Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

What was once one of the most sought after tickets in NASCAR is no more!! I cannot believe all the empty seats at Bristol Motor Speedway today. Looks to be 40-50k below capacity for sure. I didn't realize the Nationwide series was racing on Sundays now. Oh wait a minute...that cant be, Jimmie and Jeffy and Junior are out there, plus all the other good ole boys of Sprint cup LOL...Obviously one of Napcar's crown jewels is no more. Wasn't too ong ago when a seat at Bristol meant being put on a waiting list, or paying triple the face value for a ticket. I'm sure there are many factors that have lead to this coming to be; digger, the economy, boring watered down racing, same champ 5 years and counting, overpriced tickets etc... But in the end, its obvious the mighty NASCAR empire is begining to crumble before us LOL!!

Knoxville Natioanls attendee since '95
Favorite Tracks...River Cities, Knoxville, Cedar Lake
Favorite Drivers...S.Kinser, T.Kaeding, K.Madsen, S.Smith
Proud Canadian 

I am not even a huge NASCAR fan beyond Daytona, but it always strikes me as weird to bag on a series that still draws 60,000-100,000 fans just about every week on a board dedicated to a form of racing that only draws 10,000 fans at a handful of races each year.

Bag on bro, bag on!! I agree after Daytona it really don't matter much. But I'm just havin a little fun. Some humor to share with the good folks on hoseheads. This board has always poked fun at Napcar, and it will continue to do so as long as the overexposure on Sunday's continues. Now I wasn't comparing the two, as that would be doing an injustice to the sprintcar racing we love. Merely stating the obvious, that they couldn't give away a seat to a racetrack that was once the hottest ticket in NASCAR. I'll give props to Tony and Kasey for fielding their teams, but thats where it pretty much ends for me.

Knoxville Natioanls attendee since '95
Favorite Tracks...River Cities, Knoxville, Cedar Lake
Favorite Drivers...S.Kinser, T.Kaeding, K.Madsen, S.Smith
Proud Canadian 

I am shocked too. The attendance at nascar races has improved since half-way thru the season last year, but this race is a step back. I think it is a barometer of the economy in that area for sure. Most tracks have had a similar recovery to our stock market. Not even close to what it was in '08, but the bleeding has stopped for the most part. I think it will be a long time before they add seats anywhere in nascar.

the following will have to happen before seats will once again fill up:

1. Dale Jr. fans will have to move on and find a driver that actually can drive a race car

2. A young phenom will have to come along and de-throne Jimmy(and it has to be someone other than that ass-hat Kyle Busch as most fans cannot stand him)

3. The economy is going to have to have 5-7 years of solid growth---i would venture to guess 1 in 5 to 1 in 4 nascar fans are either unemployed or have been in the last 2 years.

I would say the stands are 60-80,000 seats short of full. i dont think the cameras are really giving a good enough angle to capture the fact that the stands are 1/2 empty. They re-did the track a couple of years ago and killed it. This track ruled when it was one groove. You really had to work to get around someone and if they didnt move, you eventually put the bumper to them. Now, you can pass them in a matter of two corners without any struggle at all. sometimes change is bad!!!

I guess the small crowd at Bristol = small crowd at the World Series,Super Bowl,Grand Slam of Sprint Car racing last August, The 50th Knoxville Nationals.

I was only there Fri & Sat but I was anticipating the huge crowd for the 50th anniversary. It never happened & it's only going to trickle down & get worse as everybody's entertainment dollar goes to clothes,food & in the gas tank.

Hopefully the lack of fans is only indicative in regards to NASCAR and not auto racing in general.

However, I believe that TV ratings for the first three NASCAR races were up substantially over last year. That may suggest that NASCAR may have more interest this year even though fewer fans are able to attend races.

They have been saying that smaller series, most notably sprint car racing and dirt track racing, have been doing well as far as fan attendance is concerned. As far as nascar, i do think the TV ratings are much better than they were in '09 and the first half of '10. Less going to the track and watching it in front of the TV. I think nascar will survive this when all is said and done. Not the first recession we have been through.

Also needed to get fans back in the seats:

4. Get that clown Darrel Waltrip off the air!! If I have to listen to that dork for one more minute i am going to scream!!!

Yet your watching instead of the NCAA Tournament.... Nascar still has their hook in you lol

I think the most sought after Bristol Ticket was the August Night Race. March tickets were never hard to get.

Naahh. Watched bits of the race, and I'll pass on the NCAA stuff.

Knoxville Natioanls attendee since '95
Favorite Tracks...River Cities, Knoxville, Cedar Lake
Favorite Drivers...S.Kinser, T.Kaeding, K.Madsen, S.Smith
Proud Canadian 

The economy in the South was in the toilet before the rest of the country, and it hasn't gotten better.

How true. Expensive Indeed...My trip to Texas Motor Speedway in 08

Flight $700

Tickets for weekend and pit pass $600. Puchased from stub hub. I wanted a seat near start/finish line

Hotel $250. Got lucky here. Found a new Value Place Motel you paid by the week, Only 5 miles from the track

Car rental $250

Souvenirs/Food and other stuff $500

My most memorable thing from this trip was all the other cool things besides the race. I got to get up close in the pits to the cars/rigs and RV's and walk among all the teams. Just seeing all this up close for the first time blew me away. TMS is an unreal facility. I marveled at the sheer size of the grandstand as well as the massive amount of people there. Souvenir shopping was fun, as were all the sponsor displays and such. I got to go up to the VIP Speedway Club, and have some lunch and a few beers. A fellow fan I met online hooked me up with a pit pass and got me up to the Speedway Club. Never would have happened if not for him . Thats why race fans are the best. Driving around Dallas/Fort Worth was interesting too. I left the Nationwide race early to beat traffic outta there so I could get to Cowtown Speedway and watch some sprint car racing Sat night. Would I do it again?? Maybe....But I'd never trade a Week at the Knoxville Nationals for a week at a NASCAR event.

Knoxville Natioanls attendee since '95
Favorite Tracks...River Cities, Knoxville, Cedar Lake
Favorite Drivers...S.Kinser, T.Kaeding, K.Madsen, S.Smith
Proud Canadian 

Superbowl was a sellout, World series rocked, and if the economy was so bad in the south why have so many from the North moved south to find jobs and afforable housing?

I think you hit the nail on the head in your last paragraph egras. Whomever was responsible for reconfiguring the greatest NASCAR track of all time should be banished from the planet earth. One groove WAS better than two when it comes to this track. What used to be a 3.5 hour must see race is now just another DVR fast forward to see if Blaney finishes 26th or 32nd.

10 years ago i took 2 guys that had never seen the outlaws to the nationals. They havent missed it since!

small crowd at the super bowl?