After watching the Daytona 500 yesterday, it became clear to me that for some reason, today's racers are completely unrelateable to regular people. Maybe its income inequality thats killed the middle classes in developed nations or its the fact that the drivers these days were all born "in the family" so to speak, when both the winning driver and Jeff Gordon celebrated, it was in a way that did not feel like joy, almost forced fake fun...
Its like when a rider and horse win the Kentucky Derby or the other two races, no one knows who the jockeys are (or cares) and no one knows who the horse owner is (or cares). Yesterday saw 'the 24 car' win when Jeff Gordon won the Daytona 500 in the 24... totally different worlds... The middle class in America was stronger in 1995 than it is today and most people could relate to Earnhardt, Rudd, Martin and could easily vilify Jeff.
What we saw yesterday was the horse jockey win and celebrate with the car owner... And like the horse, most race fans will never sit in the seat so to speak. Who exactly is motorsports left for in 2024+?