Fear. They didn't really understand what they had and were afraid that the rear engine sprints would obsolete all the other cars. They were far superior to the front engine cars. Same reason that rear engine SuperModifieds and DIRT Modifieds were banned.

As for NASCAR... I agree with what was said in the last page. Open the rule book and read the damn thing. It used to say that to be allowed to race a car had to be a production front engine (V8), 2 door, rear drive vehicle. The last one of these was the 1997 Ford Thunderbird. Bring back the stock car part.

Money money money... The TV deal started this fiasco. Before that, the tracks negotiated individual contracts. The broadcaster had no overall influence on the product being presented because they only dealt with a single (or a group of, SMI, etc.) entity of that product. Now, the broadcasters deal with the overall controlling interest, and because of that, have influence over what is being presented. I would wager a lot of these retarded rules to enhance the "show" are directly linked to what the broadcasters want.

The thing I like about ARCA is that if they do something, I can typically email an official or somebody and ask why, and I can typically get a response back. I also know that they did hear my opinion on whatever the subject is. Now thankfully, I haven't had to do that, but the ARCA guys aren't in their own little deluded world like Brian France is.

I'm still planning on attending 7 ARCA events this year..maybe even an eighth or ninth race, who knows.

Like, imagine a loved one becoming addicted to drugs and becoming homeless or something. They steal your money to get their next fix, and try to take advantage of you.

You hate them for what they've become, but deep down you still love them, and wish you could help them become the person they once were.

That's the problem. Watching NASCAR implode into itself is like watching a train wreck.

No matter how hard you try, you just can't look away.

instead of complaining all the time...just stop watching nascar..problem fixed

ARCA is an extremely underrated series IMO, and it definately deserves a bigger fanbase and more race coverage. If the officals would do more to fix the obvious flaws the series has been plagued with during the last decade then I think more people would start supporting it and its reputation in the stock car world would vastly improve. Whether or not this actually happens (and I highly doubt it ever will unless something terrible occurs) remains to be seen.

ARCA would have a bigger fanbase if Speed would cover their races at Salem as well as their dirt races at Springfield and DuQuoin. But oh wait that's another ace Nascar has the hole...Speed Channel. They can filter out more interesting series that fans could also enjoy that rivals their own (especially other stock car series like ARCA which includes a diverse and interesting schedule)... and instead replacing that stuff with crappy Nascar and reality shows because Speed is the unofficial Nascar channel. Pretty clever how they never actually called it that because its like they're trying to fool you into thinking its really a diverse motorsports channel like a Motors TV or something.

Lets not forget guys like Jim Liberatore who were fired on the grounds of suggesting that the channel cut back on Nascar junk. Thank god I live close to Salem so I can see those races in person. What a great track that is...kicks the shit of Bristol especially ever since its reconfiguration.

I bet if Speedvision was around and showed other series you guys wouldn't be so quick to say "oh I hate Nascar but I can't stop watching". Of course you can't because cool stuff like WoO and ALMS for example are run on huge tape delays and its hard to get into watching something that isn't broadcasted live or easy to follow.

I know Liberatore tried to start up a new racing channel, no idea what ever happened to that. I know ARCA has a contract with Speed for a minimum of 10 races each year, I wish they'd do more but like anything else these days, it takes money to buy airtime. Speed is definitely missing the point with ARCA's diversity,though thankfully the 1.5 milers have almost vanished from ARCA's schedule.(Kansas and Chicago are left).

Salem is awesome. Winchester will be good this year. Looking forward to IRP and both Toledo events, and you oughta check out DuQuoin or Springfield, you won't regret it. Dan Belcher and I had a helluva time for three weekends back last September (DuQuoin,Toledo,Salem back-to-back).

And I know its a money deal with ARCA and Speed but they need to consider trading in boring races like Michigan and sending cameras back to Salem and such. I bet they'd get more ratings/interest if they did.

Yeah, that's the problem with their current ARCA TV deal. Pretty much the only races they have on Speed are companion events with NASCAR or IndyCar where they already have a TV broadcast setup ready to go. Unfortunately, those are almost always the least interesting races. The DuQuoin, Toledo, and Salem races Jeff and I have been to the past couple years have been way more interesting than all of the Michigan, Pocono, Nashville, Texas, Kansas, and Chicagoland races combined.

Awesome thread. Kind of sums up how I've felt about F1 over the last 10 years or so as well.

I bet that if ARCA brought in a new TV partner like Versus or HDNet they would do those short track races that Speed doesn't cover.