Did NASCAR buy Lionel?

The Hall of Fame fiasco is the results of the con artists at Charlotte Center City Partners and their cooked numbers. Same type of things that got us the new arena and the National Whitewater Center. Even at the peak of Nascars popularity the attendance would not have been projected to be much better than it is other than on race weekends in the Charlotte area.

I'm still a big fan, watch as much as I can, but it's just not the same since they did away with homologation rules, and the manufacturers could "win on Sunday, sell on Monday".

I think the Corvette Stingray fits your real stock car rules ...    

Not a pushrod is it???  Does the big 3 even make a V-8 pushrod today???

Chevy V-8's are still pushrod motors.

I had to check, but the Dodge Hemi is still OHV/pushrod too. This would make the  Challenger fit the formula(the Camaro qualifies too).

Chevy races their Supersport in nascar, a pushrod V8, rear wheel drive sedan.

Nope .... I think the Camaro is built in Canada .....

GM has it built by Holden in Australia .....not American......Chevy via decals only. Sad....  

It's still GM, though, but a 4 door.  The Holden-built GTO would have fit in nicely.

Nascar and Lionel trains! Match made in heaven!

They both go around in circles!

was Canada, not any more.

2015 chevy camaro

Huge NASCAR fan but it just hasn't been the same since Daytona 2001....

i went to one stock car race over 50 years ago, before I could drive...been to one

Indy 500, been to several Kentucky Derbies (the horses run around in circles, too,

but just once, and you can bet on them, which makes it slightly more interesting), that does it for me.  Front drive four door sedans, modified with big V-8's, corrected to rear wheel drive, and welded shut doors is not a "stock car" seen on a show room floor.  I just am not a fan of any "spectator sport".  Never been to and have no interest in going to any modern Nascar race.  And if I did, it would be auto brand loyalty and

not driver adulation and worship.  Looking at the 2015 Ready-to-Run Lionel catalog,

with weird livery on a great many train models, I could only visualize boxcars with]

drivers' faces all over them, if Nascar owned Lionel, and probably have to upchuck.

I've televised more NASCAR than I want to admit.  Our company until last year did all the races that were not on FOX.  It was interesting seeing the rise and fall of NASCAR.  While still a pretty big draw, I think like most others they lost their "roots".

See here is proof.A rumor here and there is not so bad.We need something new to talk about once in a while.Nick

At least NASCAR is more exciting than a 3 hour boring baseball game. I will add that Lionel has made NASCAR and MLB rolling stock so the OGR censors won't send this thread to the trashcan.

Still not a full size sedan as the rules required for the era 'NASCAR needs to go back to' that many folks 'want'. Camaro, Mustang Challenger are pony cars and race in a different series.

Nascar is not as popular up here in Maine as it was in the 90's and before Dale was killed at Daytona.  You used to see lots of kids at school wear Nascar gear, but not anymore.  The Nascar train has left the station.

NASCAR and Baseball should require a clock.  When the clock strikes 0, game over.

I am not the biggest fan of NASCAR and the only motorsports I really watch is WRC and WEC races like the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans. I understand that is not really possible to use nearly stock production vehicles for racing but I just think it is weird how antiquated the NASCAR vehicles are compared to current WRC cars and the LMP1 class at WEC. In the LMP1 class at WEC Audi races a diesel hybrid Audi R18 e-Tron Quattro, Toyota has a Hybrid V8 race car and Porsche has V4(actually V4 and not an inline 4 engine)with a hybrid set up.  Nissan is racing in the LMP1 class this year with a twin turbo V6 with some sort of hybrid set up.  WRC uses subcompacts with 1.6t engine tuned to around 300-320hp with AWD and sequential transmissions.  I know the small block chevy pushrod engine is a good engine but it would be nice if NASCAR did not have such strict regulations were everyone is running basically the same car.  It removes some of the competition between manufactures.  Also many manufactures use racing as a test bed for technology that they will put in their road cars in the future.  A good example of that is Audi's TDI diesel technology that they perfected from their racing program at Le Mans.  Back to the topic about Lionel and Nascar.  I really hope Lionel does not try to produce too many Nascar related train products if the attendance is waining and the sport is less popular then it was.

It would be cool though if Lionel put one of these on a Flatcar.  I always love flatcars with car models on them and it seems like it has been a while since Lionel has made one. 

This is what the guys probably misunderstood as nascar buying Lionel.Nascar is controlling the sale of souvenirs now at the races,no more flea market style row of independent sellers selling stuff. http://motorsportstalk.nbcspor...f-new-fanatics-deal/

And, me talking push rod Corvettes doing NASCAR, was very tongue-in-cheek. LOL.

I would love to see the old cars .... old racing ... too.

Who is our forum member that used to work with Maurice Petty?

As for the Hall of Fame in downtown Charlotte. I am from the tire business in Tennessee and have known several nascar fans who travel to races at Charlotte.When the subject has came up most all don't want to deal with the hassel of visiting downtown Charlotte,it should have been built near the speedway.

NASCAR needs money.....so yes....they have taken over the sale of merchandise at race tracks and online. Teams can still sell themselves but NASCAR will try and dominate the market and thus cash.

With Lionel's headquarters in the middle of big NASCAR shops and selling lots of NASCAR product and having a working deal with them I can see the thinking that NASCAR owns Lionel.......but I do not see them buying Lionel any time soon.

Lionel produces most of the NHRA professional series die cast cars as well. Great detail. Nothing like the unlimited power of nitro....and no left turns (at lease not intentionally). Drag racing and Railroading have been life long interests. Have done both for many years.

Conductor Earl  

A: Yes! In late 2010, Lionel, LLC, the maker of the iconic Lionel Electric Trains, entered into a joint venture with NASCAR Team Properties to begin Lionel NASCAR Collectables. In 2013, Lionel assumed full ownership of the company and renamed it Lionel Racing. With more than 100 years of expertise in the production and design of high-end train collectibles, Lionel is committed to growing the die-cast market and to providing collectors with the highest quality replica race cars available. To find out more about Lionel Trains, visit www.lionel.com or www.lionelstore.com.

And here’s a link to that section of the website:FAQs

The Lionel/NASCAR joint venture was widely discussed on this Forum when it was announced back in 2010.  Not sure about the 2013 transaction ever being discussed here.  

HTH to end the speculation.

Bill

There really is no "hassle" to get to downtown Charlotte or the Hall of Fame. It is right off the interstate into the parking structure. The hassle of going to downtown Charlotte has never been a problem for the tens of thousands of race fans that do it every year to go to the Food Lion Speed Street event during race week in May. It would have never been built near the speedway nor would that have affected attendance much. The city of Charlotte was footing the bill so they put it downtown or uptown or whatever they are calling it this week. Bruton Smith is too smart to put his money into a pit such as this. Atlanta, Daytona and the others that lost out should thank their collective lucky tax paying stars.

HoF suffers from perception as much as anything.

Ask anyone north of the Mason Dixon line about large southern cities and you get

a discussion about how dangerous downtown areas are. (valid in some places) and how much they will do to avoid these places. It borders on funny......almost as if it's left over from post Civil War era.........

Brian none of the people I said would not go downtown had ever tried before. The fact is a big percentage of nascar fans live in small towns and sterotype big cities as being dangerous,overpriced and with a lack of parking.

I understand the old days of "rear wheel drive" and "V8" and such.... but maybe its time to change that?   I love NASCAR (though don't watch it) but maybe its time for a new class.... 4 cylindar front wheel drive cars!  Thats what made NASCAR great for the fans and the dealers!  It was what you could see win on Sunday and drive off the lot on Monday!  

They tried  it.......called Baby Grand div.......failed with zero fan attendance.  They kept trying different names and formats.....all failed.

IMSA Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge in the Street Tuner class runs some cars with 4 cylinder engines.  

http://www.imsa.com/imsa101/classes-0

I think race series like the United Sportscar Championship and Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge are what NASCAR should be like tbh.  I like how they have different class of cars racing at the same time and they in some of the classes the cars are actually closer to being stock. Unfortunately both do not get as much coverage or attention as NASCAR but that might change if NASCAR viewership keeps declining. 

So with the above statement, I wonder how much investment, if any, has been diverted away from train products to NASCAR items?

Sad but true

Once the "Corpratists" get their tentacles into a sprt like Baseball, football, bicycle racing ,NASCAR etc it has a tendency to make more about advertizing and expensive ticket prices and it gets boring

Yeah, Who wants to watch something go around a track in circles chasing itself all day?

  Our NASCAR dirt track car uses a small block chevy engine, running on gas or alcohol ( our choice) using a 4 barrel Holly carb, quick change rear, about 500 HP, and weighs 2300 lbs. w/ driver after the race.

  Place 24 cars on a 1/3 mile dirt track, for 20 competitive laps and tell me you do not get excited.  If you are not, you have already died and do not know it.

   On a serious side, Lionel has contributed generously to our efforts of racing, including donating train sets to be given away during some summer special races at our local track, and our giving out 100's of Lionel train & die cast collectibles catalogs.  It is a great way for both Henning's Trains and Lionel to promote the products.  "THE OLD MAN"

If you want reliable information, visit your local gun shop.

Once the "Corpratists" get their tentacles into a sprt like Baseball, football, bicycle racing ,NASCAR etc it has a tendency to make more about advertizing and expensive ticket prices and it gets boring

Same deal with the America's Cup.  Now the "yachts" look like NASCAR vehicles.  No thank you.

My only experience with NASCAR happened at Home Depot.  I had a question, and there was this guy in the aisle wearing a Home Depot jacket.  He wouldn't answer my question, and finally I got ****ed.  Only then did he tell me he wasn't an employee and just a fan of some NASCAR guy.  

That's just weird.

Jon