Economic crisis hits once fast-running NASCAR

Economic crisis hits once fast-running NASCAR

nbcsports.msnbc.com

For the first time in years, NASCAR’s biggest race is struggling to fill every seat in Daytona’s massive grandstands, part of the fallout from the nation’s economic collapse.

While NASCAR officials still expect a sellout, they had to cut select ticket prices just days before the race to get there.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Looks like the crisis is even hitting one of America's top sporting events! Considering NASCAR has a HUGE following - this should really start hitting home - to what is happening in this country and world!

Nascar is even cutting the prices inside the stadium - the food has gone down.

While signs outside nearly every hotel and restaurant along A1A a few miles east of the track read “Welcome race fans,” they almost all have a neon “vacancy” light right next them — something unheard of a few years ago.


The bargains aren’t limited to the hotels. NASCAR cut the prices of some of its most popular concession items. You can pick up an all-beef hot dog for $3 or grab four “Fast Franks” dogs for $10.

The other tracks around the country that have always had sold out tickets - seem to have taken notice - they already have plans in place to help get people to the stadium.

Every track, it seems, has a plan:

Officials at Atlanta Motor Speedway are offering $95 tickets for its March 8 Sprint Cup race for the face value of whatever car number wins the 500. A similar plan a year ago was limited to the first 1,000 tickets sold. This year’s plan will be for any fan who wants to pick up tickets so long as they do it by Tuesday afternoon. Maybe fans should be rooting for the No. 00 Toyota driven by David Reutimann or the No. 1 Chevy of pole-sitter Martin Truex Jr.
Denny Hamlin’s team is giving away 12 free tickets to the race at Sonoma in June, and Hamlin is giving away at least four tickets to every Sprint Cup race this season to fans who apply through his Web site.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway dropped select tickets along the backstretch for July’s 400-mile Sprint Cup race to $45. The move is an apology of sorts for last year’s public-relations disaster when tire problems turned the race into a series of 10-lap shootouts.
The hope is if tickets are reasonable, fans will still come and bring enough cash to spread a little around.

Maybe, but it’s not quite business as usual in 2009.

I guess it would also look pretty bad on TV having empty seats everywhere, so I bet they will give away tickets before they let it be shown - people not going to events that have - ALWAYS been sold out in the pass.







nbcsports.msnbc.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 14-2-2009 by questioningall]

Well I would say that the mindset of the public is quite screwed up if it takes them to realize how messed up things are based on how NASCAR or even the Super Bowl cuts back on prices of tickets or calls off races or games.

It shouldnt take that for people to wake up and smell the rotten apples in the basket. (Washington)




Cheers!!!!

I believe that NASCAR represents and propagates some of the very worst qualities and superficial values of this illusionary "American Dream" that the media has sold us for the last 65 years. Only in Pro-Football perhaps do we approach NASCAR’s Bread and Circus’ aspect of Ancient Rome. NASCAR is a tribute to almost everything that is wrong and false about our current society. It represents an unsustainable world-view that appeals to many base and petty qualities in human nature.

The fact that the primary corporate sponsorship that started NASCAR were the cigarette companies, the automobile companies, and the oil companies should tell us all we need to know about this “sport”, where it comes from, and what purpose it really serves.

All that Technology, all that Time, all that Money and Emotion devoted to the useless function of driving in a big circle, going nowhere and producing nothing but noise, pollution, and generations of programmed alcoholic redneck fans who know that race cars don’t have turn signals.

This decades long advertising campaign disguised as “sports industry” can’t die soon enough.

Ok, flame away NASCAR zombies, but it ain’t really driving if you never have to turn to the right…

[edited for formatting and readability]

[edit on 14-2-2009 by Ambient Sound]

reply to post by Ambient Sound


NASCAR was started by those old tyme shine runners who raced to see who had the fastest shine-mobile around. Back then they raced along dirt roads and didnt go in endless circles.

But you shouldnt leave out NHRA either..they just shoot in a straight line at over 300 mph with 7,000 HP monster dragster and funny cars in just 1/4 mile burning up 10 gallons of super high octane fuel in less than 6 seconds!!!


Its all good tho. But if we compare sports activities, what is more useless than a group of people facing each other chasing someone with a ball up and down a field, or throwing a sphere ball into a hoop hanging on a pole, or hitting a puck with a stick across a slab of ice, or sliding on that same slab of ice doing flips and twirls and dancing to music, or hitting a small white ball down a field of grass into a tiny hole or into a pond???



Cheers!!!!

reply to post by Ambient Sound


I have never watched NASCAR - it has never been something that has interested me.

But you brought up an interesting area of Nascar....

All those "sponsors" of cars...... I wonder if lots of them have begun backing out of their sponsorships, due to the cost?

If sponsors start backing out.... then can those cars keep going?

That should be an interesting twist to NASCAR also..... what happens if sponsors start dropping out big time..... where would that leave Nascar?

Originally posted by RFBurns
reply to post by Ambient Sound

 

NASCAR was started by those old tyme shine runners who raced to see who had the fastest shine-mobile around. Back then they raced along dirt roads and didnt go in endless circles.

That is a fact. It was when the tobacco, automobile, and oil companies started using it as a marketing venue that things changed. A self-perpetuating demographic and profit center was born.

But you shouldnt leave out NHRA either..they just shoot in a straight line at over 300 mph with 7,000 HP monster dragster and funny cars in just 1/4 mile burning up 10 gallons of super high octane fuel in less than 6 seconds!!!

I'll throw that in as well as a host of other so-called sports that are no longer about the sport but the hype and business models that have built up around the sport.

Its all part of the system designed to distract us and keep us focused on things that don't really matter, to keep us watching the show while they pick our pockets and steal our future.

America's love affair with the automobile culture is just about over. Its unsustainable in the extreme depending on unlimited exponential growth in a limited system. NASCAR perpetuates a negative lifestyle and value system that does nothing to help people prepare for or encourage the changes that we are going to face very soon. It encourages waste and excess by example of using expensive technology, material resources, and time to produce absolutely nothing except for the opportunity for humans to pay to satisfy their bloodlust by maybe seeing a really violent crash.

Round and round and round and round and round....

I prefer car racing on a track with more than two left turns.

While it's fun to watch for some, it leaves a little to the imagination compared to a good rally or even formula 1.

Supercross and Motocross is far more interesting (to me) than the media- and vendor-fed NASCAR. Tickets should be 'free' with all the sponsorship in the NASCAR arena, on the cars and television monies.

Anyway - it won't be just NASCAR. All ticketed-events will be hurting. Concerts where the ticket prices went from a high of $30-35 for expensive shows in the mid-90s to the insane prices for some shows like U2, Eagles, Streisand and more. I'm not paying $150-700 for show tickets in this economy and I hope the bands don't think people will either. A few years ago, I'd go to maybe 5-10 shows a year, probably 2-3 this year if the bands I like will be touring.

So, good luck to the performing arts folks and also the motor-sports guys. I think they'll have to rethink their ticket prices.

Originally posted by RFBurns
reply to post by Ambient Sound

 

But you shouldnt leave out NHRA either..they just shoot in a straight line at over 300 mph with 7,000 HP monster dragster and funny cars in just 1/4 mile burning up 10 gallons of super high octane fuel in less than 6 seconds!!!
Cheers!!!!

I think they actually shortened it to 1/8 mile because of a fatal crash last season....yeah, so now they get up to 300 then shut her down immediately and it's all over in like 3 seconds.

The generalizations and steriotyping in this thread are disgusting. As so often happens here, we have a handfull of loudmouths who admittedly haven't actually watched or followed something (NASCAR in this case) proceeding to "tell us all about it" and in the process simply exposing their own ignorance.

Stock car racing has likely saved many of the lives on this very board. How do you think safety features common in today's cars came to be? Seatbelts, rollover stabilizerd, rear downforce planes, roll cages, the list could go on and on... All courtesy of innovations developed for racing.

Furthermore, NASCAR as we know it today isn't about " dumb rednecks.". I should freaking know, I'm one of 'em. It may not be 'urban' but NASCAR changed in the mid 90's to draw more mainstream fans in, and it worked for awhile. Problem is, when they made those changes they alienated their core fans. That core is what built NASCAR and we would still be all over the sport even in the current economic crunch (hell many of us grew up poor and crap like teetering on bankruptcy was just called "life" to us... We still found ways to attend races and buy 20 different t-shirts. With #3 on them.). However, many of us still feel screwed by them and haven't returned. It isn't about corporate sponsorships and environmental waste nonsense to us, its about getting brushed aside because the France family wanted their public image to be more cultured and diverse.

As blasphemous as this is for a kid who grew up on Copenhagen, Pabst, outlaw country music, and thought the holy trinity was God, Elway, and Earnhardt, I now hope NASCAR fails. I want to see it rebuilt from the ground up. I wanna see restrictor plates removed to get fans to watch super speedway races again to see who's going to break out the Rusty Wallace barrel roll down the straightaway. I wanna see pit crews wearing the same jumpsuits they wear during the week at their mom and pop mechanic shop in some backwater town. I wanna see drivers throwing down in the infield after two guys put each other into the wall. I wanna hear commentators and interviewed pit crew members and drivers who talk so country only those of us who grew up that way can figure out what the hell they're saying. I wanna see crowds that include mullets, toothlessness, and bottle blondes with Dolly Parton hair, Daisy Duke shorts, some pudge around the waist. And half shirts that barely cover their too small confederate flag bikini top. I wanna see drivers who don't wear a full face sheild on their helmet because it prevents them from spitting their chew during the race. If we start seeing that, then maybe ill return with my love for NASCAR.

Anybody who didn't understand all that and who still wants to denegrate NASCAR's tradition rather than only what its become, has absolutely NO business saying squat about it in the first place. Clearly those people just don't "get it" and as such their opinions on the topic are meaningless.

Glad to hear nascar is struggling as there is no sicker "sport" in america. 110 americans are killed EVERY DAY on the highways thanks to criminal driving and nascar encourages it!!!

BTW - highway fatalities were down 4,000 in 2008 compared to the expected number because americans are driving less and driving slower. That's a huge benefit from this recession. Saved more lives than were taken in the 911 attacks.

NASCAR perpetuates a negative lifestyle and value system that does nothing to help people prepare for or encourage the changes that we are going to face very soon. It encourages waste and excess by example of using expensive technology, material resources, and time to produce absolutely nothing except for the opportunity for humans to pay to satisfy their bloodlust by maybe seeing a really violent crash.

Nascar encourages people to go out on the highways and drive 120 mph just like their "heroes". That's why america has MILLIONS of car crashes a year which means a fortune for the auto industry. Nascar is and always has been a propaganda tool for GM.

Ah Burdman, nothing personal. I've spent 40 years living in the area where NASCAR was born, working with NASCAR fans, and driving on the same roads with NASCAR wannabe's. My opinion on the subject is as valid as anyone's.

Generalizations? Stereotyping? Sure it was. Most of what I said about NASCAR Fans will certainly not apply to all of you. That is a given. If it doesn’t apply to you, just ignore it. The truth may be different than what I think. Happens all time.

My original contention is that these stereotypes were actually manufactured and are perpetuated by the same marketing "milk the peon" industries that profit the most from them. They want to you just keep on doing what most of you seem to be doing, mentally twiddling your thumbs as you watch the pretty colored cars go around the big circle...

The fact that there is an article about the economic downturn affecting NASCAR is just a sign of more to come for industries that are based on the luxury of waste and inefficiency.

drag racing has been hurt way worse,,,,,they don't even have full fields in some of the pro categories

may teams are unsponsored,,,,and many big names are sidelined,,,,way worse than nascar

it really hurts,,,,i love drag racing and it's future is very unstable

the ihra,,,2nd biggest drag race entity can't even find a major sponsor for the tour



i decided not to go to Monster Jam in the spectrum for the final time this weekend,,,,,

it's not worth the money at this time,,,,and grave digger rocks,,,,but my wallet says no


i think many hobbies or specialty businesses are in big trouble

like

carnivals
rock concerts
racing events--monster trucks,, circle track,, drag racing boat racing etc
amusement parks
car shows
x-game type stuff
ski-ing,, mountain resorts
the beaches and shoreline attractions
pro-fishing
movies
rodeo's
skating on ice
circus
zoo's
aquariums
deep sea fishing tours,,, for hire fishing guides/trips
theatre/opera


all these need 2 things-----ticket buyers/spectators and sponsors

both are gonna be in real short demand in these times,,when people are saving and scared

it kind of hit me----think how many people and businesses in these sectors will be hurt real bad this coming year and as summer approaches

i bet way more chapter 11's and layoffs will be coming in these type of businesses



i live 5 minutes from six flags-----i see they may soon be in chapter 11

they were on that 15 bussinesses to fail in 2009 thread a few days ago



also----imagine if gas skyrockets again,,,,,that will surely keep people at home and be a double whammy

scarce money and high gas = i'm staying home

[edit on 14-2-2009 by shortywarn]