Motor Sports Weekly News

Story and photo by Drew Hierwarter

This week it seems the blogosphere was alive with talk about why were there empty seats at Bristol for the first time in 55 races? Many think it’s the economy keeping folks home while some others insist it’s the diminishing quality of the product.

In his column of Tuesday, March 23^rd, veteran NASCAR writer Monte Dutton looked at several reasons why there was more room than usual in the Bristol grandstands. While he makes some of the usual points; the economy, Dale Earnhardt, Jr.’s slump, Jimmie Johnson winning too much, price gouging by the local motels and restaurants, the ease of seeing the race at home on TV, etc., etc. (All good, valid points by the way). Where I think he really nailed it was with his point number 6. Simply stated, there’s a large group of folks for whom NASCAR was simply a passing fad.

Back in the late 1990’s, a lot of people from the world of stick-and-ball sports suddenly “discovered” this new thing called NASCAR. It was loud and colorful and exciting and the drivers were interesting characters. Attendance at race tracks soared along with TV ratings.

But like all fads, they don’t last long and now the bubble has burst. The recent down turn in the economy hasn’t helped, but numbers were declining before that. All of those newly minted NASCAR “fans” have moved on to the next big thing and are no longer interested.

More than two years ago, back in December of 2007, I wrote a column that you can read here on this very topic.

It’s pointless for NASCAR, or anyone else for that matter, to try to bring them back. They’re gone and they’re not coming back. What NASCAR and the race teams need to do is focus on the fans they do have and give them what they want.

In the mean time, it’s for us, the long time, hard core, been there forever fans to continue to enjoy our favorite sport. Just look at it this way, smaller crowds may be bad news for NASCAR and the track operators. But it’s good for us. With more room in the stands you can now spread out a little. You can put your cooler on the seat next to you instead of under your legs.