Topic: NASCAR Economy

[trapeze]

Yes, this is anecdotal but it was pretty depressing nonetheless. I looked for photos online or a press account but could find none.

I watched the Bristol race this afternoon and it was remarkable for two reasons. First (speaking strictly from a race fan's point of view) there were very few crashes. Bristol is the smallest track on the circuit and is essentially a racetrack in a large football stadium setting. Running 40 or so cars around that small a circle at speeds over 110 mph usually means lots of crashes.

The stadium holds 160,000 spectators...that's a lot. Which brings me to my second point. As I watched the race it was impossible to not notice that at least one third of the seats were empty. I think I am being conservative in this estimate, too. Perhaps it was as many as half the seats were unoccupied. This just doesn't happen. Bristol is always sold out. The only way to get seats is to go through a ticket broker.

Bristol (Tennessee) is as close to middle America as NASCAR tracks get and no one would willingly miss this race. So...I look at this as a pretty vivid indicator of the health of America. I knew that attendance at NASCAR would be down this year but I didn't think that it would be this much in the toilet.

[Predator Don]

I didn't realize it was Bristol week but I'm surprised there would be empty seats at Bristol. It's always sold out. I'll have to watch for some video. I agree it does not bode well for our economy. People save thier vacations and money for this one race. So empty seats is not good.

I fish in tournaments catering to seniors ( you must be 50 to participate) and our attendence is down....and its not because we oldies are dying off. Local dealers, the ones still in business who used to carry bass boat inventory, don't anymore. Our boat and tackle shows were smaller and fishing as a whole seems to be slower here.

My business, which used to be heavily (62%) weighted to paid in advance members, has transformed into over 60% now pay monthly( auto draft), and I usually have at least 30-40 members a month I have to chase because they don't have 30-40 bucks in thier accounts.

Our economy is weak. The stock market is a red herring today, propped up by printed money. I still have around 30% of my investments in cash....not that its gonna be worth anything.

[IronDioPriest]

All according to schedule. Intended targets hardest hit.

[Sectionhand]

Our economy is weak. The stock market is a red herring today, propped up by printed money. I still have around 30% of my investments in cash....not that its gonna be worth anything.

Don , I agree on the stock market . It's inflated far beyond it's worth . Another major correction is coming . I just hope it happens before Nov. I'm afraid that's the only thing which will keep Stymie from winning four more years .

On the other issue ; rather than scale back my vacationing this year , I'm expanding it . But I HAVE winced acouple of times when looking at the expense .

[Libertas]

Our economy is weak. The stock market is a red herring today, propped up by printed money. I still have around 30% of my investments in cash....not that its gonna be worth anything.

Don , I agree on the stock market . It's inflated far beyond it's worth . Another major correction is coming . I just hope it happens before Nov. I'm afraid that's the only thing which will keep Stymie from winning four more years .

On the other issue ; rather than scale back my vacationing this year , I'm expanding it . But I HAVE winced acouple of times when looking at the expense .

With backdoor QE still happening and full-frontal QE3 due any day now, the market will get another breeze up the skirt so all is well!

[Libertas]

Yes, this is anecdotal but it was pretty depressing nonetheless. I looked for photos online or a press account but could find none.

I watched the Bristol race this afternoon and it was remarkable for two reasons. First (speaking strictly from a race fan's point of view) there were very few crashes. Bristol is the smallest track on the circuit and is essentially a racetrack in a large football stadium setting. Running 40 or so cars around that small a circle at speeds over 110 mph usually means lots of crashes.

The stadium holds 160,000 spectators...that's a lot. Which brings me to my second point. As I watched the race it was impossible to notice that at least one third of the seats were empty. I think I am being conservative in this estimate, too. Perhaps it was as many as half the seats were unoccupied. This just doesn't happen. Bristol is always sold out. The only way to get seats is to go through a ticket broker.

Bristol (Tennessee) is as close to middle America as NASCAR tracks get and no one would willingly miss this race. So...I look at this as a pretty vivid indicator of the health of America. I knew that attendance at NASCAR would be down this year but I didn't think that it would be this much in the toilet.

I watched most of the race, both of 'em, I think the Nationwide race was lucky if 1/4 of the seats were filled.  The Obama Economy is sucking fumes.  By all accounts a half-dead rat should trounce Obama this November...but since the GOP is set to nominate one I guess we'll find out how that proposition works out.

[trapeze]

The following photos come from the Nascar.com site. Photo #21 is especially indicative of the unprecedented low turnout:

This part of the grandstand is actually one of the more filled out areas of the stadium. Other parts were much worse.

Another one:

This is the worst of the ones I could find and is pretty representative of what I was seeing all through the race. I'm kind of surprised that NASCAR allowed any of the stadium pics to be published on their site...

[trapeze]

Well, I don't have pictures yet but this week appears to be a repeat of last week. This time we are at the Fontana track in CA. The race is just over half way and has been stopped for rain. The race will almost certainly be called.

But, before the skies opened up the spectator stands were not full. It was very similar to what I saw last week but the NASCAR people were pretty good at keeping the cameras away from the stands this time.

More telling were the advertising spots for the Kansas Speedway that was emphasizing that they had LOTS of low price tickets...even going so far as to say how much they cost.

The reason why this anecdotal evidence of a weak economy is (I think) important is because of who attends. Sure, the big races like the Daytona are always going to be well attended because of their notoriety. But the less famous races are the ones that the average guy goes to. The very poor don't attend a NASCAR race. The very rich (think Mitt Romney) don't attend. The people that go are the middle income people that make up the backbone of our economy.

So when I see the stands half full I know that we, as a country, are basically screwed.

I will post pictures when they become available.

[trapeze]

Pictures of the stands at the Auto Club 400 at Fontana CA:

So maybe this wasn't as bad as Bristol was...it's hard to tell from the pictures provided at the NASCAR site. I'm also not sure how normal it is to have a huge portion of the stands covered with a big red tarp...maybe they always do that, cover a huge area of the grandstand.

[Libertas]

There has been some tarp business over the past few years at certain venues.  Plus, for CA the forecast of rain could have kept some walk-in traffic down too, and the race did end short so you can't entirely blame them.  But if the economy was better there is no doubt attendance would be up no matter the weather.  Everyone is feeling this pinch one way or another.  At my district convention this past Saturday economic issues sure were a dominate theme, in addition to the general lawlessness of the Obongo Regime and the rubberstamp Dem's in congress.

Martinsville is up next, and that venerable site has always been one of the top drawing races, lets see how things look there.  But if Bristol is any indication, I'm expecting lower than average turnout again.

[trapeze]

Watching the Martinsville race and it looks good from the standpoint of turnout. Not great but good. There are a lot of empty seats on the turns and on the back stretch. There is some tarping but (hey, it's a small track) not so much as at  Fontana. It will be interesting to see the NASCAR photo gallery after the race is over...the television cameras are not showing much of the grandstands.

Great race, though...I am really enjoying watching it.

[Libertas]

Yeah, I didn't see a lot of grandstand shots, but what little I saw made me think the place might be 3/4 full, but we'll see if photos show a different impression.  It was weird seeing the end and Gordon & Johnson wiped out, the annoucers saying the one guy charged into that turn, but I swear I saw the guy behing him bump him to set off the chain of events.  Forget the two drivers off the top of my head, but only Earnhardt survived that, finishing 3rd.  Rough day for Hendrick though.

[trapeze]

Here is what I was talking about regarding the corners:

I couldn't find any pictures of the back straightaway grandstand but it was similar.

[Libertas]

Hmmm, perhaps only 2/3 full at best then.

[Predator Don]

Here is what I was talking about regarding the corners:

I couldn't find any pictures of the back straightaway grandstand but it was similar.

It wasn't quite as bad as Bristol, but there were empty seats and the use of a tarp over a large section of seating. Don't know if the tarp was used in previous years, though.

[Predator Don]

May of last year....



http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/2011/05/23/nascars-attendance-crashes-as-economy-gets-worse/