Something over 20 years ago, I was working for a church organization (please don’t laugh), and while the decline in church attendance wasn’t as bad then as it is now, some areas I served were struggling badly, in part due to economics and declining overall population. Churches were closing.
One church decided to give up on a growth-oriented future. Rather, since it had a bit of money, it put that money into a trust designed to provide enough money to keep the doors open until the shrinking congregation had completely died off.
“When we’re gone, who cares?”
I thought about that the other day when I read a Yahoo Sports story by Nick Bromberg. It noted that the other weekend when NASCAR, Formula 1, and IndyCar were all racing on Sunday in the U.S., NASCAR handily won the television ratings battle. However, in the 18-49 age bracket, Formula 1 clobbered our favorite sport.
While I still hold that a good part of F1’s current popularity in this country is a fad, I think this story did bring up a valid issue in terms of NASCAR’s problem with younger fans.
That in turn prompts the question of what we should do about it, if anything.
This issue has been widely reported previously. A survey from just over five years ago found that only golf (PGA and WGPA), horse racing, and men’s tennis have fans older on the average than NASCAR. Back then, the average age for NASCAR was 58, and I’m sure that statistic is worse today, since the figure had gone up from 49 in 2006.
When we geezers are gone, who’s gonna fill the seats?
That’s a complicated question. Football remains #1 by far among all fans, but even its numbers are dropping big-time among the youngest. The only sports holding their own or growing are women’s tennis, men’s basketball, and soccer.
I haven’t seen an explanation for women’s tennis, but with basketball and soccer, at least part of their success may be the increased diversity of the overall pool of fans. Despite some noble efforts, NASCAR’s fan diversity efforts haven’t seemed to provide dramatic results.
At least some of the changes the NASCAR hierarchy has introduced in recent years may well have been intended to appeal to younger audiences. The problem with that is that, in general, young people aren’t flocking to large-scale spectator sports of any kind. Rather, they’re migrating toward participant sports and small-scale competitions involving those sports. I’m talking about the likes of lacrosse, volleyball, running, swimming, climbing, etc. (Two of the fastest-growing are flag football and pickleball.) In motorsports, my guess is that drifting would fit in this category, and you could add iRacing on the computer or game console. I don’t see a link between stage racing and any of these.
Another area where society has been changing fundamentally is in social organizations – the fact that younger people aren’t “joiners” like their grandparents. I remember a story, quite a few years ago now, where a leader of one of the largest fraternal organizations – might have been the Moose or maybe the Masons – was discussing their dilemma. In order to attract new, younger generation members, this person said, the organization would have to change the traditions and activities its current (older) members held dearest. Does that sound like NASCAR?
All this brings me back to my little, failing church. It had decided that the comfort (physical and psychological) of its existing members was the most critical mission, even if that meant something that could be considered failure down the road.
Some may disagree, but I’m willing to accept that the NASCAR of my fondest memories has a limited attraction for teens and 20-somethings, and to me, letting the inevitable take its course while I enjoy my declining sport in my remaining years is . . . well, OK. This is especially the case if the alternative is a sport that changes in ways that have no attraction for me and may fail to gain that younger audience, anyway.
What do you think?
Frank’s Loose Lug Nuts
I talk a lot about finding my racing fix these days at the local weekly track. Most races I attend have a good number of kids in attendance, but I’m guessing most are there with their families. The ones you have to keep are the ones who’ve turned 16 and now control where they go. I hope there are enough of them.
The participant arena likewise gets a mixed grade. Plenty of young people are racing, but most have parents behind their effort, and once we get past the generations that were raised in the car culture, I worry about that continuing.
For now, though, I’m guess you see more 18-25-year-olds wearing local hero t-shirts than ones with NASCAR stars.
Hey, I just realized that I was about to submit an article to PTR that included NO photos of race cars – can’t have that! Here, therefore, is a photo (from a couple of years ago) of Kruz “Kruz Missile” Kepner, winner of the River Valley Builders PA Sprint Series feature last Saturday night at Selinsgrove Speedway. Below is the NASCAR of my memory, personified by Junior Johnson in the Ray Fox Holly Farms Chevy, back in 1963. The Kepner photo is from the Sunbury (Pa.) Daily Item, and while the Johnson photo is attributed to the Charlotte Observer, it looks like one of those publicity shots Racing Pictorial and other publications used back in the day.
(Cover photo from Forbes Magazine, provided by Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Frank Buhrman
It has now been 26 years since I was at a Cup venue and 15 years since I attended a local race. I haven’t watched a complete Cup race in 3 or 4 years and haven’t watched any this year. I really tried with the now 24 year old first grandson. I took him him to local dirt & asphalt races. I got he and his mom tickets to Charlotte Cup. For a year or two he was a Denny Hamlin fan. Then he stopped watching any sports – on TV or in person. He does love to work on vehicles, but it hasn’t transferred. In 3 weeks he and his family are moving to Mesa, AZ. Maybe he’ll take in a Phoenix race. The 20 year old grandson attended 2 CMS Xfinity races in hospitality suites. It didn’t take. He watches 3 things on TV – NBA basketball and Philadelphia Eagles football – his dad was a Philadelphian, though. At least a number of churches have been repurposed. I don’t know how you repurpose a vacant racetrack other than to build a big box or subdivision on the site.
Our daughter was something of a fan until she said that the dust bothered her too much. Our son raced for a year, but an early marriage and fatherhood pulled him away. I don’t think I’ve ever taken an adult to a race and not had them enjoy it (I do remember your Mother’s experience, though.), but there are just so many alternatives beckoning you for your time now. I’m not sure racing is optimally effective at competing in that environment. One sort-of successful race track reporposing is the former Clearfield Speedway, a paved short track in Pa. UMI, an aftermarket stuff outfit, bought it to use as a test track but has had success bringing in pay-to-participate folks for drifting, autocross (or something similar), and other types of competition. I attended the only traditional race held there – a Super Cup Stock Car Series event a few years ago – and noticed that the change in emphasis meant the loutspeakers mounted on the fence were turned toward the infield (where much of the action took place) and ot the grandstands (which were usually empty). Road courses have had success with the country club model, but it seems harder for ovals. They certainly don’t work as well as churches to become restaurants or bars.
It has now been 26 years since I was at a Cup venue and 15 years since I attended a local race. I haven’t watched a complete Cup race in 3 or 4 years and haven’t watched any this year. I really tried with the now 24 year old first grandson. I took him him to local dirt & asphalt races. I got he and his mom tickets to Charlotte Cup. For a year or two he was a Denny Hamlin fan. Then he stopped watching any sports – on TV or in person. He does love to work on vehicles, but it hasn’t transferred. In 3 weeks he and his family are moving to Mesa, AZ. Maybe he’ll take in a Phoenix race. The 20 year old grandson attended 2 CMS Xfinity races in hospitality suites. It didn’t take. He watches 3 things on TV – NBA basketball and Philadelphia Eagles football – his dad was a Philadelphian, though. At least a number of churches have been repurposed. I don’t know how you repurpose a vacant racetrack other than to build a big box or subdivision on the site.
Frank, racing today in NASCAR just isn’t what we have always known as racing. I do watch, but I find the excitement missing and I find I really am not too crazy about most of the drivers. I am a big Ryan Blaney fan and I like Kyle Larson. I keep track of their positions on the leader board when Cup is racing. As far as the trucks and Xfinity, I just watch but without much interest. I don’t know if it is my age and other concerns that is taking my interest or just the lack of excitement that the old days had. My interest has just waned. I still like and watch Supercross and Motocross.
Your article referenced how churches are having a problem also. I understand that. I have seen it in my area and 2 other close areas recently. Since we don’t leave home much anymore, we watch 2 different church services on tv each Sunday.
Your article also made me think of 2 articles I wrote in 2017 and 2018 for Race Fans Forever. I am including links to those, but you may have to copy and paste. I could not find the articles in My Documents Racing folder, so these are from my archives here at PTR.
https://www.purethunderracing.com/2025/05/whos-gonna-fill-their-seats.html
https://www.purethunderracing.com/2024/07/where-do-old-fans-go.html
Thank you, Frank, for still writing.
I noticed a decent number of 18-35yo at Richmond last August. Getting them to sit down and follow racing on tv is a different animal. Heck, once boat season arrives on the Chesapeake, I don’t watch on tv. I definitely catch the last 30 laps or so if we’re back on dry land. My daughter has said it’s too loud. There’s no wifi. Headsets are too expensive to rent. The food ( at Richmond, specifically) is lousy. Races are too long. She lives in Charlotte. She loved the All Star race being there. Short, sweet, and over with. I don’t know who’s gonna fill our shoes.
Vivian, your articles are always worth reading and thinking over, and Stacy, thanks for adding your experiences. It’s really hard to see a way for racing (or any traditional sport, for that matter) to recapture the magic. Maybe the biggest problem is the infinite choices available today. Take me, for example, an old guy, not even of the generation we’re discussing. Instead of “network” TV, I head for YouTube and choose a cooking show, travel show, comedy show, history show, or other show, in each case from among hundreds of possibilities. Younger people do that with Instagram or TikTok and have even more choices. Once we looked forward to that lousy racing coverage on Wide World of Sports. Today you have FloRacing, MAV, DirtVision, and dozens of others. The pie is being cut into thousands of tiny slices. If it weren’t for the VIPs who spend thousands on their sport of choice, nobody would be bringing in enough money. It’s a different world. I’ll enjoy the parts of it I enjoy and try to hold onto those until I’m gone. In the meantime, there are three sprint car races I’ll try to attend this weekend, weather permitting. I’d love to watch the action at North Wilkesboro, but there are other choices, and I’ve chosen.