The NRA Is Not Happy With NASCAR...

[TreasonousBastard]

https://jalopnik.com/the-nra-is-not-happy-with-nascar-1837961725

Last week, and in a tweet last night as well, the National Rifle Association rebuked NASCAR after the racing series denied advertisements for K-Var Corp., a large distributor of firearms, ammunition and firearm accessories, as part of a claimed “gradual shift” of position on firearms. The sponsorship denial, issued August 19th, came just days after Cup cars battled it out at Bristol in the Bass Pro Shops NRA Annual Night Race.

The NRA, the largest gun lobby in the U.S., has even gone so far as to call NASCAR “anti-gun,” associating it with other organizations and corporations like Dick’s Sporting Goods and Levi Strauss & Co., which have taken positions the lobby regards as supportive of gun control.

[RainCaster]

1. Good for NASCAR!

This shows them as a more family friendly activity.

[underpants]

2. I hate wen they fight. 😁 NASCAR - we still have that ?

Having lunch yesterday a guy walks in and the bartender changes the channel to NASCAR. I literally thought - Oh NASCAR, we still have that? Sorry but if it ain't on ESPN it's not happening.

I was having a late lunch with my family. This guy was drinking beer at 3pm watching NASCAR.

[PJMcK]

4. Check out the number of fans at any NASCAR event

There are thousands at every race. Don't fool yourself.

As far as drinking beer at 3:00 pm, I'd say he was 3 hours behind schedule! (wink)

[spike jones]

12. What about Top Of The Morning celebration at 10 AM?

[PJMcK]

16. Aboard sailboats...

...we call that breakfast!

[Marcuse]

18. The Breakfast of Champions

[Whiskeytide]

36. You can't drink all day ...

... if you don’t start first thing in the morning.

[tymorial]

7. Okay then.

[paleotn]

20. You'd be surprised...

Lots of folks follow it. And not just working class southerners anymore. They pack NASCAR venues to the gills. Personally, I'd rather set up a lawn chair at I-89 and get the same affect watching cars go by all day. It's incredibly boring to me, but to each their own.

[A HERETIC I AM]

26. "They pack NASCAR venues to the gills"

Not sure which races you are watching, but attendance at Cup races has been declining for years now, and the tracks have taken to painting seats in such a way as to mask the fact that they are empty when a TV camera pans over them.

They aren’t selling out tracks, not by a long shot


https://beyondtheflag.com/2019/04/10/nascar-despite-attendance-woes-nascar-continues-roll/amp/

[gibraltar72]

30. Or just taking out whole sections of seating.

[Farmer-Rick]

32. Some highlights from your link.

"According to the Bristol Herald Courier, the facility, which has a seating capacity of over 150,000, drew a mere 38,000 spectators Sunday for the Food City 500.

The crowd was so small that speedway management did not even bother opening certain sections of the track.

Compares the 2019 crowd to a sold-out crowd in 2009. Within 10 years, Bristol’s spring race has seen a nearly 75% decrease in attendance, and though the track’s night race in August generally draws a larger crowd, there will still be plenty of tickets available for fans to purchase come race day, something that was not the case before.

Just as NASCAR’s television ratings have declined over the past few years (although the sport has seen a small increase over the 2018 season so far this season), NASCAR fans cannot expect their favorite racing series to draw crowds in excess of 100,000 spectators every single race weekend anymore. It isn’t 2004 anymore."

[A HERETIC I AM]

34. I worked in the industry for 12 years, particularly during the peak of IndyCar and

the huge upswing in the popularity of NASCAR, ie: 1988 through 1997 (and again from '04 through '06 ) and attendance most certainly has declined since those days.

Not mentioned is the fact that a 3 day weekend for an out-of-town fan at most venues is not cheap these days. If you take an RV to Talladega, for example, a spot will run around $350. Add to that the tickets, food and the gas to get there and back, not to mention perhaps taking Friday and Monday off work, and the weekend can easily run $1000 and up.

So in many ways, NASCAR and the tracks they run on have priced themselves out of an already struggling demographic.

IndyCar is not too much different. I was involved during what many have called "the glory years", when we had rising attendance at each race, each year (150,000 *plus* on race day at Elkhart Lake, for example) and soaring TV ratings. I remember Pole Day at Indy in 1993 when there were 350,000 people there. ON A QUALIFYING DAY!!!

It was said that the biggest single-day "gate take" of any sporting event in the world, was the Indianapolis 500 on race day. The second largest gate take was Pole Day at the speedway!

Not any more.

Of course, the genius (koff) Tony George wanted to be in control of Indy Car racing so he formed the Indy Racing League back then, splitting the owners into 2 groups causing acrimony among teams and confusion for the fans. As a result, Open Wheel racing has never been the same. It is only in the last few years that the stands at the speedway appear to be mostly full for the 500.

NASCAR's, (and I suppose motor racing in general) biggest problem is it's fan base is aging and shrinking (read: dying off), it isn't being replaced because young people don't seem to have the same interest in motor racing the people of our generation did and do and ...well, let's face it, it's bloody fucking expensive to go to a race weekend.

[Farmer-Rick]

38. Yeah, it use to be the go to place for camper trailers and vans

It was a fun weekend (not that I liked the car racing...I just liked getting away with the family) for cheap....

Now we go to parks and lakes because, like you said, it's too pricey.

[paleotn]

44. Bristol and Charlotte seem to be doing OK.

Simply judging by the traffic. I use to live in the Tri-Cities, and people I know down there still avoid Bristol like the plague twice each year. When Lowes, Home Depot and Ford start pulling endorsement cash, then I'll believe watching cars go round and round is on the decline.

[A HERETIC I AM]

45. This article may be a year old, but it still applies

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2018/05/27/nascar-racing-fans-sponsors-viewers.html

[Trenzalore]

25. At 1pm on a Sunday I am drinking beer and watching football

Along with probably a good portion of the population. If it was the guy's day off I"m not sure drinking beer at 3pm indicates any kind of a problem.

[stevesinpa]

29. so because you're not a fan

NASCAR doesn't exist? and oh my god, he was having a beer at 3 pm on a sunday (possibly Saturday) watching the race? like millions of people do every sunday watching the NFL? like many do having barbecues in the summer?
perhaps you should step out of your cozy little judgmental world.

[Sneederbunk]

3. Maybe NASCAR likes to keep its fans alive.

[warmfeet]

6. Key to any business model.

Dead customers don't help with the bottom line. The fuckers in power don't give a shit.

[GeoWilliam750]

42. Funeral homes?

[Blue_true]

11. That seems like it's intentions to me.

The stands that it has are packed with wall to wall people and from what I understand, tailgating before races has many thousands of people lingering around. It would not take much for an angry monster to kill many dozens of people.

[IronLionZion]

5. Lots of overlap between NASCAR fans, NRA members, and Trump supporters

so this is very interesting

[myohmy2]

23. +1

"...a claimed “gradual shift” of position on firearms."

...open carry, conceal carry, everyone carry…

...even trumpkins sitting next to trumpkins today don't want to be hit by gun fire...

...flying car parts maybe, but not gun fire...

...

[BigmanPigman]

8. Parkland's David Hogg told Chris Hayes

that getting the stores and other commercial enterprises to stop supporting the NRA is key to ending their power.

[FM123]

28. Yes, stop feeding the NRA and they will starve to death.

[Jake Stern]

9. Genuinely shocked NASCAR did that

The overwhelming majority of NASCAR fans lean heavily towards the “God and guns” side of the political spectrum so this is a pretty big middle finger to their fan base.

Not saying they shouldn’t have done it but it’s gonna cost them, at least in the short term.

[Blue_true]

13. It is a good guess that NASCAR does not allow fans to openly brandish guns

at tailgating events and inside the venue. The fans may have guns in their vehicles, but so would a killer, the difference is the killer would have shown up to kill, not watch a car or truck race.

NASCAR regularly puts on mass population events. It make sense that they would be cancerned about gun violence at one of them.

[3Hotdogs]

33. Shit. Dale's gotta win.

Lets see if I can hit the rear tire on....."

[Blue_true]

10. NASCAR run events that has tens of thousands of unarmed people crowed together.

It make sense that it would have a mass shooting at one of it's venues as a concern that it need to plan against happening to it and it's fans.

[JohnnyRingo]

14. They called NASCAR "anti gun"!

That's it for NASCAR then, there's no way fans will fill the bleachers now.

hahahaha Just kidding! There's nothing that will keep them away every Sunday. They can burn a flag in the infield as long as there's a race. At least if it's not the Stars and Bars anyway.

[Initech]

15. The NRA can go eat a steaming bag of shit.

Their time is over. People are sick of the mass shootings. It's time for them to go.

[rockfordfile]

17. I agree with Nascar

[jmowreader]

19. I wonder...

How much of this is a pissing match over Richard Childress (who is a prominent NASCAR team owner and was, until earlier this year, a very high officer in the NRA) resigning from the National Trump Association?

And speaking of NASCAR...the NASCAR race at Indianapolis just ended, and my driver won. So I'm pretty happy.

[MasonDreams]

21. I am thinking of getting a gun because I am afraid of the NRA.

My religion and philosophy professor in college (who survived the nazi death camps in WWII) said that the Holocaust would not have happened if every German soldier was resisted with a brick. I was thrown into confusion by this. Hearing it from this super brilliant, out of this world knowledgeable, loving man. A man who daily lifted hearts and minds to heaven. A man who knew the ancient Greek and the Aramaic (Jesus's language). He expanded those red words and the gospels meanings and contexts etcetera more than my words can express.

MLK and Gandhi had me for 40 years, but I can't march in the street. I have had several head injuries, including a skull fracture. Any more head trauma could end the joy of my journey thru this incarnation. So when they come to take me to the new concentration camps, I have a plan to resist.

[NCLefty]

22. "You don't love our ongoing mass-shooting crisis? Gun hater!!!1!"

[Norbert]

24. Maybe this is part of Brian France's 100 hours community service.

Make decisions the masses generally agree with.

He still controls the switches, just as he still the idiot grandson of Bill France and an avid tRump humper. Still the hand writing is on the wall. His business model of nearly the last two decades has driven many from the sport. Maybe even he realizes that more sane decisions are needed.

[pwb]

27. The NRAs arguments are all played out.

Common sense is the new driving force to prevent gun killings.

[B Stieg]

31. Trouble in Paradise!

Good for Nascar...

[OxQQme]

35. Just for the WOW factor

I've been watching NASCAR off and on since the mid 50's.
The last two seasons have become way more exciting since NASCAR changed the format into stages.
There were several years that I found it boring watching the longer speedway races.
Now there's three 'checker flags' in every race.

Some of the NASCAR drivers love dirt racing.

Some infield action this year at Indy's NASCAR week long tailgate event: (turn sound down before opening- not off - just down)
Twenty cars started in this qualifying race

[A HERETIC I AM]

37. LMAO!!

Too funny!

Gotta love that "sideways racin' "!

[SpankMe]

39. NASCAR's position on guns is evolving

But, remember that conservatives don't believe in evolution.

[MarcA]

40. They did have an ad yesterday for the Ark thing in Kentucky.

Just happened by a local channel broadcasting their race so don't know if
it was really for the Ark or just some group that had something to do with them.
Talked about building a boat, a "boat" that won't float!

[dajoki]

41. A well regulated militia...

not a bunch of whack jobs running around with assault weapons.

[barbtries]

43. the NRA must be evil.

it's so far removed from a gun-safety, 2nd amendment defending, organization it's pitiful.

[The Bopper]

46. News

Good news, bad news. I literally haven’t followed Nascar since they allowed foreign cars in it and won’t.