Depends on the track. Bristol was very poorly attended this spring. But Autoclub Speedway was near a sell out. Phoenix was very well attended 80% or more of the seats taken. Las Vegas was even a bit better than Phoenix. Martinsville was surpringly off this year. Maybe 70% seats taken. Kansas City race was very well attended. Texas was only 2/3 full which is down a bit from last year. Daytona was not good as it should have been with maybe 70% attendance. Of course Daytona has had a large number of seats removed including the seats on the backstretch. Richmond was very attended today.
In the past 6-7 years the worst attended races have been Dover, Indianapolis, Charlotte, Bristol. In that same time frame the races at Martinsville, Pocono and Darlington have been attended quite well for the most part. Charlotte took out 60,000 seats and it still looked to be barely 2/3 full last year. Dover should have lost a race 7 to 8 years ago. That place has been less than 50% attended for all these years. I wonder if they got rid of the vast camping area across Rte 1 at Dover?? Ive been to Dover and remember how many camp sites they did have in 2003. Maybe this is why they have lost so many people there. I have the same question about Charlotte has well. Indianapolis is a terrible race track because heavy race cars can't hardly pass around there. Heck, the Indy cars which are a lot lighter can barely pass there. The shine greatly wore off at Indianapolis with the tire debacle in 2008. Bristol took something not broke and broke it. The repave and reconfiguration turned it into a loser. I liked the new track configuration due to it opening up ways to pass. But MANY other fans felt very differently. Truth was and is that the one line around the bottom made for lots of action. This action is what put Bristol on the map to begin with. Taking it away was a total buzzkill.
It goes without saying that the economy still is a large factor too. For example if a family of 4 went to Richmond this past weekend and paid to stay at the Hyatt off of I-64 it could have been say $200 plus a night? That's $400 plus tickets obviously, plus gas to get to and from, food etc... That's easily $1000-1300. Maybe it could be less than that due to different variables thrown in. In 2008 when my friend Tony and I went there tickets were $100 a piece. And I know that hotel rooms were twice as expensive on race weekend in Dover than they were regularly. I have paid just over $100 for a room at the Hyatt I mentioned. So I believe cost is a factor in this as well. Heck, look at NFL games for good teams. . even they aren't selling out their games at times as well. I never remembered commercials for the NFL pushing for selling tickets at all until 7-8 years ago. The NBA has almost 20 teams losing money the last several years. This loss of attendance is not just been relegated to NASCAR only. Is it more noticeable in NASCAR? Yes, no doubt. NASCAR would do themselves a lot of help in cutting the schedule down to 32 or even 30 races. Less is more at times. The NFL has down this by keeping their season to 16 games. It leaves the fans wanting more. Which is a good thing. Going to an 18 game season is the opposite of what they should be doing. Also the number of bad seats needed to be eliminated in NASCAR. Too many seats put in bad spots like at Talladega at the very lowest part of turn 4 and going into turn 1 should've be gone years ago. So by eliminating bad seats this kills two birds with one stone.
Will NASCAR come back to its prior attendance?? Hard to say. But this country's economic circumstance will be a large contributing factor. Just like it will be for the NFL, NBA and MLB. The fact that the most popular sport the NFL is having commercials selling tickets ought to tell you something. Just like NASCAR's most popular driver Dale Earnhardt Jr having to hustle to get more than one sponsor for his car for a season. Things are not all that well just yet for this country. And it shows even in our sports.
In the past 6-7 years the worst attended races have been Dover, Indianapolis, Charlotte, Bristol. In that same time frame the races at Martinsville, Pocono and Darlington have been attended quite well for the most part. Charlotte took out 60,000 seats and it still looked to be barely 2/3 full last year. Dover should have lost a race 7 to 8 years ago. That place has been less than 50% attended for all these years. I wonder if they got rid of the vast camping area across Rte 1 at Dover?? Ive been to Dover and remember how many camp sites they did have in 2003. Maybe this is why they have lost so many people there. I have the same question about Charlotte has well. Indianapolis is a terrible race track because heavy race cars can't hardly pass around there. Heck, the Indy cars which are a lot lighter can barely pass there. The shine greatly wore off at Indianapolis with the tire debacle in 2008. Bristol took something not broke and broke it. The repave and reconfiguration turned it into a loser. I liked the new track configuration due to it opening up ways to pass. But MANY other fans felt very differently. Truth was and is that the one line around the bottom made for lots of action. This action is what put Bristol on the map to begin with. Taking it away was a total buzzkill.
It goes without saying that the economy still is a large factor too. For example if a family of 4 went to Richmond this past weekend and paid to stay at the Hyatt off of I-64 it could have been say $200 plus a night? That's $400 plus tickets obviously, plus gas to get to and from, food etc... That's easily $1000-1300. Maybe it could be less than that due to different variables thrown in. In 2008 when my friend Tony and I went there tickets were $100 a piece. And I know that hotel rooms were twice as expensive on race weekend in Dover than they were regularly. I have paid just over $100 for a room at the Hyatt I mentioned. So I believe cost is a factor in this as well. Heck, look at NFL games for good teams. . even they aren't selling out their games at times as well. I never remembered commercials for the NFL pushing for selling tickets at all until 7-8 years ago. The NBA has almost 20 teams losing money the last several years. This loss of attendance is not just been relegated to NASCAR only. Is it more noticeable in NASCAR? Yes, no doubt. NASCAR would do themselves a lot of help in cutting the schedule down to 32 or even 30 races. Less is more at times. The NFL has down this by keeping their season to 16 games. It leaves the fans wanting more. Which is a good thing. Going to an 18 game season is the opposite of what they should be doing. Also the number of bad seats needed to be eliminated in NASCAR. Too many seats put in bad spots like at Talladega at the very lowest part of turn 4 and going into turn 1 should've be gone years ago. So by eliminating bad seats this kills two birds with one stone.
Will NASCAR come back to its prior attendance?? Hard to say. But this country's economic circumstance will be a large contributing factor. Just like it will be for the NFL, NBA and MLB. The fact that the most popular sport the NFL is having commercials selling tickets ought to tell you something. Just like NASCAR's most popular driver Dale Earnhardt Jr having to hustle to get more than one sponsor for his car for a season. Things are not all that well just yet for this country. And it shows even in our sports.
