By The Commish

Dear Brian France,

You don't know me, but I'm one of those loyal NASCAR fans you're always talking about. I've followed the sport for nearly 30 years. I'm one of those urban professionals your advertisers want. I've studied the sport and written about it for a lot of years. You seem to think that I enjoy the sport you're running these days, so I thought I’d drop this line to let you know what I really think. Think of this as a one-fan focus group, because I think I speak for a lot of other fans in what I say.

First of all, we still love racing and NASCAR—- but not as much as we used to. There are a lot of reasons for this. First and foremost is the horrible quality of racing this year. Forget all your artificial stats about 'quality passes.' The new 'Car of Terror' is the Car of Boredom, and on-track passes have been as scarce as hen's teeth this year. Passes on pit road for the lead don't interest us. We want to watch racing, not tire-changing. And in most races this year, especially the races on the intermediate tracks like Atlanta and Texas, it's just a strung-out parade with no excitement once the good wears off a new set of tires. We never used to miss a minute of a race. Now during these snoozers, I often change the channel for fifteen or twenty minutes, because I know nothing will have changed when I come back. From what my friends on various discussion boards say, I know I’m not alone. That can’t make your advertisers happy.

And then there's the travesty you call the Chase for the Championship. We all know this is a made-for-TV championship that has diluted the quality of competition. Now, a team doesn't have to win the entire season; it just has to stay in the top twelve and then try to put together a ten-week sprint. It only took the good teams three years to figure out that system, and now there are only four organizations represented in the Chase. That's plain boring. The Chase hasn't improved competition, like you promised. Rather, it's made it impossible for most teams to compete for the title. Do you really think your late father would have tolerated this situation? He always made the quality of racing paramount. Mr. France, you're clearly not your father.

Speaking of TV, that's another major aggravation. Your high-paid, fancy-coiffed broadcasters may have a lot of racing knowledge, but they’re not very fan-centered. They get on one story for a race—whether it's Jimmie Johnson or Kyle Busch or Dale Earnhardt Jr. No matter what other drivers are doing on the track, they stick to that story. If your driver isn't in the Chase, or one of the feature drivers, you're likely never to see him on camera during a race. NASCAR isn't putting any pressure on its broadcast partners to improve the situation. If anything, in the time of the Chase it's gotten worse. Would it kill them to mention that Bobby Labonte or Reed Sorenson or Scott Riggs are in the race? Those teams need the Joyce Julius numbers as much, if not more, than the well-funded teams. Like the fans, they're struggling to survive. As fans, we want there to be more than four or five mega-teams. We have a warm spot in our hearts for the Wood Brothers and the Pettys and even (despite everything) DEI. We don't want a purely corporate garage. It's too vanilla for our tastes.

And you know the economy is hurting us all. This year I've gone to four races thanks to some lucky circumstances and the fact that I live near a number of tracks. If I had to add an overnight stay to any of those trips, I wouldn’t have been able to afford to go to any of them. Those three-night hotel minimums are too expensive for me and for a lot of fans. Most of my friends have cut back on the races they attend, or stopped going altogether. We see those empty seats at tracks that are normally full. They're empty not only because the economy is hurting us but because the entertainment value of the racing has been so diluted. Who wants to spend a semester's tuition at community college to take a family of four to a boring race weekend? But that’s what you and your track partners are asking us to do. Believe me, all the Jessica Simpson and REO Speedwagon concerts in the world aren't enough to make us sit through the bad racing your series is putting on now.

Mr. France, I'm not alone in my discontent. Your attendance is down, TV ratings are down, and fans are defecting back to football and other sports. Sponsors are pulling out right and left, and new ones aren’t showing up to replace them. Like Dale Jr. said at Texas, there's no reason to race home after church on Sundays to watch these snooze-fests any more. Your greed for TV ratings and corporate suite rentals has mortally wounded the golden goose that was stock car racing, and the blame lies squarely on your shoulders. My driver is a couple of years from retiring, and it's not likely that I will stay with racing once he hangs up his helmet, not unless the sport becomes a lot more competitive and gives me something to watch.

The question is whether you still want me, and all the thousands of fans and consumers and customers like me, anymore. If you want to keep us interested, check your ego at the door, admit that all your upscale changes haven't had the effects you intended, and fix the product. If we're stuck with this COT, let the crew chiefs and engineers have the leeway to make the racing better. Make the broadcasters and tracks deliver a more fan-friendly product. Stop messing around with your real estate deals in Manhattan and your feints at buying an NFL team and focus on your core business: Racing. Honor your family traditions and the commitment you’ve made to us, the fans. Give us our NASCAR back. It's in your hands, Mr. France. Don't drop the ball.

Sincerely,
The Commish

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