Good ol' boys?

[D. Clay]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/12/science/12tier.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin
So Michael Waltrip Racing has an aeronautical engineer on the team! Makes you wonder about the big players like Hendrick and Rousch. For years NASCAR has been derided as a bunch of hicks that's the motorsport equivalent of big time wrestling. With the Car of Today and engine parity, it is basically a spec series. It's like Formula SCCA with sedans. The competition is in chassis setup and driver skill. All BMW or any other manufacturer needs is a V8 that puts out the necessary horsepower  while staying together for an afternoon. Toyoto has Tony Stewart. The cost in the overall context of motorsport is small. Toyoto gets a top tier team and one of the best drivers for peanuts compared to F1 and in a market where they have big growth potential.

[Choking Hazard]

The sad part is that it probably IS more profitable to market NASCAR to idiots.

[D. Clay]

Remember Sasha Baron Cohen and Will Ferrell in Talladega Nights? These forms of motorsport are so different that a comparison is almost meaningless.
It is debatable that marketing to F1 or any open wheel series is "profitable" at all. Given Nascar's history it is also debatable that it is profitable from a marketing standpoint. After all Chevrolet is the all time big winner. How many people even go to a Chevy dealer when thinking about buying a new car.
Wait a minute! I've just validated most marketing directors perception of motorsports as a marketing tool. The conventional wisdom is in the TV ads for new cars. Talk about idiots. Imagine sitting in rush hour traffic next time you watch those ads of for ultimate driving machines on deserted twisty roads.

[Choking Hazard]

I have been to Talledega, and it really is pretty exiciting in a visceral way.  Y'know, there are some things that, for those less acomplished, appear to be acts of wonder.  I know what they mean.  I don't wanna burst my bubble about a lot of things I know better about.  So let 'em trade paint and cuss, 'cuase tha'ss whut them boys gotta do.  Its all a show (and I don't mean just racing).  

[Boyracer]

All BMW or any other manufacturer needs is a V8 that puts out the necessary horsepower  while staying together for an afternoon.

Why would BMW want to advertise their cars to bunch of hicks, as you said? They do not offer pickup's afterall :confused:

BMW does not race in DTM because those cars have nothing in common with the road cars unlike WTCC. And they are not the cutting edge of technology either, like F1. I cannot see Nascar being any different than DTM from BMW's point of view.

[D. Clay]

BMW does not race in DTM because those cars have nothing in common with the road cars unlike WTCC. And they are not the cutting edge of technology either, like F1. I cannot see Nascar being any different than DTM from BMW's point of view.

BMW is in F1 with the BMW/Sauber and formerly in prototype endurance in the IMSA/ALMS LMP1 class. Exotic cars to say the least and very, very expensive. The E30 M3 is a legendary DTM car. I think it has more to do with the initials than anything else. "D" as opposed to "W". DTM is a strictly German series.  Actually BMW sells as many cars in the US as it does in Germany.
The point of the article referenced in my original post is that Nascar is a lot more sophisticated from a technology standpoint than most people are capable of even comprehending and that Toyota is following the money. Maybe BMW doesn't see much potential for growth in the American market considering the purchase price of it's models in their respective size classes. A Camry versus the 5 series is an approximate comparison. The BMW is twice the price. Maybe BMW figures that they are maxed out in the US so why bother spending more money to sell the same number of cars.