...I've always thought the "vendor row" was a giant clusterf***...but it was the best way for teams, aka "independent contractors" and not franchisees, to monetize their own IP. now NASCAR wants to take that away from them. we'll see if it works out long term...

 

On moving from Florida to New York (what was I thinking?) in 1990 just after the
Daytona 500 weekend, I traveled I-95 along with caravans of team merchandise trailers
which were heading for the next race in Virginia.

It was unbelievable how many trailers were among these caravans, each team and driver
had/have multiple trailers evidently as the caravans would be well into the dozens, it
seemed like I passed hundreds of them.

So, the teams and drivers be damned, NASCAR want all of it for themselves. A friend
responded by Email that they're taking the experience under one tent from the pages of
Walmart. So, what we may expect (is) the cheesy fluorescent lighting and feeding oxygen into
the tents so people can really go nuts (and) the fans and their cash are easily separated.

When a guy like Dale Earnhardt Jr, Jr, Jr, clears $20M/year selling his various trinkets from
trackside trailers, their PR people are going to be rather alarmed by this development. It
won't be too far fetched that NASCAR will put an entry charge into these tents eventually.

Charge fans $2.00/head just to gain access to the vendors, yep that am a solid business plan.

BHW

 

in actual racing news, Jeff Gordon announced that this will be his last full season in Cup.

I remember when he debuted in '93 as the "boy wonder"

damn I'm old.

 

He's probably pissed that he's going to have to give up a bigger percentage of his t-shirt
and trinket sales to NASCAR.

BHW

 

It would seem that they are stealing a page from Bernie Ecclestone's book titled "How To Kill The Goose That Laid The Golden Eggs"

 

Looks like the new boy wonder, Chase Elliot, will be getting his seat.

Think you're old? I remember watching the partial race broadcasts on ABC's wide world of sports back in 'mid 60's.

 

yep, that seems to be the plan.

I remember when Bill Elliott was the man....

 

Since NASCAR has made a complete mockery of their own championship, they decide to stick
to the formula because it was so gull durn popular among the fans and media last year.

Classic NASCAR double speak. "And given that it always changes, we have to change, too, and
circumstances change". - Brian France

So, they'll stick with it unless or until one of the popular drivers is on the outs and they let
him/her in because "we like him". Can't wait to see how they cock it up again this year.

NASCAR chairman confirms no changes to the Chase for 2015 | News | Motorsport.com

BHW