- 07 May 09, 14:15#115347
I think Bernie has started to look at NASCAR as his role model for a financially successful race series.
NASCAR lost a lot of it's true NASCAR fans as the regulations changed to spec cars, restrictor plates, an absurd points system and mandatory yellow flags. But the resulting close finishes and big wrecks brought in more new fans that thought NASCAR was more entertaining to watch. The new fans don't care about NASCAR tradition or the fact that the cars have no technical relevance outside of an oval race track. The new fans don't care that it's not "real racing" anymore. The car manufactures aren't as involved as they used to be, but the new fans don't care and will buy whatever dishwashing soap is on their favorite driver's car.
As Bernie and FIA start to implement their new rules the real F1 fans (the majority of the people on this forum) will go find new race series to watch, But Bernie won't care, because for every one of us that stops watching there will be 3 more that start watching that don't really care about the tradition or the purity of F1, the new fans will just be happy to watch closer finishes and bigger accidents. The new fans won't care that the Ferrari has a Cosworth engine in it and that all the cars sound the same as they hit their Rev limited 12000 RPMs. The new Spec bodies will all look the same and will be designed so the cars can pass easier, But the new fans won't know the difference, or care who designed them, they'll just cheer for Ferrari because it's still painted red. There will be more teams because F1 will be cheaper and we'll see other car makers getting involved that won't need to be a technical powerhouse because all the cars will be built to spec with the same engines anyway. We'll lose the High end companies like BMW and Mercedes, but other companies will be glad to sponsor F1 cars. We'll see more companies like Hyundai, Skoda, Seat and KIA involved and the new fans will cheer for the team that has a sticker on the side that matches their car in the driveway.
Bernie and Max don't care about the tradition of F1, and they won't care that we hard core F1 fans leave to go watch real racing somewhere else, because there will be 3 or 4 more new fans to take our place, and for every new fan comes more money for them.
NASCAR lost a lot of it's true NASCAR fans as the regulations changed to spec cars, restrictor plates, an absurd points system and mandatory yellow flags. But the resulting close finishes and big wrecks brought in more new fans that thought NASCAR was more entertaining to watch. The new fans don't care about NASCAR tradition or the fact that the cars have no technical relevance outside of an oval race track. The new fans don't care that it's not "real racing" anymore. The car manufactures aren't as involved as they used to be, but the new fans don't care and will buy whatever dishwashing soap is on their favorite driver's car.
As Bernie and FIA start to implement their new rules the real F1 fans (the majority of the people on this forum) will go find new race series to watch, But Bernie won't care, because for every one of us that stops watching there will be 3 more that start watching that don't really care about the tradition or the purity of F1, the new fans will just be happy to watch closer finishes and bigger accidents. The new fans won't care that the Ferrari has a Cosworth engine in it and that all the cars sound the same as they hit their Rev limited 12000 RPMs. The new Spec bodies will all look the same and will be designed so the cars can pass easier, But the new fans won't know the difference, or care who designed them, they'll just cheer for Ferrari because it's still painted red. There will be more teams because F1 will be cheaper and we'll see other car makers getting involved that won't need to be a technical powerhouse because all the cars will be built to spec with the same engines anyway. We'll lose the High end companies like BMW and Mercedes, but other companies will be glad to sponsor F1 cars. We'll see more companies like Hyundai, Skoda, Seat and KIA involved and the new fans will cheer for the team that has a sticker on the side that matches their car in the driveway.
Bernie and Max don't care about the tradition of F1, and they won't care that we hard core F1 fans leave to go watch real racing somewhere else, because there will be 3 or 4 more new fans to take our place, and for every new fan comes more money for them.
Last edited by csrracer on 07 May 09, 18:57, edited 1 time in total.