Of course there will be drug testing, as all drivers are requred to get all jacked up on booze and coaine befroe the racing begins.

The drug testing will assure all drivers are properly juiced, and the races will be run on Florida intercoastal bridges, for public saftey.

It is rumored that a close France family member, possibly Bill France’s grandson, has alrrady been testing out this new type of racing.

All in the name of keeping Fans happy … YEEEEE-HAAA

DW – Digger – and now watching Rick Flair come out and scream like a girl, yeah it certainly makes me want to spend my $$ attending a race or spend my time watching on tv. Is someone trying to purposely turn the fans off. If so then congrats to them.

i completely agree that nascar is a business and, like any business, it should focus on making money. welcome to the world of capitalism, huh? but . . . i have worked in retail for over 30 and i disagree with the rest of your comments.

1. i certainly HAVE “figured out” that happy fans spend money. but unhappy fans do as well: we just spend less than we would have otherwise. i don’t want to see our sport go under but i won’t support it to the same level i have previously precisely b/c i AM so unhappy. so, now i only go to 2 races a year, not four, and i no longer pay for cup races: i much prefer the truck gang now. so yes, i’m still spending money but i am SERIOUSLY angry as well.

2. “angry and upset fans . . . are bad for business.” yep, that’s for certain. and as someone with over 30 years in retail, i can tell you that my job is to make certain that frustrated customers do not become angry customers! good business people make every effort to keep their customers (fans) content and coming back to their store (tracks.) and that doesn’t happen if the business reacts in a defensive or arbitrary manner when faced with complaints from customers. nascar continues to be reactive instead of proactive, arbitrary instead of definitive and reacts to criticism by telling its drivers to “shut up and drive” and its fans “we know what we’re doing!” not even mediocre customer service, TC, let alone good customer service and any business that treated its customers the way nascar treats its fans would have folded long ago.

3. i don’t see nascar as an evil empire nor am i given to conspiracies but one doesn’t need to believe in either of those to have the opinion that nascar is blowing it big time right now. a strong, energetic business values its customers and does whatever it can to gain feedback from them about what its doing right and wrong. it asks the same question repeatedly AND listens to the answers. it speaks to all components of its business: consumers, vendors, employees. nascar does none of this and i believe it to be a poorly run business.

TC, i agree nascar is a business but i believe it is an example of a very poorly run one and, if it doesn’t begin to listen to those who provide it with the money to continue, it will find itself in the same position as all other non-responsive, non-proactive businesses: needing to shrink its business in order to survive.

i don’t want that and neither does any fan of our sport. but to take the opinion that b/c we’re still spending, we must not really be “that ” angry and so nascar is justified in not listening to us doesn’t cut it for me. it is a simplification of the business model at the very least and (frankly) a rather condescending attitude toward fans.

nascar needs to begin to listen and then listen some more. it needs to be transparent in its operations, it needs to consider that it “may” have made mistakes that need to be corrected, it needs to value and promote all levels of racing — including trucks! — and it needs to bring its retired drivers back into the public eye. “business as usual” just isn’t working right now for me as a fan.

or should i say “customer”?

I’d be even happier if I could swap my 1978 VW Bug convertible for an ASA asphalt car to put the above local kid in.

You eventually get to a point in the sport where the koolaid consumption completely overwhelms your life…or you take your life back and get back to the roots of racing.

Happiness in motorsports is not always NASCAR. Just maybe the fans have figured this out and have started spending their money locally where for the cost of one Sunday ticket, your whole family can have a blast.

Personally, I do not like the chase, nor does most anyone I have talked to about it. When the chase was created it changed one of the foundations of the sport. That is rarely a positive thing to do.

Making a new, safer car was great, but pushing it into place so quickly was a mistake in my eyes.

The schedule needs an overhaul in a big way. Racing at California needs to stop all together. I’d bet any poll would show at least 90% agree with me there. We do not need 2 races at Pocono, and cut out some of the cookie cutter 1.5 mile ovals.

Since Nascar seems dead set on keeping “the chase” we need a better mix of tracks for the final 10 races. Throw in a road course, some short tracks, and the finale should be at Daytona, the season would be full circle.

It’s not just Nascar that screws things up in the eyes of the fan. Progressive banking at Bristol has killed the track we all knew and loved.

We all have different opinions of what needs to be done, and I’m glad Nascar is now looking for opinions, but it may be to late for many of us. My interest wanes a little more every year, and I know I am not alone in that.

But what most of you haven’t figured out, is happy fans spend money. You may have been complaining for years about the sport, yet you still watched on TV, bought race tickets, and purchased merchandise. If you are still spending money, you must not be that angry. NASCAR doesn’t hear what you are saying, they hear what you are “doing.” And rightly so.

So now that ratings and ticket sales are down, NASCAR is listening because you aren’t spending anymore. NASCAR is a business, and angry and upset fans who don’t spend money are bad for business. They want and need good competition and compelling story lines because that is what puts butts in the seats. Keep that in mind when you start thinking NASCAR is a the evil empire and a big conspiracy. Actually, it’s not. It’s just a business, run by people who want to make more money. Kind of like every other business on the planet.