After reading recent comments on the previous "Scottish Rite sponsors NASCAR driver" article on this blog, and looking at an anti-SR blog showing photos of beer-swilling rednecks at NASCAR races, I decided to do some research on the true demographics of NASCAR fans.Talk about a confusing mass of data!
A lot of the demographic info is provided by NASCAR itself, and seems to reflect data collected on site at races, which is vastly different from television viewership.
NASCAR and NASCAR-related websites conveniently don't mention their demographics are for race attendance only. At the races, 60% of the attendees are male, 40% female. For televised races, fans are "predominately males (78%), married (73%), with an average age of 42 years, who owns a home (81%), with 3.4 cars per household. The median household income range is between $35,000 and $50,000 and almost all are employed full time (87%)," according to an independent study by Performance Research, a company specializing in collecting and analyzing sporting demographics.
Both NASCAR and Performance Research paint NASCAR fans as predominately middle class, earning slightly more than the average American. A high percentage say they've had "some college," but I could find no stats showing what percentage were actually college graduates, and none showing a breakdown in types of employment.
Performance Research also points out that they found three types of fan — those with high, moderate or low interest. NASCAR's stats would reflect what I would call a high-interest fan, one who actually attended races.
You can google "NASCAR fan demographics" and look at them yourself.
What I found most interesting is that self-described NASCAR fans are much more likely to buy logo'd merchandise than fans of other professional sports. Seventy-two percent of NASCAR fans say they buy products because they have the NASCAR name on them. Tennis fans are number two at 52%, followed by golf fans at 47%, NBA at 38%, Major League Baseball, also at 38%, NFL at 32% and the Olympics at 28%.
And 40% of NASCAR fans say they will switch brands in order to own the brand that has the NASCAR logo on it.
I would assume this not only refers to brands of auto parts and motor oils and even cell phone providers, etc., who custom-brand their products, but also to gas station coffee mugs and bobble-head dolls with a NASCAR logo imprinted.
Does this tell us that 72% of NASCAR fans are brilliant and loyal, or are they simply blind sheep led to the checkout counters of America?
I mean, I understand a 5-year old wanting a certain brand of cereal because his favorite cartoon character is shown on the box. But adults...?
Is it a masterstroke of genius that the Scottish Rite is now putting their cartoon character, er, I mean, their logo, on a box-shaped automobile? Apparently, NASCAR fans don't think about their consumable purchases; they buy whatever is attached to the logo. And blindly trust what they see advertised on their favorite NASCAR cars.
Is this a good thing for the Scottish Rite? Will thousands of NASCAR fans (or at least 72% of them) line up at lodges and temples to "buy" themselves some of that Scottish Rite Freemasonry they're selling?
Does Freemasonry need more blind followers? Isn't that how the Fraternity got into the shape it's in today, by opening to West Door indiscriminately to bobble-heads who just want to "belong" without studying, understanding, or contributing?
Masons | NASCAR | Demographics | Freemasonry | BurningTaper.com | Scottish Rite | Burning Taper
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