Motorsport A to Z

Just about every major motorsport series currently has at least one unique selling point not seen in decades or more. That’s what made Road & Track’s 2022 edition of the annual Motorsport issue (that’s lucky Vol. 13) such a fascinating challenge. And why we decided to reach out to the most influential players in the game and ­create, in painstaking alphabetical order, an encyclopedia of everything you need to know about the racing renaissance. We even offer some educated theories as to why this revival is happening now.

This story originally appeared in Volume 13 of Road & Track.

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Start with Formula 1, where the growth is entirely in enthusiasm. In the U.S., an explosion of the fan base is led by the smash-hit Netflix series Drive to Survive. In 2019, an average of 672,000 fans watched F1 events aired on ESPN. Pandemic-related schedule shifts and an industry-wide TV audience downturn meant that an average of just 609,000 viewers tuned in during 2020 races. In 2021, the audience expanded by 54 percent to 934,000 per race. That number is on pace to go even higher in 2022, setting up the series to eclipse an average of 1 million U.S. viewers per live race—despite being shown almost exclusively on cable and at odd hours. When F1 gets an ideal American time slot on network TV, those numbers have the potential to balloon: The inaugural Miami Grand Prix, which was broadcast live on over-the-air ABC on a Sunday afternoon, drew a shocking 2.6 million viewers in real time.

In NASCAR, the renaissance is best seen in new high-quality teams and an exciting new car, one that has leveled the field for smaller players, has made passing easier, and, in the future, will greatly lower the cost of competing for a championship. The year before the Next Gen car debuted, three new teams decided to dip into stock-car racing’s top level. Now, thanks to the new car, two of those three teams are Cup Series winners.