FUMES

January 16, 2013

Editor's Note: Peter will return next week with a new Fumes column. - WG

As optimism reigns, serious issues remain.

By Peter M. De Lorenzo

(Posted 1/4, 6:30 p.m.) Detroit. As January gets cranked up with development work, preseason testing, nonstop sponsor hunting and all of the manuevering surrounding ongoing preparations for the 2013 racing season continues, a trace of optimism reigns supreme throughout the sport, if only for a brief fleeting moment, as none of the glaring realities have clouded the horizon, at least not yet. (Except, of course, for those teams still scrambling to put together their 2013 season programs. For them the battle never stopped, as daunting issues clouded their holiday season with apprehension and lingering fears that their programs may never get off of the ground.)

But as we begin 2013 bolstered by a tinge of optimism, we have to take a realistic look at what has changed - if anything - and what might be in store for the upcoming season here in the U.S.

We might as well start with NASCAR, which is still the most popular form of motorsport by a wide margin, despite their continued tailspin. With new bodywork from Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota that more closely approximates their production counterparts, the NASCAR brain trust hopes to recapture some of its hard-core fans who wandered off during the dismally dreadful "CoT" era, which almost single-handedly put paid to the idea of renewed momentum for the sport. But as good looking as the new cars appear to be, deep concerns resonate about NASCAR, both from within and outside the sport.

Despite the public posturng to the contrary, the television networks and NASCAR itself can no longer pretend that the downward spiral in the viewer ratings is a mere blip on the radar screen. The numbers are real and alarming. Brad Keselowski's brilliant run to the title culminating in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway yielded ho-hum ratings numbers, and since young Brad is The Franchise and the future of NASCAR, those TV ratings were downright scary to all concerned.

Madison Avenue and corporate America have taken notice. And even though the TV networks paid through the nose for those dwindling TV ratings numbers (they're so hungry for original content they closed their eyes and signed a new contract with NASCAR anyway), they see the writing on the wall as well. You can only rationalize a downward spiral for so long, and the prevailing opinion is that NASCAR not only isn't doing anything to stem the slide, the concern is that they're incapable of coming up with meaningful ideas to fix it.

And you can add the manufacturers to the list of those concerned as well. The powers that be in NASCAR - Brian France, Lesa France & Mike Helton - make an annual visit to the participating manufacturers every December. They do that to personally thank the manufacturers for their participation and exchange pleasantries. This past December they visited GM and Ford executives and after the pleasantries they got an earful. In those meetings NASCAR was told that it has to do something about the declining ratings, the slow embrace of technology, the poor lack of engagement with the younger demographic, a needed rethink of The Chase, etc., etc., etc. For years NASCAR has blithely assumed that Detroit-based manufacturer participation was automatic, but with the burgeoning influence of ROI considerations, that era is rapidly coming to a close.

I've outlined what NASCAR needs to do to stem the sliding ratings tide and all of my suggestions revolve around the fact that NASCAR has to do everything in its power to make the sport special again. It has been proven countless times before that oversaturation is a ratings killer when it comes to projecting TV content. The powers that be in NASCAR haven't received that memo, apparently, because NASCAR's losing formula of too many races + too many repetitive "cookie-cutter" tracks = boring racing, continues on unabated.

NASCAR's abject refusal to consider anything resembling change - especially if the ideas come from outside suggestions - will ultimately do them in.

But as dismal as NASCAR's perennial head-in-sand approach is, the future of IndyCar and Indy car-style racing is shockingly shaky and headed right for a fiscal cliff of its own making. Despite participation by enthusiastic manufacturers like GM, Honda and Firestone the future of the sport of Indy car racing has never looked more grim. And I'm saying this reflecting back on all of the rancor of the "split" years too. On the surface everyone should be pleased because the sport seems to be moving forward, but wipe away a trace of January optimism and you have a sport that's on the precipice of extinction.

NASCAR's ratings may be heading downward but IndyCar's TV ratings are almost nonexistent, except for the Indianapolis 500. The sad thing is that this is exactly the envrionment that spurred the owners to form CART, because all they had back then was the Indianapolis 500 and a loose grouping of races before and after it. And what do we have today? The Indianapolis 500 and a smattering of races making up a schedule that doesn't even register on mainstream media radar screens. To say that Indy car racing has lost its mojo doesn't even begin to cover it.

What can be done? I'm not really sure because any suggestions for real substantive change always draw the same response from the IndyCar owners, which can be encapsulated in four words: "It costs too much." Examples? Indy needs to throw out the rule book and embrace innovation and change again at The Speedway. Answer from the owners? "It costs too much." Or, Indy needs to embrace a fuel efficiency formula so that the Speedway can become a hotbed of innovation and creative thinking. You guessed it, "It costs too much."

What rankles me about the influential participants in IndyCar racing is that they don't see that there's a problem in any of this, that IndyCar is just fine. Really? That relentlessly dreadful cultural train wreck called "Here Comes Honey Boo-Boo" gets bigger TV ratings than an average IndyCar race, and that's just beyond embarrassing.

A solution? The only thing that could save the sport of IndyCar (and its owners) from itself is if a group of new manufacturers got together with GM and Honda and said, "Enough. We will participate or continue our participation if and only if you embrace change and alter the playing ground at The Speedway so that it includes overall efficiency as a cornerstone of the rules package. If you do this we will commit to participating for a certain number of years and help promote the series. If not, we're out."

If that doesn't happen? Then the Hulman family should divest itself from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the sport of Indy car racing so that smarter people can take control and save the sport. Or we will be looking at a one-off "Indianapolis 500 Invitational" in 2016 with no other Indy car races on the sporting calendar. How's that for a bowl of Not Good to start 2013 with?

And finally we have Road Racing in this country. The huzzahs over the buyout of the American Le Mans Series by the France family and subsequent merger with its own Grand-Am series in 2014 was cause for optimism. As this is written, the blended rules package has been announced (see "The Line" - WG). But there's still a bunch of racing to be conducted under separate banners this year, and there's much hand-wringing going on about car counts and such, with some teams deciding to sit out 2013 entirely in favor of solidifying properly-funded 2014 racing programs.

So it's more of the same for 2013, Grand-Am hosts the Daytona 24 Hour and then continues on with its slate of races, and the ALMS fires up at Sebring and goes on about its business from there. For road racing teams and fans in this country 2014 is a long year away. And 2013 will be the same at it ever was, which is good and bad, depending on how you view it. But even with the blended series' (name T.B.D.) new rules package, there's no deal on the horizon with the ACO and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and that is significant. Not to mention that the international waters are still churning over the attempt at arriving at a global rules package.

So having said all of that, the only certainty we have is that the "Roar Before the Rolex 24" occurred this weekend at Daytona International Speedway, NASCAR will conduct tests with its Sprint Cup teams at Daytona on January 10-12, and the Rolex 24 comes at us for real on January 26-27.

At least we can look forward to that.

Publisher's Note: As part of our continuing series celebrating the "Glory Days" of racing, we're proud to present another noteworthy image from the Ford Racing Archives. - PMD

(Dave Friedman, courtesy of the Ford Racing Archives and Wieck Media)
Daytona Beach, Florida, February 7, 1966. The No. 95 Holman & Moody-entered Ford Mk II driven by Walt Hansgen/Mark Donohue makes an overnight pit stop during the Daytona 24 Hour race. The duo would finish third, nine laps behind winners Ken Miles/Lloyd Ruby (No. 98 Shelby American Ford Mk II) and the Dan Gurney/Jerry Grant No. 97 Shelby American Ford Mk II in second place. Watch a brief video here.

Publisher's Note: Like these Ford racing photos? Check out www.fordimages.com. Be forewarned, however, because you won't be able to go there and not order something. - PMD

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