NASCAR is an amazing sport and experience. But one of NASCAR’s keys to success is sitting right there for the picking, and it is up to fans to be able to maximize it and help the sport grow more. So today let’s look into it as NASCAR’s hidden superpower is sitting in plain sight.
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Video Credits:
ABC Sports
Anheuser-Busch
Budweiser
Dave W
Eric Estepp
ESPN
FOX Sports
Full NASCAR Races
Motorsports on NBC
NASCAR
NASCAR on FOX
NASCAR Productions
NBC Sports
Skewcar
SkewToo
YouTube Audio Library
YouTube Uploader
Thumbnail Credits:
Getty Images
NASCAR Studios
Outro Song:
Strang Animal (Crowder Remix) by Gowan
Songs:
Cold Funk – Funkorama uploaded to the YouTube Audio Library by Kevin MacLeod
#NASCAR #Motorsports #racing
34 comments
What do you think is the best way to get someone into NASCAR?
Definitely take them to the track for their first time. It’s a whole nother vibe at the track in person. I still remember my first time at 13 years old going to the 2010 Toyota Savemart 350 and seeing Jimmie Johnson take the checkered flag.
Very good question
McDowell Supremacy!
Gotta start at the local short track
Watch any race before 2015
I think you totally nailed it with this one here! I know my first introduction to racing as a child it was when my dad took me to Spokane NHRA. Saw big daddy Don Garlits do multiple airborne barrel rolls right in front of me. have never forgotten it. Watched CASCAR at Vernon Motoplex Speedway 20 years ago and hooked ever since. NASCAR should give out free tickets to everyone under 12 if accompanied by a parent or grandparent. Fill out those seats. Embrace the family atmosphere that goes with the southern culture so well. I mean come on the world needs more of that anyways. And for God’s sake drop that ridiculous playoff gimmick!
Thanks for sharing! My dad and I went to the Cup races at Pocono from 2011-17. It was truly an immersive experience every time, one that you can’t get by simply watching a race on TV.
One thing NASCAR used to do at the beginning of races was keep the commentators quiet, turned the engine and crowd noise up, and keep the camera shots low and making the cars look as fast as they are. Genuinely it was the best way I’ve seen any racing series start its races. The energy and sense of speed with the engines roaring was broadcasted beautifully. That has sadly been abandoned recently, and in place of it is the commentators commenting lap 1 like it’s the late race and the camera shots being normal and sometimes as far away as possible, making the cars look much slower. It’s just not the same anymore.
Yes seeing the camera angles from early 2000’s NASCAR on NBC they where incredible which is the reason that got me hooked.
Facts. I just recently watched some old races for the first time. All TV now is garbage though. Nfl games are just as poorly “broadcast”.
I hate it when they start talking during the first set of turns. Wait for the backstretch at least
This is on point. You knew the first couple of laps was just going to be the ambient experience, as close as you could be to being there. FOX did a good job with Crank It UP in the early 2000s, too, which added to it.
Yeah the constant airial shots are honestly pretty annoying especially after nearly every restart I get you can see more of the field that way but just because your seeing the action doesn’t mean your seeing the action you know what I mean
I got more into the sport in 2015 (missed some races but watched the ones I could on tv). In 2016 I went to my first race in Pocono in august. Despite the weather the experience was unbelievable. After that I’ve trying to watch every race without skipping a beat. I’ve only been to 2 track (Dover being the other) and going to Pocono yearly since 2019 I always look forward too cause in person is so awesome. I plan in the coming years to being my new nascar friends to a race cause they like it on tv but they’ll love it in person
I went to Watkins Glen a week later and it was a phenomenal experience and that really got me interested in the sport more than I was. (I watched some races on and off from 2013-16)
Went back in 2022 and had the best weekend. Got to meet a lot of drivers and the racing that weekend was fantastic.
Definitely agree, as a Canadian fan I was able to go to Michigan International Speedway for my first ever race weekend this summer, was one of the best experiences of my life so far! Amazing sport I’ve been watching since a little kid.
hey! if u dont mind me asking what are the canadian prices for michigan international speedway
My parents took me to the 2011 Fall Dover race as a late birthday gift when I was a kid. Nowadays, I rarely go to NASCAR tracks in person, but I hear it’s an amazing experience to attend a race in person.
As someone that went to qualifying and races at Michigan as a kid and teen, in the late 90s and early 2000s, there is no comparison between tv and the in person experience. It’s pretty awesome.
Definitely one thing I have to say is NASCAR is super good at letting you meet your favorite driver. We paid an extra 15 bucks when we went to Kansas for the in field Xfinity thing and got 6 signatures with a flag I bought at my local short track.
Sadly, my biggest hurdle to attending a NASCAR race in person, I would love to at some point, is distance. Being in the UK, I have to carefully budget for traveling across “The Pond” even before I look at things like accommodation and tickets for attending the races. If I could pick one track I’d want to see, it’d be Darlington Raceway. No other oval has the characteristics of Darlington, like its unique egg shape layout
NASCAR euro series races at brands hatch
Two years back I dragged some friends of mine to the Pinty’s race at ICAR and they loved it despite not typically being big on racing or sports in general. Very excited for Cup coming to Montreal in two or three years.
Funny you mentioned the rubber hitting your face. That’s part of why I fell completely in love with racing at Michigan in June 1995, my first race in person. The roar, the smell of fuel and burning rubber. Those are beautiful things. I was fortunate to see Dale Sr win at Daytona in 1998 and got to meet Jr on pit road before the Busch race on Saturday. I also was at the night race at Bristol when Sr spun Terry Labonte for the win. Can’t beat any of those experiences. I went to 36 races before I gave that part up. But I doubt I’ve missed more that a half dozen Cup races on TV since then. Nothing like the at-track experience.
NASCAR and Ice Hockey are the two sports that improve the most when you are watching in person.
The thing is, I have been going to races since 1984. You used to show up Thursday night to camp in the infield, then from 7am Friday until the checkered flag Sunday, cars were almost always on the track (across all the series racing that weekend). Now, you get an hour for qualifying and a race for each series racing that weekend. Most of the time, the track is cold – which totally sucks when you are there in person.
NASCAR needs to make it worth going and spending the weekend at these races. Bring back practices and happy hour. NASCAR seems to be too incompetent to realize that you don’t HAVE to televise that stuff – because sure, only die-hard fans are going to watch it, but it provides entertainment for those in attendance.
If they would do that, then you could take a non-fan to an entire race weekend and 99.9% will be hooked forever.
Completely agree with you. I’ve been going to races since the early 70’s and I miss all of it. The practice, qualifying and some tracks had the Goody’s Dash series racing on the same day along with the Busch series. If your a racing nut it was a great.
My only argument would be people my age 30 and younger. Don’t have the time or ability to camp at a track from Thursday to Sunday. If NASCAR Canada condense the entire weekend experience to say Saturday morning to Sunday evening. Squeezing in practice, qualifying, Trucks, xfinity , and cup into a single ticket perchase that is actually affordable for the average American. Then that to me is a winner.
I also believe adding hotel rooms, or rental rooms at the track itself would greatly increase attendance. Make the fans never leave the property.
I love the sound aspect. At the Indy RC this year infield at the end of pit road, you can hear them coming and then those amazing sounding downshifts.
I can’t wait to go to Dega and experience that full pack flyby
I was at Pocono for my first ever in person race earlier this season and I 100% agree with everything in this video
The only thing I struggled with knowing the strategy, however, WHEN the next race comes around, I think I’ve got that figured out
I went to Talladega in 2014 for the May race. Talladega is absolutely insane to go and see in person. The fans, the atmosphere, and the racing. 100 percent worth going there.
I’ve always told my friends Formula Drift and Nascar have a similar vibe and I think this is why. Pretty much everything you said also applies to Formula Drift but I think they lean a lot more into the fact it’s better in person.
I think you’re right. Over the last 2 seasons I’ve taken close to 30 people to their first NASCAR race. I don’t think any of them have become hardcore fans, but they now know who the big name drivers are and have a general idea of what the sport is really about. And they all said it was a really fun experience that they would do it again.
Great video Jaret! I’ve taken several people to their first race and they all were amazed at how much better it is in person. Most of them became fans of NASCAR from that point on. Your bodies natural reaction to loud noise is to pump adrenaline. So the speed, noise, color, huge facilities, huge crowds, smells, and unpredictability of a live race make it almost impossible to be bored. Buying or renting a scanner so you can listen to the team radios is a big plus over other sports too. The best advice I’ve heard for first-timers is to pick any 3 cars in the starting field and keep track of them as the race unfolds. That was they learn about comers and goers and race strategy. It also gives them some rooting interest right away.