Some people don't watch NASCAR for the crashes

New research suggests that people still watch NASCAR for the brutal crashes, but that number is declining. University of Iowa economist John Solow and his colleagues studied the TV ratings of more than 100 NASCAR races over 8 years, including such metrics as the driver standings, track length, and even whether there was a football game on at the same time. Interestingly, NASCAR's 2004 adoption of the Sprint Cup championship race series seemed to increase viewers' interest in the actual races and point standings. Solow published his study in the journal Sports Economics, Management, and Policy. His paper has the excellent title of “The demand for aggressive behavior in American stock car racing." And that issue of the journal has the also-excellent title of "Violence and Aggression in Sporting Contests." Sadly, the journal is behind a paywall but you can read more about the NASCAR study from the University of Iowa news service: "Study Finds Fewer Fans Watching NASCAR for the Crashes"

(CC-licensed image from Bristol Motor Speedway & Dragway's Flickr stream)

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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fuzzyfuzzyfungus

I only watch it for the articles, myself…
s2redux

Lexical fender-bender: it’s Sprint Cup.
GawainLavers

I would assume this was a knock-on effect of the casual NASCAR watching audience plummeting.
GuyInMilwaukee

Because no one ever lies to pollsters when the question is framed to make them sound like heartless bastards. (not the band)
- David Pescovitz
  
  The data didn’t come from a poll about why people watch NASCAR. It’s TV ratings correlated with other data. Check the article I link to. And yes, I know correlation doesn’t equal causation.
- http://www.nathanhornby.com/ Nathan Hornby
  
  Good researchers tend to frame questions in a way that doesn’t give anything away. Sometimes even the subject matter.
  
  Newspaper polls on the other hand…
  - Donald Petersen
    
    Most of my buddies who watch NASCAR are genuine race fans, with favorite teams and drivers and preferred tracks, who argue over rule changes and occasionally curse Bill France’s name. Some of them spent time racing themselves at the now-defunct Cajon Speedway in the Bomber class, driving old Novas and Monte Carlos with $800 claimer engines.
    
    And those guys have never been shy about their appreciation for a particularly spectacular crash, though fatalities always ruin their day.
DoctorDJ

“The demand for aggressive behavior in American stock car racing.” Hell, that’s my daily commute.
Drabula

I watch in order to improve my left hand turns.
show me

I must say I’m impressed. I’m not a big fan myself but I was fully expecting the first 5 posts to contain the words “rednecks” and “turning left.” I don’t know if they should be technically classified as athletes, but it’s an incredible test of endurance to drive that fast for that long with all that gear on.
- ChicagoD
  
  They just use the cruise control, don’t they? ; )
Scott Rubin

I’d really be interested to know if F1 ratings are up as NASCAR has gone down.
- ChicagoD
  
  I doubt it because F1 is usually not on big cable networks in the U.S. It is very very easy to find NASCAR on the TV, less easy to find F1.
http://twitter.com/txhoudini Eric

I got into NASCAR for a few years. I enjoyed it because it was like a soap opera with engines and once you learned about it there is so much that goes into those cars. That said, I lost interested when the “Car of Tomorrow” was introduced. Not because they are safer (which they are) but because of the new rules and templates that went along with the CoT. It made for too many cars being too similar. (Also, ringer replacements for road races, etc)
- Donald Petersen
  
  I heard that. If we wanted to watch identical cars go roundy-round the track, then the IROC races wouldn’t have gone out of business.
  
  It was fun when the SC in NASCAR still literally meant “stock car,” as in a car you could buy at the dealership if you ticked the right boxes on the spec sheet. ”Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday” was a concept that kept the manufacturers directly involved.
  
  And the cars themselves were stars of the show as much as their drivers. It’s no accident that when Richard Petty voiced a role in Pixar’s Cars, it was as the iconic Plymouth Superbird he campaigned in the 1970 season.
http://blog.catandbanjo.com/ John Boggs

While spectacular crashes are pretty amazing to watch — in the same way extreme weather events are — I always get a little thrill from watching the drivers *avoid* an incipient crash. The skill is more impressive to me than the spectacle.
SomeGuyNamedMark

I find watching cars go in a circle to be thrilling.

If they let the teams experiment more with their cars and modify them it would be more interesting.
- http://halfbakedmaker.org Robert Baruch
  
  Then this will blow your mind!
  
  http://www.cityofgreen.org/roundabout-camera
http://twitter.com/destructothemad Destructo The Mad

So, if it’s not for the crashes, what do they watch NASCAR for?
Fred Talmadge

In the good old days cars would go flying over the wall, spectators and drivers would die. Now with all the safety equipment, hardly a scratch.
Teller

imo, the crashing aspect has always been the non-fan’s way of tut-tutting stock car racing as a dumbass sport. Race fans find a lot of skill, tension, timing, metrics and driver mind-games at play during a race. And the noise is killer.

edit: can’t deny the threat of body harm, car and driver, is always there.
Daneel

I watch it so I can sit in the stands for hours on end watching the rain and then the track being dried alternately, repeatedly, then be told to come back on Monday, and tough shit if you need to go to work that day, no refund for you, and no response from customer service.

But hey, you can get a discount on the same tickets for next year if you want to repeat your shitty, extortionately expensive experience.

Fuck NASCAR, fuck Daytona.
grimc

Additionally, these same people describe the Autopia ride at Disneyland as “thrilling”.
relawson

Two reasons that “I” don’t watch:

1) Calling it NASCAR has been a lie for a long time. It should be NASSAR (National Association of Sedan Shaped Auto Racing)
2) It’s really not so much about racing, it’s how long you can make your fuel last and timing the pit stop to get more.
- Ness Creighton
  
  … Um, that is a HUGE part of endurance racing, and takes a skilled driver and crew to do successfully. Go watch one of the 24 hour races and see just how much this is part of the core of racing. Heck, even the short track drivers do this, as do road racers and rally drivers.
  - relawson
    
    Well, no, not rally. Which is why I really like rally.
    
    If the race can be won or lost depending on when/how long you stop to refuel, its not really about who’s the best driver now is it?
    
    I’ll throw tires in there, too. It’s about how long you can make your fuel and tires last. (or tyres, depending on where you’re from! ;) )
Stephen Podgurski

I like auto racing and generally prefer Formula 1. Oval racing just seems dull by comparison. And F1 hasn’t resisted safety measures as much as NASCAR has. I’d prefer that my favorite driver not die, thank you.

Its also hilarious how in America F1 is somehow labeled as gay or generally less manly. That’s just NASCAR protecting its brand.
Stonewalker

I recently learned that NASCAR developed out of the American period of Prohibition and the alcohol boot-legging gangs’ need for speed. Because of this, I’m actually interested in learning more about NASCAR and I’m open to the idea of following it like one would follow other sports. Not that I follow other sports… other than national politics.

Outside of that, to me it just looks like a bunch of boring cars going around in circles for 7 hours. I’m interested in the design/mechanical/UI/engineering aspect of cars but I’m not really into speed or racing.

Something happened in my life years ago that helped me decide to never consider my culture/worldview better than anybody else’s. Because of this decision I’ve been able to learn amazing things and meet amazing people that I otherwise would have disregarded.

I hope to both learn amazing things about NASCAR and meet amazing people who doing interesting things in it. At the very least, I bet there are some *interesting* people I woudln’t get to meet without that decision I made.
- Teller
  
  “Something happened in my life years ago that helped me decide to never consider my culture/worldview better than anybody else’s. Because of this decision I’ve been able to learn amazing things and meet amazing people that I otherwise would have disregarded.”
  
  Need to remind myself of this more often. Thanks, S.
Mark5four0

Why would you watch a 4 hour race hoping for 20 seconds of mayhem? I think people watch NASCAR for the racing.

They watch NASCAR highlights for the crashes.
BobJohnson321

It’s unfortunate that those that run NASCAR favor “excitement” (excitement being big wrecks). When I was at Darlington this spring the race opened with a very long green flag run and nobody around me in the stands was bored. Races at Daytona and Talladega where they have restrictor plates are either dull beyond words or demolition derbies. These are the races that France thinks are exciting.
http://twitter.com/gkiltzVA Glen Kiltz

I for one, DO NOT watch for the crashes. In fact, I keep another show cued up for commercials and long yellows. I prefer a clean race, caution free,, and competitive right to at least the white, if not the checker.