Who is the Most Popular NASCAR Driver in the WORLD, not only in the US?

What is the number of viewers/followers of Dakar Rally? I'm sure this is more than the whole US population. This should answer above question right?

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Permalink Reply by Kevin Meyer on March 8, 2010 at 6:46pm

I remember TOG once saying that he had numbers that supported Robby being very popular worldwide (or at least knew where to find them). It's very possible that I misunderstood what was being said, but I am interested in seeing those numbers if they exist.

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Permalink Reply by TOG on March 8, 2010 at 6:53pm

yes, Robby has tremendous worldwide interest during Dakar, and some of those countries also carry over into the cup season. The month of January is a very exciting time.

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Permalink Reply by Bill McPherson on March 8, 2010 at 6:51pm

Well I would like to think Robby Gordon is a much more known name than Jeff or Jimmy for sure based on the below numbers. A quote from motorsport.com

"The Dakar Rally achieved a substantial range on its premiere in South America in 2009. The number of TV features amounted to 1,130 in the 189 countries where television reports about the desert classic were shown. On the South American continent alone, where only five countries were evaluated, there were almost 300 million viewers. However, in the other nations around the world - from China to Canada, from New Zealand to Russia, from South Africa to Denmark - the "Dakar" is a hip subject immediately after the New Year, and not only in the sports programmes. In 2009, 2.2 billion television viewers worldwide followed the television reports - tendency increasing."

According to NASCAR.com- the 2007 avg. was 9.7 million viewers, but I have read else where that it is now down to abut 7.5 million viewers.

Does that answer the question?

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Permalink Reply by Amar on March 8, 2010 at 6:58pm

So In 2009, for sure 2.2 BILLION people watched Robby then.

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Permalink Reply by James Austin on March 8, 2010 at 7:14pm

if only people and sponsers in the u.s. would watch i still can't belive speed don't cover it damn nascar tv

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Permalink Reply by Wheaton56 on March 8, 2010 at 8:36pm

yeah, no crap, ESPN doesnt even cover it....."your world sports leader" NOT

But Speed will have a demolition derby, and not DAKAR.....WTF

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Permalink Reply by Keith on March 8, 2010 at 8:54pm

Using Twitter as a measure... Elliott SAdler has just under 20,000 followers, Mikey almost 35,000, Max Papis 10,700.
Robby has almost 10,000 and the Planet only about 1200.

Kyle Busch just got on Twitter and has almost 17,000 already. But Nelson Piquet Jr. has almost 110,000.

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Permalink Reply by Jaci on March 8, 2010 at 9:06pm

You forgot Juan Pablo Montoya. He has almost 133,000 followers.

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Permalink Reply by Keith on March 8, 2010 at 9:10pm

Ya, you beat me... was just going to edit. LOL!

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Permalink Reply by TOG on March 9, 2010 at 12:54am

Juan has the entire country of Colombia, plus every target employee...lol...

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Permalink Reply by RG7FAN on March 8, 2010 at 9:29pm

SPEED TV has turned into an absolute joke. I mean a show about chefs and Nascar, seriously give me a break. Damn I remember turning onto SPEED and seeing at least some kind of racing. This is the kind of BS that Nascar as a whole is turning into, Think about it Nascar is just a WWF show, IRL is on life support, Formula 1 is a lap fest (when is the last time there was a race win pass in that series??). At least we have Danica mania...I am pissed off about the whole state of motorsports...End of rant