Furious NASCAR Fervor

Those who are not diehard fans of NASCAR may not understand why watching super fast cars going around in circles bring so much joy to the stock car enthusiast. Well, planning is a huge reason. This preparation adds tremendously to the thrill of auto racing, and based on this aspect, there would seemingly be great anticipation on who's going to win.

There are a few important factors that go into planning: The crew has to collaborate to determine how they are going to handle the inevitable problems that will arise in the most expeditious matter. Additionally, teammates need to agree on who has the best chance for one of them to win or place as high as he or she can, with the minimal amount of sacrifice of the other teammates. Moreover, each driver has to come up with a realistic strategy to win or place as high as he or she can, while taking in consideration of weather and track conditions.

These factors have been fundamental to the success of NASCAR since its inception. Over 60 years ago fans started to take an interest in the planning of stock car races. Consequently, in 1947 more and more potential drivers began to pursue entering the races. During that year, however, there were problems synchronizing the rules between venues.

For instance, some rules were created as a result of tracks being built in order to accommodate the fans, and different ones were created as a result of tracks being built to serve the cars and the drivers. In order to bring uniformity and to help eliminate confusion on the rules, NASCAR (The National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing) was created to bring a governing presence to stockcar racing. NASCAR was off and running, in the next few years fans witnessed NASCAR racing at Daytona Beach, Charlotte, and Darlington.

Over the years NASCAR has gained in popularity as it began to receive television coverage in the 1960s. In 1989, every race on the NASCAR schedule was televised. As the sport continued in its attractiveness, a chain of officially-licensed apparel and souvenir stores called NASCAR Thunder was created, along with a chain of restaurants that provided a nice combination of racing and dining in one spot, namely, the NASCAR Café.

In the 2000s NASCAR was reaching tremendous heights, as in 2001, FOX, ABC, and Turner Sports signed a five-year contract with the stock-car racing giant to the tune of $2.8 billion! By the time 2003 rolled around NASCAR had races in 23 states and 75 million fans in 100 countries. These fans purchased over $3 billion in annual licensed product sales.

Now NASCAR operates in 39 states, and includes Mexico and Canada in its international expansion. Over 100 tracks bring racing enjoyment to loyal fans in these places. NASCAR races are broadcast in over 150 countries.

At the beginning of 2010 some thought that NASCAR popularity would suffer because of the recession. During 2009, TV ratings went down, and had been going down since 2005. To overcome the effects of the recession and declining popularity, there was a vision that maybe the girl power of Danica Patrick could develop some Danicamania that would swing the pendulum of losing popularity to that of gaining popularity. There is hope that she, with her feminine appeal, may attract young girls to be interested in the sport.

Greg Berry is the author and can provide additional information about the popularity of NASCAR. sportscollectionshop.com

By Greg M Berry