Was watching Wind Tunnel when they where talking about Jimmy Johnson and Mark Martin's race cars being sent to Nascar's R and D dept. each week for the past 3 or 4 races. Then it came to me the Mladin's bike was always being taken part this year, like 40 some times if I remember. Nascar warned HMS they ALMOST cheated, which maded me laugh. Then I remembered Nascar told Jeff Gordon team, not to bring a car they won the Allstar with, to the track ever again. Mind you the car pasted all tech inspections, but was to advanced for Nascar. Never mind they still run carbs instead of EFI and all the other 40 year old stuff they are still running. Which bring me to DMG making the Superbike class almost a Superstock class this year and all the other dumbing down rules they had for forks, fuel, tires. Why is the DMG group so scared of technology? Is this the real reason why DMG's racing series are falling out of favor with the fans?

Simple, they feel that if they strip bikes of all technology like TC and EFI it will be easier to police. NASCAR always inspects the winning car and a couple of others after each race. Right now Jimmie Johnson is making a mockery of their precious "Chase" championship. They ARE cheating somehow, but not getting caught. Funny things is even if they do get caught they do not take race wins away. Silly NASCAR.

Are there any small low budget teams in nascar? If there are do they ever win? All I ever see are these huge budget dynasty teams in nascar. Policing the technology was part of it but I thought keeping cost down was the major point. Cost down for who? The guy with only one personal helicopter?

Talking about nascar makes me feel dirty. I want to eat something deep fried then dipped in chocolate with a 60 oz Mt Dew. I have nothing agaisnt people that watch nascar but I do with the people that market it.

dmg and Nascar can not except that some people are smarter and work harder than others. It doesn’t matter that some riders are less talented than guys they race against. It doesn’t matter that some manufacturers and teams haven’t put in the effort to win races.

All that matters is their opinion of what the show should be.

Seems their vision is failing badly. My Nascar friend says attendance and ratings for every one of their playoff races is down. If fewer fans can afford to go to the track the ratings should be going up. Also seems at least four current full time professional teams are going out of business this off season.

I wonder when their TV contracts expire.

NASCAR ratings have been dropping for a few years - most of the 'die-hard' fans of the past don't like the new reality series.

Sound familiar?

I don't think DMG are afraid of technology, they are afraid of electronics and R&D;.

They aren't afraid of technology per se. When Toyota came into the series they didn't have a V8 push rod engine. NASCAR had to let every team develop a racing department to build special 1-off NASCAR blocks and special engine components b/c they had to let Toyota build special 1-off engines. Still low-performance equipment but not using low tech methods.

The problem with NASCAR is that they are attempting to completely eliminate research and development which means the cars are just rolling billboards. Nobody want to watch ugly rolling billboards even if the racing is close and the pile ups are entertaining. Sports that are sold to the sponsors are marginally worse that sports owned by production manufacturers.

Motorcycles don't lend themselves well to the rolling billboard format and that's why I'm not terribly worried about DMG's ownership. Motorcycles are small, they are partially covered by the rider, and the premier races usually only carry on for about 45 minutes. These limitations are a big part of the reason MotoGP has never reached the sponsorship levels found in F1. Allegedly, MotoGP has comparable ratings, but the sponsors continue to stay away.

So ratings are falling hard in both if not all of DMG's racing series. Seems to me that hog tying yourself to little or no advencement in technology, limits what sponsors, money, and fans you have to a series. Basically you have no growth in the sport, correct? Open yourself up to technology, you have better racing, more sponsors wanting to get involved, OEMs and after market companies developing better products, more money, and more fans. So, what am I missing that would keep me from looking at the DMG group with a blank face? I've emailed the AMA, Nascar, and others with in DMG, with no response or a statement of their view of technology. I just can't get my head around not wanting technology in their racing series.

its called control freaks who think managed racing is entertaining

gsxr147 - 26 October 2009 08:30 PM

So ratings are falling hard in both if not all of DMG's racing series. Seems to me that hog tying yourself to little or no advencement in technology, limits what sponsors, money, and fans you have to a series. Basically you have no growth in the sport, correct? Open yourself up to technology, you have better racing, more sponsors wanting to get involved, OEMs and after market companies developing better products, more money, and more fans. So, what am I missing that would keep me from looking at the DMG group with a blank face? I've emailed the AMA, Nascar, and others with in DMG, with no response or a statement of their view of technology. I just can't get my head around not wanting technology in their racing series.

You need development, not technology. The technological aspects barely even leak out to the fans because the teams guard the advancements so closely. Fans don't see technology, but they do see the cars becoming relatively weaker and stronger year after year (sometimes race after race) as the teams develop.

Development creates a more dynamic sport. Technology means nothing other than exponential cost growth, widespread disparity, and financial warfare.

Production motorcycle racing has development programmed into the formula because the manufacturers change the bikes quite frequently. I would like more development than what is carried out by the production company, but money is tight in the AMA right now.

thewon4 - 26 October 2009 08:45 PM

Fans don't see technology,

I can see the technology in a friend’s R1 that is parked in my garage.

odie - 26 October 2009 09:24 PM

thewon4 - 26 October 2009 08:45 PM

Fans don't see technology,

I can see the technology in a friend’s R1 that is parked in my garage.

I've told people before that the distance from race car technology appearing on a street car is much much longer than the one from race bike to street bike. To me the proof is in the lap times. Look at Formula 1 compared to the fastest production based car series vs. MotoGP to Superbike.