The Downfall of Racing in America

Does anybody remember how awesome racing was in the 90s? I come from a racing family background and have been going to NASCAR, Indy, NHRA, and SCORE racing events since I can remember. Back in the 90s, at the peak of popularity for racing, things were much different. I remember going to NASCAR in the mid 90s with nothing but a $25 admission ticket and walk out with 3-4 bags full of cool schwag. Autographed posters, shirts, hats, buttons, candy bars, granola bars, sodas, stickers.... lots of stickers. And people over the age of 18 got even cooler stuff. Bags full of cigarettes, chew, snuff (remember it was the Winston Cup back then), watches, beer coozies, etc.... The other organizations were pretty much the same as far as the promos go. So what happened? Why did a sport that brings in more fans than any other sporting event, yes even football, become such a giant real life commercial? Take NASCAR for example. Before you even walk into the track, you walk through a maze of giant trucks SELLING merchandise. One for every driver totaling over 40 trucks full of junk for you to buy. Inside the track. More trucks. But instead of free schwag, now you get product demos. You think that Dewalt truck has nice hats and shirts for you? No. They have products for you to try an buy right on the spot. That's all it is now. Top that with the inflated price of a ticket starting at $45, $8 beers, and you have the reason why attendance is falling. Its sad to see something become so commercialized. All of the racing organizations have this same problem. NHRA, SCORE and Indy all became victims of the commercialization of their sport. Indy however had an even bigger problem. The globalization of the sport. There's a lesson to be learned here for the NFL. Globalization of a sport can be good, but can also have dire consequences. Indy's biggest issue was not having very many American racers. More importantly, American racers winning. This might sound terrible but its the truth. TV drives the exposure to sports. Indy was more popular than NASCAR for many years. But as soon as Indy started bringing in foreign drivers to expand into other markets, and they started winning, fans stopped watching. Indy cars used to have American engines in them too, like Chevys and Fords. Then Honda, Menards, and other manufacturers started getting mixed in along with the foreign drivers. You just can't forget who your market base is, the American public. We are a very Patriotic nation. You try to make us watch a foreign driver, in a foreign car beat us, we're not going to like it. (That's why the white kids racing those stock cars still have an audience) Indy then of course split into the IRL and CART, then CART went away, and now they are trying to diversify even more. I'm all about diversity, but that diversity needs to come from U.S. people and products in order for it to be successful in the American market. I understand diversity, and trying to expand your product. But you just can't alienate the people who got you there. Take note NFL with your plans to go to Europe. Take note any sport really.