Richmond Int’l Raceway and Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway have always been popular stops on the NASCAR Sprint Cup tour.
The waiting list at Bristol is a couple of years long, and Richmond tickets were hot sellers no matter what. The track sold out Saturday’s race, but the sell-out did not come until race day.
Gas prices, the increasing cost of attending a NASCAR race and the allure of not fighting traffic, rowdy rednecks and the hustle and bustle are all factors.
It is going to be interesting to watch how the average NASCAR fan weathers the economic slowdown this summer. With gas reaching toward $4 a gallon, it doesn’t make much sense to fill the RV with high-cost high-test and motor to the track, as NASCAR fans have done for nigh on a half-century.
Even if you don’t have an RV or access to one, it’s expensive. Hotels engage in the time-honored, free-market principle of raising prices to what the market will bear, and within 40 miles of the track, that market pays around $160 a night on average for the meanest of digs.
Camping fees are probably the cheapest way to get to a NASCAR race and stay without busting the bank, but you still have the problem of getting there, so it’s a wash, really.
The cost of tickets is open to debate. You’ll pay as much or more to attend any major sporting event, so NASCAR is competitive with other sports in that regard.
The average NASCAR fan is a rugged individualist to begin with, and passionate to boot. He or she will find a way to get to as many races as makes sense, and if they can’t go, they don’t. They’ll watch on TV, listen to the radio or, in increasing numbers, watch on the Web.
All of this is nothing new to NASCAR. We’ve been through boom and bust on the economy, and NASCAR is perhaps more susceptible to market forces than the NFL or baseball.
TV ratings are, on average, better than they were last year, and that is a reflection of economy more than the exciting races, although last week’s race at Talladega was pretty good in that regard.
The gateway to a long, hot summer awaits, and by the time September rolls around, we’ll see how NASCAR weathered the storm. Scheduling, at least as far as California and Atlanta are concerned, remains a key indicator of how NASCAR feels about the overall health of the sport.
Nobody goes to the first California race, comparatively, and the heat of the Labor Day event makes Darlington look temperate. Swapping the Atlanta and California or Talladega dates could be a winner. Atlanta has its own troubles attendance-wise, even though the racing is pretty good and the market is a good one, or at least has been traditionally.
NASCAR has to juggle the twin pillars of business and competition, and for the most part they do so as a matter of course. But when one of those pillars is on the verge of hitting the ground, adjustments must be made.
This summer — the Summer of ’08 — will go a long way toward determining if the sanctioning body can keep both in the air on a consistent basis.