NASCAR is losing its audience. And I don't mean that its audience is drifting away. No; NASCAR is actually driving, er, forcing their audience away.
It was reported in the NY Times Sunday Sports section (April 15, 2007) that NASCAR's audience growth is slowing and that it's TV audience is actually down significantly from last year.
The fault for this decline belongs to NASCAR and Fox Sports.
To put more of a point on it: it's the "pre-race" show, Daryl Waltrip and "boogity, boogity, boogity".
The pre-race show used to be a separate program, listed in at different time in the TV Guide and sometimes even on a separate TV network. The pre-race has now morphed into a 30-60 minute badly (very badly) produced footbal half-time show that has little to do with racing and a lot to do with wasting the audience's time.
Tip for NASCAR: if you don't want to loose my interest then give me what I come for -- racing.
Daryl Waltrip. Ugh. Please give Daryl a vacation. A permanent vacation.
In February, 2001 Daryl was lucky or unlucky enough to be in a perfect storm at the end of the Daytona 500. All within a few seconds, Daryl, who was new and still quaintly amateurish in his color coverage for Fox Sports, spontaneously shouted the joy as his brother Michael won the Daytona 500 and sombertly witnessed the fatal crash of the great Dale Earnhardt. Some experts have rightly called it one of the great moments in sports broadcasting.
Unfortunately Daryl has confused this important moment with himself. He thinks that he created the moment rather than just being a piece, an element, in it.
And the rest of us have to live with his mistake. For 5 year now. Check the TV numbers NASCAR; when did they start going down? Was it when Daryl decided that he and "boogity, boogity, boogity" were more important than the race itself? (Let me help; yes, that is when the audience started to leave.)
"Boogity, boogity, boogity" is not an exciting way to kick off an event. It's not interesting. It's not even cute. It's boorish. It's boring.
And to let the "personality" that "owns" this phrase make such an issue out of making sure that we all know that he owns it and that he has his own, personal special time for saying it and that somehow we should all think that both he and his catchphrase are extra special -- well that's just stupid.
In previous years we had the pleasure of listening to commentatng voices that cared about NASCAR as "sport" more than as a personal track to fame. Benny Parsons -- a gentleman expert and friend of fans. That was the old way. Now we have Daryl Waltrip whose entire career has been colored by his behavior as a bit of an ass and, at best, a disregarder of fans but, at worst, disparager of the folks who paid his way.
NASCAR's TV audience is decling because of Daryl's bad manners and his "look at me" coverage and because of the weird concept of moving the actual racing to the back end of the TV show.
Make the race coverage start at the listed time. Create a different show for the folks that want it. And you might tell your fans at the track, at every race, what is the start for the concert and what is the time for the actual race.
"Racing" -- NASCAR: it's in your name.
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