The Decline of Our Sport

SANYO DIGITAL CAMERACompetitionPlus recently ran an article that stated that viewers of ESPN-2’s NHRA coverage is on the decline again this past season. That comes as no surprise to us here on the West Coast that often see the scheduled broadcast delayed to the wee morning hours. But that is just part of the problem in my opinion.

Years back, especially for those of us that ran in Super Stock and Modified Eliminator, we could picture ourselves behind the wheel of a Pro Stock back then:

Gapp-Roush glidden-allen

But rule changes over the decades have taken that possibility from the average racer. Pro Stock, the other professional categories and even the quicker Sportsman categories are now the place for millionaires.

Many of us saw this coming decades ago, when constant rule changes pushed Modified Eliminator budgets out of the reach of the average racer and eventually led to the demise of the category as the number of entrants declined. In my opinion, the demise of Modified was the ‘canary in the coal mine’ but few took notice and little has improved over the years to make the sport affordable for young racers today. Even today the push is on to make the “Sportsman” categories even quicker and faster and even more expensive and more out of reach for the majority of racers. And without the constant infusion of new blood, the sport will continue to decline in my opinion.

Racers, be careful what you wish for, the end result may not be what you envisioned! Roger Young

Photos courtesy of CompetitionPlus

NHRA ESPN2 VIEWERSHIP DECLINES FOR THIRD STRAIGHT SEASONCompetitionPlus – November 18, 2013

 

About Roger

Driver of our '57 Chev from 1972-2019, Vietnam veteran (A Troop, 3/17th Air Cavalry Scout helicopter Line Chief and later Cobra Periodic Inspection team leader), retired ASE rated automotive mechanic. Roger became involved in drag racing during his high school days and after his stint in the Army ran E & F/MP [Modified Production] here in Division 6 before switching to bracket racing when the '57 became obsolete for class racing. He often raced at Puyallup, Kent-Pacific Raceways, Bremerton, Portland & the original Mission, B.C. track.
This entry was posted in Discussions, Links To Feature Stories. Bookmark the permalink.

One Response to The Decline of Our Sport

  1. Roger says:

    On February 3, 2014 there was a thought-provoking article by AutoWeek, State of the NHRA: Competitors voice concerns about TV, demographics.

    Clearly many of us recognize our beloved sport is in a state of decline, but there is no getting around the changing demographics that the young generation is just not that interested in motorsports. So enjoy racing while we have it !

Comments are closed.