NASCAR, as a sport, is preparing itself to appeal to a more global audience and reach popularity levels that it never has before. A crucial step that will help reach this peak is, rather paradoxically, reaching down to the roots of the audience map. Sports like basketball have long had sophisticatedly designed recruitment ladders that help source the best talents from across a country-wide pool. And that’s what NASCAR wants to do next.
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In a recent NASCAR-organized roundtable discussion that featured names like Kelley Earnhardt-Miller, Kyle Petty, and Carson Kvapil, there was a storm of ideas about how youngsters who are interested in NASCAR could break into the complex world of racing. NASCAR executive Joey Denewitz revealed during the talk that the sanctioning body intended to organize and promote the ladder system to do this.
He said, “If I was going to get my son or daughter involved in baseball or dance there’s plenty of resources on the internet to show you that stuff. There aren’t very many, if at all, for us at NASCAR. So, our focus over the last 6 to 12 months has been, how do we organize the ladder system a little bit. How do we promote the ladder system a little bit?”
The responsibility for this falls not only on the sanctioning body but also on drivers, teams, and the racing community in its entirety. Lack of awareness about the mediums that can get one involved in stock car racing was viewed by the table as one of the most pressing issues right now. Petty underlined how there were multiple directions from which you could come and get into NASCAR in the old days.
But now, things are far more straightforward. Petty added, “I think collectively we need to create a door. After you come through the door you can go a thousand different directions. But we get you through the door.” Breaking down the barriers of entry is a noble purpose that NASCAR’s best can take up. But there’s also a big line that separates racing from sports like basketball.
The biggest elements that make up that line are the time and cost that are involved with racing. Stories that mention how drivers like Denny Hamlin and Daniel Suarez who had to sell everything they owned to hold onto racing aren’t hard to come by. The commitment that these drivers had was raw and intense. And that’s something that might not work for every young racing fan on the block.
Regardless, the sport does need a point of entry to make things easier for those who are strong-willed. As NASCAR strives towards a more professional approach in everything it does, it is about time it also streamlines its recruitment ladder and feeds the interest of youngsters who are looking to be the next Jeff Gordon or Jimmie Johnson.
