Godforsaken? Smith blasts Homestead

The man never stops:rolleyes:

HAMPTON, Ga. - Bruton Smith wants NASCAR to yank its final race of the season out of south Florida.

Never at a loss for words, the track owner said the championship-deciding race should return to Atlanta Motor Speedway, where it was held through 2001, or Las Vegas Motor Speedway - facilities he owns.

"Why have the last race of the season at some Godforsaken area just north of Cuba?" he said, referring to Homestead Miami Speedway.
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I disagree with him about Miami that's a good track for the finalie. But Martinsville, Atlanta, Michigan, California, Texas, Phoenix, (maybe) Dover and New Hampshire don't deserve 2 dates.

Las Vegas definently deserves 2 races and Kentucky definently deserves a race. But NASCAR's made it clear Kentucky won't get a Cup race.
 
On another matter, Smith said NASCAR should not allow television networks to dictate the start times of races, pointing to a late-afternoon start for the season-opening Daytona 500. Rain halted the sport's biggest race before it could be completed.

"They should have started that race no later than 2 o'clock," Smith said. "If they had done that, they would have had time for the whole race. We've got to think about the race fans first, then the fans."
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The man has a point.
 
In the pre-race ceremonies at Vegas, Bruton and the (drunk) Mayor of Vegas hinted to a second Vegas date in 2010.
 
I am not a fan of Bruton. He is only good for Bruton and cares little about nascar. I am glad that Humpy told Bruton to shove it.
 
"Why have the last race of the season at some Godforsaken area just north of Cuba?" he said,.."

For that matter, why have the first race of the season at some Godforsaken area just north of Cuba?
 
PettyBlue said:
"Why have the last race of the season at some Godforsaken area just north of Cuba?" he said,.."

For that matter, why have the first race of the season at some Godforsaken area just north of Cuba?
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While at it...
Why have a race in some Godforsaken area just north of Mexico? :confused:
 
Take a date from Pocono, both from Auto Club, and 1 Martinsville, give a 2nd race to Chicagoland, a race to Gateway, a race to Nashville, and a race to Kentucky.
 
Spike said:
Take a date from Pocono, both from Auto Club, and 1 Martinsville, give a 2nd race to Chicagoland, a race to Gateway, a race to Nashville, and a race to Kentucky.
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Nashville is too small for a Cup race - and the track owners (Dover Downs) are in big trouble.

Chicagoland is boring as hell. One race is enough.

Gateway... if they gave Chicagoland a 2nd date, that would be three states in Illinois... Fans who don't have a NASCAR race in their market will be pissed there's three races in the same market.

Pocono sells out every race. The paddock area and the infield are packed every race. That track is wildly popular up in this area... NASCAR would be stupid to take a date from Pocono and send it to Gateway or Chicago or Nashville.

The only tracks they should be talking about are Las Vegas and Kentucky. KY can sell out a Cup race no problem... and Vegas could sell out a 2nd race.

Fontana should keep both dates only if ISC lets Gillian Zucker add progressive banking like she wants to.
 
Spike said:
Take a date from Pocono, both from Auto Club, and 1 Martinsville, give a 2nd race to Chicagoland, a race to Gateway, a race to Nashville, and a race to Kentucky.
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What give up a short track race. You ever been to Martinsville? There ain't nuttin like Bristol and Martinsville.
 
There have been rumors about Martinsville losing one of its races for a long time now. And I can understand if you dont want Chicago to have a 2nd race, but Gateway should be in consideration for one at some point. Not really the same market either, there is over 5 hours between Gateway and Chicagoland. Kansas would of made more sense in the argument.
 
AndyMarquisLIVE said:
Chicagoland is boring as hell. One race is enough.

Gateway... if they gave Chicagoland a 2nd date, that would be three states in Illinois... Fans who don't have a NASCAR race in their market will be pissed there's three races in the same market.
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Illinois here isnt an asphalt state anyway. They might as well tear down chicagoland and move the dirt track away from the drag strip and make it a place for big dirt shows. All of our guys that have gotten up in racing have pretty much started with dirt.

And gateway is a completly different market from chicagoland. Its so far south that its more of a missouri, kentucky, far southern illinois market.
 
Yep, you can see the St. Louis skyline from Gateway. Theres a nice horse track thats a stones throw away too.
 
Spike said:
There have been rumors about Martinsville losing one of its races for a long time now. And I can understand if you dont want Chicago to have a 2nd race, but Gateway should be in consideration for one at some point. Not really the same market either, there is over 5 hours between Gateway and Chicagoland. Kansas would of made more sense in the argument.
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If Martinsville loses a race it will be to another track that they own since they do own Martinsville. Short tracks are the roots of NASCAR.
 
Yep, it's Homestead that needs to lose a date. :rolleyes:

Look at all those empty seats in Atlanta. :eek:
 
basscatcher89 said:
Illinois here isnt an asphalt state anyway. They might as well tear down chicagoland and move the dirt track away from the drag strip and make it a place for big dirt shows. All of our guys that have gotten up in racing have pretty much started with dirt.

And gateway is a completly different market from chicagoland. Its so far south that its more of a missouri, kentucky, far southern illinois market.
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I'd rather see a Cup race at Springfield or DoQuoin.

Fortunately, ARCA races there... just not televised.
 
BobbyFord said:
In the pre-race ceremonies at Vegas, Bruton and the (drunk) Mayor of Vegas hinted to a second Vegas date in 2010.
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Last time i was there in 2006 they said the same thing! No date yet, if they do in fact get another in 2010, I'm switching my tickets for the fall race.
 
Spike said:
Yep, you can see the St. Louis skyline from Gateway. Theres a nice horse track thats a stones throw away too.
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I've driven by that track about 5 times on my back and forth from Colorado, looks easy to get in and out of as far as traffic goes.
 
Mopardh9 said:
Totally agree here about Daytona, that really ticked me off that they started the race so late. It used to start at 12:30, that way it would be over at 4 or so.
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If there's weather on the way, they should push up the start.

They used to... I remember NBC coming in for "Countdown to Green" (which was an hour:rolleyes:) at Watkins Glen a few years ago and they came right in and declared "Rain is on the way, the start of the race has been pushed up... let's go trackside."

I know NASCAR controls the show but it's pretty obvious it's all FOX and ESPN. The races have started extremely late ever since the FOX-ABC deal was announced. ****, TNT has a 90 minute pre-race show and their races still start before FOX and ESPN's races do. They even start Dover after 2 and that race takes 4-5 hours to finish and has no lights. :eek:

There was NO EXCUSE for Daytona ending under rain, NONE. NASCAR KNEW it was coming and should've told FOX to STFU, and then started the race much sooner. :mad:

It's asinine that races are getting called for rain because FOX wants to show Chris Myers (who's still an idiot), Jaws Waltrip and Jeff Hammond mindlessly babbling.
 
AndyMarquisLIVE said:
If there's weather on the way, they should push up the start.

They used to... I remember NBC coming in for "Countdown to Green" (which was an hour:rolleyes:) at Watkins Glen a few years ago and they came right in and declared "Rain is on the way, the start of the race has been pushed up... let's go trackside."

I know NASCAR controls the show but it's pretty obvious it's all FOX and ESPN. The races have started extremely late ever since the FOX-ABC deal was announced. ****, TNT has a 90 minute pre-race show and their races still start before FOX and ESPN's races do. They even start Dover after 2 and that race takes 4-5 hours to finish and has no lights. :eek:

There was NO EXCUSE for Daytona ending under rain, NONE. NASCAR KNEW it was coming and should've told FOX to STFU, and then started the race much sooner. :mad:

It's asinine that races are getting called for rain because FOX wants to show Chris Myers (who's still an idiot), Jaws Waltrip and Jeff Hammond mindlessly babbling.
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The stands arn't fulll an hour before the race are they? I'd be pissed if they started before I got there.
 
Bucky Badger said:
The stands arn't fulll an hour before the race are they? I'd be pissed if they started before I got there.
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Then that would be your fault for getting to the track late. My dad and I NEVER got to any racing event later than 9 AM (except the night races..we got there round 2 for those). I got there at 7 AM last fall......looks like I may be living out of my truck for the 3 day weekend this spring.... (hint, hint, hint)
 
The tickets usually have the actual starting time printed on the tickets. We went to Atlanta yesterday and they said 2:00 was the start time, even though it was really 2:15. Fox came on the air at 1:30. If weather had been a problem and NASCAR decides to go green at 1:35 and people are still trying to get parked, there will be a lot of ticked off folks. TV selects the start time of the race, then they back up and add their pre-race show from that point. NASCAR will never start the race when the pre-race show is scheduled because that is not the advertised starting time of the race.

I'd say Atlanta will be losing one of its dates if yesterday was any indication.
 
I agree with Andy, they did it once and it worked. NASCAR runs the show, it's your responsibility as a fan to get there before it starts, whenever it starts.
 
Magnethead said:
I agree with Andy, they did it once and it worked. NASCAR runs the show, it's your responsibility as a fan to get there before it starts, whenever it starts.
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Richmond starts at 7pm and the overflow is packed by 10am. :confused:
 
AndyMarquisLIVE said:
Richmond starts at 7pm and the overflow is packed by 10am. :confused:
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paved TMS parking is full by 6 AM. there's 300 acres of unpaved parking....Bruton put enough parking for 2 cars per seat in the speedway, and there's 4 highways all around it. Dale Earnhardt way keeps I-35 from getting clogged. there is no such thing as traffic at TMS anymore. When i got to the track at 7 AM via 287, my friend came in on 35 at 10AM and was on premisis in under 15 minutes.
 
To people saying you cant take a race away from Martinsville, there would still be 5 short track races if one Martinsville race was taken away, 9 races on super speedways, 2 road courses, and 20 intermediate tracks of varying length. It would still be a pretty decent mix.
 
Spike said:
To people saying you cant take a race away from Martinsville, there would still be 5 short track races if one Martinsville race was taken away, 9 races on super speedways, 2 road courses, and 20 intermediate tracks of varying length. It would still be a pretty decent mix.
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I don't think Martinsville is that good of a race. The track is completely flat, there's only one groove and all it creates is a trainrace. The past few events have shown that.

It'd be one thing if they banked the upper groove of Martinsville or something to allow for some passing. But the past few races at Martinsville have been some of the worst races.
 
AndyMarquisLIVE said:
I don't think Martinsville is that good of a race. The track is completely flat, there's only one groove and all it creates is a trainrace. The past few events have shown that.

It'd be one thing if they banked the upper groove of Martinsville or something to allow for some passing. But the past few races at Martinsville have been some of the worst races.
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Ever been there to watch a race or are you just going by what is on TV? Much better in person where you can see racing all over the track.
 
tkj24 said:
Ever been there to watch a race or are you just going by what is on TV? Much better in person where you can see racing all over the track.
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Now you know that Andy is all knowing/all seeing. After all, he puts ARCA ahead of NASCAR doesn't he?

One thing that was brought to my attention today at work was that it really doesn't matter what the price of a ticket is, it won't change what is going on these days. You can give the tickets away and people will still not be able to attend because of all the other costs...transportation, food, lodging etc.
 
tkj24 said:
Ever been there to watch a race or are you just going by what is on TV? Much better in person where you can see racing all over the track.
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Honestly I even thought Richmond sucked last year.

One car leading the whole race. :yawn:
 
buckaroo said:
Now you know that Andy is all knowing/all seeing. After all, he puts ARCA ahead of NASCAR doesn't he?

One thing that was brought to my attention today at work was that it really doesn't matter what the price of a ticket is, it won't change what is going on these days. You can give the tickets away and people will still not be able to attend because of all the other costs...transportation, food, lodging etc.
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yup.

Then again, look at the ADRL. They're out-attending the NHRA AND IHRA at exact same venues. They give away X hundred tickets free per event at local merchants. If nascar would do similar, or at least do more local low-price deal makings....
 
Magnethead said:
yup.

Then again, look at the ADRL. They're out-attending the NHRA AND IHRA at exact same venues. They give away X hundred tickets free per event at local merchants. If nascar would do similar, or at least do more local low-price deal makings....
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It was 105° the day ADRL ran at Maryland and that joint packed - MIR had to turn people away. Largest ever recorded audience at MIR more than NHRA Pro Stock and IHRA combined.
 
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