NASCAR from an OD Consultant perspective: The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing -- NASCAR established by Bill Frank (Senior) in the year 1947 is the sanctioning body for controlling stock-car racing and is the prime spot for providing information on car races, drivers, teams and industry events to its fans. NASCAR works from the Daytona Beach, Florida considered the seat of auto racing having its offices across Mexico, Los Angeles, Toronto, New York, Bentonville Ark, Charlotte, Concord and Conover N.C. It is from these locations that NASCAR approves 1500 races in over 100 tracks across 35 U.S. states, Canada and Mexico. NASCAR's Governing Body prepares the rules, manages the events and ensures that the drivers adhere to the rules. Significantly, it controls the major racing series and selects a new Champion after the completion of every season. (Harris, 2012)

Considering a sport, NASCAR is a diversity of racing series wherein group of teams and individuals participate in specified number of events adhering to rules fixed by a sanctioning body. NASCAR comprises of a lot of series at the national and regional levels. At the national level the series cover two for stock cars -- the NASCAR Busch Series and the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series. Interestingly there is also for race trucks -- the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series which was established during 1995 to help the sport to grow without destroying the Nextel Cup Series. (Harris, 2012)

NASCAR website and Chase for the Sprint Cup:

The NASCAR website http://www.nascar.com is a highly informative and interactive website. Its home page has a lot of links like 'News, Video, Drivers, Standings, and Schedule' etc. with minute to minute happenings of all its races. The visuals are very appealing with follow links of Twitter and Facebook pages. The fan engagement page is very good with detailed information regarding complete missions, sharing of stories and connection links with fans. There are headlines on a lot of forums contains information and new items of recent happenings on the track arena. A section showing the NASCAR Hall of Fame and the prediction for 2013 nominees is also available in the official website. (NASCAR.com, 2012)

There is a schedule for all the races with details about its driver, and video files of races. There is also a driver rating showing the current ratings and points standings. The particular driver rating is shown along with the high rating. The Poll section and the photo gallery are also present where viewers can vote for their favorite car race driver. Under Special Promotions, there is Fantasy Live, Sprint Fan Vote, electing one's favorite driver, news, statistics and a lot more. There is also a link for Free Newsletter for enabling subscription. It contains the details of the result of the NSCS i.e. The NASCAR Sprint Cup at the Texas Motor Speedway. (NASCAR.com, 2012)

Future of NASCAR:

In the coming years, the engines of the car used in NASCAR would be 1.6L V6 engines with a possibility that NASCAR will likewise travel a similar route with more affordable and environment friendly machines. On the safety front, NASCAR has seen several improvements after the death of Dale Earnhardt in 2001 not only in mechanical and structural safety areas but also in the sphere of regulatory measures. Several activities like weaving, dangerous passing which were very common during 1980s and 1990s are strictly penalized currently. Track designs are improving with greater safety measures undertaken with extremely wide run off areas that remove spectators even more and more from the action scene. Lesser trackside spectators and more TV viewing audience will mean more business from selling of television rights, advertisements and viewer engagement. (Wired.com, 2011)

Technological improvements in NASCAR cars will enhance safety, reducing the scope of driving error. Electronic passing systems similar to those used in F1 racing introduced in 2001 such as DRS and KERS and like the Hanford device launched during 1998 that gave better slipstreaming are awaiting introduction into the NASCAR...

It is also envisaged that the next two decades will also witness cars that are automatically controlled in the pits and during safety period like yellows, oil, pace cars etc. The future will also see regulations to control spending and its environmental footprint will attain a maximum stage. NASCAR will gradually evolve into a worldwide show for auto racing with interactive viewing in a video game type of fashion. (Wired.com, 2011)
Strengths and weakness of NASCAR from an OD Consultant perspective:

Strengths: NASCAR strengths are built on the shared passion of a well accepted spectator sport. The race attracts more than 75 million fans which are a reflection of America and its culture of need for speed. NASCAR's vision is built on delivering its customers with the best entertainment experience that racing has to offer and hence it is built on the formula to be the leader and innovator its category in general and sports and entertainment industry in particular. The objective of the race track is bringing new experience to the city of Staten Island Race Track and its adjoining attractions. This will help in brining in greater profits and revenues for the locals as also the sport. With the growing scenario of merging of sports and entertainment, NASCAR has evolved from national pastimes to mega business entertainment with growing returns from sale of television rights and website presence. (Blakerizner, 2008)

NASCAR has come to be an entertainment machine competing with other forms of entertainment and nothing sort of a show business. The competition arena has become the stage with players becoming overnight stars. There has been an exponential growth in product extensions and associations in the form of music, entertainment during games, conducting of dance and acrobatic shows during half time and other forms of creative programming for the audience to enhance the degree of entertainment. With the ever rising contribution of sponsorships in sports by businesses touching almost 66%, it has favorably impacted sports business. As NASCAR continues to be one of the highest grossing sport entities as regards sponsorship is concerned, this is a development which the NASCAR organization is required to monitor with greater attention. The rising use of digital and web content is necessary for keeping its consumer engaged and connected for its continued popularity. (Blakerizner, 2008)

With societal transformation towards more technology and information usage, NASCAR stands to gain through its dissemination of easily accessible information in multiple formats. The collaboration with Turner broadcast media has helped NASCAR by allowing them to deliver as per the customer's demand and they have been proactive in an industry segment which changes itself at a high speed. The emergence of 'People Brands' an emerging phenomena has witnessed sports stars like Michael Jordan, David Beckham and Tiger Woods- each a brand in his chosen field. This is providing consumer not just a connection to a specific sport but a personality within that particular sport as well. (Blakerizner, 2008)

Similar personalities like Dale Jarred, Dale Earnhardt Jr. As also others have to be developed for similar alignment with their chosen personality and that will be a welcome step. Given the rise of the emerging markets and proliferation of consumers across the world, the rewards for worldwide expansion are huge. Besides, the organizational strengths of NASCAR is sound with the brand's financial health, stable business practices, events that are world class, a strong web presence, presence of professional personalities, wider fan base. (Blakerizner, 2008)

Weaknesses: There has been a marked decline in the NASCAR's performance recently. Spectators have been reducing in nearly all tracks, and television rating points have been flat. It was only a few years ago that NASCAR was going great guns, reporting huge attendance for a sport involved with the some of the best racers found in USA. But peak level performances have become a thing of the past. Many people make Chase for the Sprint…