Mosky’s Musings: NASCAR vs Formula E, or Amateur Night (Day) in Brooklyn, a rant
Living in North Carolina’s Piedmont, one cannot help but be familiar with the NASCAR experience in Charlotte and its surrounds. Most NASCAR teams are headquartered here (and so is America’s only Formula One effort — Haas Racing). NASCAR’s drivers are local celebrities. Once Bill Clinton visited Charlotte on a weekend as Dale Earnhardt reigned victorious on the Observer’s page one. The President was reported on page three.
NASCAR’s efforts in engaging the fan are huge. Drivers’ personalities are emphasized. Last year Dale Jr. and Danica were household names. This year fans are aware of a whiney Kyle Busch, a quick to anger and quick to act Kevin Harvick and a stoic Martin Truex, NASCAR’s current Big Three who have dominated winning 15 of 19 Cup races this season.
Access to tracks is constantly improved. Politicos are successfully lobbied to improve roads near speedway. Fans park as near to the action as monstrously big speedways allow. And the track owners have become pros at enabling egress.
One only has to look at Daytona’s recent $400 Million renovation with its ethereal project name, Daytona Rising. Spectators’ individual 15-inch seats were enlarged by a third or more. Bathrooms doubled; concessions tripled. And the views of the entirety of the 2.5 mile track are fantastic. At many larger tracks “Jumbotrons’ supplement long distance views and multiple easily accessed audio feeds keep all informed.
The action is constant. Pre-race driver and crew intros are professionally staged and purposely vary from venue to venue: hats are tossed, drivers’ favorite songs may be played and there’s skin to skin contact as the stars slap five with many close to the stage.
On the track, the competition is close. At the larger speedways the majority of finishers share the lap with the leader. There’s ample bumping and banging. Pit action is frantic and a quarter second miscue by the driver or any of the five over the wall team can cost multiple places on the track.
The racing is continually massaged to make it more exciting. A playoff system was initiated 14 years ago and in its present iteration virtually insures that a champion won’t be crowned until the last lap of the final race of the season. Stage racing initiated last year awards valuable playoff points at intervals in each race; mid-race doldrums where drivers seemingly coast awaiting the mad competition of the final few laps have been eliminated. Racers race throughout the miles and hours of competition.
Despite all this NASCAR’s popularity seems to be waning. Last year the Wall Street Journal* reported that since 2005, NASCAR’s television viewership had fallen 45%. Admissions have fallen as well causing track owners to remove, cover or disguise empty seat seats. Sponsorship troubles abound and even NASCAR’s current top-level champion, Martin Truex Jr. finds he will lose major sponsor, 5-Hour Energy, at the end of the season.
LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE
I ventured to the Brooklyn GP as a spectator for the second round of a NYC doubleheader and the final race of the Formula E season. The driver’s championship had been decided the day before. Jean-Eric Vergne, not exactly a household name but a credible shoe and veteran of 58 Formula One events (with a best finish of sixth), had won three of the eleven Formula E races held at ten different international venues this season and emerged with the honors. A look down the roster of the other 19 drivers entered revealed no US participants but a few familiar names including Nick Heidfeld, who had claimed 13 F1 podiums but no wins in 249 starts and Andre Lotterer, a 2012 World Endurance champ and an overall winner at Le Mans. Nelson Piquet Jr., a Brazilian, sparked recognition not only because of his namesake father but for his two NASCAR Truck and one Xfinity Series wins.
The Red Hook site for the NYC e Grand Prix seems to be on the waiting end of the Brooklyn revitalization. It’s run through the fenced off streets around the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. This year the circuit grew from 1.21 to 1.53 miles. It’s tight; the popular Sebastien Buemi, averaged 68.1 mph over two laps to win the race 12 pole. The structurally identical Dallaras used by all racers are allowed 200kW in qualifying but only 180kW in the race. Race speeds fall further as the competition involves maintaining speed without using up battery capacity. Racers are limited to 140 mph but I doubt they hit it here.
ON EVERY RACE FAN, A LITTLE RAIN MUST FALL
I found the fan experience a bit unfriendly. Some of the problem was the precipitation but its these stresses that will hopefully make us grow.
The day before the event, I purchased my grandstand ticket online and was pleased to find that I could now buy two tickets for the $85 listed as the price for one. Instructions followed: “There is no parking on site or around the area. We strongly advise you not to bring a car”. Two public transportation drop-offs were suggested. Shuttles would be waiting.
New York Subways invariably empty onto a few street corners and my Carroll Gardens exit contained no signage to let me know a great event was near and did not let me know where the shuttle was located. Android to the rescue; I found a shuttle bus. Our driver seemed a bit more concerned with the World Cup live action on his smart phone than the road ahead. We ambled through the streets of Brooklyn, passed the police blockade and disembarked a bit more than a block from the entrance. Typically the approach to a street race is manicured, this one was unkempt. Writer to management: trim the grass along that last 100 feet.
Entry was easy; smartphone, barcode reader, bag inspection and you’re in. Small crowds equal rapid transit. Minutes later amidst a few drops an announcement was made. Lightning was in the area (8 miles away I was told). Repetitive commands came over the loud speaker. Everyone leave the area. Everyone must evacuate.** Where to go? Volunteers went to Warehouse 30. High rollers could go to a warehouse containing the “E-Motion” hospitality facilities. The warehouse would protect the media as well. Mere ticketholders were to vanish into the ether. I heard one ask an official why ticketholders could not be protected in the same warehouse as others. The response was “once people got in there, we’d never get them out”.
I watched as people filed out to their only possible egress, a street bordered by multiple power lines and a large transformer. They’d have been safer with a kite and a key. There was nowhere else to go. No stores, no restaurants. The surrounds were high fences and barking dogs. A few shuttled back to civilization.
Prodded by officials, I shuffled out. Smart phone to register me as left and ready to return. 200 spectators back I joined the queue with a Frenchman more interested in electric cars than soccer in front and an ex-Audi employee behind me. Both were excited, knew the cars, understood the technology and praised the drivers.
An estimated hour and the storm threat passed, sunlight heated the line and brightened the skies. Smartphone out, I was allowed return.
On to the grandstand, smartphone out to allow entry (no admission wristbands here), I located my seat and went off to explore.
The e village contained multiple electric vehicles, race cars with previews of next year’s paint schemes, battery technology displays and a row of NYC food vendors. I took a few pictures and began to worry about my cell phone’s battery capacity. A nearby display featured charging stations. Enter your own pin and your cellphone would be safely charged; I was told the rain had disabled them!
As the sun beat down on the pavement, my mate sought a head covering. A relatively unattractive one was available in a vendor’s tent for $40; after you endured the queue. Not to worry, let’s go to the Jaguar tent. The line surrounded next year’s Dallara Jaguar and Katherine Legge’s Jag sedan. Wade through the line, download the app, vote for your favorite Jaguar driver, Piquet or Kiwi Mitch Evans, and throw your hat in the ring for a chance at a Jaguar logo hat. End of the line and the spin; the prize a paper fan. Oh, they had run out of hats.
A beer would cool her down. Another queue; it takes a while for sexagenarians to show their ID to earn the right to stand in another line for the golden priced and colored liquid.
Back to the grandstands where the tightly packed benches made the sun drenched familiar but not friendly. The driver intro ceremony came off as scheduled. Twenty NYC police SUV’s whisked the drivers around the circuit where all could not see them within the confines of the vehicles. The blue and whites stopped on the main straight; drivers exited, appearing bewildered. They stood by the cop trucks some facing the grandstands and fan area, some facing their transport. They got back in and were whisked away. Introduction, announcement of names as they stood..didn’t happen!
Road courses and especially street circuits are not the best venues for watching a race. After the lights and course went green, I could watch them run up one straightaway and down another, much of the view shielded by protective fences. Engine noise was not a problem. The cars were eerily silent; does noise equal excitement? It’s in the ears of the “behearor”. Certainly the sounds of crunching carbon fiber were much more intense than expected when two drivers failed to successfully negotiate a straightaway. There is some drama; though teams are not allowed telemetry to monitor electric power consumption under race conditions, the FIA and fans are. Is the driver faster because he’s consuming more power? Will the power last? Fans following the action on the screens are treated to the readout. With my vision correction, I could not see the numbers from the grandstand. Younger eyes near me could not either.
Pit stops seem silly. The batteries lack the power to survive a race. The driver fronts into a tent, hops in a vehicle with a like livery and fronts out. Where’s the skill? An Israeli startup, Better Place, once developed a battery quick change system for passenger vehicles. It failed but might have worked in Formula E. Next year better tech will obviate the need for car changes.
I walked to the series of turns visible from the fan area. The view was a bit better and between the fence posts I snapped a photo (do you still snap photos?) between the poles and links. Here away from the conversing crowd, I could finally hear more than the frenetic cadence of one announcer and modulated tones of the other. The first words I heard was a query from the softer spoken as to who was driving on of the cars!
I soon tired of the shortest pro race, I’d ever attended. I climbed stairs to begin my exit. Few were joining for early departure. I was not over the track. Here I paused; maybe I could get one great photo of the cars scores of yards away. A stairway monitor said nothing doing as he put his hand over my lense.
Heated by inhospitality, I left the track and entered the inferno of the waiting shuttle. The driver could wait outside but the passengers could not.
The end; or is it? Brooklyn’s Saturday ABB Formula E Championship race occurred on the same day as a Verizon Indy Car Race and the Monster Energy Cup Series race at Pocono***. An estimated 2.3 million watched the Cup race. About 400,000 less than last year. The Indy series achieved a 0.29 rating and 458,000 viewers. The upstart E achieved a 0.31 rating and 412,000 viewers. Manufacturers are flocking to the series. By the start of season six, Audi, Jaguar, Nissan, BMW, Mercedes and Porsche will have powertrains on track. (That’s twice the number of car companies contesting NASCAR Cup events.)
Spectators and greater professionalism will follow the manufacturers. The series deserves another look.
- *I understand the track officials concern about liability. In 2012, a spectator, Brian Zimmerman, was killed by a lightning strike in a parking lot behind Pocono Raceway. 49 minutes before, a severe storm warning was issued. The track issued a warning 9 minutes later but only stopped the race 7 minutes before the strike. Though the jury found Pocono International Raceway negligent, it did not find the factual cause of the harm to be the track management’s actions. NASCAR was not deemed negligent.
I contacted one major track’s president regarding policy: it was contained in an internal document and could not be disclosed.
I chide the Brooklyn race officials and organizers for seemingly prioritizing liability concerns over their concern for their spectators. And to put them at risk while protecting high rollers is shameful.
About Mark Moskowitz MD
Mark Moskowitz MD is a retired surgeon, racer, and car collector. He is director and curator of The Museum of Automobile History (pvt), manages the estate of renowned automotive artist, Carlo Demand, serves on the Board of Directors of Carolina Motorsports Park and is Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. He is a frequent contributor to multiple motoring publications. Dr. Moskowitz is a member of the International Chief Judge Advisory Group and in the past 12 months, has been privileged to judge concours events at Boca Raton, Greenwich, Hershey (the Elegance), Radnor Hunt, Cobble Beach, Hilton Head, Dusseldorf, Monticello Raceway and Delhi, India.
