I am a big fan of the Power Block on Spike, but I was thinking the other day. The y have sections for off-road, engine building, trucks and muscle cars, but nothing for road racing/ time attack. I emailed them the other day saying to put a show that would encompass suspension tuning, aerodynamics, lightning the car with custom moulds to make cf/ fiber glass parts and etc... If you think this would be a good show to have please email them. info@powerblocktv.com

 

I'm trying to figure out how best to phrase this...

Consider a stereotypical generalization about Spike's audience, and how they might perceive those involved in certain aspect of motorsport.

Musclecar / truck / off-road enthusiasts:





Time-attack enthusiasts:

 

Couldn't agree more with Joe. Sure there are a few guys that build resto mod muscle cars to do auto-x, but the majority are built to go like hell in a straight line.

 

Also, consider the fundamental purpose of commercial television, which is to gather together a group of individuals who can be categorized into a single demographic, and deliver them to advertisers who have a product which is relevant to that audience.

As a broad generalization, soap operas are designed to appeal to women aged 18-49 without a college education who are either single or married but not employed outside the home, and who make purchasing decisions for day-to-day household goods. They therefore appeal to advertisers wishing to sell... whatever the hell people advertise during soap operas. (Soap, historically, although the market has expanded considerably singe the 1950s.)

With a program designed to appeal to those with an interest in trucks or musclecars, you have a very large aftermarket consisting of companies selling lift kits, winches, exhaust systems, car-care products, chrome and other dress-up bits, and so forth. The viewers of these programs can buy these goods in order to emulate the people they see on TV.

Contrast this to a serial program about "real" amateur racing. There is extremely little aftermarket support (by way of comparison) to serve this audience, and the number of prospective purchasers who genuinely care about fire suppression systems and racing seats is quite small as well.

 

OPs dreams have been crushed.

 

As of right now Road Racing is a bigger sport than Drifting and Drag racing put together. If you are saying that only Domestics primarily watch the shows, that may be right. But there was about half of the 95 cars that showed up to race a Sebring were Domestics. If you don't want to watch something like that then don't email them.
This isn't the first place I have posted this up about Spike needing a new show, but is the most negativity from one forum against it.

 

 

Yeah, nearly every car at every single drag strip across the country for local drag races are domestic. And that numbers severely out weighs what kind of car count some Lemons race or whatever it was may bring in. You have to be realistic, and understand what Joe said about marketing and advertising.

Powerblock's shows have companies like: Year One, Holley, Hooker Headers (and other header companies) SkyJacker, Banks...the list goes on and on that advertise their stuff on the show. How many big vendors like that do you know that sell road racing specific parts that the average guy watching the show is going to go buy? None. Because the average guy is more concerned about getting his 900hp 69 Chevy Camaro to go like hell down the quarter, not so much about getting it to turn. There just isn't a big enough market around to do it, nor the interest on that channel. And what's Mazda's saying, "There are more Mazda's road racing every weekend than any other car." or something like that. Not, "There are more Chevy's road racing every weekend . . . " you get the point. My .02 anyways.

 

Yes, ok, alright, sure. But "real" racing is becoming more and more prevalent in the US. Chump and Lemons are very successful. There is a market for the show the OP wants, but it still may not be big enough yet (edit: for major push content providers). But it's growing.

I predict a Youtube channel will provide the desired show before PowerBlock does.

 

Again, it all goes back to marketing. It doesn't matter how many people are interested in one kind of racing or another, it's all about what kind of sponsors and products can be tied-in to any given program.

There are a huge number of companies selling a huge number of products which are designed to specifically appeal to "casual hotrodders" and "casual truck enthusiasts." Headers, carburetors, lift kits, bedliners, expensive wheels, dress-up items, chrome, fancy car-polish, etc etc etc.

What sort of consumer products would you advertize on a show about time-attack racing? Sure, there are companies that sell to this crowd, but theirs products aren't the sort of thing you'll find on the shelf at Pep Boys.

It's all about having realistic expectations.

 

Turbos. Wheels. Tires. Brake pads, brake rotors, brake fluid. Body kits. Suspension components. Exhaust.

But yeah, the time attack pie is much smaller than the, umm, redneck pie.

 

Horsepower TV had a Honda Civic episode sometime back. It was pretty much a showcase of every stereotypical thing that people hate about ricers. Front mount intake air filter, fart can, body kit and a shitty NAWZ install.

There was another show that did a 5.0 miata and claimed it to be god.

Pretty much speaks right into what Joe was saying.

 

You guys are forgetting to take into account any show of this type they'd air most certainly would have those two ******* retards from "Trucks" hosting it... Would it really be all that interesting?

 

Are you talking **** about Stacey David, bro? God I hope so, the guy is such a **** tard. In other news, my dad informed me Overhaulin' is back on the air. I always thought that was a pretty neat show. And again, it's all about advertisement and marketing, just look at that show. And shows like American Hotrod. Casual muscle car and Hotrod guys that buy lots of chrome, headers, 4 barrel intakes, and bolt them onto stock engines. Do a rattle can restore on the engine and next thing you know it's a "show stopper" or "600 hp SBC 350"... Most cars guys don't know jack **** about anything other than what they learn and watch on stupid shows that Powerblock plays host to.

 

It sure is. Jesse....Hot.....

 

We all know that the first shows targeted at imports will be for the clubricer crowd anyway. It is easy to sell them stuff because it is shiny or loud. Most road racers are on a tight budget because track time is expensive. Road racers are also not likely to be swayed by simple television commercials because they are educated on performance and already know what parts will serve their cars best.