Ever since the death of Dale Earnhardt, the sport has been in a decline for me personally.
Dale Earnhardt, like him or not, kept the sport interesting. Since his death, NASCAR has become a dull, boring sport for me. World class engine builders are forced to build basically assembly line junk to put in the cars, the drivers can’t perform outlandish stunts on each other to win races, and the cars now all basically look the same.
I haven’t checked the numbers, has the sport decreased in popularity, with my own decrease-to-zero interest? I would guess it has definitely decreased in the eyes of the rural folks, like me, who used to love the sport. Maybe the city people who are so deeply invested in the sport with race tracks are still keeping it strong.
It’s an embarrasment to me that the race at Daytona is still held, since they abdandoned so many back road race tracks, for city tax revenue and glory.
I hear ya.. The race threads here at FR started that very year.. a race and a sporting culture died that day.
as far as ‘stock’, that’s a standing joke. there is no innovation when everyone uses the same cookie cutters .. driving CoTanks , running ecofuel. haaaa.
Not just Big E. It was the drivers of that era, Petty,Jarrett, Allison.....Those guys could set up a car. Todays pretty boys couldn’t find the dip stick. I haven’t watched a race since Dale Jarrett retired.
“... since they abdandoned so many back road race tracks, for city tax revenue and glory.”
Just like Drive-In movies, they’re are some still out there....just have to drive away from the suburbs and head to counties where the yuppies haven’t infested.