Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

The reason these guys go to Nascar is there is more money, more races, more fans, etc,,,etc,,. I am over 50 and remember the good days of Indy. Now they drive computers that shift and think for them. They have silly flaps for gaining speed like a computer game race car. They need to get back to old style cars where the driver does more than steer a car. To me indy cars are nothing more than large go-carts. That is why thet go to Nascar.

I tell it like I see it.

I really it doesn't matter what kind of machine they are racing, what matters is somehow identifing or having some kind of a conection with the driver. Back in the big days of Indycar in my humble opinion you had the andretti's and the unsers, foyt and rutherford. These guys came from parts of the United States. They came from Pennsylvania (by way of Italy at age 15), and New Mexico, Texas, and Kansas. These guys all came from a regional fan base. Many many people were able to see them race at somewhat local venues through USAC. They all did sometime in NASCAR as well. At the time the Indy cars were the king of the hill, the "definition of race car" built only for racing. Then came along the psuedo owners that really didn't have the capitol to field a car and started selling rides to the european million/billionaires, and after a couple of years of this pretty soon if an American race fan read the Indy car roster he might recognize 3 or 4 drivers. Most fans start as family and friends of a particular driver, and after getting to the track and meeting other drivers it spreads to where you know 10 or more of the drivers competing. Some of the real die hard fans go to the track not knowing anybody but because of the sport (local dirt track racing) and the accesibility of the cars and drivers they get to know and form a connection with them. Again in my opinion when the Indy cars started bringing in these european millionaires as fast as indy cars were declining NASCAR was gaining strength. People had seen the Pettys, Earnhardts, Wallaces, Waltrips, at there local tracks and now THEY were on their TVs. And as we all know where all the money is in racing is the almighty TV. Come on love him or hate him who in the sprint car world hasn't been keeping an eye on the nationwide results to see how Kyle did? Just my 2 cents

My point?

Somewhere after all this, things got boring for the fans and no one seemed to care. By 1987, the peak had been found, and then an 8 year downward spiral, which has led to an 18 year dropoff in attendance, fameworthyness, awefactor, whatever you wish to call it.

Indy is supposed to be bigger than life, but it has been slipping and the numbers prove it.

Aw shucks...I thought this was going to be about Danicky going back to race the IRL!

I would be hard pressed to name a driver in the present series. I grew up with Vukovich, Ruby, Sessions, and those guys. As a kid, in 53 & 54 I would, on occasion, stop by Eli Vukovich's house as he and his brother Bill would be working on their cars. I was thrilled that they let a "snot nosed kid" just stand there and watch them. It was truly a sad day for me when Billy lost his life.

A young and talented driver today will get to NASCAR as quickly as he can as that is where the money is. The old saying...follow the money...well that is what the kids today are doing.

At times, I wonder how much longer grass-roots racing will even be around. I think it might be a race between the tree huggers and lack of a new fan base to see its demise.

 
I LEARNED ESP FROM MY MOM

"PUT YOUR SWEATER ON: DON'T YOU THINK I KNOW WHEN 
YOU'RE COLD?"

Never hit stationary objects!

+1

SUPPORT WILDLIFE, go to a sprint car race! 

Agreed. I followed Dario Franchetti's hauler from Lincoln, Nebraska almost to Colorado after Nationals & had to Google him to find out who he was.

Opnwhlr: " At times, I wonder how much longer grass-roots racing will even be around. I think it might be a race between the tree huggers and lack of a new fan base to see its demise."

I wonder about that too, but I don't think "tree huggers" have anything to do with it. They are worried about bigger issues than sprint car racing. I'm sure all the diesel haulers create more pollution than the racers, and those are only a tiny fraction of all the diesel traffic.

The issue is fan base.

Tree huggers have nothing to do with the downturn in all forms of motor racing. Young people today do no have love affairs with automobiles like we did. They have love affairs with Galaxy V phones and iPhones and playing games with their hands. It is even a fact that young people today do not even want to own cars. That is the real problem, so don't try to find fault where it isn't.

It is also true that we do not have people with the passion to promote motor racing like the days past. Where are the JC Agajanians of today, nowhere. JC walked around with the big cowboy hat as a guy bigger than life, and people wanted to know what he was all about. He talked racing everywhere he went, and that was interesting to people.

H.A Humpy Wheeler, there was a promotor! He made every event at Charlotte like a circus event, guns blazing everywhere, and you knew you would be entertained as well as seeing a race.

Times have just changed, and as with many things, our beloved racing is falling behind, and may become extinct

Just thought I'd throw this in. The last dirt car to race at Indy.

I think young people still have a love automobiles today also the same that they did in the old days. I still consider myself a young person in my 20's and my friends and I have always been around cars and reading about them ever since we were little kids because of our parents. I do think the car market is different today than it was years ago and we know that there is no point in owning a car when we will get next to nothing trading it in at a later date.

I do agree that no one promotes today like they use to. When I was a kid and the whole indycar and cart split happened, it made it confusing as to why guys like Michael Andretti and Al Unser were racing "indycars" but they were not in the indy 500 and racing in a cart race the next day. Not a very good way to promote your sport when some of the best drivers are not even in the field. The way the cars were described just did not sound challenging the way the announcers were talking about them. It really sounded like a computer controlled the whole thing and all the driver was responsible for was turning the wheel.

At Indy in the good old days time trials were big. Then attendance in time trials was more people than at any other race in US., except the race. There were say 50 cars entered or more. Bump day was bigger than big. Some people went only for time trials and bump day but not to race. I knew a guy that did this and I only thought WOW. Money is a big factor, even with inflation it costs so much more money. Back in the 1950 s you could maybe get a car in field for $25,000. Now a steering wheel costs $25,000 (no kidding). The cars then were quite simple. The crews then were rough and tuff hard drinking survivers of WW 2. Fist fights were common at the bars at night. In this day and age can you imagine a brand new Indy car from California being hauled in a open trailer. The cars killed some of the finest drivers, alot of drivers. We can never go back in time.

Never hit stationary objects!