From the Marbles - NASCAR

From the Marbles

Mon Oct 19, 2009 4:10 pm EDT

Fans at Lowe's Speedway had plenty of room to spread out

By Jay Busbee

There's a classic moment in This Is Spinal Tap where the band's manager tries to rationalize why he doesn't have the Tap booked in Boston: "It's not a big college town." The irony being, of course, that Boston has almost as many colleges as it has annoying Red Sawx fans.

Something similar surfaced Saturday night as the drivers circled past wide swaths of empty seats. I could almost see the NASCAR PR folks spinning the empty seats with a "Charlotte's not a big NASCAR town" rationale.

I can find exactly one commentary on the empty seats at Charlotte -- this one by Tom Sorenson, in which he details the usual litany of excuses: the weather was awful, Junior's season stinks, watching Jimmie Johnson and the Car of Tomorrow is dull, and on and on. Sorenson pulls no punches -- "I've seen most of the Sprint Cup races here since 1981, and I don't ever remember a race - a Sunday or Saturday race, not a race rescheduled because of a rainout - with fewer fans" -- and he shouldn't have. Saturday night's attendance was abysmal, and NASCAR's got to face some tough realities as a result.

There's nowhere on Earth that's more NASCAR-mad than North Carolina. So when you can't get those folks out to a race, something is very, very wrong. This isn't a tired old "racing was better in the old days" argument -- in the old days, Richard Petty and the rest used to win by three laps.

NASCAR fans love to dump on California, but let's be honest -- we've had two straight races now, on opposite coasts, of pretty lifeless racing. Now, with California, that's to be expected -- but is it possible that the NASCAR season has just run out of momentum? Maybe two dull races, combined with an all-too-expected result, have forced the casual fans to tune out and the hardcores to stay home? What do you think?

Maybe it's not Johnson, but it's different, isn't it? [ThatsRacin]

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171 Comments

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  1. Allen B
    1. Posted by Allen B Mon Oct 19, 2009 4:44 pm EDT

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    Big NASCAR FAN!! Very Hard to bet against JJ. But I am a Stewart Fan. So Go SMOKE!!!
  2. Candace G
    2. Posted by Candace G Mon Oct 19, 2009 4:57 pm EDT

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    I was at that race. I believe in the area that pic was taken. It was freezing, the racing wasn't exciting, we left with about 100 laps to go. The prerace festivities were a blast as always, but the racing this year was just flat out boring. Yes, i'm a Jr fan, so I didn't really want to stay anyway after his transmission broke, but my younger sister is a Kasey Kahne fan, and she wanted to leave also even though Kasey was leading, we just couldn't handle the cold, and there just wasn't much racing happening on the track. I literally felt like i was sitting there watching cars go around and around in a circle, and I felt as if it was pointless. and i'm a die hard nascar fan. I can usually find something exciting about a race, not that night. all i could think about was how flippin cold it was and how bored I was. There was nobody in the seats in front of me, for about three rows, I could look over to turn four, where a friend was sitting, and MAYBE saw a hundred people in that area.
    Actually, the most entertaining thing I saw during the race, other thank Kyle Busch spinnning out, were the drunk guys in front of me who took their shirts off and started waving them around. They weren't attractive at all, but it was funny.
  3. Jim T.
    3. Posted by Jim T. Mon Oct 19, 2009 4:57 pm EDT

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    Move that race someplace else if fans won't support it. Lets see here...... another mile and a half track that fans support on a regular basis and doesn't have a Cup date. I would like to nominate Kentucky. Until Kentucky gets a Cup date I don't care if all the tracks are half empty. Nascar you can screw yourself all you want to.
  4. brinirmess
    4. Posted by brinirmess Mon Oct 19, 2009 5:16 pm EDT

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    Amen to that Big j!
  5. Oliver Klosov
    5. Posted by Oliver Klosov Mon Oct 19, 2009 5:21 pm EDT

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    More HMS hating... go ahead...
    First - it looked like rain into the weekend, so I think that kept people from going, add in the fact that it was for frigid than Jay-bird's wife... well, what did you expect - a full house????
    With that being said, that was the fastest Q since the COT was introduced, and the race was very much a chess-match - 2-tires, 4-tires, tighten it up, loosen it up - alot of good tactical racing... WONDERFUL RACE!!
    well... other than HMS continues to dominate, and you just gotta jump on that... huh???
    What will you do when Jimmy wins his fourth, and Jeff/Mark fight it out for the 2/3 spots??? Oh dear lord... nobody will like this - break up HMS!! BREAK THEM UP!!!!!! Now - don't hate... appreciate!!!
  6. Go Chargers
    6. Posted by Go Chargers Mon Oct 19, 2009 5:23 pm EDT

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    So what is the capacity at the track and what was the attendance numbers?
  7. Steve T
    7. Posted by Steve T Mon Oct 19, 2009 5:24 pm EDT

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    Isn't it possible that the attendance was down due to the economy? If people don't have jobs, they don't have money to spend on tickets for a NASCAR race or a football game or anything else that has a big ticket price.
  8. campaignhack
    8. Posted by campaignhack Mon Oct 19, 2009 5:40 pm EDT

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    Jay- You nailed this one right on. The only difference in the two races was the weather. Both races showcased the major flaws that many have been saying since the season began.
    1) The COT allows the leaders to check out and makes it difficult to pass. This leads to single file racing.
    2) Many drivers are following the "lets stay in line and parade around until the phantom caution with 25 laps to go" trap
    3) The schedule is chalk full of cookie cutter tracks that promote this style of racing.
    4) With fewer teams competing, if some teams are missing and other teams or team in this case are hitting, you get complete domination and the same story line week after week.
    Unless NASCAR shakes up the product and jilts itself out of the rut of monotony, we will continue to see stale races outside of the super speedway and short tracks.
    I was afraid Lowe's was going to get a "lucky dog" on this one and this story wasn't going to be posted. I'm glad to see Jay posted it and I'm glad to see that California wasn't made to be the only "problem" of NASCAR track attendance.
    Hopefully it will cause people to take notice that something needs to change. New venues? Change/convert some of the existing track configurations? Allow the crew chiefs more flexibility in set-up? Sure these all take money to accomplish, but at what point does the loss of revenue now outweigh the long term gains. How long can NASCAR sustain the losses before they act?
  9. art_tidesco
    9. Posted by art_tidesco Mon Oct 19, 2009 5:46 pm EDT

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    It will be interesting to see how long it is before NASCAR mandates maximum 2 car teams but on it's own that is not enough everybody else needs to find a way to kick Jimmies butt take the lead and stay in the lead.
    If Jr is saying there are too many races two years running maybe NASCAR will start paying attention, but I sure hope not, if I were King of The NASCAR cash hill I'd think about running 36 races on 36 different tracks, and maybe include some dirt and ice surfaces for good measure :-)
  10. TCM29
    10. Posted by TCM29 Mon Oct 19, 2009 6:12 pm EDT

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    All previous comments make very valid points, and #7's point on the economy certainly makes sense.
    Another thing that should be mentioned is that the Nascar season is now competing with other professional sports like football, hockey and (still) baseball playoffs.
    The blue colored seats in turn 4 really showed the bad attendance.
  11. nam-vet
    11. Posted by nam-vet Mon Oct 19, 2009 6:17 pm EDT

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    Smoke can still do it ,GO TONEY you can win this chase!!! kick littie jj" smart a$$.
  12. Empress
    12. Posted by Empress Mon Oct 19, 2009 6:28 pm EDT

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    My boss flew 250 miles, visited our Charlotte office...had tickets....decided late Saturday afternoon that he wasn't going to sit in the cold and rain and spend 2 hours trying to get back to his hotel...he watched the race in a sports bar. I wonder how many other people did the same.
  13. Frevic
    13. Posted by Frevic Mon Oct 19, 2009 6:49 pm EDT

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    Bad economy, people with no jobs, people on short time, very much inflated ticket prices, highly over paid drivers, extremely large purses mean higher ticket prices, one team dominance, boring as hell races, dont give a damn about Jr,s crappy season, but hell, I would stay home too
  14. John
    14. Posted by John Mon Oct 19, 2009 7:46 pm EDT

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    I am not an HMS hater and respect Johnson as a great driver. That being said, watching Jimmie methodically win another race (and Championship) is about as exciting as watching paint dry. This march to #4 in a row should be gripping---I mean it's history right ?----so how come I just don't feel it? Judging by the empty seats @ Lowes last weekend I'm not alone...
  15. Crane Poole and Schmidt
    15. Posted by Crane Poole and Schmidt Mon Oct 19, 2009 7:54 pm EDT

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    AXL90210 is ahead of his time. Nascar may not be dead yet, but it looks like the diagnosis may be HIV. And if the powers that be don't get it together, we're talking full blown AIDS. Where's Peter Griffin and his barbershop quartet when ya need 'em????
  16. kathy o
    16. Posted by kathy o Mon Oct 19, 2009 8:42 pm EDT

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    Why go if you know the winner??? like i stated before.....if i hear one more driver thank every sponsor in the world.........and the racing itself.........no more competion.
    none....
    the cot ran it in the ground
    the correct language out of the drivers mouths, no more road rage..
    jeff living in ny... and so on and so on...him owning the 48.
    win or lose he still wins money wise
    .......hendrick has it in the bag........they only let smoke win two weeks ago.........cause" number 48 and 5 officals stated on the edge of cheating.........really come on......when dale earnhardt died so did real racing..........
    rather watch my college team play and or nfl.
    watched even the presidents cup ( golf )
    even my boyfriend told me nascar picks the winner of every race and hep.used to like jj.not anymore......watch a sport when you do not know who is going to win
  17. johncoulombe3
    17. Posted by johncoulombe3 Mon Oct 19, 2009 8:51 pm EDT

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    I`m with # 11, Go get 'em Tony!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
  18. Walt
    18. Posted by Walt Mon Oct 19, 2009 9:30 pm EDT

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    #16 post has a point: Why watch when the winner is known ahead of the race. I'm a long time Nascar fan, since the 60's, and most of the races now not only seem fixed, but are truly are BORING!!! When is Nascar going to change back to real racing? When the TV contracts dry up. I HATE watching the races on TV - between the commercials and the biased commentators, why watch? I got to two races this year - sping Richmond and fall Dover, and the racin' was not bad - short tracks are almost always better. Nascar TV ratings are dying, so the money will dry up soon. Meanwhile, I'll listen to MRN on race day when I can, and wait for the real Nascar to come back someday and return to its roots. When fans of real racing are losing interest, it's not hard to imagine why the casual fan isn't paying $400 to $600 minimum to go watch a boring race - even when jobs and the economy recover.
  19. Walt
    19. Posted by Walt Mon Oct 19, 2009 9:31 pm EDT

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    #16 post has a point: Why watch when the winner is known ahead of the race. I'm a long time Nascar fan, since the 60's, and most of the races now not only seem fixed, but are truly are BORING!!! When is Nascar going to change back to real racing? When the TV contracts dry up. I HATE watching the races on TV - between the commercials and the biased commentators, why watch? I got to two races this year - sping Richmond and fall Dover, and the racin' was not bad - short tracks are almost always better. Nascar TV ratings are dying, so the money will dry up soon. Meanwhile, I'll listen to MRN on race day when I can, and wait for the real Nascar to come back someday and return to its roots. When fans of real racing are losing interest, it's not hard to imagine why the casual fan isn't paying $400 to $600 minimum to go watch a boring race - even when jobs and the economy recover.
  20. Richard T
    20. Posted by Richard T Mon Oct 19, 2009 10:38 pm EDT

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    If NASCAR picks race winners before the race you'd figure they'd let Jr win more than once a year.
  21. Frevic
    21. Posted by Frevic Mon Oct 19, 2009 11:02 pm EDT

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    Well, I dont believe that Nascar can tell you who is gonna win, but they can sure tell you who aint gonna win, shame our sport has come to this
  22. Mike
    22. Posted by Mike Mon Oct 19, 2009 11:07 pm EDT

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    I don't buy the "It's the economy" reason for why the seats are empty. I argue it is the entire package of what fans get for their investment of time and money. The boring cookie-cutter races, predictable end-of-race cautions, COT where the clean air is king, and Hendrick domination all together doesn't make for much to surprise or excite. The best solution would be to turn some races into short qualifying sprints with a feature race based on the sprints. It works for short tracks, so why not the big ones too?
  23. danthenascarfan
    23. Posted by danthenascarfan Mon Oct 19, 2009 11:15 pm EDT

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    Every criticism mentioned in the previous blogs are right on. But the disturbing fact is that NASCAR is and has been aware of these issues and the fans gripes about them yet has either ignored these issues or have been reluctant to act on them which creates a lot of frustration for even the diehard fans.. The major points 1)that the season is far too long and now competes with football and baseball playoffs, 2) that the races themselves are too long, 3) that the same rich and powerful teams are always winning the races and therefore take much of the suspense away, 4) that drivers now race as much for points as for wins 5) that the so called "Chase" is dul especially if a fans driver fails to make the chase and 5) NASCAR controls the drivers so much so that drivers don't really have any personalities anymore. Some serious and constructive evaluations need to be taken by NASCAR with the idea that making millions of dollars alone is not what makes NASCAR successfull but that continually drawing in millions of old and new NASCAR fans is what makes NASCAR successfull. More seasons like this one and they won't come.
  24. Kari
    24. Posted by Kari Tue Oct 20, 2009 12:07 am EDT

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    Please bring back the Good'ol Boys Racing of the 60's to mid 80's. This stuff absolutely stinks. Where is all the redneck racing, real men and machines fighting gone? I mean jeez, they even let Toyota come in. Who saw that one coming? What's next, Hondas? Volkswagon? Do you really want to see your favorite driver trying to drive a bug around Talladega around 185 mph? The big money heads all tried to promote safety and their gentlemen way of doing things. Save that crap for tennis. NASCAR folks aren't interested. Lets get back to full throttle, sucking gas and hauling a$$ racing. We all watch for the big crashes, fist fights, and good hard racing that could lead to exciting finishes. Not this crap!

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