NASCAR analyst Kenny Wallace called out NASCAR for ignoring its actual fans in favor of chasing of a younger demographic.
In a recent video upload to his YouTube channel, Wallace first explained why he called out NASCAR, “It’s the 75th anniversary of NASCAR and, listen, we heard it all. They’re going to celebrate, celebrate 75 years. Well, they’re not starting out on a good foot. They forgot their past.”
Wallace elaborated, “What has happened with the NASCAR Hall of Fame and NASCAR is they’re jumping over their Golden Era, and they’re going to people right away and saying, ‘Hey, we’re celebrating the past!’ And here they showed Jimmie Johnson.”
“Jimmie left the sport of NASCAR because he was burned out on it, went to IndyCar, and then went, ‘You know what IndyCar is not for me, I’m gonna go back to NASCAR.’ And so what to do they do, they celebrate him leaving them and coming back,” he continued to explain the problem.
Wallace then detailed what NASCAR should do and what he hopes they will do after a phone call he had with NASCAR President Steve Phelps, “We need to celebrate their best years right now, coming out of the gates. We don’t start 2003 lame and build up. We start 2003 a ball of fire, ‘Let’s go!'”
“So what years do we celebrate? People have been telling me, ‘Herman, I would go back a little more.’ I said ’88 to 2006.’ They said, ‘Herman, I would go back to 1985. Bill Elliott. The Pass in the Grass on Dale Earnhardt Sr.’ Look, I’ll say okay because I agree with that,” he said.
He then declared, “NASCAR, right now, is getting it wrong. They need to start celebrating 1985 to 2006. Who are those drivers? Dale Earnhardt Sr., Terry Labonte, Rusty Wallace, Kenny Schrader, Ernie Irvin, Davey Allison. You see my point? This was NASCAR at its highest point.”
Wallace then took issue with current NASCAR employees trying to entire a younger generation while snubbing their noses at their current fans, “You have forgot your Golden Era. You’re mixing in Jimmie Johnson and you’re showing snippets of Kyle Larson here and there, I get it, but those are not your people. You keep we want to get this age group.”
“Listen, I did TV on FOX. I know the demographics,” Wallace pointed out. “You keep going for that 20 to 35 group. Listen, you better take care of the ones that are watching TV right now. Because you’ve been going on 15 years or 20 years trying to get that demographic. I can demographic you all to death. I know all that demographic because I worked for my bosses at FOX Sports for 15 years.”
He then declared, “Here’s your demographic. I’m gonna tell you who your demographic is. The people that are watching right now. The people that aren’t watching, you need to build some excitement so your 20 to 35 year old people go, ‘What’s going on over there?'”
Later in the video, Wallace says, “Your fanbase that made this sport, they’re in their 60s and 70s, I get that. But those are the ones tuning in. Those are the ones still coming to your racetrack. And I understand that you’re trying to get the younger group. But in the meantime you’re forgetting the people that are still watching and buying right now.”
“So here’s my message to you, and everybody knows what this is really about,” he stated. “You have pissed me off. You have forgot about the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Champion, my big brother, Rusty Wallace. You haven’t shown a bleep about him and that’s what’s got me riled up.”
“You haven’t showed anybody that I mentioned yet,” he frustratingly said. “I don’t see Sterling Marlin. These are the characters. This is what made NASCAR so great because they’re not polished.”
What do you make of Wallace calling out NASCAR for ignoring its fans?
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