Fans...racing

[buckaroo]

In some comments after an article in The Scene, dealing with the Sound and Speed Festival in Nashville, one commenter said that if it weren't for the fans, there wouldn't be racing. Not quite sure I agree with that though of course if there weren't any fans, there sure wouldn't be any stands for them to sit. There will always be racing even if no one is there to watch. Might be on the state roads, or in a parking lot, but competition will always be there. I am however, glad that there is enough interest in the sport that it is where it is today...even if I don't like the direction it's going.

So no, racing doesn't need fans, but it sure is fun to watch.

 

[TexasRaceLady]

Amen, buck, amen.

 

[Magnethead]

prime example is alot of the grassroots SCCA levels. AX has almost no spectators, but an easy 200+ entries per event...

 

[Digger]

I agree with Buck but I think grassroots racing is going to get a lot more fan turnout with the bad economy.

Let's face it - race fans don't just watch racing, they live, breathe, eat and sleep racing. If they can't afford to go to a NASCAR race, they're sure as hell gonna go to their local short tracks.

 

[Digger]

posted for Buckaroo

The Stock Market: Short track racing responds to economic troubles by nailing the gas (Speedway Illustrated via ARCA Nation)

Despite the economic woes of last year, the only thing that dampened short-track oval racing at most speedways was the heavy spring rain. By midsummer, record car counts and full grandstands were being reported at tracks across the country, a trend that continued through the fall. My information comes from press releases, qualified sources, and friends. And of course I also saw it for myself.

This is an extraordinary achievement that I hope is not overlooked when the auto racing industry gathers for the Performance Racing Industry trade show in early December. In the booths and over dinners, principals from every form of motorsport convene to converse about the state of their end of the industry during the Orlando show.

The economic warning signs didn't matter to you. It didn't register that gas prices were inching up over the last couple years until they went into the stratosphere by midsummer. Those higher gas prices translated to higher everything else. Some guys races a little closer to home, but made no major adjustments to their racing program. Instead racers saved where possible in other areas, like brown-bagging a lunch two or three times a week.

So oval racers, like always, held up their end of the bargain. It's clear that if we can go racing, we will go racing. You deserve the automotive industry's praise, not to mention a reward in the form of innovative, low-cost parts and tools, like they've been delivering to us for years.


Our entire country needs the determined attitude of a racer, especially on Wall Street, where so much of the future is traded on speculation. How many times have we hear, "The market plunged today on fears..."?

The racer's attitude is that the market is going to do what it's going to do. Either way we go racing. That is one reason that racers, from strictly stock to Sprint Cup, live a life that so many envy. Real racers avoid the trap that captures too many people: The mistaken belief that those living the life they covet have somehow been awarded it, stumbled into it, or were born into it. (Okay, forget that last one.)

 

[buckaroo]

One of the reasons many people think that without the fans, there wouldn't be any racing is because they are neo-fans and think that NASCAR top tier racing is the only raciing. I understand that many racing fans only watch and pay attention to one particular series or another and to them, racing is just a fad per se. Before ESPN really put NASCAR on the map back in the 80's I'd say that most of today's fans didn't even know what NASCAR meant. I love it that NASCAR has become so very popular, but I was a fan of racing long before I even heard of NASCAR, and where I lived, the only racing WAS local.

 

[WNY24Fan]

There will always be racing even if no one is there to watch. Might be on the state roads, or in a parking lot, but competition will always be there. I am however, glad that there is enough interest in the sport that it is where it is today...even if I don't like the direction it's going.

So no, racing doesn't need fans, but it sure is fun to watch.

Heck yeah! I wasn't even beyond trying to "beat" people at lights when I was younger. I still remember this guy in a Z-28 reving his engine next to me in my Toyota Celica 5-speed liftback one day when a few of us went out for lunch. Of course, my friends were all saying "take him!" And well, I did. LOL

 

[barelypure]

OK, you're sitting at a light very late at night..next to a city kitty. He starts revving his engine, making lurching movements. What do you do?

Me, when the light changed we both floored it. Those PO-lice cars sure are fast but in this case not fast enough. At the next light I waited for him to catch up.

Of course him being a good friend I guess makes for a different situation that maybe you shouldn't copy otherwise...

 

[WNY24Fan]

OK, you're sitting at a light very late at night..next to a city kitty. He starts revving his engine, making lurching movements. What do you do?

Me, when the light changed we both floored it. Those PO-lice cars sure are fast but in this case not fast enough. At the next light I waited for him to catch up.

Of course him being a good friend I guess makes for a different situation that maybe you shouldn't copy otherwise...

ROFL!!!!!! Good point!! I'm sure the "Z" could have taken me eventually, but it was noon-time in front of the once biggest business here - KODAK. LOL There is just "something" about someone revving their engine next to you that just makes it almost impossible to resist.... I guess unless you have kids strapped in baby seats like I ended up having and so there my friends, went my racing career. hehehe

BTW - There's a pretty famous Foreigner song (Rev on the Red Line) about racing on Lake Avenue and yep - it was about the street I was on and live very close to now. Lou Gramm is from here. It goes all the way down to Lake Ontario.

(OK, now all the youngin's are going to have to figure out who Foreigner is. LMAO)