I really had nothing specific to bring to the table today until WOBM newscaster Tripp Rogers poked his head in my office this morning and announced “this Dale Earnhardt story is going to be huge.” For those of you who don’t know Dale Jr. is a NASCAR driver who is expected to officially announce later today that beginning next year he’ll join Hendrick Motorsports stable of drivers, a group that already includes Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch and Casey Mears. Again giving you a little background, it was just a few weeks ago that Earnhardt announced he would not stay with DEI, his late father’s company after this season. That led to his courting by the other major players in the sport of which Hendrick has been the most successful.
I want to go back to Tripp’s comment about how big this story is. I responded with “it’s big to those who care about NASCAR” and it set off a mild debate as he believes it has far-reaching ramifications. I being older and wiser get the final word because the bottom line is there are many people who don’t and never will care about NASCAR, like many other individual sports. With few exceptions, i.e. Tiger Woods, most sports fans follow team sports and that will never change.
While NASCAR has done as good a marketing job as any sport in this country you can’t compare it to football or baseball. It’s like comparing apples to broccoli….or something like that. With that said the Earnhardt story is a big one…if you care about NASCAR.
The Jersey Shore team has advanced to the quarterfinals of the Carpenter Cup Baseball Tournament without playing a game. Their scheduled game with Delaware South was rained out Tuesday at the University of Pennsylvania and because that team is not available to make it up then the team of Ocean and Monmouth County players moves on.
The Beachwood Soccer Club is holding open registrations for the fall season tonight and Thursday night from 5:30-7pm at the soccer complex. For more information you can visit www.beachwoodsoccer.com
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If Nascar wasn't such a big deal, you wouldn't have had something "specific to bring to the table today", would you? I'm betting you won't care to realize that Nascar has the second largest fan base of all sports in the USA, and the Cup races are shown in over 75 countries? (Can you say that about MLB? No.) The far reaching ramifications reach around the globe, sir. Nascar fans know this intimately. Casual and not-at-all fans will still hear about Dale Earnhardt Jr. (leaving the company his father built for him that his step-mother is keeping to herself). That alone makes this story far reaching.
While you may be right about the fact that the AVERAGE American Citizen who is NOT a Nascar fan, and probably doesn't care about who Dale Jr. drives for or what he does.
However,the ramifications for the sporting world were huge I think. We'll agree for our SPORT it was HUGE. There's no Denying that. It seems like it could be one of the biggest stories we have seen in MANY years in NASCAR. After all, his father was the (or 2nd) greatest driver of all time and Dale Jr. is the most popular driver. People who aren't race fans know his name, his sponsor, his number and color probably.
It has to have been one of the richest sporting contracts EVER. We've heard RUMORS about that. So for the sporting world as a whole it was pretty big in that it was a new era of sorts. Showing Even NASCAR can pay BIG bucks, not just football, baseball, ect. BUT thats not even the part that REALLY got me.
I was OFFENDED By the comment about calling our sport BROCCOLI!? Although I do enjoy broccoli, I know that makes me a minority. I'd like you to tell the sponsors that they are advertising in broccoli. I'd like him to tell the athletes of our sport, that what they do isn't comparable to football or baseball.
However, just the wording and the sentiment he is implying there REALLY bothers me. NASCAR was the fastest growing sport in America. Look at our site alone! Look at the podcast! I know I live in Jersey, but there ARE Nascar fans here too, Kevin! I mean.. every Monday you mention who wont the race.
We are people who spend money, who the marketing works out for. And all of those companies FIGHT to get in. Why else would there be a 120 million dollar lawsuit just to have SPONSORSHIP in the sport.. because Nascar fans ARE LOYAL.
I am also a baseball fan, but I think NASCAR fan's loyalty goes WELL beyond that of a baseball fan (of course I am a Cubs fan, so I guess I'm even forced to be loyal there).
I am still bothered by the way we are received by the public. NASCAR is as big of a business as baseball, football ect. Look at the figures. Your average baseball stadium holds TOPS 40,000 people, right? Racetracks hold on AVERAGE well over 100,000-200,000 people. EVERY Week they sell out.. so do the math.. multiply that by 36 race, and add the HIGH Tv ratings.. and there are a LOT of NASCAR fans that find it exciting.
Broccoli has at least double the amount of patrons, I guess that means? Have you ever REALLY sat down and watched a race? I would venture to assume you haven't. Sit down and watch Saturday night if you have time. They are racing in Daytona. You may be surprised and enjoy it!
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