What's new
By:
Filters

NHRA TV Ratings & Attendance Historical Data (1 Viewer)

Les

Les

Nitro Member
Is there anyone in the know that has TV Rating and Event Attendance data for the national events for the last 20 or 30 years? I couldn't find anything on the Nielsen website for Drag Races.

They don't ever announce the attendance numbers like they used to...yet I overheard a TV reporter in the winner circle at Sonoma say the weekend attendance was 80,000.

I can remember the cover of National Dragster for the Winternationals coverage boasting 120,000 + for the weekend. It would be cool to have a discussion based on some hard data.
 
They showed an old clip of the Snake this weekend from must have been the 80s.. and the stands were packed... but they were a fraction of the size of the stands today. I didn't think about how that effects how full the stands are till I saw that. As mentioned it would be interesting to see the actual attendance average and see if it is actually as bad as it looks.
 
can remember somewhere around this same era the digger's race coverage
of BIR race stating 105,000? attendance over 4 day race; then following with
comment about 5th best attended event on tour that year.......
something like that; do remember digger used to post attendance figures;
nowadays very hard to find that same info.
i know, that was then and this is now and we're not going back, but IMO
that era was better entertainment.
no on talks about it much, but back then you had many more single car teams;
or at least teams such as mcdonald's had 1 FC and 1 TF.
i appreciate greatly what the multi-car owners do for the sport today, but
every race find myself hoping for single car teams to advance.
 
Registered member said:
Here is a good A/B comparison from Pomona in the 90's:

‪1993 NHRA World Finals; Part 6‬‏ - YouTube

And everyone used to stay for the finals:

‪1993 NHRA World Finals; Final Part‬‏ - YouTube
Click to expand...

Wow! Helluva blast from the past! I was at that race and the place was indeed packed for the final rounds. I remember Rance winning, but forgot Jimmy Nix runner upped. Also had fogotten about Hofmannhaving troubles and giving Epler the solo. Those were incredible races at Pomona throughout the `90s and I was at all of them. Sure ain`t like it used to be, that`s for sure....
 
Last edited:
I have only seen ratings once and it was the last year of the championship comparred to the first of the countdown. THe numbers were up in the regualr season and dropped bad in the countdown. I had tried looking for more info but like you haven't been able to find anything.

I have those 2 years saved somewhere, I think it is on another computer, I'll see if I can find it.
 
Registered member said:
can remember somewhere around this same era the digger's race coverage
of BIR race stating 105,000? attendance over 4 day race; then following with
comment about 5th best attended event on tour that year.......
something like that; do remember digger used to post attendance figures;
nowadays very hard to find that same info.
i know, that was then and this is now and we're not going back, but IMO
that era was better entertainment.
no on talks about it much, but back then you had many more single car teams;
or at least teams such as mcdonald's had 1 FC and 1 TF.
i appreciate greatly what the multi-car owners do for the sport today, but
every race find myself hoping for single car teams to advance.
Click to expand...

This is a perfect post
 
Registered member said:
Is there anyone in the know that has TV Rating and Event Attendance data for the national events for the last 20 or 30 years? I couldn't find anything on the Nielsen website for Drag Races.

They don't ever announce the attendance numbers like they used to...yet I overheard a TV reporter in the winner circle at Sonoma say the weekend attendance was 80,000.

I can remember the cover of National Dragster for the Winternationals coverage boasting 120,000 + for the weekend. It would be cool to have a discussion based on some hard data.
Click to expand...

Even if you were able to find the quoted figures from the older races, you still wouldn't have any useful information.

The published figures were a standing joke for many years. As best as I could tell, the formula included the previous years' published attendance, the look of the stands, and how much the number could be padded without moving from doubtful to ludicrous. It was widely believed that all motorsports were playing with their numbers and that drag racing needed to do the same in order to "keep pace".

A very wise race enthusiast taught me years ago how to apply a pinch of common sense to those big numbers.

Look at the stands and do some simple math. Allow 18 inches for a seat width. Divide that into the stand length which might not even be to half track. Then multiply by the number of rows. See if there's anyway you can generate those six-digit totals.
 
Given that attendance is directly related to income, I'm guessing one would have a better chance of getting NHRA to give up their 501C6 status than giving out detailed and accurate attendance data.

But then again, that's just me being cynical.
 
Registered member said:
Still haven't given in to the Countdown yet, huh PJ?:D
Click to expand...

Just tryin to answer the question

but no I haven't. Indy is the only nhra race I go to now. I went to 4 nhra races the year before the c-down, hope they gained enough to make up for the money they lost from me. Judging from fans int he stands and tv ratings it doesn't look like it.
 
Registered member said:
Just tryin to answer the question

but no I haven't. Indy is the only nhra race I go to now. I went to 4 nhra races the year before the c-down, hope they gained enough to make up for the money they lost from me. Judging from fans int he stands and tv ratings it doesn't look like it.
Click to expand...

You keep believing that that the attendance is due to the Countdown??? There's something else going on in this country that is having a much bigger impact on attendance in recent years. You are a smart person, so I will let you figure it out.
 
Registered member said:
3:51

1988 NHRA North Star Nationals; Part 3 - YouTube
Click to expand...

It wasn't your point, but a few things came to mind when watching that.

Dave MacClelland is really good, drag racing is better with Dave.

Steve Evans's work on the top end was perfect. No "so how does it feel?", but rather "is that was you were planning on running?".

The show was great. Lots of runs, lots of info, still had a little human touch, but no cats on scooters or infinite replays.

Amazing how many names have come and gone in that time. I knew only one or two in PS. And how many of the stars are still around, 23 years later.

And, yes, 40,000 people at a race. Now that's not bad.
 
figure is a sunday total - the advertised 4 day totals back then were 100k+; nhra nat. events used to be overflowing and BIR was no exception.
 
Registered member said:
You keep believing that that the attendance is due to the Countdown??? There's something else going on in this country that is having a much bigger impact on attendance in recent years. You are a smart person, so I will let you figure it out.
Click to expand...

then why hasn't the tv ratings gone up since we are all sitting home to poor to go to the track? Also yr1 was before the bottom fell out of the economy and it dropped. You weren't able to use the economy as an excuse for th obvious failure until yr 2 :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Ways To Support Nitromater

Similar threads

Randy
Why nhra tv coverage ratings stink.
Replies
14
Views
5K
NYNitro86
N
W
1320 TV Expands Programming
Replies
0
Views
2K
woody
W
W
1320 TV Expands Programming
Replies
4
Views
3K
mike
mike
Deby
  • Article
Snyder Looking for First Win of the Season
Replies
0
Views
2K
Deby
Deby
Deby
  • Article
2008 Nhra Powerade Drag Racing Series Schedule Released
Replies
0
Views
2K
Deby
Deby

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)

Back
Top