@Jorge Jefferson . . . Your comment about the _beautiful people they wanted as fans_ struck a chord with me, which had me recalling years ago when the TV news did a piece on the Las Vegas Motor Speedway with the (ahem!) _improvements_ NASCAR was making at the track, such as having _salads served_ by food vendors, and the construction of a (ugh!) _day spa._ I got sick-to-my-stomach hearing that!

Well said Jorge and so true !

@@bloqk16 That's righttttt.. the comment about spas and salads served in Vegas is spot on... NASCAR racing was made successful by its original fan base and the hot dogs at Martinsville are a prime example of the greatness of of NASCAR... not the sushi, caviar, salads, and champagne dreams of sin city and the like.

Plain and simple nascar sold out to the almighty dollar and all that came along with it…. From another view, I’m friends with a group of street racers, drag racing, and engine builders. They all black, I’m not, but I had contacts in the top floor of a very large company. I brought up the idea of an NHRA sponsorship to the main drag car and engine builder. He told me no way, no how. He was happy at home every night, and racing on the streets, jumping on the hauler before the cops got there. He was right, and at the time I didn’t understand, but he knew what came along with selling out. Let’s hope nascar changes their evil ways soon, and gets back to where it was fun and pure. I think Dale Sr will play a key role in doing that.

I'm a white man from the southeast and I have one thing to say to you sir. AMEN

Sadly, this is facts…

race is show and show is race? Maybe not always :D

@@IanTheMotorsportsMan_YT it’s kinda sad that’s what sells nowadays

Also Richard Petty when your going backwards its never good. There will be a day we say god we sure miss those mile and a halfs. NASCAR Fans 15 years from now will be missing Pocono, Dover, CHICAGOLAND, Kentucky, The 2 mile gem Auto Club Speedway, and so on. Imagine telling someone from this Era we will have Rovals and dirt on Bristol, and no Brickyard. Ha they laugh at you then kick you in the balls. Not sure what Phelps and company are snorting cause there vision of the future is whakyer than a mf. I MISS BRIAN FRANCE

@@goldleaf889 Brian France is terrible, whatcha mean ya miss him?? Lol He’s the reason why NASCAR is like this garbage to this day

Nascar hasn’t been the same since Darrell left the booth. No race has been as exciting without that BOOGITY BOOGITY BOOGITY!! LETS GO RACING BOYS!!!

Right or wrong on this topic you lose all your points by assuming Darrell was smart enough to know anything. His IQ is under 50 on his best day.

It grew over the next 10 years tho

Waldrop overstayed his welcome and his stupid boogidy boogidy was so damn annoying it left a stain on his legacy

Too bad they don't listen to drivers

Good comments and spot on.

They've also killed other favorites like Bristol with new pavement and dirt.

@@bucky13 I love dirt racing, and I think them running dirt is a great idea but run it on a track that was built as a dirt track. Eldora, Springfield, or hell go to Grandview in PA or New egypt or Bridgeport in NJ. But go somewhere the track was built as dirt not dirt dumped on asphalt.

@@willp8003 Agreed. It's not so much the dirt, it's them replacing a race I went to since I was young.

@@willp8003 Super dirt week in NY is an absolute joke now since they tore down the mile and tried the dirt on pavement nonsense. I agree 100 percent. Go to a dirt track if you want to race dirt. Arca races at Springfield. I think the cup boys would do just fine as well.

@@joshedwards2535 yea tell me about it, there are only three state fair miles left, they decided to chase the gambling and harness racing dollar at Indiana so they put limestone down on the Hoosier mile the track of champions, it still urks me and we knew it was coming but we thought we could get one more Hoosier 100 out of it and two weeks before the event early may they start the conversion, stupid state fair, we are known for cars, not as much for horse racing, though on investigation on limestone tracks they do race harness and trotter on them but not thoroughbreds and the website about it said Indiana was the hub of the wheel of that type of racing around the region so I guess its all the Amish and Mennonite with all them farms, I guess, dont get me wrong I love horses I did 4h, but I love iron horses more trains that is, but my blood growing up around auburn indiana is oil, historical cars are our soul up here, but loosing the moody mile very sad, hearing of the world of outlaws running there all out eye opening, and surprising that with a bigger engine and lighter build they were not faster then the dirt champ cars or silver crowns, how can that be one wonders? Hearing that Sammy Swindel's wing collapsed I could only imagine how much that would shock a driver, all this learned after just inquiring if the world of outlaws raced at the Hoosier mile, which seems to be no evedence of on youtube, and thinging I mistook the outlaws for the silver crowns when sprint driver Steve Kinser raced that time I saw on tv in the late 90's to early 2000's, and then to hear last year that the Hoosier mile that had had cars raced on it off and on since 1903 would no longer be allowed I was just heart broken, Waltrip is right if you loose your roots you wake up one day to find your core is gone that you could rely on in tough lean times for a sport or activity, or even as a collective sort of community of any kind. and its been said those that dont remember the past have no future, and those that forget the mistakes of the past are bound to repeat them. However those things in the past that were there as old reliable and taken for granted may not be there to cling to after all is said and done.

Super good dude. Met him a couple times. Once at winchester, and once at irp. Guy was top notch both times.

The TV guys can't even say anything like that in today's world

F1 has changed as well but much better racing in my opinion. Yes they have their moments but so much easier to watch and more strategy.

What’s up with all these people who know nothing about cars or tools being obsessed with F1 recently? I’m a mechanic I race cars and motorcycles and Now all these people in my life who never gave a damn about racing are avid F1 fans. So I turn on a race and while they are in the pits before the action in Miami a bunch of celebrities are walking in the pit lane talking about Lewis Hamilton and making remarks about black people taking over and some really almost racist stuff if a white person acted that way I think F1 would have been canceled, but anyways that behavior was enough for me I get the point. I guess F1 went woke or something and there is no class anymore. I’m sure those fans will be around for decades, NOT lol.

I think Darrel could see the issues that nascar had and even though nascar would grow to mega popularity in the early 2000s, the lack of addressing those issues lead to its down turn in the 2010s and beyond.

The stands were a pretty full at most the tracks this season and I think the addition of more road courses and short tracks is goona help revitalize the sport. I think Nascar saw the mistake they had made

But they can’t get 50,000- 100,000 fans at these places all the time unless it’s Daytona, Talladega and 2 road courses. North Wilkesboro would still do good if not better financially wise in the schedule. That’s why Darlington still does well because of it to this day.

The sport is ruined. It was probably the greatest sport of all time

@@thatonefatguy9043 Your dreaming. I live about an hour from the track at Dover. In the late 90's and early 2000's that place held around 125,000 fans. There was a 5 year waiting list to buy tickets. Everyone in my area had "season tickets" to both Winston Cup races each year. If someone in your family or a close friend died that had those tickets, other family and friends would do everything they could to get those tickets if they were fans. Over the past 10 years Dover has been removing seats like crazy. They have been selling them to other sporting venues. The track that held a 125,000 seats in 2000 now has around 50,000 and they can't even fill half of them. At one time the track looked like a giant state of the art football stadium from the exterior. Now it has returned to how it looked in the mid 1980's. In it's hey day tickets were $300 a seat. Now tickets are $60 and if your smart you can get them for free, because it seems they give a lot away to different 501c groups to give away at silent auctions and stuff. NASCAR is dead and it's not coming back. Almost no one in my area even watches NASCAR anymore. The area was like a carnival on NASCAR weekends back in the day. Every commercial business it seemed had something NASCAR going on, those weekends. Everything from show cars to carnival like events. You couldn't even dare drive anywhere near Dover due to traffic on race weekends. Now race weekends are like any other weekend.

Mike C. Yet to stay in good terms with NASCAR he had to shill out for the gimmicks on TV. I hope he talks more about how NASCAR is in decline.

What was so special about North Wilkesboro? And what good would keeping it on Winston Cup’s schedule?

Michael Daly people were loyal to the track and it was the only real big thing to do in that area of North Carolina. It was like how college football towns that have old stadiums on campus put money into the stadiums and make sure they still play there. It could also go for lambeau field in Green Bay. The people there have renovated the stadium to keep up with nfl standards. Going back to nascar look at Darlington they put money into the track and renovated it. This was the heart of NASCAR country were NASCAR was the only big show in that area and always had big crowds.

@@robminmonaca The football stadium renovation argument ignores the issue of the market. North Wilkesboro was a tiny market and it had no ability to grow. The sport grew to where it was a waste to stay in a market like North Wilkesboro. As for Darlington it took taking away one date for that market to get serious about itself again. Darlington will never again have two dates because it will never again deserve them. North Wilkesboro will never race again because that market can't justify it.

Michael, funny that since leaving the "no room to grow" NW track Nascar hasn't grown but declined greatly. Ironic, huh?

Mike, just what does “consideration for the fans” supposed to entail?

Nascar must not get the concept of more fans more money.

Same here. I used to watch everything nascar up until about 3-4 years ago. Shame but I guess I have more free time now.

I haven’t watched since the mid 2000s couldn’t tell you who a driver is now days!!!!!

It took you guys that long to realize NASCAR ruined their entire sport? Shit.......I quit watching entirely around 2006. And yes, it was along in those years when it really started going to shit.

S.B. 212 ....................D.W. ...blows to who ever is paying him !!!!!!!

The lucky dog is the most egregious racing rule ever implemented. I remember a couple years ago at Bristol when hamilin’s guys failed to get a wheel tight twice putting him two laps down. Two lucky dogs later he’s passing a winless Matt debitetto for the win in final laps.

Well it was number 1 watch sport for few years then it died lol

It was as big as NFL in the early mid 2000s.

Greed selfish self centered

Very correct. Look at the Vanderbilts, Rockefellers and the house of Morgan. While much of the original wealth was donated away and spread out among many family members, none of next generations ever got even close to any success in their respective businesses. And those empires that were built are barely recognizable or non existent today and have almost no power or influence.

you've got that a bit wrong. See Bill Jr. (Gen 2) kept NASCAR on top until he got so old that Brian (Gen 3) took over. THAT is how this one went. NASCAR's boom of the 90's and early 2000's was under Bill Jr.

I despise corporations as much as I despise socialism and communism. They dont give a damn about anything except the layers of top management making a buck. Wall Street can go f**k off for all I care. Jefferson's vision of America was far better than Hamilton's.

Dirt track racing is better even though in the modifieds it's either Sheppard or Friesen winning most of the races. Still a lot more exciting to watch them charge through the field than the overpaid nascar drivers.

Just 40-50,000

@@STP43FAN1 60k

No. 50,000

It was 60k in the 90s, the capacity got reduced after the race left the calender.

It was expanded to 50,000 then frozen

That's because we have incompetent people listening to an incompetent government over a virus made in a lab. You should check out Rand Paul vs Fauci on YT. Fauci makes an ass outta himself. And Fauci proclaimed that he represents science.

@@wilclark9486 take your meds willy

@@WaltTheCardManiac Poor snowflake. My meds is the US Constitution. What's yours you incompetent twit?

@@WaltTheCardManiac 3 hours later and not a reply? 😐 Why do we have an incompetent government? Well let me tell a short story involving incompetent people voting for and electing them in. 🤗

Nascar made sure Jeff Gordon was the star, by any means necessary. They lost their luster when they started rigging races. I used to tape all the races back when Bristal still had a skyline. It has been years since I even watched a single lap of a nascar race. Nascar got greedy.

Same here! In the 90s I watched every lap that was on TV and attended 2 or 3 races every year but haven’t watched a race in many years! They changed everything and their greed ruined the sport!

For someone that doesn’t watch you sure seem to know everything going on. So weird.

I didn't miss a lap that Rusty Wallace ran from '95 until his retirement. If they weren't starting to do all this stupid chase stuff I probably would have just kept rooting for whoever was Penske's top driver. Now I haven't watched more than a few seconds of a race since '05.

Yup. I was - _and still am_ - a fan of old-time stock-car racing from the 60's and 70's. "Grass-roots" racing was at its best back in the sixties, and NASCAR just began fiddling with it a little too much in the late-seventies and eighties, and getting worse in the past few decades. When they went to the "Shootout" stuff, it turned me off completely. Whereas fans USED TO BE drawn to watch a _Stock Car Race,_ now NASCAR is trying to appeal to people who don't care one bit about the engineering of the cars and how it compares to what's parked out in the driveway. NASCAR is out of touch with reality, and they want NASCAR groupies as fans, not car guys.

No. The Brickyard outdraws today what North Wilkesboro could ever draw.

@@STP43FAN1 you are missing the point that this was a turning point in the decline of nascar. Go nascar and take bubba and phelps with u.. Let's go Brandon..

No Terry, YOU’RE missing the point. The popularity kept increasing and nobody started talking about missing North Wilkesboro until Brian France and John Darby mismanagement kept escalating. Fans don’t ACTUALLY want more short tracks. They just want to punish the bigger tracks out of stupid spite.

On the other hand, maybe with all the big money draining it will eventually go back to its roots a bit more?

@@Dooblecaine I don't see it. NASCAR has been ruined

Well the All-Star race and the Truck Series next year begs to differ. Yes NASCAR is coming back.

They actually abandoned their core Motorsports audience like us

Back and forth constant passing is really dangerous though and leads to crashes, not something Nascar teams want happening to thier multi million dollar cars on a weekly basis.

I can see where you're coming from. When guys like Dale Jr. and Richard Petty ran they ran on one set of rules even when the cars changed over the years. Now you have segmented races, playoff racing, and the Chase overall Me personally Ive watched NASCAR since I was a kid in the 80s and 90s and while I don't mind the changes I can understand how it turns some old school fans off

To further clarify, nascar blatantly equating the chase to the Winston era more ticked me off. If they would have come clean from the start It may have been better. Don’t get me wrong. The current chase seems exciting, but winning one race and your “in” doesn’t do it for me. If I had my way, winning a race would be at min 75% of laps complete with weather issues. Top 16 in points period make the chase, regardless of wins. Old points system with an extra 25 for winning. A ford is a ford, a Chevy a chevy, Etc, remove the template, its not IROC racing, And a rim has more than one lug nut for crying out loud! And bring back the Rock!

@B U using your logic, one could argue it was harder for Johnson to win 7 since rules kept changing.

@@JamesJohnson-sl6zc You got it! My argument is equating the chase vs winston era. The Chase could be harder, then dont compare #43 and #3 to the #48.

@@JamesJohnson-sl6zc no, the Chase allows for a team to pretty much have a crappy first half, with only a win, to race for the championship. You only have to be good in a handful of races. The old points system rewarded a driver for being consistent and for winning throughout the year. Definitely easier to win under the Chase rules than the old rules.

NASCAR had been dying a slow painful death..... When Dale Earnhardt died that was the final straw..... It's been circling the bottom of the toilet bowl for some time and it's starting to make its final departure....

No truer words. I only fallow nascar history now. Dale jr has great podcast from time to time with old time drivers and crew chiefs.

All the older fans have been dumped on by NASCR catering to get the young woke crowd. Bubba is now king and the old fans do not care. Too bad because the two races this year I have seen were very competitive. Also the advertising is way out of hand. One time I counted 23 advertisers on the tv screen at one time. Not the little decals on the cars. It really sucks and insults the fans. I would rather watch Tony Stewarts new series.

It would be nice to replace with a mls stadium 🏟

The sport is better off without you.

@@RazgrizWing Thanks

Your right about the sponsorship and if Rickey bobby has anything to say about it there will be fig Newton sponsorship on every windshield

@@donaldverhota7503 This sticker is inconvenient and dangerous, but I do love fig newton's. It really puts the numbers 2nd to the sponsors. Its bad for the iconic ones.

The V Man and a credible alternative is......what? Letting crew chiefs and engineers bankrupt their teams still just to gain one extra tenth they’ll never win with? That’s pretty much what you seem to be saying

@@STP43FAN1 i wasn't suggesting that, but that sounds like furniture row. Teams like jgr have TRD money behind them, so that's not an issue. The cost now compared to years ago is ridiculous. The rules force teams to spend more to find thousandths for an edge without getting caught, it's cheaper to find tenths. People just buy charters now as a tax write off, probably launder money too. Then over pay drivers that purchased development contracts to get where they are in the first place.

I took a trip to see the track a few months ago. "Soon" may mean quite different things to us... I think the track might be lucky to see a truck race in the next 3-5 years.

It will run local racing. Like you state it will take a misguided miracle to get even the Trucks there

Pro sports have ALL done the same thing. Money has fucked up NASCAR just like it has every other sport. The dumbasses price the average fan right out of the door then start to cry when they can't get anybody to show up any more.

No they don’t. In fact it’s lack of cautions that drives more fans to anger

Same for me. Every time a popular driver is about to go a lap down, nascar manages to find a water bottle on the track.