NASCAR

I like NASCAR http://www.nascar.com/en_us/sprint-cup-series.html. I used to be a die hard NASCAR fan.  Some of my heart died with the death of Dale Earnhardt Sr. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dale_Earnhardt. 

Some of my heart died when NASCAR started changing things:  racing on Mother's Day weekend, decreasing the Firecracker 600 to a 400 mile race, closing the races at the short tracks such as at North Wilkesboro and Hickory, adding a lot of " cookie cutter race tracks" that were the boring same run, week after week, and changing the championship formula. The change in the championship formula was the last straw: They "invented" The Chase to try to make the race for the championship more exciting.  It did not do what they wanted.  The formula before the first change was points for leading a lap, points for winning, and points for finishing place.  The problem was that sometimes some driver could have a really, really good year, finish high in a lot of races, but not win any races.  The answer was simple:   increase the additional points for winning from 5 to 20.  Make it substantial.

No, NASCAR did all these other machinations to make the championship race more interesting. But, it did not succeed. So, now, instead of just worrying about points, they now also put some emphasis on winning.  Get rid of "the chase."  Go back to the points system, with large number of points for winning. It will take care of the problem, and I will be more interested in NASCAR.

But not until they return to some traditions: no racing on Easter weekend (period, including Saturday.) No racing on Mother's Day weekend at all.  More short tracks.  Lower ticket prices.

NASCAR has done well to keep the drivers and pit crews accessible to fans.  But that is probably the only thing they have maintained.