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Post by GTSVip9 on Jan 14, 2011 20:34:50 GMT -4
If any of you have read our post about the new series on the mod squad's site, you've already seen that the Nationwide COT series may very well be the final series for us at NASR. Just like anything, if people don't support it, it goes away. Such is the case with this league, which is also being made worse by the current state of Heat online. Any league that does not have a solid core of dedicated drivers will not survive. In my opinion, there are only 2 such leagues left in Heat, those being NHRL and Speedsims. There are so many other smaller Heat leagues being created right now that it has thinned the driver pool to the point that everyone suffers with low attendance except the 2 leagues I mentioned above. No one really wants to run multiple nights a week and most people seem to be sticking to one or two leagues if they do. We know we are naturally at a slight disadvantage by running on a weeknight but we've done about all we can to make things as easy as possible for people to run. Things such as adjusting our starting time and using fixed setups which also levels the playing field while taking out a good bit of prep time for each race. As of 1/14/11 at 7:30PM Eastern, we only have 10 people signed up for our series, 3 of which being league admins. Moral of the story is, if the online Heat community doesn't support the league by showing up for races and just contributing to making this a great place to race and have fun in general, this league will not go on after April 5th. I personally don't want this to happen and I know others don't want this to happen either but the simple truth is, we're about at the point where the amount of effort it takes to keep things going doesn't justify the result we get from it. Thank you to those of you who have supported us the past 2 years and to those of you that followed us when we broke away from PTC to form NASR.
Justin
GTSVip9
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Post by racingrick on Jan 14, 2011 21:02:58 GMT -4
i just read the post and quite frankly very disappointed about the situation. i understand fully about what u are saying but hope we as drivers realize what a loss it would be without nascr. Lets all pull together and keep this GREAT league from going away!!!!!!!! ty
GTS let me know what i can do to help out if any!! ty
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Post by mccauley on Jan 14, 2011 21:40:53 GMT -4
When you have kids starting up leagues left and right everyday, it does thin out the pool quite a bit. If I had any suggestions to make, since I don't race online, it would be to stick to one thing and not jump around so much between different mods and stuff. The more established you are with one mod that people enjoy, the more attraction there will be. Also, maybe a little more promotion would help. Don't just advertise a league "season", but give reminders the week of the next race. Every little bit helps... and of course posting at The Mod Squad and Speedsims regularly about your league. Keep the rules consistent, but fully enforced. You had already established yourselves as a good league, but for whatever reason, something changed. Part of that could be some of the stuff I mentioned above... but I don't know. I do know having too many leagues hurts a lot. But don't give up on it just because of that. Many of the new leagues won't be as consistent, nor as popular, and will probably go away sooner or later when their numbers are like 3 or 4 drivers per event... so that is something to think about.  If you get 10 drivers signed up and all 10 actually race.... you are doing good. Next time, it may be 12, then 15, then 20. I'd just give it some time and think it through. The Heat community would rather see nice, established leagues sticking around, than to see 15 leagues popping up overnight... if that makes sense.  |
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Post by Henderson on Jan 14, 2011 22:00:37 GMT -4
I don't run the NASR anymore, mainly because of what GTS said. People start sticking with one league. I run the NHDL, and being an owner, and running a bunch of leagues is hard. I used to run DSS and the NHDL full time. Had to cut back a lot. I stopped running the NASR, the DSS, and any other little league I ran. I am now starting to branch back out, but run limited schedules in different leagues. My two main leagues are the NHDL and NHRL. I would run the NASR, but Tuesday is not even on my radar. Sorry guys.
In the end, I just wish you the best of luck, and hope the NASR can continue for a long time.
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Post by GTSVip9 on Jan 15, 2011 1:38:35 GMT -4
The problem we're facing is more than just one particular thing. The way we've been doing things is to run shorter seasons so that we can run some different mods and not have things get boring. The thing NHRL and Speedsims have going for them is they have their own mods, where we're running what I'll call "community mods". Most of what we run ends up getting updated so we're almost forced into running different mods no matter what we do. There is one mod in particular that I've been interested in using as a "league mod" that has not been released because it's not entirely finished, but what isn't finished isn't an issue for online racing. Even with that though, it gets boring running the same mod on the same tracks with fixed setups.
We could promote more than what we do, but even in the times that we have done this, we've seen very little effect from it as the posts never get many views. We in the past series had a race get moved back two days because on its scheduled race night, only 5 people showed up, two of those being admins. The make-up had an ok turnout but we pm'd pretty much everyone in every single league out there to see if we could get people to show which is something we can't keep doing.
Personally, this is about the time where I get pretty busy getting ready for the real racing season which this year will start April 1st. In the next few months, I have to get a new car built which takes away time from running things in this league and points updates, penalties, that stuff suffers (which got turned into a huge issue in the not so distant past). There are more admins than just myself but they are busy with real life as well. Then to have people come in and complain about this and that and say things about the league in other places, really makes us start to wonder why should we even do this anymore.
I know the mod squad guys don't really want to hear this, but other than the nice gain NHRL made so far with attendance, Heat seems to be on its last leg for online racing. NHRL itself even suffered pretty badly from low attendance this past year but we'll see how things turn out for them. As for NASR, right now I'm not seeing much light at the end of the tunnel.
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Post by Donaldson on Jan 15, 2011 9:56:21 GMT -4
attendance will drop as the races go on throughout the year. NHRL has like 25 drivers for the first 2 or 3 races every year but check back with them at the halfway point in there season and those numbers will be around 12 or 13. people just lose interest no matter what league it is over the course of a season.
That's what brought my interest in NASR was the changing of mods. It didn't get stale. The WRS, Aero, CTS, and various cups mods run every season made it fun and interesting. At the time, this was the one league that stood out because it didn't follow the tradition of "we are using the same mod and having the same schedule every year" routine.
Also I think this is the fairest league with fixed setups, this is pretty much the only league out there that gives you a true winner every race. It would be a shame to see it go but we will see how it turns out.
Trying to get people from NHRL or speedsims in over here is impossible with the exception of rookie sometimes, they refuse to run other leagues for whatever reason. You would think having a level playing field would gather more supporters but yet it seems to drive people away.
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Post by rookiesrock on Jan 15, 2011 12:13:54 GMT -4
It would be sad to see NASR go away. Racing at NASR has been a privilege with terrific races. I agree that there are so many rookie drivers starting leagues that it thins out the drivers. Why can't a few of these leagues share resources? Share forums and web pages? NASR, NHDL and DSS (with cody at the helm) could run a few series and all the info would be in one place. I have so many schedules and mods and race times to keep track of that I forget alot of races. When the work is spread out among more peeps than maybe the admin duties won't be so time consuming. Racing is not so much about the league as it is about all the guys your racing. And you guys are a great bunch of racers. I hope something works out. I'll help in any way I can.
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grumpy
NASCAR Rookie
Posts: 64
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Post by grumpy on Jan 15, 2011 13:58:39 GMT -4
I just finished reading the post as well. I currently run in the NHDL, NHRL, NASR, and LCHRL. I would personally hate to see the NASR go away. The things I like are the different mods and tracks, using the fixed setups is also good for a lot of new drivers who don't have the time to create a setup or haven't figured out how to create a setup yet, (myself included lol), and the time change to 9pm should help me make it to the races a little easier. With so many leagues out there it can get mind blowing trying to keep up with all of them. If there is anything I can do to help out just ask. I will also help in any way I can to keep NASR going.
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Post by CKA19 on Jan 15, 2011 18:52:01 GMT -4
When we started this league, the NASR had a decent driver base with all the PTC drivers coming to this new league. We succeeded in what most other leagues would have failed at, using completely fixed sets and allowing everyone to have the same chance of winning a race. We were the unconventional league in nascar heat....following our own rules, using mods that noone used, and having good solid quality races with no drama, and just a mutual respect for each other on the track. There were hardly any fights, and almost noone broke all but the minor rules. Then something changed....the new generation of driver wasn't concerned with "fair races", they were more concerned about getting the advantage over every other car on the track. Respect was replaced by drama and immaturity, and a league was popping up every day, only to run for a few weeks, and shut down, with the admins constantly fighting with each other, hence the same league would start up 2 weeks later with just a different name. This eventually led the new generation to not care about "racing itself" but to "running their own league" to alter the rules, change formats, whatever they needed to gain the advantage over others. Not saying EVERY young driver does this, nor do I mean that EVERYONE in the new generation is the same way, this is just an opinion. Good quality races with 15 drivers was replaced with little new league races with only 5 drivers. Then came the "certification generation", where drivers showed up just because we were the first certified league...and held us to an "unrealistic standard" where our real life was unimportant...and the league HAD to take priority...this led to us rethinking our ideas and decided after 10 years of heat to celebrate by using the original game...from there till now, our league has suffered with less drivers then ever before, and now quickly this "hobby" is becoming more like "work" and less like a hobby. I respect all of the drivers that have come out and supported us...but seriously, we have to be realistic, putting on races and keeping a league running with only a handful of drivers isn't worth the time we spend away from our real lives to give everyone what they want. I hope April isn't the last of the NASR, but I am not ignoring the possibility that it might just be our last season.
Ed
CKA19
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Post by GTSVip9 on Jan 16, 2011 16:16:34 GMT -4
A lot of you who responded to these posts are asking what you can do to help out. Really the main thing you can do is just get word out about the league and try to get more people involved in the league. Keep in mind though that we won't put up with people not taking the racing seriously. We're a pretty laid back league but we're here to race, not babysit.
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Post by mccauley on Jan 16, 2011 19:25:33 GMT -4
The thing NHRL and Speedsims have going for them is they have their own mods, where we're running what I'll call "community mods". Most of what we run ends up getting updated so we're almost forced into running different mods no matter what we do. I know the mod squad guys don't really want to hear this, but other than the nice gain NHRL made so far with attendance, Heat seems to be on its last leg for online racing. NHRL itself even suffered pretty badly from low attendance this past year but we'll see how things turn out for them. As for NASR, right now I'm not seeing much light at the end of the tunnel. Heck, blame that on NASCAR. If they'd quit changing the cars around so much, so many updates wouldn't need to be done, now would it? Just look at the difference in 2 years. In Sprint Cup, they've had wings, then wings with those shark fin things, then spoilers with shark fins... and now, a whole new nose for this year.  At least the Mod Squad tries to keep it updated for everyone. And by "everyone", they are one of the few places that actually does things for the offliners too. Offliners have always outnumbered onliners. Besides, The Mod Squad don't have their own leagues anyways. I doubt they ever care to make one. They are just here to support Heat in the best ways they can... and that is to try and keep the NASCAR stuff updated as quickly as possible. |
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Post by GTSVip9 on Jan 16, 2011 19:44:31 GMT -4
The thing NHRL and Speedsims have going for them is they have their own mods, where we're running what I'll call "community mods". Most of what we run ends up getting updated so we're almost forced into running different mods no matter what we do. I know the mod squad guys don't really want to hear this, but other than the nice gain NHRL made so far with attendance, Heat seems to be on its last leg for online racing. NHRL itself even suffered pretty badly from low attendance this past year but we'll see how things turn out for them. As for NASR, right now I'm not seeing much light at the end of the tunnel. Heck, blame that on NASCAR. If they'd quit changing the cars around so much, so many updates wouldn't need to be done, now would it? Just look at the difference in 2 years. In Sprint Cup, they've had wings, then wings with those shark fin things, then spoilers with shark fins... and now, a whole new nose for this year. At least the Mod Squad tries to keep it updated for everyone. And by "everyone", they are one of the few places that actually does things for the offliners too. Offliners have always outnumbered onliners. Besides, The Mod Squad don't have their own leagues anyways. I doubt they ever care to make one. They are just here to support Heat in the best ways they can... and that is to try and keep the NASCAR stuff updated as quickly as possible. Don't get me wrong, I'm not bashing the mod squad in any way. Without them, Heat would have been gone a long time ago. The point I was trying to get at is when you are running mods from TMS, if you're running one of the older ones, no one really wants to run it because of the new one. This leads to constantly running different mods, which isn't exactly a bad thing, but we're not in a position where we can pick one mod and constantly run it. |
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