Down in the Pits: Tough times hit NASCAR
The stock market is down, plants are closing, and many people are out of work.
In short, our economy is taking a nose dive.
Even NASCAR and the people that compete in the three upper divisions are taking it on the chin.
Daytona International Speedway’s race was supposed to have been sponsored by K-Mart. Shortly before the race, the company filed for bankruptcy. The bankruptcy referee thought that the investment could be put to better use.
I am sure that the speedway lost millions of dollars on that deal. Joe Nemecheck and Todd Bodine — today’s pole-sitter — both had K-Mart on their cars. Both no longer carry that sponsorship.
Many of the cars that showed up had no sponsor or just a one-race deal. At least 20 percent of the 53 cars that showed up to qualify for the Cup race were in that position.
Many of the Busch teams are in a similar situation. Teams are desperately searching for sponsorship. During these troubled times, it is hard to find people willing to shell out the kind of money necessary to keep up these expensive operations. Many Busch series shops have already closed. Track promoters are searching high and low for sponsors for their races, and are beginning to hurt when it comes to ticket sales.
Even at the end of last season, it was becoming apparent that there may be a lack of cars at some races.
One Busch race late in the season was started without the usual 43 cars in the field. I strongly suspect that will become more and more the situation that NASCAR will face this year.
Many of the drivers have already talked about skipping some of the races to conserve money in event that additional sponsorship does not become favorable. Several of the race shops have had to lay off some people in order to keep their operations open in the hope that a sponsor will come along later in the season. Most major sponsors do not want to run just part of the season because they have no time to promote their sponsorship in other advertising.
Many of the tracks that had planned to increase seating have already put those plans on hold.
That $2.5 billion television contract came along at a good time, but the real money never filtered down to the teams. NASCAR gets 10 percent of that because they are the sanctioning body. The tracks get another 65 percent of the money and the car owners only get 25 percent. The high price of tickets and the price gouging from the motels make attending a race a luxury.
The fans are what have made NASCAR. If those fans cannot afford the high price of the tickets and the expense associated with attending these races, more will start staying home and watching them on television.
To NASCAR’S credit, they are trying to do things to save the teams money. The best thing to help the teams themselves would be for the tracks to give them a little bigger percentage of that television money, since they are the ones who put on the show.
Come to think of it, they are the show.