The View from Here: The Business of NASCAR

The headline on nbc12.com (our local NBC television affiliate) read “Sagging economy could hurt NASCAR ticket sales” (March 28). Even Clay Campbell, president of Martinsville Speedway acknowledged prior to last weekend’s races that the cost of gas plus other economic woes could impact attendance at tracks, especially in light of the fact that many race attendees travel a couple of hundred miles to make a race. Despite the cold weather last Sunday, it was quite evident that Campbell’s assessment rang fairly true, given the sparse attendance. And this in spite of the fairly low ticket prices at M’ville.

Now that TV viewership has improved so far this year, track attendance may indeed take a solid hit — doesn’t cost much to watch from home! And that bodes badly for those tracks where attendance has fallen in the past few years. There are some calling on NASCAR to take a race date from tracks with two race weekends to distribute to other tracks (Las Vegas? Kentucky?) where attendance has been better regardless of the series that is running. I’ve been to M’ville two or three times and it’s one of my favorite tracks. But even driving my compact, gas priced at $3.259 will keep me away. I suspect that many other fans will feel the same way in the next few months.

And that’s the view from here.

Jon