America's Love Affair With Cars Is Over

Quick read: Americans Hit The Brakes On NASCAR Not really about NASCAR as you read deeper. Discuss.

I call bullE36 M3. I know lots of people from my generation that like to mess with cars.

Sadly, I bet its true...or at least true-ish

Funny, it doesnt sound tru-ish

I still think theres plenty of kids out there who love to turn wrenches and go fast - look at wyo-tech new enrollment numbers...but I think in general, most kids would rather be pastey and online than outside doing...well, anything, including work in the garage.

That's why I changed the procedure when the nieces and nephews want "Good Ol Uncle Hal" to work on their cars a few years ago.

Now they have to do the work while "Good Ol Uncle Hal" supervises. New process has worked very well except for one nephew who decide he would rather pay a shop than get his hands dirty.

Cars are expensive. Most older folks have the money to afford them. I'm the young age of 27. When I started driving, back in 2001, you could still buy a (only) 10 year old BMW 3 series, Golf GTI, Rabbit, 240SX, RWD Corolla for cheap, because Fast and Furious hadn't landed yet. Popular cars were V8 or turbo.

Gas was $1.61 a gallon. You could drive around all night for a few bucks. You'd pay more for the fees at the local autocross than you would the gas you used.

In 10 years we've seen the price of gas jump 3x its price when I started driving, but the average wage for a kid in highschool is still $7.45. That kid has other expensive things he wants. He wants to be social (a phone) he wants to be affluent (iPhone) he wants to play video games, when the time comes for him to buy a car, he wants something that he can afford to drive. His parents want him to be safe, so they buy a boring economy car that gets 30mpg. He may have to drive a few miles back and forth to school, which costs money. His parents don't have the income to throw money at him, so he uses most of his disposable income on gas, phone, games.

For kids these days, NASCAR, racing, even "automotive hobbies" are out of reach. They know just as well as their parents that it will be difficult to afford college.

I think if any motorsport is growing its scooters and atvs. I see soooo many kids on ATVs, out ripping up land that isn't theres. I see lots of young people on scooters because they are cheap to own.

Until driving can be economical for the average teenager, we won't see racing growing.

One thing I have noticed, most younger people who love cars bought their first car.

Its true. I've been putting my hootus in other things for a while now.

PHeller wrote: Cars are expensive. Most older folks have the money to afford them. I'm the young age of 27. When I started driving, back in 2001, you could still buy a (only) 10 year old BMW 3 series, Golf GTI, Rabbit, 240SX, RWD Corolla for cheap, because Fast and Furious hadn't landed yet. Popular cars were V8 or turbo. Gas was $1.61 a gallon. You could drive around all night for a few bucks. You'd pay more for the fees at the local autocross than you would the gas you used. In 10 years we've seen the price of gas jump 3x its price when I started driving, but the average wage for a kid in highschool is still $7.45. That kid has other expensive things he wants. He wants to be social (a phone) he wants to be affluent (iPhone) he wants to play video games, when the time comes for him to buy a car, he wants something that he can afford to drive. His parents want him to be safe, so they buy a boring economy car that gets 30mpg. He may have to drive a few miles back and forth to school, which costs money. His parents don't have the income to throw money at him, so he uses most of his disposable income on gas, phone, games. For kids these days, NASCAR, racing, even "automotive hobbies" are out of reach. They know just as well as their parents that it will be difficult to afford college. I think if any motorsport is growing its scooters and atvs. I see soooo many kids on ATVs, out ripping up land that isn't theres. I see lots of young people on scooters because they are cheap to own. Until driving can be economical for the average teenager, we won't see racing growing.

I think there's some truth here, and cost of fuel in relation to teenage finances isn't something I can say I've considered before.

Vehicles today, even those old enough for a teen to afford, require more specialized knowledge than the ones I started out on, and I'm under 40. It's less reasonable today to throw an inexperienced but well-intentioned youngster at a cheap car and let him/her learn as they go. Couple that with the fact that the generation parenting the new drivers was already less interested working on anything in general and it's clear why wrenches are fewer every day.

but that makes those of us that CAN wrench a hot commodity!

I used to think it was just a local thing, since Atlanta's such a crazy place to drive, but it seems there is some sort of national trend.

http://blog.oregonlive.com/commuting/2010/06/more_teens_ho-hum_about_licens.html
http://www.carinsurance.com/Articles/teen-drivers-license-delayed.aspx?WT.qs_osrc=fxb-49266010

We had to practically force my daughter to get her license, because my ex was just tired of carting her around.

People said this about cars when the Model T was being replaced by the Ford Sedan. People said the same thing when the Ford Sedan was replaced by the muscle car. People said the same thing when fuel injection replaced carbs.

Cars are cars. Some people will always love them.

NASCAR is losing it's audience because, like Harley Davidson, they can't figure out that you have to change to stay relevant and interesting. Time makes a fool of us all.

Look at the increasing number of kids who don't bother to get a drivers licence until they're into their 20's.

Look at the increasing number that don't bother to get a car of their own until their well into their 20's.

Look also at the complexity of modern cars, and the inability of the average person to do anything more than install an air freshener in one as a result of the complexity.

The days of every car owner needing to regularly check their oil level and tire pressure are long gone. As well the weekly ritual of re-gapping your points and cleaning your plugs. The modern car is a marvel of reliability. So people don't have a need to know diddly about working on them.

Are there still car nuts? Sure! Always have been. But the days of car maintenance being normal are gone, and todays cars are much harder to tinker on.

Nascar can't compete with the iphone.

It does boggle my mind when I see teenagers that are unconcerned about getting their driver's license. The day I turned 15 I wrote a "countdown" on a calendar to mark off each day before I was able to get my DL at the age of 16. 365, 364, 363, 362........all throughout the year.

of course I was grounded on my 16th b-day and had to wait another week to get my license!

These days for whatever reason (complexity of cars / proliferation of i-pads, i-phones, video games / reluctance to leave the house) kids don't seem as excited to drive as they used to.

It used to be a major life-changing event that every kid looked forward to, now it seems like a chore. Maybe all the social networking is partially to blame. Why go see your friends in person, when you can "chat" or "like" them online.

I'm sure there will always be car nuts like us........but for the majority of kids, automotive enthusiasm seems to be less important than Super Mario, or Facebook.

Nascar is overpriced reality TV. I have re-introduced people to racing by going to the local roadracing courses and they love it. To begin it is usually less than $15 to gain entrance, including the pits, kids are usually free. The line to get in is quick, 5 minutes or less, not hours of traffic jam. The mix of cars are more interesting and often you can sit in some of them. I send as many people as I can to Waterford Hills and Grattan Raceway. I believe that this is the way to keep racing alive and well.

I distinctly remember being 3-years old, and being completely appalled and disgusted when I learned that I had to wait until my 16th birthday to drive!

We had to force both our boys to drive, and even still they will choose to miss out on something they want to do rather than drive themselves.

I already know I won't have that problem with the girls. My biggest fear is if I teach them how to drive a manual, I won't be able to keep them out of the Miata.

What worries me is the number of people who hate driving, and have no idea that it can be enjoyable. Litterally - zero comprehension that driving a car can be anything but a chore.

After overhearing me talk about my car...
Young coworker: "Uggh, I hate driving."
Me: "Where do you drive?"
Young coworker: "Around here (inner-city downtown). To work and clubs and stuff."
Me: "Let me guess - you've got a hand-me-down Honda Civic? Automatic?"
Young coworker: "How did you know that?"

Recently I had a friend ask me if I would be willing to teach her husband to drive a car with a manual transmission - he figured he should know how to someday and she didn't know either. They're in their 30's.

I was always into videogames (look at my name) and I was working towards getting my license early on, even though at the time I only had my mom's hand-me-down godawful E36 M3box to look forward to. That thing moved just like a dump truck full of rocks.

But me and my friends were all planning what cars we would buy in our teen years. Man did we ever set our sights high. A friend of mine was flipping cars to save up, went right through a CRX and an NA Miata on his quest to buy something ridiculously out of reach! And then lost it all on student debt.

nderwater wrote: What worries me is the number of people who hate driving, and have no idea that it can be enjoyable. Litterally - zero comprehension that driving a car can be anything but a chore.

In some places that's perfectly understandable. I do most of my driving in horrible gridlock and it feels like a chore.

I know plenty of young (age 16-30) people who love cars and love to drive, but then again thats who I can relate to and hang out with most often. My wife's cousin is 20ish and has NO interest whatsoever in learning to drive; his mom drives him. Cannot relate. I learned by 10 (off-road), manual trans by 12 or 13, first car by 14, haven't slowed down since.

I'm inclined to think decline in interest in cars/driving may be parallel to the throw-away nature of society. Many young people grow up in a use-it-till-it-stops-working-then-throw-it-away environment. I didn't; my folks were very much make-due-with-whatever-old-stuff-you-can-find-around. I fixed a LOT of bicycles in my childhood, got me interested in how things work, how to make them work better. Some kids are raised that way; many aren't. Too bad for them, but more fun project cars for the rest of us.

GameboyRMH wrote:

nderwater wrote: What worries me is the number of people who hate driving, and have no idea that it can be enjoyable. Litterally - zero comprehension that driving a car can be anything but a chore.

In some places that's perfectly understandable. I do most of my driving in horrible gridlock and it feels like a chore.

I do most of mine in gridlock too, but I just enjoy my car - no fine print...just love it. So, for me, the 4% that isnt "in horrible gridlock" is the highlight of my day - Southern ohio has some wonderful backroad twisties that are plain fun, every single time. Either you love it or you dont. I guess for whatever reason, some (most?) kids dont.

EDIT:

Removed ranty diatribe about how crappy kids are these days because my dad said it about me when I was 10, and my grandpa about him about 25 years before that...

Good. Less of them out there to kill me on my bike.

JohnInKansas wrote: I'm inclined to think decline in interest in cars/driving may be parallel to the throw-away nature of society. Many young people grow up in a use-it-till-it-stops-working-then-throw-it-away environment. I didn't; my folks were very much make-due-with-whatever-old-stuff-you-can-find-around. I fixed a LOT of bicycles in my childhood, got me interested in how things work, how to make them work better. Some kids are raised that way; many aren't. Too bad for them, but more fun project cars for the rest of us.

this, very well said...

Appleseed wrote: Good. Less of them out there to kill me on my bike.

Good point. Fewer people driving= equals more gas and fun for us.

My dad was the guy that everyone in the (big) family called to fix their stuff. I always tagged along, watched and learned. He never discouraged me.

Now I'm that guy and I try to encourage my daughter to tag along. She's a good learner.

4cylndrfury wrote: I do most of mine in gridlock too, but I just enjoy my car - no fine print...just love it. So, for me, the 4% that isnt "in horrible gridlock" is the highlight of my day - Southern ohio has some wonderful backroad twisties that are plain fun, every single time. Either you love it or you dont. I guess for whatever reason, some (most?) kids dont.

To me the 4% on the street doesn't pay off. I like driving on the track and on the few fun roads that are well away from where I normally drive (and usually occupied by slowpokes), but for these roads and traffic conditions I will be first in line to buy a self-driving car to get me around on the street.

I was shocked to see the empty seats at Bristol this past weekend. I don't think it's that big of a mystery. In general, people in this country are struggling finacially. Not so many have the disposable income necessary to go watch a race at NASCAR prices. The sport it's self is struggling because of the cost of operating a team necessary to be competitive. Slowly the grassroots avenues for young racers are drying up too. Let's face it, it's expensive to build a 2XXX Challenge car or a "$500" Lemons or Chump car. Is it worth it? Sure it is, but only if you really do have the disposable income.

It's my understanding that one of the reasons the SCCA including karts is to provide a beginners class for young people. I've been examining karts as a possible way to re-enter solo racing myself. I was surpised to find that the cost of a new shifter kart could easily reach $6K or more. I've also found out that adult karts aren't allowed to run within easy driving distance from me.

Cars are very necessary for our world to function so it's hard to imagine that some form of racing wouldn't always be a part of that world. As to the lack of interest in young people today I really can't understand that at all. I couldn't wait to get my permit at 15, my liscense at 16, and my first car at 17. Even though both of my parents dispised racing I was autocrossing at 19. I can truly say I was born with a burning desire to know about and understand how cars worked and when I was old enough to become a competent technician. Surely there will always be at least a few of us.