First off, I hope every NASCAR fan in the area had a very safe and eventful Easter. With NASCAR on their holiday break, there was a lot of time to spend with family and friends. Some of the day was spent searching for colored eggs, others cooked a delicious meal, and many flocked to church to pay their respects to the Lord above.
With the off-weekend, it is a good opportunity to reflect on what has happened this year. Not just the intense action that has welcomed fans on the track, but the atmosphere around the sport as well.
When the green flag flew on the Daytona 500 this year, the Daytona International Speedway welcomed a completely sold out crowd. Both the frontstretch and backstretch grandstands were packed full, and even the new lounge area on the backstretch was packed full. The infield was an RV mecca and everyone was there to welcome back a sport that made major gains the year prior.
It started a trend as the next two races in Phoenix and Las Vegas had complete sell outs as well. But then, reality set in.
Let’s face it, right now this country is in dire straights as far as the economy goes. Unemployment is hurting everyone, and many are having trouble finding new jobs or even getting second jobs just to cover expenses. At the same time, the necessities in life are going up in price. Food for families is costing everyone much more, and the gas to get to the grocery store and to one’s job is going up seemingly every second.
People can’t afford to take major vacations to places such as a NASCAR race.
One of the sport’s most popular tracks, Bristol, had one of the more dire-looking crowds at their half-mile track in a long time. The “Coliseum” of NASCAR holds 165,000 fans, but the backstretch had barely a few fans. If they broke 100,000 people at the track, they were lucky.
Between Bristol and last weekend’s race at Talladega, only one track recorded a sell out crowd, and that was at Texas. I believe the move to a Saturday night for that track is what did that as everyone enjoys night racing.
The racing itself has been the best thing NASCAR has seen in many years. Eight races into the season, there have been seven different winners and six different winning team owners. This means the competition is more even than ever, and a winner can come from any of the top teams or drivers.
But, even that will have trouble bringing fans to the track. For the fans that drive to the race of their choice, it is getting extremely hard to cover what is mainly required to go to the track. Last year, the cost of gas was close to $3 a gallon in the area, some places even lower. That was still hard on families to go anywhere. Add in the cost of an average weekend of staying in a hotel, usually being three nights and $100 a night, and the cost of food, drinks, the tickets, and not to mention the souvenirs, it gets very expensive.
The photo above is from my trip to Richmond last year. I filled the gas tank before I left, and once on the way home, totaling just under $110. The hotel was $216 for three nights, and the cost of food for the entire weekend (including a trip to the grocery store and three dine-outs) was nearly $80.
A total cost of $406 may not seem like much, but if you were to look at what the cost to go to the same race this year, you’d be above $500 depending on some of those factors.
For NASCAR, this really hurts their momentum because many of these factors are out of their control. They can help alleviate some of those factors, and have already as tracks have reduced ticket prices. But, with the cost getting there continually going up, that may not be enough to bring people to the races. Gas prices are already above the $4 mark in many cities in the country, and this area is very close to being on that list.
If NASCAR wants to continue their run of having great racing in front of great fans, they may have to realize that no matter what they do, the No. 1 factor preventing fans from coming is simply because they cannot afford it.
This isn’t a cry for help from a NASCAR fan, it’s just someone speaking reality. The one thing that NASCAR cannot control is hurting them, and has for the last few years.
Until the economic recovery hits and prices begin to reduce, it’s really up to the fans to decide if they want to spend money to attend a race, or use it to pay for the gas to get to the grocery store to provide food for their family.