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May 24, 1999 "Does NASCAR Night Races………..Hurt the Local Show?”
Well, it's another end to a Saturday night at Jax Raceways. As usual, we made
a stop at a local restaurant to get a bite of food, and rerun each feature
and heat race for each division, as well as, chat about calls that the
officials made.
But, there was something different about this night at the track. Different
than any other night at the track, thus far this year. I called my friend on
my cell phone to ask how things went at St.Augustine Speedway. He too tells
me of the difference that he noticed on this paticular night as well.
I get to the house, and log onto the Internet to make contact with some of my
friends that go to Volusia and New Smyrna, and they tell me the same story.
Sunday comes around, and I begin to receive faxes and e-mails from all the
area short tracks and the results are the same.
What was different about this particular weekend? Every one of them was
reporting a reduction in the crowd in the grandstands, the pits and the
infield.
So, what had changed? What kept the fans away from their local track on this
weekend?
It was May 22nd. The night that NASCAR holds the All Start event of the year
"The Winston" live on TV. The same thing happened on May 15th. It was the
night of "The Pontiac Excitement 400" at Richmond.
So, this brings up a very important question. Is NASCAR Winston Cup, Busch
Grand National, and Craftsmen Truck series hurting the thousands of short
tracks across the nation? You bet it is. And there is no relief in sight.
It is only going to get worse.
Local racetracks already have to compete with the water sports here in
Florida, as well as the Pro and college football and golf, among a long list
of other things. So, what does NASCAR do to us? They add another night race
to the schedule, "The Pepsi 400" at Daytona. Not to mention that Musco
lighting has installed lights at Atlanta Motorspeedway. It's just a matter of
time before that race is held at night. It has so much impact on local
motorsports, that there are no events taking place during the Fourth of July
weekend.
Add to the 6 cup races, 6 Busch Grand National events, as well as, multiple
Craftsmen Truck Races, and you now have about 18 night events that are
interrupted by the abundance of media coverage, thus causing the local
motorsports events to suffer.
The TV coverage obviously keeps the crowds down. Some stay home to watch.
Some are able to attend the events because they have Sunday as a drive day to
be back to work on Monday.
Rumor has it that ESPN removed Saturday night Thunder because it was hurting
the local shows a few years ago, but I don't think that will happen anytime
soon.
Let's talk money. Most local tracks charge $10 to get in the general
admission area. If a NASCAR event takes 200 fans from the track that night,
then the track has lost $2,000. Multiply that by the 1000 short tracks
across the nation and you get $2,000,000 in losses for one show. With NASCAR hosting 18 shows, this brings the total to $36,000,000. That's a great loss for the grass roots level of racing.
NASCAR has no plan of changing these races back to Sunday, and why would
they? The fans, the teams, the drivers, and the networks seem to be pleased
with them. But, something needs to be done.
Friday and Saturday night races on TV will continue to be successful,
regardless of the loss to the short tracks across the nation. And, the local
tracks will endure as well, but there is one thing that you and I can do to
help. Go out and buy a VCR, if you don't already have one. Program it, and
head on out to the local racetrack.
By Donnie Helmly
[Donnie Helmly has been heard as the host of "The Race Report" Monday nights at 7 on AM 1320 WJGR Jacksonville Florida for the past 13 seasons, and is the Local Motorsports writer for the "Florida Times Union".] Comment on this story? Post it on the Message Board!
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