Change Coming to Bristol Again?

About a 750 mile round trip for me. I choose to camp because of our lifestyle. I guess I'm a trailer park kinda guy. Camping is cheap there, getting there's not. I only quit going because they forced me to but the IRL weekend as well as the Cup weekends in order to sit in those best seats. I'm not an IRL fan nor did I know any. I tried selling them on EBay and saw no interest there either. As soon as I gave my seats up, they took the IRL off their schedule. My kinda luck.
 
It's a little funny/sad that we'll probably all see far less people show up @ Fontana this upcoming weekend than this past weekend in Bristol. Yet @ Bristol we're ready to tear it down and rebuild it again. Maybe SMI and ISC can band together and get a 2fer? ;)
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
It's a little funny/sad that we'll probably all see far less people show up @ Fontana this upcoming weekend than this past weekend in Bristol. Yet @ Bristol we're ready to tear it down and rebuild it again. Maybe SMI and ISC can band together and get a 2fer? ;)
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You just never know what the fans feel makes for good racing. I for one hope they never get rid of those hotdog wrappers at MIS, because they sure add excitement. :rolleyes:
 
Just for grins here's my expense's for the Daytona 500

2 Tickets - Cup Free - Nationwide Free My employer is very nice to me.
Hotel - Free slept in my own bed.
Food - GF and I Consumed vast amounts of adult beverages during Jet Dryer delay and a Huge chili dog $50.
. Travel and Parking - We parked at and walked from my work.

I did have a few extracurriclar exspenses Sunday: http://racing-forums.com/threads/i-was-the-traffic-jam.40768/
 
FenderBumper said:
You just never know what the fans feel makes for good racing. I for one hope they never get rid of those hotdog wrappers at MIS, because they sure add excitement. :rolleyes:
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Actually the hot dogs don't come in wrappers (they serve them in a paper tray) and there are no napkins. The debris you see is either brought in by fans or blown in from outside the track.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
True enough. I don't really care what he does to the track. It's Bristol Baby! I'm there regardless.

Bruton did exactly what he wanted to do when he changed that track. He made the racing better. To argue that would be foolish. The racing is better, by far. Problem is many seem to prefer the bumping & banging and caution fest that it produced. If that's the case, he'll change it back. It will cost him too much not to.
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Excellent point.

Ticket prices remained about the same for several years. When the demand for tickets was there, people were willing to pay those prices and more. Now, people are not, so the prices need to come down.

There is no one answer why Bristol has been struggling. It's a combination of all the things mentioned in this thread (lack of cautions, ticket prices, hotel prices, etc.).
 
If Bruton really gave a crap about room rates , he could offer free camping.
 
From the BMS website.....





Share your thoughts on Bristol's track surface


Our Chairman, Bruton Smith, has said he wants fan input and opinions regarding the track surface at Bristol.

Please share your input via email to [email protected].
Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts.

From here.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
Most ball stadiums operate like this: The government subsidizes the stadium, the taxpayers eat the loss and suffer the tax increases and the owner profits.

The NFL would not be profitable if the owners built and maintained the stadiums.
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that is why cities with these new stadiums go after the super bowl. a way to recoup some of that $$$$
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
From the BMS website.....





Share your thoughts on Bristol's track surface


Our Chairman, Bruton Smith, has said he wants fan input and opinions regarding the track surface at Bristol.

Please share your input via email to [email protected].
Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts.

From here.
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Thanks for the link, I just sent mine off. Hope they read it
 
A buddy of mine made an interesting point I hadn't thought of.

He said Bristol had sellouts for 25 years, 50 straight races, with seats being added, recessions, gouging, rising gas prices and they continued to sell out. All of that ended shortly after the track was changed. Looks like fans came to see the wrecks.
 
Jeffrey00 said:
that is why cities with these new stadiums go after the super bowl. a way to recoup some of that $$$$
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Ask the taxpayers of Dallas how that worked out for them.

Towns can't afford to pay teachers, can't afford to build schools and can't afford to put police officers on the streets but they can afford sports stadiums.
 
Matthew2470 said:
Actually the hot dogs don't come in wrappers (they serve them in a paper tray) and there are no napkins. The debris you see is either brought in by fans or blown in from outside the track.
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Probably some dude from OHIO threw it out there, who gets so drunk and yells so much about his hatred for michigan for literally 45 minutes ruins the event. And the staff gives no **** about me or the people around me. Great time. Money well spent.

Im going to the local minor league ball park with my daughter this summer. Tickets $24, Gas $9, Munchies-Beer $25. And if some drunk guys gets out of line, they haul his ass out.

And I can do this i figure about 25 times for the same price as going to MIS for a few days of COOK MY NUTS IN SUN FUN.

I dig going to MIS, but the last time I went I really left with memories of misery in the campground.

When the weather hit MIS for days in a row, that left a sour feeling for a lot of people. The weather is a gamble for people who want a sure thing for their money. And with the track not filling up and selling out, people can wait until race weekend to make that decision, and then bam, $4 gas. SHAT. Not to mention tide is going for so much money crack heads and crack dealers are using it as a new form of tender.

If I had a nice camper with a generator that would be tits. But for me to motor to Bristol with a truck and trailer is like $700 in fuel alone. That's just not feasible. High hotel prices, not feasible.
 
Bruton Smith from earlier: "I’m almost there in making a decision. We’ve got to be sure that we have appeased these race fans."
 
Bruton just confirmed that they WILL change Bristol? Said"we have plans in the works, and we'll make announcement"
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Bruton Smith said fan response is 75% to put Bristol back to the old Bristol!!
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What about those of us who sent emails to change but didn't care if they did or not...why did I weigh in on it...
 
Brutus loves making changes like a junkie loves his dope.


There are less cautions, more green laps, and the races are still close.
This is just giving in or a surrendering to folks who are invested in being miserable, and you only get punished for listening to them.


But while we are at it, please:

Bring back the asphalt, and bias ply tires. Than I enjoyed so much before they conspired to ruin the racing I loved and my life.
Thank you.
 
Greg said:
Brutus loves making changes like a junkie loves his dope.


There are less cautions, more green laps, and the races are still close.
This is just giving in or a surrendering to folks who are invested in being miserable, and you only get punished for listening to them.


But while we are at it, please:

Bring back the asphalt, and bias ply tires. Than I enjoyed so much before they conspired to ruin the racing I loved and my life.
Thank you.
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Dale Earnhardt won his fist race at Bristol, Darrell Waltrip won 12 times, Terry Labonte and Dale Earnhardt dueled it out and Kyle Busch won the first COT race. Not to mention countless other Bristol memories that were done without progressive banking. So I don't know how anybody is being punished.
 
I liked it more before, even when they changed to concrete it was just as good. I am glad they are putting it back.
Will it be done before the fall race ?
 
Matthew2470 said:
What will the excuse be when they put it back and still have 50,000+ empty seats?
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IDK. Those damn hotels? We'll have to see if he does it first. I'm sure all the other tracks are hurting to, I don't know how the Bristol fall off compares to the rest for 2007 till now. Either way, I'll be watching the night race
 
Thegroundpounder99 said:
Dale Earnhardt won his fist race at Bristol, Darrell Waltrip won 12 times, Terry Labonte and Dale Earnhardt dueled it out and Kyle Busch won the first COT race. Not to mention countless other Bristol memories that were done without progressive banking. So I don't know how anybody is being punished.
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You are correct Bristol has a great tradition, almost all of it pre-re-configuration, which I originally opposed.
I am just not interested in changing back to a 20 caution period scenario.



Nor do I believe this will be a long term fix, maybe a couple novelty years but no more.
I believe there are a lot of problems like the cost, and economy.


The previous growth boom may never come back, we are getting older too. The younger crowd like I was, and probably you also of the 80s and 90s just hasn't been sustainable. (This paragraph may be BS, I like the way it sounds but I don't know, and I am just testing this idea to see if it sticks).


Dale Sr. is gone and Jeff Gordon isn't the force that he was in the 90s, so I see less full blown racing loons, and more casual take it or leave type of fans.
 
Personally , I feel that Nascar was in decline due to the heavy handed control that the governing body was using prior to 'boys have at it' . Everyone I talked to was tired of Nascar . 'Boys Have At It ' was just what was needed . It may not have reversed the decline yet but it IS the answer. We now have the Busch Brothers , Bad Brad, Nasty Matt , Cousin Carl , Smoke , and plenty more . The characters are the heart of Nascar ,they always were, all the rest is window dressing.
 
Greg said:
The previous growth boom may never come back, we are getting older too. The younger crowd like I was, and probably you also of the 80s and 90s just hasn't been sustainable. (This paragraph may be BS, I like the way it sounds but I don't know, and I am just testing this idea to see if it sticks).
/quote]
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I'm in the 18 to 25 range but I do admit that 0 of my friends like or enjoy racing but then again I also think my location plays a part in that. I'm in New York City, I barely ever see anyone wearing NASCAR gear around here and cars are rarely sporting any nascar drivers numbers like they use to around here either.
 
StewartHaas-Gibbs Racing said:
I'm in the 18 to 25 range but I do admit that 0 of my friends like or enjoy racing but then again I also think my location plays a part in that. I'm in New York City, I barely ever see anyone wearing NASCAR gear around here and cars are rarely sporting any nascar drivers numbers like they use to around here either.
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Same here I'm 21 but I was usually considered the "NASCAR Guy" in my high school in the Philly suburbs, and you rarely see any here at UVM
 
In following NASCAR for all of these years I have to admit that this is the first time that I've heard of reconfiguring a race track to ruin the racing. It looks like we may all get what most seem to be asking for. The short lived days of side by side and sometimes three abreast racing on one of NASCAR's premier short-tracks seems to be on it's way out. IMO Bruton took a one of a kind short track and made the racing even better but it seems many fans still prefer the single groove, bump the car out of the way action. I liked the old Bristol and I love the new. Who knows what we'll end up with now?

Bruton has now got one thing on his mind. He has a venue that seats 160,000 fans and those seats aren't filled. He knows that it can be done as it was for years but is changing the race track back to where it was the answer? Personally, I don't think it is. Ticket demand at all tracks is down. At one time I was on a waiting list for both Bristol & Richmond for season tickets. That's laughable now. Now you can easily purchase tickets for either of those two venues. I can walk up to just about any track these days and purchase a ticket for a race. The average race fan is not independently wealthy. Trust me. I camp with other average race fans at Bristol twice a year. These people love the sport and struggle to be able to save to attend these events. Some can't do this any longer. Not twice a year. A few of our fellow campers did not make the race this past week because of the cost associated with attending. They plan on being there in the fall but they had to make the choice of one or the other. My wife and I have made these same choices over the years and we no longer attend all of the races we once did. It has nothing to do with track reconfigurations, it has everything to do with what is on Bruton's mind..... $
 
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