The View from Here: The Business of NASCAR

I had the opportunity to attend the Indy Car race at Richmond International the weekend before July 4. It had some interesting moments, especially with the sky divers arriving just before the race. Still, 241 of the 250 laps were led by the same race driver. And basically, the race was a run-away for him. At least Danica had a good evening, finishing sixth.

This past Saturday I tuned into the Pepsi 400 from Daytona. I liked the new screen format but was a little distracted by the pop-up ads, especially since the audio of the race was muted. But what impressed me the most was the quality of the racing, the lead changes and most certainly the dramatic finish. I sat back and mentally compared these two races: 19 Indy cars, 43 Nextel cars; 250 laps (3/4 mile track results in 187.5 miles versus 200 laps (2.5 mile track results in 400 miles); around 160 mph for the Indy cars and around 185 mph for the Nextel cars; virtually no lead changes in the Indy race with 27 lead changes in the Pepsi 400 race.

For me, I’ll take close wheel driving versus open wheel any weekend. If you watch both types of races, it’s not difficult to see why NASCAR racing is TV’s number 2 sporting event.

Hope you see it my way as well.

Jon