I've figured out how to fix racing.

"burglar can't heart click anything" (burglar) 01/24/2014 at 08:36 • Filed to: None

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With the exception of NASCAR and F1, nobody watches racing anymore. There used to be a love affair with speed, driving, and by extension, the automobile. Racing used to be awesome. Now it sucks. I've figured out a way to fix that.

Okay, F1 is great. It's the pinnacle of motorsport. Yeah, Uncle Bernie has it locked down and the people in Korea have no idea what it is, but it's still the top tech, in the fastest cars, with the best drivers. Always going to have a crowd.

NASCAR is immensely popular in the US. Skittle-colored billboards driving around in a circle for four hours. WWE-like driver interactions. Crashing. We can do better than this, America.

So here's the deal. Most racing series have a golden point - TransAm in the 60s, WRC circa 2000, Speedvision World Challenge ~2000. Those were awesome, and totally watchable. What made them work:

- Good racing. There wasn't necessarily one dominant car / driver.

- Interesting drivers. Mark Donahue. Colin McRae. Pierre Kleinubing.

- Cars you could relate to. TransAm was win on Sunday / sell on Monday. WRC sold millions of WRXs and Evos to budding Tommi Makinens. Everyone wanted to know what parts Roger Foo had on his Civic.

Then, inevitably, each series takes a dump. TransAm goes to tube frame silhouette cars. Citroen outspends everyone. World Challenge cars separate from reality. The one (or all) of the above ingredients goes away. The desire towin - and to not lose - at all costs is natural. It happens. And it eventually brings it all down.

Ok. This is where we get crazy. There's a pretty easy answer to fix this, and keep a racing series fresh, exciting, and always changing.

Ready?

Divorce the drivers from the cars.

That's it. Okay, most of you are likely already composing your nasty response, but hear me out. You have manufacturers provide and do the car prep. You limit it to current model year, and you limit prep to something like B-Spec rules to keep costs down - sealed engine and trans, stock panels, limited suspension work. You limit eligible cars to a certain hp/weight ratio, but leave it open otherwise. They can put their company and model logo on there as big as they want, for their investment they get to advertise their car.

Now for drivers. We need a cast of characters. We get pro drivers: your Randy Pobsts, ex-NASCAR drivers. Maybe racing celebrities, Patrick Dempsey and that kid that played Malcom in the Middle. Maybe throw in someone who wins a video game tryout like GT Academy or iRacing. We need some background stories to get people sucked in.

Then, each race weekend, drivers draw for what car they drive. A quick practice to get acclimated with the car, qualify, and race. Then after each race, a weight penalty gets assigned and split between both the fastest cars and fastest drivers. That will slowly evolve and equalize the field.

So one week we can have Richard Petty in a Camaro SS, where the next he could be in a CLA45 AMG. Oh, Robert Kubica drew the Focus ST this week, let's see if he can put a hero drive in at Laguna Seca. How about the iRacing wiz from rural Iowa that would never have the means to get in a real race car taking the pole in qualifying in the Hyundai Genesis Coupe? What a drive! Let's see a show of hands as to who would watch that?

William Byrd > burglar can't heart click anything 01/24/2014 at 08:42

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I would watch any series that used real cars, big(ish) name drivers and gets big time coverage (sorry Spec Miata, I know you are on at 3am on Speed sometimes, but you doesn't have the panache to keep me interested for a season).

Jonathon Klein > burglar can't heart click anything 01/24/2014 at 08:43

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Stupidru > burglar can't heart click anything 01/24/2014 at 08:53

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I'd watch it. You'd have an actual constructors championship along with a drivers championship.

I like the Swedish ice racing theory. You can do whatever you want to your car, but if you win the race and someone offers to buy your car for at least $X (can't remember what it is), then you have to accept the offer.

BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather > burglar can't heart click anything 01/24/2014 at 08:54

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I think this is a brilliant idea. Real cars are always going to be better to watch. I have one more thing as well: Make races freaking shorter!

I feel this way about a lot of sports, maybe it's ADD, but I can't stand to watch a race or a game for the 3 hours usually required therein.

However, if you could have 2 races with a brief intermission that totalled out at an hour-hour and a half? Hell yeah I'd find time for that.

Cherry_man1 > burglar can't heart click anything 01/24/2014 at 09:10

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I think the closest thing to that right now would be the old Continentinal Tire Challenge series. Mustang, Camaro, BMW, Porsche, and Aston Martin. That's in the GS class alone then you have the ST class with Honda Mazada and Porsche along with a few others.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > burglar can't heart click anything 01/24/2014 at 10:20

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I thought of something similar for F1. If Vettel continues to dominate enough to make the sport unwatchable, they could shake up the way drivers are employed.

Basically, each driver would be employed by F1 as a company. Each team would pay F1 an equal amount, but wouldn't employ the drivers directly.

Before each season, lots would be drawn and each driver would be assigned a team at random to drive for for that season.

Gizmo - The Only Good Gremlin, but don't feed me after Midnight > burglar can't heart click anything 01/24/2014 at 12:19

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The US had something similar, but they only used one car brand and model, supposedly all with the exact same setup; the only difference between the cars was the color. Drivers were brought in from many different racing series. And the season consisted of five or six races. A lottery was used to determine which driver got which car.

Grindintosecond > Stupidru 01/24/2014 at 16:15

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Claimed rules. American dirt track has had that for a long time for engines. It keeps the budget down. Win with a $10k engine and someone takes it for $1500...not gonna build many 10 grand engines again.

Stupidru > Grindintosecond 01/24/2014 at 16:31

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It just seems like such a great system to keep everybody in check. However, I'm not sure how you'd get a mass market audience to watch people race their hoopties

tireman721 > burglar can't heart click anything 01/24/2014 at 17:28

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I like your proposed series but I have a problem with saying that racing is broken and people only watch NASCAR and F1. I come from a dirt track background and can assure you that there are probably just as many people that watch dirt events as NASCAR. Now a lot of series have moved away from cars that are not immediately recognizable as being from a specific manufacturer. One of my favorite types of cars is sprint cars. while they don't look like a production car people can still relate to them and they put on some good racing.

burglar can't heart click anything > tireman721 01/24/2014 at 17:37

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It was a lot more dramatic if I made a broad sweeping generalization.

burglar can't heart click anything > Gizmo - The Only Good Gremlin, but don't feed me after Midnight 01/24/2014 at 17:38

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IROC.

tireman721 > burglar can't heart click anything 01/24/2014 at 17:40

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That is understandable.

TwoFortified > Jonathon Klein 01/24/2014 at 18:58

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This meme is nice...

But motherfucker is one word.

TwoFortified > burglar can't heart click anything 01/24/2014 at 19:02

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Show it on ESPN (at reasonable hours of the day. I don't care if it's on actual ESPN, or if it ends up on ESPN Ocho, so long as it is available with cheapish cable packages and shown at reasonable hours), live stream it on the line, and make previous races available on demand, and I'm in.

(I say this because I think this is what cripples a lot of racing leagues. "Sure, I'll watch [insert event-in-not-so-popular-race-league-here]...Oh, it's only being shown on a specialty racing channel...at 3:30AM...Never mind.")

DCCARGEEK > burglar can't heart click anything 01/29/2014 at 22:33

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You are looking at this through the lens that people aren't watching racing because they aren't into racing.

My take: people aren't into racing because they're into the billions of other pieces of content now available. Millions of videos, hundreds of TV channels, thousands of social this-or-that.

Daywalker > burglar can't heart click anything 01/29/2014 at 22:44

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Track & Field / Running racing faces the same problem... no popularity outside of Olympic years. They look to NASCAR as the model to follow and even hired a CEO with a NASCAR business background. I could go on for pages about this but in my opinion, niche sports need to recognize that they are niche and cater to their well-educated niche fans, rather than to try to make fans out of everyman. By catering to everyman but only having niche fans, no one is happy. Everyman doesn't care, and the niche fans are disappointed by the dumbing-down. Then there are lots of issues related to sponsorship and professionalism that need to change in track, but again that could be a pages-long rant. And don't get me started on PEDs.

Eric Sundell > burglar can't heart click anything 01/29/2014 at 23:12

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I often think a return to a series that drives real, actual cars that you or I could buy would help.

As much as I love watching F1 or WRC etc, you know for a fact that you will likely never have the chance to sit behind the wheel of one of these cars, let alone drive and race one in your life time.

But if there is a series where people are aggressively pitting aside from safety gear and tires, stock ford fiesta's against Fiat 500's for example, people might get on board with that. You'll have people saying, gee, maybe my ford would be good at that, lets get involved with racing, or auto-x or whatever.

It would also address my next chief complaint about motorsport, the cost. I love lap days, but damn are they expensive to someone who makes <35k a year. $400 for a weekend on track fees alone is a large chunk of change. If you can have a series of racing you could enter with stock cars and low budgets, I think you'd generate lots of interest as well.

Racing series in the past have done this, like NASCAR used to be just that, Stock cars. What happened to that? I think they should move back to that type of model and re-kindle the grassroots movement.

seoultrain > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 01/30/2014 at 00:45

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To expand on this, how would handle the rules to avoid it becoming a lottery for the 2 Red Bull cars, who would win more often than not regardless of the driver?

puddler > burglar can't heart click anything 01/30/2014 at 01:18

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racing isn't broken. then again, there must be some fundamental difference between doers and watchers. it gets expensive, and if you want someone to help pay, you have to do the sponsor dance, so i don't do it anymore. i race either a clock or myself most of the time now, still fun & more competitive than trying to find a mortal that can hang with me.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > seoultrain 01/30/2014 at 06:23

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I'm not sure really. I've heard that the input of a driver contributes about 30% to the speed of the car, whereas the car gives the rest.

That gives a lot of margin for a great driver in a slower car to catch, say, Max Chilton in a Red Bull.

I have thought that it would be disproportionately expensive for the lower teams. A greater proportion of their budget will go on drivers, as they'll have to foot the bill for an average of all driver's pay. Plus, they can't use pay drivers to shore up their finances.

Lots of flaws with this idea, but it's an interesting one.

burglar can't heart click anything > puddler 01/30/2014 at 07:34

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I take it you drive flat out?

burglar can't heart click anything > DCCARGEEK 01/30/2014 at 07:39

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The future of anything hinges on getting the next generation hooked today.

Sure my idea is harebrained, but perhaps packaging racing content in a format more accessible to today's instant-on instant-off YouTube generation can consume easier does have some validity.

burglar can't heart click anything > Daywalker 01/30/2014 at 07:42

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This is a good point. Hell, nobody can get Americans to watch soccer, which I believe is the world's most popular sport.

burglar can't heart click anything > Eric Sundell 01/30/2014 at 07:44

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Yikes - I think the most I've spent for a track day is $150.

puddler > burglar can't heart click anything 01/30/2014 at 08:15

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all day, e'ery day ;)...not on the road, too many fools for that. but if i can get my grocery shopping done in less than 20 minutes; i'd call that a win. i built a racetrack to get my adrenaline fix, but racing myself against the little stuff can have it's moments... i don't really drive much anymore, rarely more than 10 miles/week. but i bike flat out.

Mercwri > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 01/30/2014 at 08:24

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I feel the issue here is that in F1, the car is built and tailored to the teams primary driver (Look at Sebs and Webber), the winner is almost always a driver in the top 20% of the field (in terms of skill) with the car that is the the top 20% of performance that fits his driving style the best.

Eric Sundell > burglar can't heart click anything 01/30/2014 at 09:10

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must be cheap where you are. Closest track to me is Road America in WI, even that is a 5.5 hour drive. So the cost to race for the weekend, drive down, hotel, food gas ect. it ends up being close to a 700 weekend, and that's not including the set of brake pads you'll burn through or anything else. I tend to run kinda conservatively because I don't have a truck/trailer and have to drive my race Volvo home.

burglar can't heart click anything > Eric Sundell 01/30/2014 at 09:42

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I have three tracks within that distance, none are as nice as Road America. That's probably why.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Mercwri 01/30/2014 at 09:50

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True. Personally, I don't see the problem with the second point. Why should someone who isn't as skilled, or has a slow car, win the majority of the time? That's the premise that motorsport is based on.

Seb and Webber was unfortunate, but it's far from the rule. Ferrari was similar with Alonso and Massa, but the rest of the teams treat their drivers pretty equally (and Ferrari probably will this year, having both Alonso and Kimi).

The only issue I have with F1 at the moment is that Red Bull were too dominant last year. I can see why, but it makes the sport a little more boring. The year previous was brilliant as they were chasing right down to the last race. If Seb hadn't been the luckiest mofo on the grid when he span and didn't get hit by anyone, the title would have been Alonsos.

Skynet > burglar can't heart click anything 01/30/2014 at 10:35

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I almost completely agree with this article. The reason TUSCC is my favorite race series is because its the closest thing to relatable cars that you can watch on TV.

Daywalker > burglar can't heart click anything 01/30/2014 at 11:04

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Soccer and track have the same problem. Huge youth participation numbers, tremendous non-US popularity, huge adult participation in the case of running, and yet an utter failure to crack the mainstream. There are many things both sports could do better but part of the problem might be that people like what they are exposed to and what is available. Without having soccer and track and F1 /WRC etc prominently featured on tv and in the media, it's hard to gain momentum.

Mercwri > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 01/30/2014 at 18:00

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I think you miss-understood, in order to win in F1 your driver and your car need to be in the 20% respectively, you could take the top driver and place him in a Marussia or STR and have a loser, conversely you could put Maldonato in McLaren or Red Bull and have him ruin some-one else's race quicker while still not winning.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Mercwri 01/30/2014 at 18:39

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But, put a great driver in a Force India, and a mid-pack driver in a Mercedes and you've got a hell of a race.

It'd be an absolute lottery, I agree, but it would most likely avoid the 'Seb dominates in Red Bull' scenarios.

I don't actually suggest they do this. I like it how it is now :)

RickEraser > burglar can't heart click anything 01/31/2014 at 01:20

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Divorce the drivers from the teams. Best answer ever. Imagine that each race, the drivers drive for another team. 22 drivers and 22 races per year. Now the driver's championship will really mean something. And the manufacturers championship as well. It would be awesome. Sadly, neither the drivers nor the teams would go for it. But for the fans, it would be amazing.

Mercwri > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 01/31/2014 at 18:13

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I feel this season its going to be Button in a McLaren that takes the cake, I feel they'll be allowed to keep that brilliant aero trick with the control arms to take down Sebs in the RB10 (assuming that it doesn't run like a raped-ape with the Renault motor fixed)

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Mercwri 01/31/2014 at 20:46

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My bet is that Red Bull have a miserable first half of the season, but get the car fixed for the second half and start gunning for the lead. Could be very interesting.

I';d love to see Button do well. He's had such a miserable time last year. He's due some good times.