Design your own race series

Dave M said:

Stadium Super Trucks, but running real races on every type of track or surface, including Rally-X, ovals, road courses, etc. And do it in Mericuh because we love our trucks. 

 

I came to say this, but rather than the current spec engine/chassis format I would look for manufacturer involvement.  All full size trucks.

Suspension modifications are free, but stock pick-up points must be retained.  Engines/driveline in showroom trim and tune.  Interiors can be gutted and safety equipment added.

Captain Nemo said:

The EJ street series. Do auditions for each city. Choose some interesting cars made and driven by everyday people. And get the cities permission to use a couple streets and have a fast and furious style race. Legally. Audition fee, small cash prize, Profit.

This is a really interesting idea. Make the american idol of racing. 

do 'tryouts' in each city. Get each manufacturer to supply an off-the-production-line vehicle (manufacturer choice), down to the tires. Driver tryouts the driver first gets to spend a minute talking to 3 racing 'judges', then pick one of the manufacturer-supplied cars, then drive an autox-type course around a few city blocks. No times are posted to the crowd, drivers, judges, etc until the tv slot airs. So the in-person crowd can watch and guess who they think is fastest, but they have to watch it on TV to see the real results.

From all the tryouts, pick 4 drivers from each city, and then give them famous racing driver "coaches" and each week have them compete and 'train' in different forms of motorsport - circle track, drag racing, karting, drifting, rally, autox, etc. Each week the driver's are judged by the judges in their times and their driving performance using cool data acquisition tools. And each week a manufacturer is spotlighted - ie on the drag racing week, all drivers compete in showroom-floor dodge challengers.

Fewest fan votes each week gets eliminated. Winner gets a ride in NASCAR, INDY, Formula Drift, Spec Miata, etc (whichever racing series you can get to $ponsor the whole shebang).

Not only would I watch that on TV - my not-intersted-in-racing-at-all friends and family might too. 

Thinking about it more, the autox-style tryout should maybe include a few more features, like an optional small curb jump, and a finish box that must be drifted into. Crowd pleasers. 

TheRX7Project said:

XCAR-

Tracks would be basically the current NASCAR circuit but every other race would be a road course. (Oval, road, oval, road)

Factory body-in-whites of vehicles capable of seating 4 or more people, with size-limited front air dams and rear spoilers as only modifications allowed, must retain factory-available engine block, cylinder heads, aspiration (if the car isn't available turbo you can't turbo it), factory transmission cases, differential cases and layout (FF, FR, AWD) but any layout is acceptable and internals may be modified. Suspension and tire sizes are free but must fit inside wheel wells without modification to chassis, body, or mounting points. Fuel cells must be within 2 gallons of largest available factory fuel tank size and mounted in the factory location. Full NASCAR-style roll cages and racing seats/harnesses.

That's it. That's the rules. No classes based on power or weight or anything. Run what the factory built.

We can bring back "win on Sunday sell on Monday". I can almost guarantee Dodge would be all over this, which would pull in Ford and Chevy, and eventually this could replace what's left of NASCAR. It would also entice the automakers to create some truly bonkers cars.

This is basically exactly what I was going to say. 

Full size replica Indy cars from the 50's but they are all remotely controlled, no driver and no safety equipment. Maybe require every car to carry a crash dummy in the driver seat.