NASCAR expects to have 12-15 foreign drivers running a full schedule by 2012, is NASCAR going global?

Question

NASCAR has expressed it desire to have 12-15 foreign drivers to enhance it's popularity globally. Has NASCAR lost it's roots and abandoned those that brought it to where it is today or must this action be done for it's survival?

Answer 1

Yes. Theres a song called "Country aint Country no more" .. thats the way i feel about NASCAR. Its just not the same anymore. Im a HUGE old-fashioned Nascar fan, but if something dosent give, im just going to quit watching it all together. Theres too much ride swapping, sponsor changes, too many rules, too many foreign drivers, PLUS all the old school drivers cant even get a ride anymore. Ohh and another thing.. If the annoucers would shut up, and if there was a few less commercials.. it would be SO much better.

Answer 2

Yes NASCAR is going global. There are races in Mexico and Canada. Soon I expect a race in Japan and Europe and maybe Australia. It is a growing sport. I don't see it as abandoning those that helped it grow but welcoming new fans. The old fans can still watch great racing. Perhaps even better racing if NASCAR can attract the best drivers in the world. No it's not the same good old NASCAR, but change is inevitable.

Answer 3

I don't see anything wrong with NASCAR opening the gate to foreign-born drivers. America, including the "south" is a melting pot, and all nationalities are represented within our population.

If it brings more viewers, it's a good thing. As far as the "good ol' boy" image of NASCAR, that was stripped long ago when racers from all over the country started racing in NASCAR.

I don't think NASCAR needs to shed it's roots, but expanding to be more inclusive can only help it's popularity and survival.

Answer 4

Yes, Nascar is going global. Most of the larger countries like England and Australia already have some form of Cup racing going on. Champcar and the IRL are dominated by foreign born drivers, so it is inevitable that Nascar would eventually head in that direction.

Answer 5

Well they might have 12-15 foreign drivers try out for Nascar, I doubt there will be that many successful ones.. Nascar is trying to expands its horizons to all parts of the world, but Its hard to imagine that many foreign drivers staying with Nascar.. Several have found out already, its not that easy.. Only time will tell..

Answer 6

It's hard to comprehend how we'd get to that number that quickly. NASCAR is going global on some level.

It's an evolution, and it's not restricted to NASCAR. Have you checked the NBA lately? You have stars from Germany (Nowitzki), Canada (Nash), and Argentina (Ginobili).
MLB practically has a majority of Latino players.
Only the NFL has dodged it, and why do you think they just played a game in London?
It's a matter of time. The "American born sport" talk sounds patriotic, but in reality, I don't see how yuo can lock a foreigner out. How would you do it? I'm asking rhetorically here.
If we want Americans to rule, here's a novel idea, let's have American-born drivers race better than the foreign guys.
The good news: So far, we're kicking their butts. Not like basketball, where being selfish has allowed us to get beat by a South American country.

Answer 7

the purpose of any profesional sport is to draw attention and competition to that sport. you can say nascar went more global when jeff gordon, a guy from california started racing a bunch of guys from the deap south. Guess what? a guy from california could drive just as good as a bunch of southerners who were called "the greatest drivers in the world" nascar has finaly become a more globalized sport and they are attracting great drivers from arround the world who dont fit the profile of the steriotypical driver who began by running moonshine with his daddy's car. these guys can drive and have been able to prove that in their other leagues but now they are coming to where the money and the fans are. The way every one is reacting to these guys coming into the sport is the way every one reacted when jeff gordon came in to the sport. "oh hes not like all the other drivers, he must not be that good. nascar is loosing its roots' blah blah blah, think of it more like nascar is growing another root and just give it time. if you dont like it, dont watch it any more. but then you will say 'oh i cant stop watching nascar" then stop complaining and watch the sport. its esentialy the same
sport just with a few different names and rule changes. deal with it.

Answer 8

NASCAR wants to go international and this is their method of choice.
The down homeracing we grew up with and the hours spent at the track in the heat and in the dust and dirt will be turning to "tea and crumpets" to please a section of the fans that don't know jack XXXX about the origin or history of stockcar racing,but dayyam what's new part of the fans on this forum are here because they jumped on the band wagon of a hand full of drivers,ooooh I'm a fan of Joe Blow ain't he so cute,cute what the heyyell does cute have to do with stockcars.
Now we are getting drivers that can't speak Engllish(and they dayyam can't speek Southern".Good thing there still the Saturday night short track.

Answer 9

I know it's all about the $$$$ but NASCAR should think about it's old fans too. I can't even understand what the hell Montoya is saying during an interview. He wrecked out a lot of good cars while he was "learning". Is more of this what we will see? Also they will take spots away from the great young drivers coming up. Imagine if we never got to see Jimmie or Tony because a F1 guy took those spots.

Answer 10

There was a discussion on this topic on Tradin' Paint recently. Kyle Petty said it was his belief that going global with races in Europe and/or Asia was not really on the horizon because of the travel time required between teams home bases and venues on either continent. He did think there was a chance of different "divisions" with one perhaps being a European division and one an Asian division at some point in the future. And there was talk of expanding into Canada and Mexico but it would be at the expense of some of the races currently on the schedule because he did not see them expanding the schedule above the number they now run.