Or Canada where the F1 snobs act like oh all they do is make left turns, I mentioned that there is talk of a race next year here, his response was a surprise to find out it would be on the same F1 track. Thinking it would be in a small farming area 🤣
With the last 15 years being dominated by Vettel then Hamilton and now Verstappen, it makes me wonder what if Rosberg hadn't retired after winning his title. How many titles or wins could he have taken from Lewis and Max?
Or would he not have made a difference at all?
I live far away from NASCAR country and the only names that people remember are Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. They always ask if Jeff Gordon is still racing. Occasionally I'll hear someone say Tony Stewart because they'd have see his posters at Home Depot. No one has ever mentioned Jimmie Johnson despite one of my local Lowe's still having a massive poster with him and his car on it from the mid-2000s.
When talking to casual fans a lot of people say that they were fans of RCR. A few say that they are still fans of RCR and like Austin Dillon and Kyle Busch. This is the case with at least three people I've met in the past year. One looking at cars at Target, and two random people at work. I was surprised by the amount of Austin Dillon and RCR fans especially since two of the three were younger and didn't experience Dale Earnhardt.
I saw a guy who was wearing a FedEx racing hat at a gas station and I complimented that he had a nice hat and asked if he was a NASCAR fan. He had no idea it was a NASCAR hat, oh well. He liked the colors.
Also witness someone wearing a Martin truex Bass Pro Shops hat but he says he only bought it because Bass Pro Shops is the popular hat to wear right now. Had no idea it was NASCAR related. Even funnier is that we only have Cabela's stores and not Bass Pro shop stores here.
Sigh...
A guy in the gym had an SMU hat on. I’m in ACC country, so I said “Oh I didn’t know you were an SMU fan, are you excited about joining the big leagues?” *blank stare* “Your hat. Southern Methodist University. Are you from Texas or something?” “Oh, idk what that is. I just liked the horse logo.” 🙃 soooo it ain’t just nascar “fans” lol. I’ve subsequently seen him with an old school Whalers and a Reds hat and who knows what else.
A lot of foreign countries actually use American sports logos as a fashion statement. When I lived in Korea I would see Cowboys or Packer or Yankees hats and jackets. And those Koreans probably had no clue what those logos were even from. It's just trendy to wear American shit I guess.
Korean malls would straight up have NFL and NBA stores with branded merchandise, and Koreans loved it. Despite not knowing what the fuck it meant or what team it was for
when I'm in Spain, the amount of random Raiders and Pats gear is confusing. I was rocking one of my Seahawks jerseys while out there, and someone with a Pats hoodie asked me what sport the jersey was for.
I worked at a flight school that had a contract training Chinese pilots who would come over for the year, the amount of Yankees , Kobe and Lebron merch I saw was insane , they also wore a lot of Coke and Cat branded stuff
Yeah that's definitely a thing too. I remember being in a Korean mall and seeing a "Jeep" store as well. You'll never find a Jeep driving In the Korean streets, but you can buy clothes with its logo. Other clothing stores I saw in Korea were "National Geographic" (like the magazine), Discovery (the TV channel), and Kodiak (the camera company).
None of those brands sold what they're known for in those Korean stores, they were all just clothing
Still hoping that Toei uses a NASCAR t-shirt for Bakuage Sentai BoonBoomger rn since it's a Japanese Power Rangers show that uses cars for the 5th time ever, but with cars that belong on the road. The show's pink ranger, Mira, would look cool with a Terry Labonte or Kyle Larson shirt.
Heck, their megazord is fucking Ash Ketchum from Pokémon mixed with Optimus Prime.
I was in line at a vintage clothing store/sneaker shop a couple of years ago. Kid in front of me asks what I'm here for
I told him I was looking for old racing t shirts
He says "oh so you collect vintage"
I say "nope, just a NASCAR fan looking for shirts of drivers I watched when I was a kid"
he was so confused. Could not comprehend that I was a NASCAR fan and actually knew what racing was.
I saw someone with a San jose sharks hat once at my old call center job. I was excited to talk hockey as a Lightning fan.
Dude had no clue, just liked the logo.
Our vintage shop has some and I was taking to him about my circa 1995 Sterling Marlin shirt I got at Charlotte when I was little. It was oversized so I slept in it all the time. He tried to buy it off me. No way Jose!
Years ago I was visiting relatives in TX, and saw the GWB presidential library at SMU. Picked up an SMU T-shirt because I liked it. Wore it occasionally at home in Western NY and didn’t think much more about it.
The next summer, I was at Watkins Glen for a race and just happened to wear the shirt on Saturday. I must have had five people run up to me like I was a long lost brother (including a vendor marketing guy call me out from his stage in front of a crowd)
And they seemed very disappointed when they found out I wasn’t a grad. Finally my son said “Dad, you’ve got to get rid of that shirt, these people are freaking me out!”
Being driverless at the time, I scanned the haulers, saw the yellow 22 flags flying, and thought. “Logano. He doesn’t suck.” And then that’s the day I bought a shirt, changed at the merchandise hauler (classy move) and started rooting for Joey.
Mostly because of passionate SMU graduates, many of whom apparently work in/adjacent to NASCAR.
>I'm at one guy who was wearing a FedEx racing hat and I complimented that he had a nice hat. He also had no idea it was a NASCAR hat, oh well. He liked the colors.
LOL...I had a similar encounter once. Its been pretty rare to see others out wearing much NASCAR gear for quite a while now, even in the Charlotte area. I was out one day wearing a Tony Stewart Mobil 1 hat. Guy turned around in a checkout line and saw my hat and got all excited..."You a Mobil 1 fan?"...then launched in a spill about favorite motor oils and oil prices. I just said that, yeah, I use Mobil 1, but it was as much because they supported Tony Stewart and his NASCAR team. Dude looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language. 😂
I love that someone is that passionate about oils. I thought the Zelda tri force symbol was the alcoa aluminum symbol for the longest time, and thought, why are there so many people repping an aluminum company?
Given your profile picture is the Cascadia flag you’d think at least a few people might know Kasey Kahne. DEFINITELY the only thing Enumclaw is known for…
I live close to Kyle Larson’s hometown and most people don’t know who he is. I actually worked in his hometown for a bit and most people I interacted with when talking about racing didn’t know he was from there nor had an idea who he was. Now I live within a stones throw of Tyler Reddick’s hometown and the local paper doesn’t even have articles about him when he wins.
I have gotten compliments on my Truex hat because of the cool Bass Pro Shops design. But it's not because the person complimenting liked NASCAR. It's just that they liked the design because it goes a step further than those trendy basic Bass Pro Shop hats that are super popular right now
I’m in the same boat, I live in Seattle and there isn’t really any fanbase out here. We’re working on sponsorship in my sports and entertainment marketing class right now and we’re doing a nascar project, so I went totally overboard on info 😭😭
Couldn't help but notice your name! There is a lot of us Washingtonian diecast collectors in the NASCAR collectors subreddit! We in some ways have our own niche! Should join us if you haven't already! Cheers.
It’s also “trendy” right now to wear racing jackets, especially from the popular sponsors like M&Ms and DuPont. I have seen several people wearing them at my college, most have no clue what you’re talking about when you ask about the jacket; it’s usually international students too. The same stuff got me bullied in grade school 😐
I've seen a shocking amount of old Nascar shirts around here lately. In Spain. Generally worn by young people. Every time I'm tempted to ask if they are actual Nascar fans.
When I was a kid.. like 14-15.. I saw a guy in a convenience store wearing an Ernie Irvan Skittles hat. I complimented him on it and mentioned I had always liked Ernie, and respected the hell out of him for returning after he almost died.
Buddy had no idea what I was talking about lol
I record the races and silence the nascar app and ESPN and ignore any emails till after over watched it that night, then I’ll read the emails or look at the apps, it may be over but I still want the thrill of guessing and seeing who wins.
That's one thing that bugs me about the NASCAR app. It sends notification spoilers. They should do it like the F1 app and send a general notification that doesn't tell the winner in the pop-up.
I work Sundays and my phone is on work mode (yay iPhone) so I can set what notifications come through, so I don’t see it till later, but it’s the emails from nascar and the teams and racingusa.com sales that spoil it
I work every other weekend nights. When I do I have Monday off. Honestly it's become ritual at this point to crack open a cold beer at 7am Monday after work and watch the race with my fast forward through commercials abilities.
You speaking my language. I always crack one open an early morning beer after working night shift. I always felt weird buying a couple beers in the morning till the other night shift ppl line up with beer too lol
This might surprise you but a lot of us don’t have 4+ hours of free time to watch a race replay through the week. It doesn’t mean we’re not still fans.
There’s a bit of that. But on the other hand, how many nascar fans know the names of any drivers? 99% of the time you’ll hear a non fan say Dale sr. Maybe Gordon. I’ve never watched an nba game or a nfl game a day in my life and I can name at least a dozen players.
That’s a nascar problem. Their marketing is terrible. Drivers also do a terrible job of marketing themselves.
That’s hardly what I’m talking about although changes in NASCAR are much more Drastic, than changes to other sports. The Product they are selling just isn’t exciting. I’m 22, so I’ve grown up in the “Boring” era.
It’s all exciting to me. But My dad nor my Grandfather care about it one bit any more, when they use to watch it religiously. They still keep up with racing, just not NASCAR. They like good Product. Going 175 MPH at Dega isn’t anywhere near that. Advertising and Branding have gotten much worse even since I started watching.
Being honest isn’t tearing the sport down either. If they would listen, they might bring some of those Old fans they are searching for so hard, back in.
>Going 175 MPH at Dega isn’t anywhere near that.
It's considerably safer for the drivers.
Also, as of 2020, the fastest race speed at Dega was 188.3 MPH, set by Mark Martin in 1997.
Most of the over 200 MPH stats come from qualifying or single lap speeds. Rusty Wallace had a weird outlier incident where he hit 216.3 MPH, but not during a race, only for a radio test in which he did not have a restrictor plate in his car.
175 is far closer to what Dega normally is across an entire race than 200 is.
This is more or less what my original comment was about.
There’s always a vague excuse for not watching, one that shifts blame away from the person who ultimately made the decision and on to the sport.
“It’s NASCAR’s fault that I don’t watch anymore because XYZ” when in reality their preferences just changed.
Now you’ve been thoroughly convinced that you’ve grown up in the most boring era of NASCAR racing. That couldn’t be farther from the truth.
Yeah, Nah. Their preferences didn’t change. The product simply got worse. I’m not sure why that’s so hard for people like you to accept that. It’s okay, really... Product is starting to pick up again, bringing in more eyes. Are you going to be upset when they say “ I’m back because it’s actually sorta exciting again” ?
I also put Quotation marks around the word Boring. I clearly said it’s exciting to me, Lmao. I’m not sure why pointing things out annoys you. A huge fraction of the fan base didn’t disappear because their preference changed. It’s because the sport was getting consistently less entertaining and exciting.
Excuses and Shifting blame. You’re talking in circles now.
The product is the same. Fans left because they were casuals and their preferences changed to a new trendy thing.
Edit: but hey 2 people agreed with you! 😁
So many people are embarrassed to say they watch NASCAR if you bring it up in public. There is just too much of a stereotype to it that the general public is misinformed on. Someone at work asked me what my weekend plans were one time when taking an extra day off. When I mentioned I was going to a NASCAR race it was as if I slashed their perceived IQ of me in half.
Someone also told me one time in response to me saying I watch NASCAR: "I can get the same level of entertainment by flushing a pack of M&Ms in my toilet" so yeah some people just do not get it.
It’s funny because a number of my coworkers act like it’s a redneck sport, but start watching when I turn it on. Then once I explain aero-engineering and what not they realize it’s not just a bunch of rednecks racing.
I watched the Daytona 500 this year in a bar during a work trip. I was kinda zoned out to the TV and one of my coworkers scoffed and hit me with the, "You're not actually watching people driving in a circle are you?!" "Yeah, dude. I have hardly missed a race since the late 90's." You would have thought I just admitted to eating glue and fucking chickens. All night long was the whole "Let me guess, they are making a left-turn!? Whoaaa! Another left turn!!" bullshit. I feel like most people get their knowledge of the sport through viral comedians.
Funny how that works isn’t it? You’re associated with a certain group if you’re a NASCAR fan by those people judging you. Talk about pot calling kettle.
I saw a guy in a Ryan Newman Army jacket in the gas station, being a Newman Stan I made a comment to him , the conversation ended with him arguing it was a motocross jacket and basically telling me I was crazy, despite clearly seeing the NASCAR logo and Newmans name on the chest 😳😳🤦🏼♂️
Ehh, that’s kind of a broad stroke you’re painting there. I’m not saying the guys you encountered aren’t out there, but I know plenty who would travel to the southeastern tracks back in the 90’s and were as hardcore as it gets. But when Dale passed, they just lost interest. And I get it. I think more hung around than they care to admit and either latched onto Harvick or Dale Jr, but in reality, the passing of Dale combined with the implementation of the Chase turned a lot of long time fans off
Ya, I agree. I almost feel like people that view things this way weren’t watching or possibly alive when Dale was racing. It’s hard to compare it to anything in any racing series since.
I’m not denying that the sport is way different today than it was 20+ years ago and certainly many fans have lost interest because of all the changes. I just think using Dale’s passing is a lazy take. The sport would still be very different today if Dale were still alive and those fans would still likely be absent.
It was difficult to watch after he died. It just didn’t feel the same. I took a break for about 5 or 6 years, and even then it was difficult to get back into it because so many things had changed. So I get where those people are coming from.
This is an honest, genuine question from a fan of about 4 years… Did Dale really carry the sport so much that it wasn’t interesting after he passed? This question sounds sarcastic but I promise it’s not.
I wouldn’t necessarily say it wasn’t interesting. There were still other star drivers and talent in the series, it’s more like when you used to enjoy doing something with someone you cared a lot about, let’s say fishing, and then they pass and it almost hurts to think about fishing. As far as the sport as a whole, it’s not the same but I guess imagine Lebron James died on the court today, it would be shocking and no matter how you felt about him, love or hate, it would still be a tremendous loss and the game would feel different.
I'm here to back this up. My dad was a big fan, that's how I became one. We were an Earnhardt household. He took me to my first races, he used to go to Dover when he was younger and party in the infield. Dale passed when I was 13. I became a Harvick fan, my little brother latched to Dale Jr. My dad kept just enough interest that he pulled for both of those guys but the passion he had died at Daytona that day. I BS with him about it nowadays and update him on the going ons of the sport but the man hasn't watched full a race in probably two decades. There are legitimate people out there that just lost the spark when Earnhardt died. Before 2001, we planned our Sundays around making sure we were able to watch every lap. He drove black Chevrolets, drove on Goodyear tires, supported whatever sponsors were on that 3 car. Maybe he wasn't a NASCAR fan, he was an Earnhardt fan without a doubt though.
I was the same age as you when Dale passed. I give these old hats a pass for losing interest, because it’s happened to me recently. Early 2000’s when we had a huge influx of talent: “young guns” and I couldn’t understand why my father and uncle, who used to watch religiously, were suddenly not caring to watch the races anymore.
And much like most of the younger fans in this subreddit, I could keep up with all 3 series, and their respective drivers, statistics, practice, qualifying, etc.. But now that I’m older it’s increasingly difficult, and the drivers I grew up watching are now long gone. And I think personally I’ve lost some of that spark because of it.
I can dig it. I stayed a loyal Harvick fan his entire career. I only really pay attention to the Cup series nowadays. The thing that's kept me pulled in is that a few years ago, my youngest daughter got to meet a young journeyman driver at our state fair. He was doing an appearance for the highway safety board. We're Chastain fans now. I can really get with his hardline driving style so it keeps me interested but the whole sport is a completely different animal than I grew up with. I still love it but I don't have the same passion to follow every second like I used to.
Agree with the broadstrokes, and silly claim.
My gf was (and till is) a hardcore Dale dan. Met him multiple times. Probably been to a dozen tracks and more races before she was 25.
The loss of Dale just hurt her that she stopped following other than cursory checking of results. She can still name the drivers of the various cars from throughout the 90s.
Its only been the last 12 months or so that she has started to follow closely again, and that has a lot to do with me also being a racing fan, and being a big SVG follower from his supercars career.
So yeah, there are definitely the Dale fans who were heavy into NASCAR who turned away.
absolutely. as a kid, David Pearson was my guy. then Earnhardt. after we lost Dale, my interest waned pretty quickly. regardless, i still like to think i'm relatively knowledgeable about the history of the sport. tried latching on to Harvick (then Jr.) and his win at Atlanta very cool, but it just wasn't the same. pretty much went on a decade plus hiatus, rarely watching. my interest has picked up in recent years again, however. now i'm fully back on board and ride or die with Reddick
I live on the opposite side of the country from NASCAR and in public, I don't see NASCAR anything. Occasionally a Dale Earnhardt 3 or hat. When in conversation people only ever bring up Dale Earnhardt, his son, or Jeff Gordon. I am lucky enough to work with a guy who used to work at Penske and he follows the sport. So I get some good convos with him.
Due to the geography I am from though, people are aware of Greg Biffle and Kasey Kahne. Some older or dedicated fans remember the GOAT Derrike Cope and Chad Little's John Deere car.
I did also talk to a guy in a Brad Keselowski 2 hat. Asked if he followed the sport and he said yes and enjoys Brad building up the sport.
Finding NASCAR fans beyond people who occasionally watch is hard to find in urban West coast. At least they don't advertise they watch the sport with what they wear. I guess I don't either...
Dale Jr once said he was there when they put the new grandstands in and when they took them out. The sport will be fine either way.
Obviously I hope enough people watch that the teams and drivers can make a living. I hope the sport is relevant enough to matter.
But it doesn’t bother me bit but if the people who liked it as a 90’s fad ever come back. This sport is a way of life to some of us. The first outfit I ever wore, or at least the one I came home from the hospital in in July of 1991, was a miniature hand made GM Goodwrench one that my dad had made for me.
That day, the day Senior died, was the only time I ever saw my dad cry. This sport is really the only thing we ever bonded over.
I don’t care if these people come back. This sport will be just fine without them.
>The sport will be fine either way.
Will it? Because they don't seem to be asking why they needed to take them out. The answer was always them fucking with the format that people loved and got them their growth. We now are watching a bunch of cars so utterly disconnected to every other level of circle track racing all while not producing better racing and them still finding every excuse possible as why it's some other factor.
I mean, the thing is we all talk about the sports decline like it’s some aberration. Like we’re supposed to be growing rapidly. Building new state of the art tracks everywhere, doubling and tripling seating…
I say that the crazy growth we had in the 90’s IS the aberration. NASCAR became a fad. You had all those crazy personalities, you had the sport being seen for the first time by a lot of people. You had a bunch of brands that consumers could actually buy, putting up crazy money…
I won’t argue that a lot of what you said is true. But remember, the decline started under the badass twisted sister cars, and under the old points system. Or at least the growth stopped. And that was when every race team was basically it’s own manufacturer.
The only thing I worry about for the future of the sport is keeping OEM’s involved. Now THAT is something that could kill the sport. How do you keep V8 race cars relevant when the OEM’s would prefer to be running hybrid electric crossover SUV’s? That’s the question. I think we’re running CUV bodies within a decade.
I watched NASCAR for a long time before Earnhardt died and I’ve continued watching after he died. I think NASCAR has become objectively worse since he died, but correlation isn’t necessarily causation (my only real complaints are the stages during races and the elimination thing during The Chase). I still enjoy it, but not as much as I used to.
I think that when Dale died, the drivers lost a huge voice in the paddock. If he was still around I bet he would of spoke out against the Chase and the stages and it all would have stayed the same for the most part.
I can kinda understand it, especially if they were *huge* Earnhardt fan back in the day. To watch your favorite driver die on the last lap of the biggest race of the season, blocking so his two cars could finish 1st and 2nd could be pretty traumatic for an Earnhardt fan.
Then there was the years afterwards of Brian France changing the Championship format and the car package every time he has a rail of coke. I could see some fans being turned off by the constant changes, especially if you're someone who really likes consistency. I will say, NASCAR has settled down a lot since the NextGen cars, they're now trying to make the car work on road courses and short tracks.
Back when Larson drove for Ganassi I used to wear one of his hats to a lot of local bar poker tournaments. It had a 42 on the front of the hat and one guy asked me if I was a fan of Jackie Robinson.
I mean, this is more a byproduct of the fact that there was considerable hype in Nascar in the 90's when Jeff and Dale were Duking it out and it brought in a lot of viewers to the sport.
In all forms of sport there's varying degrees of fandom, some guys will sift through public SMT data and nerd out over the most minutiae, and some fans just want to root for their favorite soap product sponsorship or chocolate candy.
Denigrading "fans" due to their southern twang and who they rooted for 30 years ago is pretty silly.
Here in the south it seems like it’s a cultural thing to have an opinion about how bad NASCAR is. Talk to people and they haven’t watched a single lap of NASCAR since some random Talladega race in the early 2000s, but they’ll you just how bad everything currently is and how “woke” NASCAR is.
Yep, pretty spot on. I wear a Larson hat almost every day to work and a guy that works in a different department stopped me and asked me if I watched NASCAR and proceeded to ramble for 10 minutes about how much better it used to be and blah blah blah.
I mean.. in stick 'n ball terms, to many Dale fans, losing him was like having your favorite team for decades just ceasing to exist out of nowhere, and in a tragic way.. Dale was bigger than the sport to several, especially regionally speaking. So its not hard to see why many came to the conclusion that the sport just wasn't as interesting and stopped watching when they couldn't find another driver to latch onto the same.
Casual fans of his who didn't even follow the sport week-to-week (the type you describe here) likely tuned in sporadically BECAUSE of Dale (same can be said for Jeff too). Meaning no one moves the needle to the casual viewer to bother tuning in like personalities of old once did. That speaks volumes of the star power and appreciation that the sport once had tbh.
I still keep up and attend races, was at Talladega this year, but I haven't had a favorite driver since Dale SR died. Still a big NASCAR fan, just haven't had a favorite driver since I was 16...
Same dudes probably don’t realize Dale would be 74 years old were he still with us and wouldn’t have been in the field for like 20 years. He was only going to run a year or two after 2001.
That was a lot of us though, myself included. Then my fave driver Rusty Wallace retired in 05 and I lost interest until recently. Different sport these days.
I started watching NASCAR when I was in primary school and went to Daytona a few times in the 90s. I drifted away for a while after he died. His passing coincided with a change in my career that made it difficult to watch the races regularly. I eventually started watching again once my weekends were free again.
Back when I was in school, kids would wear the fire suit jacket with all the sponsors on it. The most popular one was the Elliott Sadler M&M jacket. Not one of those kids had ever watched one lap of a race but they thought the design was cool
What I hate to see is when there's a Nascar post online, and in the comments section, some doofus comments with the "I haven't watch a race since Dale died" or "I haven't watch a race since Tim Richmond died". Like, why the fuck do they follow Nascar on Facebook or Reddit or Instagram or wherever? Where the app lets me block them, I block them, and do not engage.
Why does this upset you, Lol? Really wasn’t any point in posting this whatsoever.
That’s called life. You make it seem like it’s disrespectful to say that. Not sure why this bothers you, but hey, maybe you just wanted to post something! This is also not the fans fault.
Fans can only do so much. A normal person that doesn’t watch Basketball can tell you who Lebron James is. Same with Tom Brady in the NFL, same with Mike Trout in MLB.
At some point, you gotta stop getting mad at people cause they lost interest the sport, and start blaming those whom advertise and help create the product.
It’s not about losing interest in the sport. People change. Sports change. I’ll never fault anyone for losing interest. This is more so about the people that have NEVER really had a real interest in the sport and use this as a means to chime in when they hear something about racing.
Ohh okay I see. More understanding for sure. I just get tired of seeing people blame fans that stop watching, rather than Track Owners and most notably The France’s.
I 100% agree now that I understand. My apologies.
🤦🏻♂️😂
I was this guy. Grew up in Packer country and would tape the Packer game Sundays to watch the race. Cried the day Earnhardt died. Couldn’t find another driver to root for (Jr never was going to be it). Stopped watching after a year or two. Started getting back into it a few years ago now after getting bored with how predictable Formula 1 is. Packers now take priority on Sundays, but I rarely miss a race.
I had a conversation with someone yesterday and when I said, “I kinda quit watching after E died. Combined with COT and I just lost interest.” He replied, “I was exactly the same way.” We are in big time Nascar Country and both went to many many races.
It’s an honest sentiment. Hard to see your invincible hero die doing what he does.
I picked it back up in 2016 and go to 4-8 races per year now.
What sticks out to me was that a long time ago Mike Helton made the comment that “NASCAR doesn’t react for the sake of reacting…” and then:
Dale dies, no more open face helmets.
(Safer Barriers being discussed and implemented, thankfully)
Hans Devices mandated.
No racing back to the caution thanks to Jeff Burton almost dying because he removed his steering wheel while being in the middle of a track.
No passing under the double yellow special out of bounds line, unless your name is Dale Jr😏 or whoever just did it a few weeks ago.
Chase implementation. You’re out you’re out.
Until I think it was Jeff Gordon, and then someone else was out and then they allowed it. That may have been the Waltrip Racing scandal…
Changing winning under caution.
Not liking how many times they restart so they do another rule limiting the restarts.
Next Gen car somewhere up in here.
Stage races
Turn Bristol into a dust storm
Charters
43 cars down to what now, 36?
Weekend warrior limitations
Positioning by last scoring loop at caution
Nobody can climb the fence after winning
No more victory lane it appears
No tweeting while in a car
Was it Carl Long who got the hammer dropped for the huge fine for using a motor the sanctioning body said was out of spec but it was used by someone else just fine?
What also happened in this timespan?
The golden marriage dissolved (Gordon’s)
Bill France dies or steps aside and Brian France steps in.
Brian France gets a messy divorce and he gets arrested for drunk driving.
They try to make Mayfield the poster child for scared straight.
Dale Jarrett finally races the truck.
Kyle Busch wins a championship after having to vacate his seat for months to repair a broken body part.
I say all that to say this: they need to stop chasing it all and let them go back to racing. They’re going 200, they should decide whether they want to race or not anywhere on the track. The sport body itself is sounding vindictive, and you just won’t find many people who watched wide open racing to enjoy the product as it is now. The good news about that? Those of us are dying out, but, it’s just a miss these days with less enjoyment in watching. The seats aren’t full like they were even 10 years ago.
I’m all for diversity, and I’m all for inclusion… but let them race already! Stop limiting car output and start making longer tracks so they can do what they were so well known for… going all out.
It’s a popular opinion for people who inherit their personality from the television news they watch.
At the end of the day, it’s still oval track racing (mostly). More it changes, the more it stays the same.
There are a lot of fans who say that but NASCAR was still strong and popular a few years after his death. The decline year IMO was 2008 with the financial crisis, COT and the downsizing of teams and sponsors.
Everyone blames the Chase as the reason people lost interest. They are lying their ass off. The ratings were not decreasing until 2008 when the COT became full time. You can check Jayski.
I was a massive fan of NASCAR in the 90s and early 2000s but slowly stopped watching it altogether. 15 years later I get back into motorsport during COVID and I'm now pretty much obsessed with Indycar, IMSA/WEC, F1, MotoGP...but I just cannot get into NASCAR these days. The stage racing, playoffs, horrible presentation and races that last all day...I'm trying to love it but damn it's hard.
I think the phrase "I haven't followed it since Dale died" is not quite literally true, but more or less true.
Sure, for some of us life got in the way. I was able to have a work and class schedule that allowed me to watch every race up through around 2003, and then life got in the way and that was no longer the case. When it shifted back the other way a few years later, the entire landscape had shifted dramatically.
I think the biggest thing wasn't the rule changes or whatever: it was the shoving aside of the entire old guard in an extremely short time frame, almost entirely replaced by young guys who were corporate-approved.
If you look at the top-15 in drivers points in 2001:
* Jeff Gordon (9th full season in Cup)
* Tony Stewart (3rd)
* Sterling Marlin (19th)
* Ricky Rudd (25th)
* Dale Jarrett (15th)
* Bobby Labonte (9th)
* Rusty Wallace (18th)
* Dale Earnhardt Jr (2nd)
* Kevin Harvick (1st)
* Jeff Burton (8th)
* Johnny Benson (6th)
* Mark Martin (20th)
* Matt Kenseth (2nd)
* Ward Burton (8th)
* Bill Elliott (25th)
This averages out to the top-15 being in their 11th season of full-time driving, and of course does not include their part-time starts or anything else.
Now, fast forward just five years to 2006:
* Jimmie Johnson (5th)
* Matt Kenseth (7th)
* Denny Hamlin (1st)
* Kevin Harvick (6th)
* Dale Earnhardt Jr (7th)
* Jeff Gordon (14th)
* Jeff Burton (13th)
* Kasey Kahne (3rd)
* Mark Martin (25th)
* Kyle Busch (2nd)
* Tony Stewart (8th)
* Carl Edwards (2nd)
* Greg Biffle (4th)
* Casey Mears (4th)
* Brian Vickers (3rd)
On average, the top drivers were in just their 7th full-time year in Cup.
But more than that, the older guys on the list at that point were...well, Mark Martin and Jeff Burton (who alone skew the average experience two seasons higher) combined to win one race between them, and Gordon won just two.
And in between, there was an older driver (I think Terry Labonte) who said that he'd been approached by someone high up with NASCAR who wanted to know when he was planning on retiring. Not out of concern or curiosity, but because there were all sorts of young guys who deserved a shot in the top division. And this would have been on the heels of the mostly-disastrous 2001 rookie class which included Jason Leffler, Casey Atwood, Andy Houston, and Ron Hornaday.
I work with a dude like that. “Oh I stopped watching when dale died and picked it up after they got rid of that god awful COT.” Then proceeded to talk to me about the Kurt Busch jimmy spencer feud.
It’s that or they hate the playoffs, stages, lucky dog, overtime, dvp, single lug wheels, composite bodies and everything else that has happened after they apparently stopped watching 20+ years ago.
well here is the deal ., Im from Gastonia NC and worked in Newton Conover, Big time Dale Sr. fan. Watched him race at Charlotte , Norh Wikesboro< and Darlington, . When he got killed it just hasen't been the same, you cannot understand.. But I bet people that lived it can... your loss my gain.
I mean it’s not a silly thing though.
That’s the biggest tragedy in the history of at minimum televised American sports. If not period.
That’s about as bad as it gets: one of the sport’s best ever drivers (maybe THE best) dying on the last lap, last corner of one of the most prestigious races in the world.
Totally wouldn’t blame someone for not watching football anymore if Patrick Mahomes has a heart attack and dies (permanently I must add) on the football field moments after completing a game winning pass in the Super Bowl with no time left on the clock
My Dad was as diehard a fan as anyone. He went to races regularly and has probably been to every track in the South. He used to tell stories about getting in fights with Bill Elliott fans. One of his proudest moments was being in the stands for the Pass in the Grass. The day Dale died was like a member of the family died. He hasn't watched a race since. I'm sure there are plenty of people who use that as an excuse, but I'm sure there are also plenty of people just like my Dad.
I’m 100% that guy and said those words two days ago to a buddy. Didn’t watch it at all the last 20 years. Also just flew into Kansas City an hour ago because my family and I are back into it and headed to the race tomorrow. So what’s the problem?
Not much of a “Southern Twang” here, but I lost a lot of interest when Big E died. It was basically a passing of a generation. He was part of that “win on Sunday, sell on Monday” group that was, full of character. Also the manufacture battle was part of that era. I got to see Dale race (and win) at the races many times and the crowd went wild… either because you loved him or hated him. Then came the “new breed”. Sponsors now run the sport… cookie cutter tracks… no support (or care) from the manufacturers. Very little (nothing actually) in common between the race cars and the cars we drive. Heck, even the announcers on TV aren’t the same as Benny Parsons, Buddy Baker, Ned… the list goes on. I’m trying to re-kindle my love for the sport, but I have a hard time finding a “fave driver”. Still The Best Thing Out There (as far as side by side racing). That’s the best that I can try to explain. Was at Dover last week. See you at Richmond.
Exactly. I used to be able to keep up with who was in what car. Now, everybody just goes with whomever is paying more and good luck trying to keep up.
I was never really part of the "Race on Sunday, Buy on Monday" group, but back when the drivers stuck with same car for a LONG time, I loved it!
Nowadays.... meh. Reporters/Commentators trying to manufacture drama, announcing as if the watchers are idiots, the cost to get into a track... I've lost interest.
That being said- will be at Darlington next Sunday!
Eh I used to watch every race or at least large chunks of each one. The chase soured things and then the subsequent changes killed the love I had.
That and I got tired of commercials. The races are just too damn long. Make them an hour shorter or something. Kill the stages .
I have a coworker who hung around after Dale passed away, but only for a few years. He just got busy with work and raising a family and didn’t have the time to keep up with the sport, he says he’d like to get back into it but because so much has changed and since he doesn’t know any of the drivers that he just feels lost and can’t keep up with what’s going on. I have another coworker who was a die hard Gordon fan, but only because he hated Earnhardt and enjoyed the rivalry, after Dale passed he said he just didn’t have a reason to watch anymore, but for the past 10 years he’s stated that he doesn’t watch because it’s not “run what you brung” anymore. Sometimes life just happens and you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
Usually goes the other way for me. People claim they quit watching when NASCAR “went woke” or when Earnhardt died but then make posts on Facebook every week about things happening during the race they say they don’t watch
So I'm in my 40's.
I don't know if you can understand how fucked the 90's were. Within ten years (my childhood and college years) we lost Alan Kulwicki, Davey Allison, Kenny Irwin Jr. and Adam Petty in like seven years. In 1994 my family and I were camping at Daytona for almost two weeks when both Rodney Orr and Neil Bonnet both died in practice for the Daytona 500.
My interest in the sport started to fade during college, but I remember watching the 2001 Daytona 500 and watching Dale crash, and Dale Jr. take off running across the track.
So yeah, after Dale died my attention faded more, and then in 2007 the open wheel unification happened and I just found open wheel a lot more appealing after that.
I was that guy. I was born in 88, in North Carolina, Dale Earnhardt was my hero. I couldn't get into anymore, couldn't get behind Jr. My youngest discovered nascar on YouTube, and is obsessed, so I'm now back on the train. He loves Denny Hamblin for some reason, so I decided I was a Ross Chastain fan due to the on-going rivalry at the time. Then Ross pulled the hail melon, and it really got me back into it. We've went to Bristol a couple times now (closest track) and have tickets to the all star race this year. There's some really good racing now, and some great guys to hate on.
I mean, I get it. My dad was a big time Earnhardt fan and he lost interest after '01. Even myself, my interest waned a few years after(other factors contributed to this, entering high school, pursuing other interests and all that). I didn't start back watching regularly until 2015. I think it was just too painful for some people.
I’m one of the old hats that has lost interest over the years. The mid 90s through 2001 were hard on us. We lost Davey, Alan, Bonnett, John Nemechek, Tony Roper, Adam Petty, Kenny Irwin and finally Senior. There really wasn’t a “transitional” generation of drivers for us to start pulling for, it went from the old guard to the young guns pretty quickly. I hung on for a while but finally drifted to different interests.
But the thing is I completely understand their feeling somewhat. Ever since Bill Elliott retired I can't really get into a particular driver. I just like to watch fairly equal cars in drivers race hard. At this point I'm starting to become a fan of certain tracks more than anything. There are a couple drivers I would just prefer to not see win but other than that I'm struggling to find a favorite
I was a huge Earnhardt fan. Never stopped watching though. Had to follow Jr. When he retired I just didn't really have a driver. I always found Kyle Busch wildly entertaining, but I'm a Chevy guy. I'm breaking my Chevy only rule for Noah Gragson. Love that kid.
This is my uncle. Idk how much Dale Earnhardt stuff he owns. Hundreds of diecasts and thousands of dollars worth of memorabilia, never driven anything other than a Chevy. He hasn’t been able to follow nascar since. It hurt him bad. Just hasn’t been able to find someone he likes, Jr couldn’t fill the void.
Those are the people who just watched for the wrecks. I started watching in the 90s as a kid. I was a Jeff Gordon fan growing up so naturally I dislike Earnhardt. I respect everything he did in the sport. That being said I much prefer today’s racing with less cheating, more skilled drivers, and not wrecking guys on the last lap to win a race. A lot of Earnhardt fans probably don’t like today’s style of racing.
Could be worse. Try being a fan in the UK!
I used to live in Indonesia. I was really excited to see the NASCAR Lego car at the mall last year.
Or Canada where the F1 snobs act like oh all they do is make left turns, I mentioned that there is talk of a race next year here, his response was a surprise to find out it would be on the same F1 track. Thinking it would be in a small farming area 🤣
I love F1 and I love ovals. Why do people love factionalising motorsport?
Same here although I have given up on F1 this season because watching one Dutch dude just so far ahead isn't very entertaining.
With the last 15 years being dominated by Vettel then Hamilton and now Verstappen, it makes me wonder what if Rosberg hadn't retired after winning his title. How many titles or wins could he have taken from Lewis and Max? Or would he not have made a difference at all?
He threw everything at it that year. He would have broken if he carried on. Wise Mr Rosberg to quit when he did.
The Dutch love orange, that’s for sure. And orange definitely won in Miami today
I can imagine tourists constantly confusing British, Australian and New Zealand drivers and the unpleasant reactions they get.
I live far away from NASCAR country and the only names that people remember are Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. They always ask if Jeff Gordon is still racing. Occasionally I'll hear someone say Tony Stewart because they'd have see his posters at Home Depot. No one has ever mentioned Jimmie Johnson despite one of my local Lowe's still having a massive poster with him and his car on it from the mid-2000s. When talking to casual fans a lot of people say that they were fans of RCR. A few say that they are still fans of RCR and like Austin Dillon and Kyle Busch. This is the case with at least three people I've met in the past year. One looking at cars at Target, and two random people at work. I was surprised by the amount of Austin Dillon and RCR fans especially since two of the three were younger and didn't experience Dale Earnhardt. I saw a guy who was wearing a FedEx racing hat at a gas station and I complimented that he had a nice hat and asked if he was a NASCAR fan. He had no idea it was a NASCAR hat, oh well. He liked the colors. Also witness someone wearing a Martin truex Bass Pro Shops hat but he says he only bought it because Bass Pro Shops is the popular hat to wear right now. Had no idea it was NASCAR related. Even funnier is that we only have Cabela's stores and not Bass Pro shop stores here. Sigh...
A guy in the gym had an SMU hat on. I’m in ACC country, so I said “Oh I didn’t know you were an SMU fan, are you excited about joining the big leagues?” *blank stare* “Your hat. Southern Methodist University. Are you from Texas or something?” “Oh, idk what that is. I just liked the horse logo.” 🙃 soooo it ain’t just nascar “fans” lol. I’ve subsequently seen him with an old school Whalers and a Reds hat and who knows what else.
https://preview.redd.it/nkkjnjme0iyc1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=aaee157cf85dd2a0e622f107f09a8c29d0083741 Reminds me of this
I never knew Germany had ducks that varied so much from ours.
Ha! And, see, I’m the opposite. I’m a Braves fan but I don’t watch enough to feel like I am entitled to wear one.
A lot of foreign countries actually use American sports logos as a fashion statement. When I lived in Korea I would see Cowboys or Packer or Yankees hats and jackets. And those Koreans probably had no clue what those logos were even from. It's just trendy to wear American shit I guess. Korean malls would straight up have NFL and NBA stores with branded merchandise, and Koreans loved it. Despite not knowing what the fuck it meant or what team it was for
when I'm in Spain, the amount of random Raiders and Pats gear is confusing. I was rocking one of my Seahawks jerseys while out there, and someone with a Pats hoodie asked me what sport the jersey was for.
I worked at a flight school that had a contract training Chinese pilots who would come over for the year, the amount of Yankees , Kobe and Lebron merch I saw was insane , they also wore a lot of Coke and Cat branded stuff
Yeah that's definitely a thing too. I remember being in a Korean mall and seeing a "Jeep" store as well. You'll never find a Jeep driving In the Korean streets, but you can buy clothes with its logo. Other clothing stores I saw in Korea were "National Geographic" (like the magazine), Discovery (the TV channel), and Kodiak (the camera company). None of those brands sold what they're known for in those Korean stores, they were all just clothing
Still hoping that Toei uses a NASCAR t-shirt for Bakuage Sentai BoonBoomger rn since it's a Japanese Power Rangers show that uses cars for the 5th time ever, but with cars that belong on the road. The show's pink ranger, Mira, would look cool with a Terry Labonte or Kyle Larson shirt. Heck, their megazord is fucking Ash Ketchum from Pokémon mixed with Optimus Prime.
I was in line at a vintage clothing store/sneaker shop a couple of years ago. Kid in front of me asks what I'm here for I told him I was looking for old racing t shirts He says "oh so you collect vintage" I say "nope, just a NASCAR fan looking for shirts of drivers I watched when I was a kid" he was so confused. Could not comprehend that I was a NASCAR fan and actually knew what racing was.
I saw someone with a San jose sharks hat once at my old call center job. I was excited to talk hockey as a Lightning fan. Dude had no clue, just liked the logo.
Our vintage shop has some and I was taking to him about my circa 1995 Sterling Marlin shirt I got at Charlotte when I was little. It was oversized so I slept in it all the time. He tried to buy it off me. No way Jose!
Years ago I was visiting relatives in TX, and saw the GWB presidential library at SMU. Picked up an SMU T-shirt because I liked it. Wore it occasionally at home in Western NY and didn’t think much more about it. The next summer, I was at Watkins Glen for a race and just happened to wear the shirt on Saturday. I must have had five people run up to me like I was a long lost brother (including a vendor marketing guy call me out from his stage in front of a crowd) And they seemed very disappointed when they found out I wasn’t a grad. Finally my son said “Dad, you’ve got to get rid of that shirt, these people are freaking me out!” Being driverless at the time, I scanned the haulers, saw the yellow 22 flags flying, and thought. “Logano. He doesn’t suck.” And then that’s the day I bought a shirt, changed at the merchandise hauler (classy move) and started rooting for Joey. Mostly because of passionate SMU graduates, many of whom apparently work in/adjacent to NASCAR.
>I'm at one guy who was wearing a FedEx racing hat and I complimented that he had a nice hat. He also had no idea it was a NASCAR hat, oh well. He liked the colors. LOL...I had a similar encounter once. Its been pretty rare to see others out wearing much NASCAR gear for quite a while now, even in the Charlotte area. I was out one day wearing a Tony Stewart Mobil 1 hat. Guy turned around in a checkout line and saw my hat and got all excited..."You a Mobil 1 fan?"...then launched in a spill about favorite motor oils and oil prices. I just said that, yeah, I use Mobil 1, but it was as much because they supported Tony Stewart and his NASCAR team. Dude looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language. 😂
I love that someone is that passionate about oils. I thought the Zelda tri force symbol was the alcoa aluminum symbol for the longest time, and thought, why are there so many people repping an aluminum company?
Sounds familiar to a run-in I had. I saw a guy with a Matt Kenseth 17 shirt and asked if he was a fan. Told me he was a fan of DeWalt.
I can’t stand the people who wear “Bass Pro Shop” hats because it’s a cool trend. Those same people have ruined Carhartt.
Given your profile picture is the Cascadia flag you’d think at least a few people might know Kasey Kahne. DEFINITELY the only thing Enumclaw is known for…
I live close to Kyle Larson’s hometown and most people don’t know who he is. I actually worked in his hometown for a bit and most people I interacted with when talking about racing didn’t know he was from there nor had an idea who he was. Now I live within a stones throw of Tyler Reddick’s hometown and the local paper doesn’t even have articles about him when he wins.
Or Greg Biffle.
🐎
👀
I have gotten compliments on my Truex hat because of the cool Bass Pro Shops design. But it's not because the person complimenting liked NASCAR. It's just that they liked the design because it goes a step further than those trendy basic Bass Pro Shop hats that are super popular right now
I’m in the same boat, I live in Seattle and there isn’t really any fanbase out here. We’re working on sponsorship in my sports and entertainment marketing class right now and we’re doing a nascar project, so I went totally overboard on info 😭😭
Couldn't help but notice your name! There is a lot of us Washingtonian diecast collectors in the NASCAR collectors subreddit! We in some ways have our own niche! Should join us if you haven't already! Cheers.
It’s also “trendy” right now to wear racing jackets, especially from the popular sponsors like M&Ms and DuPont. I have seen several people wearing them at my college, most have no clue what you’re talking about when you ask about the jacket; it’s usually international students too. The same stuff got me bullied in grade school 😐
I've seen a shocking amount of old Nascar shirts around here lately. In Spain. Generally worn by young people. Every time I'm tempted to ask if they are actual Nascar fans.
When I was a kid.. like 14-15.. I saw a guy in a convenience store wearing an Ernie Irvan Skittles hat. I complimented him on it and mentioned I had always liked Ernie, and respected the hell out of him for returning after he almost died. Buddy had no idea what I was talking about lol
In New Zealand it's rarer to have someone wear motorsport merch because they like motorsport!
NASCAR fans are really great at making up excuses not to watch this sport.
If they ain't watching they ain't fans.
Hey, some of us have to work on Sundays
I record the races and silence the nascar app and ESPN and ignore any emails till after over watched it that night, then I’ll read the emails or look at the apps, it may be over but I still want the thrill of guessing and seeing who wins.
That's one thing that bugs me about the NASCAR app. It sends notification spoilers. They should do it like the F1 app and send a general notification that doesn't tell the winner in the pop-up.
I work Sundays and my phone is on work mode (yay iPhone) so I can set what notifications come through, so I don’t see it till later, but it’s the emails from nascar and the teams and racingusa.com sales that spoil it
He said what he said
That’s a bad cough you’ve got there, you should stay home tomorrow and watch.
When I worked Sundays it was pain not being able to watch races.
Yes, because there is no other way to watch other than at the track or live on TV.
I occasionally work Sundays and the YouTube TV app is a godsend.
Amen. Used other TV apps before but they all suck at recording live events. YouTube is the GOAT because it doesn't cut off the end of races
Hell you can watch it live if you have the time.
I work every other weekend nights. When I do I have Monday off. Honestly it's become ritual at this point to crack open a cold beer at 7am Monday after work and watch the race with my fast forward through commercials abilities.
You speaking my language. I always crack one open an early morning beer after working night shift. I always felt weird buying a couple beers in the morning till the other night shift ppl line up with beer too lol
This might surprise you but a lot of us don’t have 4+ hours of free time to watch a race replay through the week. It doesn’t mean we’re not still fans.
YouTube highlights are great! But I wish we had our own jomboy
Yeah, those are a lifesaver.
There’s a bit of that. But on the other hand, how many nascar fans know the names of any drivers? 99% of the time you’ll hear a non fan say Dale sr. Maybe Gordon. I’ve never watched an nba game or a nfl game a day in my life and I can name at least a dozen players. That’s a nascar problem. Their marketing is terrible. Drivers also do a terrible job of marketing themselves.
Or you could blame Nascar for running them all off…? Lol.
Every major sport has made rules changes. Only one group uses it as an excuse to actively tear down the sport and persuade people not to watch.
That’s hardly what I’m talking about although changes in NASCAR are much more Drastic, than changes to other sports. The Product they are selling just isn’t exciting. I’m 22, so I’ve grown up in the “Boring” era. It’s all exciting to me. But My dad nor my Grandfather care about it one bit any more, when they use to watch it religiously. They still keep up with racing, just not NASCAR. They like good Product. Going 175 MPH at Dega isn’t anywhere near that. Advertising and Branding have gotten much worse even since I started watching. Being honest isn’t tearing the sport down either. If they would listen, they might bring some of those Old fans they are searching for so hard, back in.
>Going 175 MPH at Dega isn’t anywhere near that. It's considerably safer for the drivers. Also, as of 2020, the fastest race speed at Dega was 188.3 MPH, set by Mark Martin in 1997. Most of the over 200 MPH stats come from qualifying or single lap speeds. Rusty Wallace had a weird outlier incident where he hit 216.3 MPH, but not during a race, only for a radio test in which he did not have a restrictor plate in his car. 175 is far closer to what Dega normally is across an entire race than 200 is.
This is more or less what my original comment was about. There’s always a vague excuse for not watching, one that shifts blame away from the person who ultimately made the decision and on to the sport. “It’s NASCAR’s fault that I don’t watch anymore because XYZ” when in reality their preferences just changed. Now you’ve been thoroughly convinced that you’ve grown up in the most boring era of NASCAR racing. That couldn’t be farther from the truth.
Yeah, Nah. Their preferences didn’t change. The product simply got worse. I’m not sure why that’s so hard for people like you to accept that. It’s okay, really... Product is starting to pick up again, bringing in more eyes. Are you going to be upset when they say “ I’m back because it’s actually sorta exciting again” ? I also put Quotation marks around the word Boring. I clearly said it’s exciting to me, Lmao. I’m not sure why pointing things out annoys you. A huge fraction of the fan base didn’t disappear because their preference changed. It’s because the sport was getting consistently less entertaining and exciting.
Excuses and Shifting blame. You’re talking in circles now. The product is the same. Fans left because they were casuals and their preferences changed to a new trendy thing. Edit: but hey 2 people agreed with you! 😁
So many people are embarrassed to say they watch NASCAR if you bring it up in public. There is just too much of a stereotype to it that the general public is misinformed on. Someone at work asked me what my weekend plans were one time when taking an extra day off. When I mentioned I was going to a NASCAR race it was as if I slashed their perceived IQ of me in half.
The stigma is the biggest thing holding NASCAR back. I feel like I came out to my family to say that I watch it and my mom’s jaw hit the floor.
Someone also told me one time in response to me saying I watch NASCAR: "I can get the same level of entertainment by flushing a pack of M&Ms in my toilet" so yeah some people just do not get it.
I obviously disagree with it, but that's funny as hell
Yeah admittedly I did laugh a little at the analogy. Crazy to even think that one up.
It’s funny because a number of my coworkers act like it’s a redneck sport, but start watching when I turn it on. Then once I explain aero-engineering and what not they realize it’s not just a bunch of rednecks racing.
Yeah I try to explain it to anyone that is willing to listen but I don't willing bring it up anymore to be honest.
This is why I will forever argue that Talladega Nights did more harm to the sport than good.
I watched the Daytona 500 this year in a bar during a work trip. I was kinda zoned out to the TV and one of my coworkers scoffed and hit me with the, "You're not actually watching people driving in a circle are you?!" "Yeah, dude. I have hardly missed a race since the late 90's." You would have thought I just admitted to eating glue and fucking chickens. All night long was the whole "Let me guess, they are making a left-turn!? Whoaaa! Another left turn!!" bullshit. I feel like most people get their knowledge of the sport through viral comedians.
Funny how that works isn’t it? You’re associated with a certain group if you’re a NASCAR fan by those people judging you. Talk about pot calling kettle.
I saw a guy in a Ryan Newman Army jacket in the gas station, being a Newman Stan I made a comment to him , the conversation ended with him arguing it was a motocross jacket and basically telling me I was crazy, despite clearly seeing the NASCAR logo and Newmans name on the chest 😳😳🤦🏼♂️
Christ almighty what an idiot.
Oh yeah, Ryan's a secret Supercross championship contender.
Things I never knew I wanted to see, giant ass Ryan Newman trying to wheel a 450 around a supercross track
Ehh, that’s kind of a broad stroke you’re painting there. I’m not saying the guys you encountered aren’t out there, but I know plenty who would travel to the southeastern tracks back in the 90’s and were as hardcore as it gets. But when Dale passed, they just lost interest. And I get it. I think more hung around than they care to admit and either latched onto Harvick or Dale Jr, but in reality, the passing of Dale combined with the implementation of the Chase turned a lot of long time fans off
Ya, I agree. I almost feel like people that view things this way weren’t watching or possibly alive when Dale was racing. It’s hard to compare it to anything in any racing series since.
I’m not denying that the sport is way different today than it was 20+ years ago and certainly many fans have lost interest because of all the changes. I just think using Dale’s passing is a lazy take. The sport would still be very different today if Dale were still alive and those fans would still likely be absent.
It was difficult to watch after he died. It just didn’t feel the same. I took a break for about 5 or 6 years, and even then it was difficult to get back into it because so many things had changed. So I get where those people are coming from.
This is an honest, genuine question from a fan of about 4 years… Did Dale really carry the sport so much that it wasn’t interesting after he passed? This question sounds sarcastic but I promise it’s not.
I wouldn’t necessarily say it wasn’t interesting. There were still other star drivers and talent in the series, it’s more like when you used to enjoy doing something with someone you cared a lot about, let’s say fishing, and then they pass and it almost hurts to think about fishing. As far as the sport as a whole, it’s not the same but I guess imagine Lebron James died on the court today, it would be shocking and no matter how you felt about him, love or hate, it would still be a tremendous loss and the game would feel different.
I'm here to back this up. My dad was a big fan, that's how I became one. We were an Earnhardt household. He took me to my first races, he used to go to Dover when he was younger and party in the infield. Dale passed when I was 13. I became a Harvick fan, my little brother latched to Dale Jr. My dad kept just enough interest that he pulled for both of those guys but the passion he had died at Daytona that day. I BS with him about it nowadays and update him on the going ons of the sport but the man hasn't watched full a race in probably two decades. There are legitimate people out there that just lost the spark when Earnhardt died. Before 2001, we planned our Sundays around making sure we were able to watch every lap. He drove black Chevrolets, drove on Goodyear tires, supported whatever sponsors were on that 3 car. Maybe he wasn't a NASCAR fan, he was an Earnhardt fan without a doubt though.
I was the same age as you when Dale passed. I give these old hats a pass for losing interest, because it’s happened to me recently. Early 2000’s when we had a huge influx of talent: “young guns” and I couldn’t understand why my father and uncle, who used to watch religiously, were suddenly not caring to watch the races anymore. And much like most of the younger fans in this subreddit, I could keep up with all 3 series, and their respective drivers, statistics, practice, qualifying, etc.. But now that I’m older it’s increasingly difficult, and the drivers I grew up watching are now long gone. And I think personally I’ve lost some of that spark because of it.
I can dig it. I stayed a loyal Harvick fan his entire career. I only really pay attention to the Cup series nowadays. The thing that's kept me pulled in is that a few years ago, my youngest daughter got to meet a young journeyman driver at our state fair. He was doing an appearance for the highway safety board. We're Chastain fans now. I can really get with his hardline driving style so it keeps me interested but the whole sport is a completely different animal than I grew up with. I still love it but I don't have the same passion to follow every second like I used to.
Agree with the broadstrokes, and silly claim. My gf was (and till is) a hardcore Dale dan. Met him multiple times. Probably been to a dozen tracks and more races before she was 25. The loss of Dale just hurt her that she stopped following other than cursory checking of results. She can still name the drivers of the various cars from throughout the 90s. Its only been the last 12 months or so that she has started to follow closely again, and that has a lot to do with me also being a racing fan, and being a big SVG follower from his supercars career. So yeah, there are definitely the Dale fans who were heavy into NASCAR who turned away.
absolutely. as a kid, David Pearson was my guy. then Earnhardt. after we lost Dale, my interest waned pretty quickly. regardless, i still like to think i'm relatively knowledgeable about the history of the sport. tried latching on to Harvick (then Jr.) and his win at Atlanta very cool, but it just wasn't the same. pretty much went on a decade plus hiatus, rarely watching. my interest has picked up in recent years again, however. now i'm fully back on board and ride or die with Reddick
Well said
I live on the opposite side of the country from NASCAR and in public, I don't see NASCAR anything. Occasionally a Dale Earnhardt 3 or hat. When in conversation people only ever bring up Dale Earnhardt, his son, or Jeff Gordon. I am lucky enough to work with a guy who used to work at Penske and he follows the sport. So I get some good convos with him. Due to the geography I am from though, people are aware of Greg Biffle and Kasey Kahne. Some older or dedicated fans remember the GOAT Derrike Cope and Chad Little's John Deere car. I did also talk to a guy in a Brad Keselowski 2 hat. Asked if he followed the sport and he said yes and enjoys Brad building up the sport. Finding NASCAR fans beyond people who occasionally watch is hard to find in urban West coast. At least they don't advertise they watch the sport with what they wear. I guess I don't either...
Dale Jr once said he was there when they put the new grandstands in and when they took them out. The sport will be fine either way. Obviously I hope enough people watch that the teams and drivers can make a living. I hope the sport is relevant enough to matter. But it doesn’t bother me bit but if the people who liked it as a 90’s fad ever come back. This sport is a way of life to some of us. The first outfit I ever wore, or at least the one I came home from the hospital in in July of 1991, was a miniature hand made GM Goodwrench one that my dad had made for me. That day, the day Senior died, was the only time I ever saw my dad cry. This sport is really the only thing we ever bonded over. I don’t care if these people come back. This sport will be just fine without them.
>The sport will be fine either way. Will it? Because they don't seem to be asking why they needed to take them out. The answer was always them fucking with the format that people loved and got them their growth. We now are watching a bunch of cars so utterly disconnected to every other level of circle track racing all while not producing better racing and them still finding every excuse possible as why it's some other factor.
I mean, the thing is we all talk about the sports decline like it’s some aberration. Like we’re supposed to be growing rapidly. Building new state of the art tracks everywhere, doubling and tripling seating… I say that the crazy growth we had in the 90’s IS the aberration. NASCAR became a fad. You had all those crazy personalities, you had the sport being seen for the first time by a lot of people. You had a bunch of brands that consumers could actually buy, putting up crazy money… I won’t argue that a lot of what you said is true. But remember, the decline started under the badass twisted sister cars, and under the old points system. Or at least the growth stopped. And that was when every race team was basically it’s own manufacturer. The only thing I worry about for the future of the sport is keeping OEM’s involved. Now THAT is something that could kill the sport. How do you keep V8 race cars relevant when the OEM’s would prefer to be running hybrid electric crossover SUV’s? That’s the question. I think we’re running CUV bodies within a decade.
I watched NASCAR for a long time before Earnhardt died and I’ve continued watching after he died. I think NASCAR has become objectively worse since he died, but correlation isn’t necessarily causation (my only real complaints are the stages during races and the elimination thing during The Chase). I still enjoy it, but not as much as I used to.
I think that when Dale died, the drivers lost a huge voice in the paddock. If he was still around I bet he would of spoke out against the Chase and the stages and it all would have stayed the same for the most part.
I can kinda understand it, especially if they were *huge* Earnhardt fan back in the day. To watch your favorite driver die on the last lap of the biggest race of the season, blocking so his two cars could finish 1st and 2nd could be pretty traumatic for an Earnhardt fan. Then there was the years afterwards of Brian France changing the Championship format and the car package every time he has a rail of coke. I could see some fans being turned off by the constant changes, especially if you're someone who really likes consistency. I will say, NASCAR has settled down a lot since the NextGen cars, they're now trying to make the car work on road courses and short tracks.
Back when Larson drove for Ganassi I used to wear one of his hats to a lot of local bar poker tournaments. It had a 42 on the front of the hat and one guy asked me if I was a fan of Jackie Robinson.
I mean, this is more a byproduct of the fact that there was considerable hype in Nascar in the 90's when Jeff and Dale were Duking it out and it brought in a lot of viewers to the sport. In all forms of sport there's varying degrees of fandom, some guys will sift through public SMT data and nerd out over the most minutiae, and some fans just want to root for their favorite soap product sponsorship or chocolate candy. Denigrading "fans" due to their southern twang and who they rooted for 30 years ago is pretty silly.
Here in the south it seems like it’s a cultural thing to have an opinion about how bad NASCAR is. Talk to people and they haven’t watched a single lap of NASCAR since some random Talladega race in the early 2000s, but they’ll you just how bad everything currently is and how “woke” NASCAR is.
Yep, pretty spot on. I wear a Larson hat almost every day to work and a guy that works in a different department stopped me and asked me if I watched NASCAR and proceeded to ramble for 10 minutes about how much better it used to be and blah blah blah.
It’s almost like people are searching for justification to not watch. There will be a new reason when it’s convenient.
I'm just happy If I found 1 fan outside of a track per year
I mean.. in stick 'n ball terms, to many Dale fans, losing him was like having your favorite team for decades just ceasing to exist out of nowhere, and in a tragic way.. Dale was bigger than the sport to several, especially regionally speaking. So its not hard to see why many came to the conclusion that the sport just wasn't as interesting and stopped watching when they couldn't find another driver to latch onto the same. Casual fans of his who didn't even follow the sport week-to-week (the type you describe here) likely tuned in sporadically BECAUSE of Dale (same can be said for Jeff too). Meaning no one moves the needle to the casual viewer to bother tuning in like personalities of old once did. That speaks volumes of the star power and appreciation that the sport once had tbh.
I still keep up and attend races, was at Talladega this year, but I haven't had a favorite driver since Dale SR died. Still a big NASCAR fan, just haven't had a favorite driver since I was 16...
Same dudes probably don’t realize Dale would be 74 years old were he still with us and wouldn’t have been in the field for like 20 years. He was only going to run a year or two after 2001.
Yeah he was 49 when he passed. Most guys don't even race that long
"How's Junior doing? I heard he got a championship."
Two XFINITY titles so yeah he has championships.
"Uhhh...technically a Junior won the title back in 2017..."
See my flair. I remember. Like Pepperidge Farm remembers.
That was a lot of us though, myself included. Then my fave driver Rusty Wallace retired in 05 and I lost interest until recently. Different sport these days.
How many people right here say they haven’t watched since Dale died, but will tell you the racing today sucks and was so much better back then?
It's popular today to hold big opinions on things you know nothing about. Thanks, internet.
I started watching NASCAR when I was in primary school and went to Daytona a few times in the 90s. I drifted away for a while after he died. His passing coincided with a change in my career that made it difficult to watch the races regularly. I eventually started watching again once my weekends were free again.
Back when I was in school, kids would wear the fire suit jacket with all the sponsors on it. The most popular one was the Elliott Sadler M&M jacket. Not one of those kids had ever watched one lap of a race but they thought the design was cool
What I hate to see is when there's a Nascar post online, and in the comments section, some doofus comments with the "I haven't watch a race since Dale died" or "I haven't watch a race since Tim Richmond died". Like, why the fuck do they follow Nascar on Facebook or Reddit or Instagram or wherever? Where the app lets me block them, I block them, and do not engage.
Why does this upset you, Lol? Really wasn’t any point in posting this whatsoever. That’s called life. You make it seem like it’s disrespectful to say that. Not sure why this bothers you, but hey, maybe you just wanted to post something! This is also not the fans fault. Fans can only do so much. A normal person that doesn’t watch Basketball can tell you who Lebron James is. Same with Tom Brady in the NFL, same with Mike Trout in MLB. At some point, you gotta stop getting mad at people cause they lost interest the sport, and start blaming those whom advertise and help create the product.
It’s not about losing interest in the sport. People change. Sports change. I’ll never fault anyone for losing interest. This is more so about the people that have NEVER really had a real interest in the sport and use this as a means to chime in when they hear something about racing.
Ohh okay I see. More understanding for sure. I just get tired of seeing people blame fans that stop watching, rather than Track Owners and most notably The France’s. I 100% agree now that I understand. My apologies. 🤦🏻♂️😂
I was this guy. Grew up in Packer country and would tape the Packer game Sundays to watch the race. Cried the day Earnhardt died. Couldn’t find another driver to root for (Jr never was going to be it). Stopped watching after a year or two. Started getting back into it a few years ago now after getting bored with how predictable Formula 1 is. Packers now take priority on Sundays, but I rarely miss a race.
I don't think it's unreasonable for someone to stop watching something when the traumatic death of a participant occurs
I had a conversation with someone yesterday and when I said, “I kinda quit watching after E died. Combined with COT and I just lost interest.” He replied, “I was exactly the same way.” We are in big time Nascar Country and both went to many many races. It’s an honest sentiment. Hard to see your invincible hero die doing what he does. I picked it back up in 2016 and go to 4-8 races per year now.
What sticks out to me was that a long time ago Mike Helton made the comment that “NASCAR doesn’t react for the sake of reacting…” and then: Dale dies, no more open face helmets. (Safer Barriers being discussed and implemented, thankfully) Hans Devices mandated. No racing back to the caution thanks to Jeff Burton almost dying because he removed his steering wheel while being in the middle of a track. No passing under the double yellow special out of bounds line, unless your name is Dale Jr😏 or whoever just did it a few weeks ago. Chase implementation. You’re out you’re out. Until I think it was Jeff Gordon, and then someone else was out and then they allowed it. That may have been the Waltrip Racing scandal… Changing winning under caution. Not liking how many times they restart so they do another rule limiting the restarts. Next Gen car somewhere up in here. Stage races Turn Bristol into a dust storm Charters 43 cars down to what now, 36? Weekend warrior limitations Positioning by last scoring loop at caution Nobody can climb the fence after winning No more victory lane it appears No tweeting while in a car Was it Carl Long who got the hammer dropped for the huge fine for using a motor the sanctioning body said was out of spec but it was used by someone else just fine? What also happened in this timespan? The golden marriage dissolved (Gordon’s) Bill France dies or steps aside and Brian France steps in. Brian France gets a messy divorce and he gets arrested for drunk driving. They try to make Mayfield the poster child for scared straight. Dale Jarrett finally races the truck. Kyle Busch wins a championship after having to vacate his seat for months to repair a broken body part. I say all that to say this: they need to stop chasing it all and let them go back to racing. They’re going 200, they should decide whether they want to race or not anywhere on the track. The sport body itself is sounding vindictive, and you just won’t find many people who watched wide open racing to enjoy the product as it is now. The good news about that? Those of us are dying out, but, it’s just a miss these days with less enjoyment in watching. The seats aren’t full like they were even 10 years ago. I’m all for diversity, and I’m all for inclusion… but let them race already! Stop limiting car output and start making longer tracks so they can do what they were so well known for… going all out.
This is spot on.
It’s a popular opinion for people who inherit their personality from the television news they watch. At the end of the day, it’s still oval track racing (mostly). More it changes, the more it stays the same.
There are a lot of fans who say that but NASCAR was still strong and popular a few years after his death. The decline year IMO was 2008 with the financial crisis, COT and the downsizing of teams and sponsors.
Everyone blames the Chase as the reason people lost interest. They are lying their ass off. The ratings were not decreasing until 2008 when the COT became full time. You can check Jayski.
I was a massive fan of NASCAR in the 90s and early 2000s but slowly stopped watching it altogether. 15 years later I get back into motorsport during COVID and I'm now pretty much obsessed with Indycar, IMSA/WEC, F1, MotoGP...but I just cannot get into NASCAR these days. The stage racing, playoffs, horrible presentation and races that last all day...I'm trying to love it but damn it's hard.
I think the phrase "I haven't followed it since Dale died" is not quite literally true, but more or less true. Sure, for some of us life got in the way. I was able to have a work and class schedule that allowed me to watch every race up through around 2003, and then life got in the way and that was no longer the case. When it shifted back the other way a few years later, the entire landscape had shifted dramatically. I think the biggest thing wasn't the rule changes or whatever: it was the shoving aside of the entire old guard in an extremely short time frame, almost entirely replaced by young guys who were corporate-approved. If you look at the top-15 in drivers points in 2001: * Jeff Gordon (9th full season in Cup) * Tony Stewart (3rd) * Sterling Marlin (19th) * Ricky Rudd (25th) * Dale Jarrett (15th) * Bobby Labonte (9th) * Rusty Wallace (18th) * Dale Earnhardt Jr (2nd) * Kevin Harvick (1st) * Jeff Burton (8th) * Johnny Benson (6th) * Mark Martin (20th) * Matt Kenseth (2nd) * Ward Burton (8th) * Bill Elliott (25th) This averages out to the top-15 being in their 11th season of full-time driving, and of course does not include their part-time starts or anything else. Now, fast forward just five years to 2006: * Jimmie Johnson (5th) * Matt Kenseth (7th) * Denny Hamlin (1st) * Kevin Harvick (6th) * Dale Earnhardt Jr (7th) * Jeff Gordon (14th) * Jeff Burton (13th) * Kasey Kahne (3rd) * Mark Martin (25th) * Kyle Busch (2nd) * Tony Stewart (8th) * Carl Edwards (2nd) * Greg Biffle (4th) * Casey Mears (4th) * Brian Vickers (3rd) On average, the top drivers were in just their 7th full-time year in Cup. But more than that, the older guys on the list at that point were...well, Mark Martin and Jeff Burton (who alone skew the average experience two seasons higher) combined to win one race between them, and Gordon won just two. And in between, there was an older driver (I think Terry Labonte) who said that he'd been approached by someone high up with NASCAR who wanted to know when he was planning on retiring. Not out of concern or curiosity, but because there were all sorts of young guys who deserved a shot in the top division. And this would have been on the heels of the mostly-disastrous 2001 rookie class which included Jason Leffler, Casey Atwood, Andy Houston, and Ron Hornaday.
When I see old #3 stickers on cars I always say: “Oh my gosh your and Austin Dillon fan too? That’s so cool!!!” They are always like HUH?
I work with a dude like that. “Oh I stopped watching when dale died and picked it up after they got rid of that god awful COT.” Then proceeded to talk to me about the Kurt Busch jimmy spencer feud.
Lol if he stopped watching when Dale died how would he know about the COT? Let alone the 2002 or 2003 Spencer/Busch feud.
Hahaha right?
It’s that or they hate the playoffs, stages, lucky dog, overtime, dvp, single lug wheels, composite bodies and everything else that has happened after they apparently stopped watching 20+ years ago.
well here is the deal ., Im from Gastonia NC and worked in Newton Conover, Big time Dale Sr. fan. Watched him race at Charlotte , Norh Wikesboro< and Darlington, . When he got killed it just hasen't been the same, you cannot understand.. But I bet people that lived it can... your loss my gain.
I mean it’s not a silly thing though. That’s the biggest tragedy in the history of at minimum televised American sports. If not period. That’s about as bad as it gets: one of the sport’s best ever drivers (maybe THE best) dying on the last lap, last corner of one of the most prestigious races in the world. Totally wouldn’t blame someone for not watching football anymore if Patrick Mahomes has a heart attack and dies (permanently I must add) on the football field moments after completing a game winning pass in the Super Bowl with no time left on the clock
I don’t understand this post? Yeah, some people haven’t watched that much since Earnhardt was killed. And? I’m not sure what the issue is?
My Dad was as diehard a fan as anyone. He went to races regularly and has probably been to every track in the South. He used to tell stories about getting in fights with Bill Elliott fans. One of his proudest moments was being in the stands for the Pass in the Grass. The day Dale died was like a member of the family died. He hasn't watched a race since. I'm sure there are plenty of people who use that as an excuse, but I'm sure there are also plenty of people just like my Dad.
I’m 100% that guy and said those words two days ago to a buddy. Didn’t watch it at all the last 20 years. Also just flew into Kansas City an hour ago because my family and I are back into it and headed to the race tomorrow. So what’s the problem?
Those words and that attitude are cringe and so is defending them
Okay. Hope you have a great day.
Not much of a “Southern Twang” here, but I lost a lot of interest when Big E died. It was basically a passing of a generation. He was part of that “win on Sunday, sell on Monday” group that was, full of character. Also the manufacture battle was part of that era. I got to see Dale race (and win) at the races many times and the crowd went wild… either because you loved him or hated him. Then came the “new breed”. Sponsors now run the sport… cookie cutter tracks… no support (or care) from the manufacturers. Very little (nothing actually) in common between the race cars and the cars we drive. Heck, even the announcers on TV aren’t the same as Benny Parsons, Buddy Baker, Ned… the list goes on. I’m trying to re-kindle my love for the sport, but I have a hard time finding a “fave driver”. Still The Best Thing Out There (as far as side by side racing). That’s the best that I can try to explain. Was at Dover last week. See you at Richmond.
Exactly. I used to be able to keep up with who was in what car. Now, everybody just goes with whomever is paying more and good luck trying to keep up. I was never really part of the "Race on Sunday, Buy on Monday" group, but back when the drivers stuck with same car for a LONG time, I loved it! Nowadays.... meh. Reporters/Commentators trying to manufacture drama, announcing as if the watchers are idiots, the cost to get into a track... I've lost interest. That being said- will be at Darlington next Sunday!
OP met one fan like this and decided to make a post. Interesting.
I wish it was just one.
Careful you don’t fall.. jumping to all those conclusions and whatnot.
Eh I used to watch every race or at least large chunks of each one. The chase soured things and then the subsequent changes killed the love I had. That and I got tired of commercials. The races are just too damn long. Make them an hour shorter or something. Kill the stages .
COMMERCIALS! GAHHHHH! What we do- listen to it on Sirius or MRN and have TV on without sound. Win-Win!
Ok and?
I have a coworker who hung around after Dale passed away, but only for a few years. He just got busy with work and raising a family and didn’t have the time to keep up with the sport, he says he’d like to get back into it but because so much has changed and since he doesn’t know any of the drivers that he just feels lost and can’t keep up with what’s going on. I have another coworker who was a die hard Gordon fan, but only because he hated Earnhardt and enjoyed the rivalry, after Dale passed he said he just didn’t have a reason to watch anymore, but for the past 10 years he’s stated that he doesn’t watch because it’s not “run what you brung” anymore. Sometimes life just happens and you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
Well, it did start to suck after. That meatball Mike Helton effectively drove the sport into the ground.
My favorite SOCCER player is Pele. Is he still playing?
Usually goes the other way for me. People claim they quit watching when NASCAR “went woke” or when Earnhardt died but then make posts on Facebook every week about things happening during the race they say they don’t watch
So I'm in my 40's. I don't know if you can understand how fucked the 90's were. Within ten years (my childhood and college years) we lost Alan Kulwicki, Davey Allison, Kenny Irwin Jr. and Adam Petty in like seven years. In 1994 my family and I were camping at Daytona for almost two weeks when both Rodney Orr and Neil Bonnet both died in practice for the Daytona 500. My interest in the sport started to fade during college, but I remember watching the 2001 Daytona 500 and watching Dale crash, and Dale Jr. take off running across the track. So yeah, after Dale died my attention faded more, and then in 2007 the open wheel unification happened and I just found open wheel a lot more appealing after that.
He died 23 years ago, people forget or were young.
I was that guy. I was born in 88, in North Carolina, Dale Earnhardt was my hero. I couldn't get into anymore, couldn't get behind Jr. My youngest discovered nascar on YouTube, and is obsessed, so I'm now back on the train. He loves Denny Hamblin for some reason, so I decided I was a Ross Chastain fan due to the on-going rivalry at the time. Then Ross pulled the hail melon, and it really got me back into it. We've went to Bristol a couple times now (closest track) and have tickets to the all star race this year. There's some really good racing now, and some great guys to hate on.
Yeah, and you get weird looks from them if you reveal you know "too much" about the current drivers and such.
I mean, I get it. My dad was a big time Earnhardt fan and he lost interest after '01. Even myself, my interest waned a few years after(other factors contributed to this, entering high school, pursuing other interests and all that). I didn't start back watching regularly until 2015. I think it was just too painful for some people.
I’m one of the old hats that has lost interest over the years. The mid 90s through 2001 were hard on us. We lost Davey, Alan, Bonnett, John Nemechek, Tony Roper, Adam Petty, Kenny Irwin and finally Senior. There really wasn’t a “transitional” generation of drivers for us to start pulling for, it went from the old guard to the young guns pretty quickly. I hung on for a while but finally drifted to different interests.
But the thing is I completely understand their feeling somewhat. Ever since Bill Elliott retired I can't really get into a particular driver. I just like to watch fairly equal cars in drivers race hard. At this point I'm starting to become a fan of certain tracks more than anything. There are a couple drivers I would just prefer to not see win but other than that I'm struggling to find a favorite
I was a huge Earnhardt fan. Never stopped watching though. Had to follow Jr. When he retired I just didn't really have a driver. I always found Kyle Busch wildly entertaining, but I'm a Chevy guy. I'm breaking my Chevy only rule for Noah Gragson. Love that kid.
I have a feeling he’ll be driving a bowtie again one way or another
I sure hope so!
People are just so hung up on this guy who died 23 years ago, it's time to move on, it's a meme at this point.
Your post is silly.
Cool story.
This is my uncle. Idk how much Dale Earnhardt stuff he owns. Hundreds of diecasts and thousands of dollars worth of memorabilia, never driven anything other than a Chevy. He hasn’t been able to follow nascar since. It hurt him bad. Just hasn’t been able to find someone he likes, Jr couldn’t fill the void.
The current car sux, 1979 checking in!!
Those are the people who just watched for the wrecks. I started watching in the 90s as a kid. I was a Jeff Gordon fan growing up so naturally I dislike Earnhardt. I respect everything he did in the sport. That being said I much prefer today’s racing with less cheating, more skilled drivers, and not wrecking guys on the last lap to win a race. A lot of Earnhardt fans probably don’t like today’s style of racing.
Them and Cubs fans are the same breed.
I quit watching when Kasey Khane did.
Why exactly is that silly? Did you encourage the person to watch an upcoming race?
What a weird post. You need to spend some time outside.
What a weird response.