will motorsports as a whole ever be recognized by the mainstream?

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A2K78

A2K78

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This might sound like a crazy conversation to bring up, but given how motorsports as a whole continue to receive bottom of the barrel coverage by the mainstream media not to mention the fact that many motorsport stars continue to be overlooked in a major way, this make me have to wonder --- is there any hope of motorsports really being recognized alongside the other mainstream stuff?
 
I can't answer your question, but certainly know what you are talking about. I remember waking up the morning after the 24hr of Le Mans last year and not seeing it mentioned at all on our Today show. V8 supercars gets a bit of coverage, as does F1, but that's basically it.
 
I completely see where you're coming from. It's probably because people aren't that open minded and think of motorsports as a few cars driving in circles. Yes that is what I've heard people say... -_-

Also take Le Mans for example, i feel it will never be covered properly by mainstream media because of it's length. Which is why I try my hardest to go every year!
 
Probably not, and I would guess there are a few reasons why.

1) It has a completely different kind of drama than most sports as it's not always right in front of you. For instance most people wouldn't really know what was so great about Senna's 1991 Brazil win as it wasn't as visual(until the end) as say Curt Shillings bloody sock from the 2004 World Series.

2) It has a perception of being easy, I have no clue why every other sport doesn't get the same image despite being just as easy(even easier in some cases) in their simplest forms(the most popular sport in the world is kicking a ball into a net:lol:).

3) In a sort of related to 1 way, people love rags to riches stories and racing doesn't have many of these as it's much more expensive than most sports to get into. This also carries on to adults as people like to play the sports they like in their backyards and parks, this isn't really possible with racing.
 
Sam48
Depends what country you live in... *Cough* America *Cough*
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Well, apart from NASCAR, F1 is the only one I ever see race recaps of in my local paper. Granted it's just a re-used AP piece, but it's better than the short blurbs that only say the winner that they use for most other major series. Pretty sure they show a clip or two after a race on the local news during sports as well(usually mis-pronouncing every name along the way:lol:).
 
I can't speak for rest of america or even the world but living in the south, the only motorsport you hear of is NASCAR which is ok to a degree.

The paper in both Austin Texas had articles about V8 Supercars and Daytona had Rolex coverage but very rarely will we ever hear about anything outside stick and ball sports for whatever reason.

I don't completely get it at times as why hardly any coverage unless you really follow motorsports (I have to explain things to my old man who is a fan but still doesn't know) but my first love is offroad racing. It gets NO coverage really which is sad because focus is mainly on pavement racing or ovals, but money wise, offroad is a amateur hobby with very few making a good living at it.
 
I only ever see NASCAR in mainstream media, well I did see just one little tiny portion about this year's 24 hours of Daytona, but it was short and quick. I wouldn't count that as motorsports being recognized by the mainstream since that's just a small portion of it.
 
It's funny because here in Europe F1 is covered quite a lot and I have never seen a NASCAR article in a paper or on the news.

You get a bit of news from the endurance races but not much. Also Rally is covered a little but not much.
 
Here in my little country, Chile, the papers barely made an article of LeMans.
F1 is well.covered (the only sport apart of football that gets more than one page on Monday) and
WRC gets a little article (but when Subaru still was there it was way more.covered.though).
I think that people recognize names like Vettel Alonso and Hamilton but in the overall it is like anywhere else. "why do u like to see that?"
"why is that an sport?" and idiotics phrases like that.
 
A2K78
motorsports as a whole continue to receive bottom of the barrel coverage by the mainstream media
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In the cause and effect relationship, a lack of mainstream coverage is the effect. Not the cause. The media is driven by ratings, and so will show what the people want to see. If there is no interest in motorsports, there will be no coverage of motorsports. You cannot expect that television stations will simply start showing more motorsport and people will watch it because it is available. The people know what they want and will watch it. If they're not interested, then they won't watch it. You might get a few people who generate an interest when they idly flip through the channels, but for most people, it will just pass them by.
 
I think any form of motorsport takes a while to get into which is why most people don't take to it, often it is a case of just driving/riding around in circles. I think that the thing that makes a racing series is its characters, when you get to know them and you know what they are fighting for it just becomes more interesting to watch. Motorsport isn't cheap to get involved in either when you compare it to ball sports.
 
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Here in the UK, F1 is on the BBC and Sky, so I would say its by far and a way the most known Motorsport where I live. I could ask people f they know of F1, and they would, albeit, pretty much nothing about it (and the occasional person would know Vettel). Other than that, no others get major coverage. MotoGP is shown sometimes live on the BBC, and the BTCC is on ITV all day - but neither are majorly watched. Eurosport does fairly well, with the majority of the lower league Formulas and Endurance Races being shown on it, and Motors TV do quite well too, but once again, none of these are mainstream broadcasters and are not very well known to those who don't watch motorsports.

Its not that they don't get coverage, its just that they're on the wrong channels which doesn't help the matter. If Le Mans, for example, was on the BBC, I'd assume a lot more people would pay attention to it, solely for the larger audience the BBC has. But once again, the sheer cost of following a Motorsports season or even race, appears to cost more than your standard Football or Rugby match.
 
To answer the question: not here in Denmark at least. They usually dedicate 1 feature in the sports news for Formula 1 in those weekends (or that once in a month they decide to bring news about Kevin Magnussen).. But that's about it, with the exception of 1 week in June (and guess what? Even that one time a year they turn away from it if there's a completely irrelevant soccer match that doesn't change a thing and nobody gives a 🤬 about). They also did something outrageous this year by making a 30-second feature on the new DTC. Except from that, I remember one time they showed rallying, for about 15 seconds at max, in '08 or '09. Meanwhile, it's so full of 1-minute features and portraits related to soccer that I usually turn off the TV the moment it's their turn.
Thank god we have some german channels for the sake of F1, DTM and WRC

Edit: I completely forgot, until I think 2010 TV2 would actually transmit the 1-hour reviews of WRC on one of their subsidiary channels (first TV2 Zulu, then TV2 Sport). Long live the video tapes from '05-'07 and DVD's until '12. So, to summarize, amazingly, WRC used to have the same amount of broadcasting as F1 in DK. Both of which are gone or outphased to expensive channels.
 
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No mainstream news channel covers racing in America (I'm talking about the big news shows) unless there's a death, possible deaths, or an insane wreck. Even then they make beginner mistakes in their coverage and you can tell they don't really care (See CNN's Breaking News coverage of Kyle Larson going into the grand stand at Daytona this year, where they claim "Defending NASCAR Champion" Brad Keselowski wrecked him and spent about 5 minutes on-air trying to figure out who drove the 32 (Larson).
 
^^^ I love when that happens not when they wreck obviously but when the reporters are making a big deal about it and they still don't know what they're talking about it just makes my day.

In the south of America I have yet to see a news article about formula 1 it's all NASCAR, NASCAR for some reason always gets front page news but no other Motorsport does. It's real annoying when I miss a formula 1 race and have to google search the results instead of looking in the paper. They just don't understand that some of us like a Motorsport that doesn't literally drives in circles!

The only news that I find on anything Motorsport related is on NBC Sports, every weekend usually after formula 1 races they go over NASCAR, formula 1, WRC, Endurance racing, etc, I believe it's called wind tunnel or something of the sort.
 
Starciller
The only news that I find on anything Motorsport related is on NBC Sports, every weekend usually after formula 1 races they go over NASCAR, formula 1, WRC, Endurance racing, etc, I believe it's called wind tunnel or something of the sort.
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Wind Tunnel is on SPEED, and hosted by Dave Despain. Of course, because it talks about racing other then NASCAR, it will not be on FOX Sports 1.
 
Downhill Dino
I only ever see NASCAR in mainstream media, well I did see just one little tiny portion about this year's 24 hours of Daytona, but it was short and quick. I wouldn't count that as motorsports being recognized by the mainstream since that's just a small portion of it.
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NASCAR is popular, yes, but mainstream in the manner as other mainstreams sports(NBA, NFL, college sports,etc) no really. If you watch Dale Earnhart Jr.'s dvd(Any Given Day) he talks about how NASCAR still have yet to be recognized by the mainstream despite its notoriety.
 
The biggest problem is the cars are just as big of stars as the drivers. Most sports require the athlete to handle a single ball, or a stick, and thats it. But its hard for many people to really cheer someone on when they cant really see them in a car. Therefore motorsports loses the human appeal to the mainstream

Also there is very little respect for the skill needed in racing. Believe it or not theres alot of people who think because they can drive their car back and forth to work, then they're capable of being a top tier racecar driver. I believe one music artist said because he drove down a dark country road at night going 100mph he could be a NASCAR driver and thus disagreed with Jimmie Johnson winning athlete of the year. So then motorsports loses the appeal of being highly skilled to the mainstream.

As for the spectacle...television highly neuters the speed and sound. So you have people saying "If I want to see fast cars I can look outside at the highway"
 
I'd say the problem isn't as much with the media as it is with the population at large. Fact of the matter is that not nearly as many people have an interest in racing as they do other sports.
On top of all that, I'm willing to say that motorsports are not over-looked in the media nearly as badly as the thread suggests. Nascar, Formula 1, and a variety of other sports are often shown on US television (and that's without resorting to watching "Speed").
 
Earth
Also there is very little respect for the skill needed in racing. Believe it or not theres alot of people who think because they can drive their car back and forth to work, then they're capable of being a top tier racecar driver. I believe one music artist said because he drove down a dark country road at night going 100mph he could be a NASCAR driver and thus disagreed with Jimmie Johnson winning athlete of the year. So then motorsports loses the appeal of being highly skilled to the mainstream.
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It winds me up so much when people doubt the skill involved, unless they have been in a top race car and lapped as fast and as consistently as the top drivers in that category then they can't really comprehend the skill involved. Racing is one of those things were the more you learn the more there is to learn.
 
Motorsport isn't as sparse as people think.

Channel 4 does have the British Formula 3, VW Cup and the British GT and also highlight of the GT World Series.

ITV4 have the WRC (this year so I don't know about 2014), the BTCC, BSBK, Formula 4 and highlight of the DTM.

Eurosport covers Le Man almost every few minutes. They also have the WSBK and MotoGP, World Series by Renault, WTCC and the ERC. They also have shown the Lamborghini Super Trofeo and on occasions Auto GP and the ETCC which both support the WTCC. And of course RallyRaid and the Dakar Rally in January. If you pay for it's £2.99 subscription you can watch motorsport you have missed on the Eurosport Player. But you can't save the action in a playlist so when it goes it goes forever.

And of course theirs channels on YouTube where you can watch things like the ELMS and WEC and the FIA F3 European Championship.
 
A copy-paste my previous responses to this topic (if I could be bothered to find them), but:
Motorsports will always have a handicap in popularity around the world because its an exclusive sport. You can't play it at school or in the garden or on the street. You can't take part without spending thousands of £/$/whatever. Because it has no "grass-roots" for the average person, it makes it that much harder for anyone to get into the sport and appreciate it.

This is why football(soccer) is so hugely popular around the world. You just need a cheap ball and that's it. You can play it anywhere. You can take part in competitions from meeting with some friends to playing with school to semi-pro careers without spending thousands of £.

So it will always be relatively unpopular compared to other sports because its exclusive, not everyone can take part and a lot of other sports are introduced to a lot of people through school.
 
TheEnd35000vr
If Le Mans, for example, was on the BBC, I'd assume a lot more people would pay attention to it, solely for the larger audience the BBC has.
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That and Allan McNish and Anthony Davidson. But then I think the UK audience would then learn about Strakka and drivers like Nick Leventis and Johnny Kane.
 
Earth
The biggest problem is the cars are just as big of stars as the drivers. Most sports require the athlete to handle a single ball, or a stick, and thats it. But its hard for many people to really cheer someone on when they cant really see them in a car. Therefore motorsports loses the human appeal to the mainstream

Also there is very little respect for the skill needed in racing. Believe it or not theres alot of people who think because they can drive their car back and forth to work, then they're capable of being a top tier racecar driver. I believe one music artist said because he drove down a dark country road at night going 100mph he could be a NASCAR driver and thus disagreed with Jimmie Johnson winning athlete of the year. So then motorsports loses the appeal of being highly skilled to the mainstream.

As for the spectacle...television highly neuters the speed and sound. So you have people saying "If I want to see fast cars I can look outside at the highway"
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EXACTLY! right now the Tour De France is on for the week and the tennis was one for a while on mainstream tv. Cricket as well. motorsport need to be more than a weekend thing. V8 Supercars ask the question should the series run at night and on week days as well. unless, coverage includes arrival to the circuit, introduction of the drivers, practice, race day and post race interviews in their entirety. People that aren't interested cant put the face to the car. well said, Earth.
 
I was just watching sports center on ESPN2 and when they were talking about the fails of the week when that guys (sorry forgot his name not big on indycar) trophy fell apart. He said .....'s Trophy fell apart after finishing 2nd at the umm....... Indycar race. Didn't even get the name of the race!!
 
To me, mainstream sports types will only care about motor racing either when someone real popular does something or if there are crashes. I hate more than anything people who have a one-track mind about racing. Some people also only discuss racing when someone dies during racing. It gives motor racing a bad rap how people perceive motorsports as a death sport. But likewise, it isn't like [gridiron] football players don't die in play or that basketball players haven't been killed. People just make it seem like most racing drivers are like... you know, soldiers- in the sense that you're part of an occupation in which death is likely for the profession and the level of challenge of the job.

There are just too many variables and situations which make me wish people had better respect for and better understanding of racing. That's why when most people try to feature motor racing among traditional sportswriters and traditional sports shows, it just gives an upset feeling in my stomach. For example, ESPN's "Around the Horn" sometimes feature certain car crash moments as eye candy. Almost as if the actual sport aspect of racing isn't considered or admired. That, more than anything upsets me. If racing was about wrecking all the time, then all of us would be banged up and dinged up. And we have a motorsport devoted to impact- it's called demolition derby, and it isn't actually "racing."


So will traditional sports types ever accept motorsports? Yes- when people actually appreciate what racing is REALLY about. Otherwise, such types couldn't give a s:censored: about motorsports even if they tried.
 
To add to what others have already said, another problem with recognizing Motorsport in popular media is that there are so many different forms of racing. If you'd ask someone with relatively little knowledge on or if they had no interest in it, what they knew, you'd most likely be replied to with something relating to Formula One. It seems that since it's classed as the best of the best, it's the category that gets the most coverage and recognition.

There are so many different categories of racing, so even if it was made more popular and received better coverage, to actually understand the sport, and have an extensive interest in it would be harder than other sports, because there's so much involved - and so many different people involved. I don't think a lot of people would dedicate the time to it, unless you actually cared about it in the first place.
 

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