Just to Be Different

It’s not news that the Supercars Championship has had a rocky past few years, particularly surrounding that one profanity in motorsport: parity. But what is the cost of trying to be a unique racing category in today’s age? From my perspective it’s a big one, and not simply monetary.

I’m not going to be shy, and say that my interest in the category has waned. Having been an avid follower for the past 20 years or so, the current generation of car is the third I’ve seen race, and yet I don’t remember one which has had such public backlash on the technical front. It definitely puts a question mark on the race results, and ultimately a sour taste in my mouth.

Take for example, that after a three year hiatus, the Newcastle 500 returned to the calendar this year as the opening round of the championship. I chose not to go. Despite attending for the first three years it was held (and each of the 8 years prior, to the Sydney 500), I could no longer justify the time, energy and cost to stay away from home for the event. Instead, for this year I settled upon attending only the Sydney SuperNight race. Don’t get me wrong, it was great to see racing on a Saturday night under lights, but that’s all it was to me.

We’ve all seen the growth of Formula 1 in the recent past, and even NASCAR Cup Series is experiencing a mini resurgence. And though I long to see the category return to its heyday it seems like it is driving down the road, like some other series of motorsport around the world, to becoming only a rusted shell of what it once was.