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Why NASCAR Should Race In Europe

935 views 13 replies 12 participants last post by  DaleJrFan95  
#1 ·
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by Marco Venosta

NASCAR In Europe? NASCAR moving over the pond for a race might be a good move for the sport.

In the last few years we have witnessed the issues that NASCAR is having in maintaining good numbers in the US TV ratings. Europe could represent the right scenario to get the sport growing again. There, more people are getting closer to this world thanks to the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series that races in many European countries with a solid American imprinting of the competition and of the atmosphere of the events, but the problem is a different one: in very few countries of the Old Continent there are TV channels that cover the Sprint Cup Series, making it more difficult to attract new spectators.

Being a European NASCAR fan I can see the struggles that this sport is encountering to form a solid fan base here because the people who love racing (they are a lot I can assure you) find it too different from what they traditionally follow, Formula 1. But I also see that the NASCAR organization is not making an effort sufficient to promote itself in this part of the world. The Indycar Series is way more followed than NASCAR in Europe even if in the US the trend goes the opposite way.

To get closer to the European fans and try to attract them towards the sport one smart strategy would be to organize one or more races in this continent. The Sprint Cup Series has already competed outside of the US more than once, with races in Australia in 1988 and in Japan in 1996, 1997 and 1998.


Then why not try it again, this time in Europe? A race well sponsored and at the right track could represent a new show for people to be interested in, getting them closer to the sport. And who knows, it might even turn the heads of the managers of some of the sports channels in the continent. Races on TV on a full-time basis would be a huge boost for NASCAR in the rest of the world.

That said, Europe is not the land of ovals. There are a couple of them that would be worth racing at though like the huge two-mile tri-oval of Lausitzring in Germany or Raceway Venray in the Netherlands, a short track that the Whelen Euro Series already competes at. As far as the road courses on the other hand there would be plenty of great ones to choose from all over the continent.

To sum up, in my opinion the development of the NASCAR brand in Europe goes through the running of races in this part of the world. The participation of stars of the sport like Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick could turn the attention of the fans and of the TV channels to this world way more than what the minor races of the Whelen Euro Series can do. This would open huge opportunities in the effort to expand the “area of influence” of NASCAR.

Why NASCAR Should Race In Europe
 
#2 ·
I don't see it happening. The ratings here have been in a nose dive. How do you expect to draw in the European crowd when you can't even draw in your bread and butter target demographic crowd?
 
#3 ·
Europeans tend to turn their nose up at NASCAR, following F1 in particular along with WEC, WRC, BTCC, DTM, V8 Supercars, and even Indycar, Weathertech Sports Cars, etc. Their was a time when one of F1's support series consisted of former F1 stars wheeling stock cars built in N. Carolina around F1 tracks. Speedcar I think it was. That was years ago. Maybe it could work once Grosjean makes his NASCAR debut.
 
#4 ·
Can we get a race in Washington or Oregon before we start racing over seas? Thanks.
 
#5 ·
As much as I love the idea of a Nascar race at many venues in Europe, I think it's a bad idea simply for financial reasons. Only the big teams can really afford a move like that, so we would only see maybe 20-25 cars racing over there, which would most likely force Nascar to make it a one-off non-points thing like the Japan races in the 90's.. Not that Im opposed to that style of exhibition races, I just feel like it would cause more stress than is needed at such a crucial time in the sport's history.
 
#14 ·
It's funny they bring up the Japan races from the 1990s, because as far as I've ever seen, NASCAR considered them to be a loss, since it failed to truly attract a large demographic of people. The whole point of having the exhibition races was to try and draw in more fans overseas. Long story short, it didn't work, and they stopped doing it after 1998. Besides, none of the events were for points, and they were after the regular season had ended, obviously, so most didn't even watch them when they aired.

I doubt we'll see an exhibition race in Europe anytime soon. I'm not sure how popular the NASCAR Whelen Euro-Series is over there, but considering it's never been televised, I'm going to say it's not anywhere close to the popularity of F1.