NASCAR is comfortable with racing in a vacuum - for now.

By Peter M. De Lorenzo

Detroit. With two of the three auto manufacturers competing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series based in the Detroit area, much was made of last weekend's "Pure Michigan 400" being a "home" race (the TV commentators hammered the point home several times during the broadcast). There's even a special trophy awarded to the winning Detroit-based auto manufacturer (see "The Line" - WG) - the Michigan Heritage Trophy - designed to celebrate the automobile and its importance to the race track and the manufacturers, which GM CEO Mary Barra held up with Jeff Gordon in Victory Lane after the race.

The actual significance in all of this, of course, is questionable. It's no secret that NASCAR has relentlessly courted the Detroit-based manufacturers for decades, and it has certainly paid off handsomely for the Daytona Beach-based racing organization in terms of generating revenue, sponsorships, activations and substantial promotional budgets, which the manufacturers ladle on NASCAR almost with abandon. But it goes further than that too. Much further.

Today, NASCAR management - and most of its high-profile teams - is rife with ex-Detroit executives (particularly with GM alumnae), who have been assimilated into the NASCAR culture to such a degree that is hard to distinguish between the two. Yes, NASCAR is big business and has been for a long time, but the fact that they've stocked their executive ranks with ex-Detroit-based car company executives seems like a shrewd business move at the very least, and a decided hedge against things - as in attitudes and serious ROI discussions - turning against the "stock" car racing series.

But in the end - and I've written about this relentlessly over the last decade at least - the entire NASCAR "thing" can be defined as racing in a vacuum. NASCAR likes to say that it is courting younger people, that it is going "green," that it is taking steps to present itself as a forward-looking, hi-tech racing organization, but the fact of the matter remains that everything NASCAR does is designed to maintain the status quo. In other words, why fix something that doesn't need fixing?

Any actual change that NASCAR adopts rarely originates with them and is only brought to the table by the manufacturers, and usually under duress. The Gen 6 car, the adoption of electronic fuel-injection, etc.? Those are things that the manufacturers had to use threats - as in we'll take our money elsewhere - to get NASCAR to adopt. (I take that back, the powers that be in Daytona Beach are responsible for the "Chase for the Sprint Cup" gimmicks du jour, how could I forget?)

So, in essence, what do we really have here? NASCAR is run for its own benefit, aided and abetted by auto manufacturers who are clearly comfortable - at least most of the time - with the parameters as defined by Daytona Beach. Are the Detroit-based manufacturers running in the series to court new or younger buyers or import intenders? No. I will tell you that if you can get a knowledgeable, high-ranking executive to speak about the situation off the record, they will reluctantly admit that there are no new buyers to be had in NASCAR, that they mainly participate in it for overall brand image reasons and to sell trucks, and in order to court people who are already domestic-oriented buyers.

Sure, some executives will trot out the argument that "when it comes to racing coverage in the U.S., it is the only game in town" but even the hard-core NASCAR supporters inside the participating car companies understand that the ROI vis-a-vis NASCAR is dwindling at a prodigious rate, and that for the most part they're still competing in it - and spending huge amounts of money to do it - because "we've pretty much always done it this way."

It's like both sides are preaching to their own choirs - comfortable in a bubble of their own making - and on days like Sunday at MIS, everything seems right with the world (at least from GM's perspective).

But is it really? I don't think so.

The NASCAR model appeals to a rapidly aging demographic, people who are predisposed to buy domestic nameplates and who are happy with the way things are. In other words, it's comfortable for everyone concerned, at least for now.

But does that sound like a model that will lead to growth for these manufacturers? No, it smacks of maintaining the status quo and racing in a vacuum, while the general direction of the entire enterprise continues on a declining trajectory.

It really does have an "End of Days" feel to it, which is a giant bowl of Not Good when you really start to think about it.

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

(Courtesy of the Ford Racing Archives)
Rockingham, North Carolina, October 30, 1966. The great Fred Lorenzen (No. 28 Holman-Moody Ford) holds the winner's trophy after winning the 1966 American 500 at North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham, North Carolina. Don White (No. 31 Ray Nichels/Nichels Engineering Dodge) was second, and Ned Jarrett (No. 11 Bondy Long/Abingdon Motor Co. Ford) finished third.

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