The cable TV Ratings for the Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway was the fourth highest rated cable program that day with a 3.0 rating, 3,392,000 households and 4,968,000 viewers on TNT according to Zapit.com.
Last season the race was aired on FOX and drew a final Nielsen Media Research rating of 5.2 and a 12 market share. This came from the jayski.com webpage. Also, from that same source, the Autism 400 presented by VISA at Dover International Speedway was postponed from Sunday, June 3 to Monday, June 4 and televised on FOX with the final ratings unknown.
This came from the sportbusiness.com newsletter. NASCAR, has filed a $100 million counter claim against AT&T in a landmark case concerning NASCARs right to offer its series title sponsor, Nextel, category exclusivity. NASCAR was overruled in another court hearing recently.
Bernie Eccelstone told the Speed Channel that the future of F1 in the US is in the hands of Indianapolis Motor Speedways Tony George. Theres an imposed deadline of July 15 for a long term contact with IMS. Bernie has been tooting his horn and tells everyone that will listen that F1 does not need the USA. Its typical of his posturing in order to get a better deal. He does this every time a contract is up for renewal in an effort to bulldoze the principals. At this point in time, F1 needs the USA more than ever because it is the worlds biggest market.
In a related item, will F1 be able to capitalize on Lewis Hamiltons two wins, during the two weeks the series played in No. America? If they handle it correctly it could transfer into an increase in TV ratings for the remainder of the world wide series aired in the USA. The Montréal and Indy races aired on Fox rather than Speed. Right now F1 has something that no other major racing sanction has in its corner. That is a minority driver capable of winning every time out. As of the moment Hamiltons team, Mercedes/McLaren, is on a hot streak. When Juan Paul Montoya moved from F1 to NASCAR the NASCAR PR machine was working overtime at a rapid clip. The results gave NASCAR a lot of visibility especially in Europe, Asia, Australia and So. America which appear to be future markets for that Daytona Beach, FL based organization.
Consider that Fiat allows its Ferrari Division to spend $500 million a year which allows that auto maker to dominate F1 giving its $250,000 MSRP per unit sportscar high visibility as the best performance car that money can buy. The pressure is now on Ferrari to produce and make a comeback on the world wide F1 circuit in order to justify its current budget.
On TV ratings, NASCAR continues to dominate the interest of US fans regardless of being off the past and present season by a significant amount. While F1, IRL and CCWS are lucky to get a 1.0 audience share, NASCAR consistently gets 3-4 times that amount. The US TV ratings combined for F1, IRL and CCWS dont ever equal what NASCAR pulls every week for TV audience share. So NASCAR must be doing something right and the others need to change things around. Two significant factors stand out. The presence of the the top US drivers in NASCAR that have worked their way up the US ladder system to NASCARs open door top three tier series and the roadblocks for most all American drivers to enter F1, IRL and CCWS. In contrast, there doesnt appear to be roadblocks preventing F1, IRL and CCWS drivers from competing in NASCAR. So we will just let these facts speak for themselves.
Heres another good one from the Valvoline Track Talk Newsletter.Yes, He REALLY Said That -Bill France Jr., in a 1978 interview, explaining why he was confident of NASCARs long-term success. We work at it day-after-day, week-after-week, year-after-year. How true it is and its a lot to think about. When you compare NASCARs grueling schedule from February to November, with its trio of top tier divisions, it just dwarfs the rest of motorsports. Compared to other sports, NASCARs season is the longest. Its ten long months of weekly racing and in some cases drivers compete in all three divisions on the triple header weekends. Theres no such thing as an off- season. Because the twelve week break isnt enough to rest and its peppered with driver testing and rebuilding the fleet of race cars. You have to be both young and tough to stand this type of pressure. Burnout occurs quickly with careers now down to quick span of a decade because of the current demands.
On the tube this weekend that should be of interest to all of the gearheads. Starting on Friday its NASCAR CTS Qualifying from Milwaukee on Speed. Stick with Speed for the rest of the day and night with Cup Practice coming from Sonoma, CA at 3:30 p.m. and Cup Qualifying from that same track at 7 p.m. and finally the NASCAR CTS race from Milwaukee at 9 p.m. Saturday goes like this with Cup Practice from Sonoma airing at 1 p.m. on Speed and again at 3 p.m. followed by Busch Qualifying from Milwaukee at 5:30 p.m. Speed comes back at 8 p.m. with the Grand-Am from Mid-Ohio. ESPN2 offers the Busch race from Milwaukee at 8:30 p.m. Sundays offerings start at 11 a.m. with the AMA Superbikes from Tooele, UT on Speed. More Grand-AM from Mid-Ohio airs at noon on Speed while the WoO at Dodge City, KS goes at 12:30 p.m. on ESPN2. If you like Indy Car action then be prepared to surf with the IRL and CCWS both going off at 1 p.m. on ABC and CBS. More AMA Superbikes air on Speed from Tooele, UT at 5 p.m. and at the same time TNT offers the Cup race from Sonoma. More for the bikers at 6 p.m. this time from Donington, UK offering the Superbikes on Speed. At 10 p.m. its the Final Eliminations for the NHRA crowd from Englishtown, NJ at 10 p.m. on ESPN2. (end)
NOTE: INFORMATION FOR THIS COLUMN CAME FROM VARIOUS REFERENCED SOURCES, PRESS RELEASES AND NOTES.
