The Attendance Thread

Team Penske said:
I was in a group of 18 from Ontario Canada that went to the 500 early 90's A few of the group had bought trailers in a park there and stayed a few months. I would just go for 2 weeks. The one guy bought all 18 tickets after the race each year for the following season. We did have weekend parties at home with about 20-30 people attending an we took turns hosting. It was a fun time.
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We have similar stories with Michigan and Charlotte. At times there were about 20 of us tailgating and enjoying the races. Out of that group there are about 4 of us that continue to closely follow NASCAR. The remaining folks were casual fans and just enjoyed the experience. I think that boom period might have had to do with timing of the baby boomers (car people) reaching middle age with some discretionary income. As they aged they lost more interest and the younger generations don't share the same enthusiasm. I doubt NASCAR will ever be more popular than it is today. Not a bad thing, but just the way I see the future unfolding.
 
AuzGrams said:
It's not, but it's actually freaking nice to have room/space to sit, parking lots aren't like watching paint dry for 3-4 hours getting out of a race. There's benefits to it not being an absolute 80,000-100,000+ zoo every week like it was.
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I love that I can wait till the week of the race to see the weather before buying tickets too
 
AuzGrams said:
It's not, but it's actually freaking nice to have room/space to sit, parking lots aren't like watching paint dry for 3-4 hours getting out of a race. There's benefits to it not being an absolute 80,000-100,000+ zoo every week like it was.
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Those things never bothered me. In fact, I actually embraced it because I knew i was part of something awesome! Plus, if you went to a track a couple of times it was easier to learn some of the "local tricks" to help with traffic. I said earlier in the thread that we had Dover figured out BEFORE the boom and Pocono got better by the late 1990's. Michigan in 2003/2004 wasn't bad even though we had heard nightmares about getting in and out. When I went back in 2016 it was like attending a local HS game in terms of traffic/elbow room. Our worst experience was the 2002 Pepsi 400 at Daytona. That was because we opted to park in a remote lot and take a shuttle bus. Poor game plan and execution on our part.

I attend football games at Penn State once in a while and went to the Big House last year for my 100k fan fix.
 
Larsonfan1995 said:
I love that I can wait till the week of the race to see the weather before buying tickets too
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I'm all about the empty seats. Not to the point NASCAR and the tracks can't make money and justify the product, but I hate the crowds and traffic and hoops to jump through getting a close and affordable hotel.

That being said, certainly cannot expect droves to return even if the racing is better. Especially to the first 2 races. It will take time for people to notice and verify on TV then make the commitment. I've not gone as much due to other factors like my friends and I grew up, got jobs, married...but I may have to try a few tracks out since the girls are now married. I really hope not a whole lot of fans return to tell the truth.
 
KodiakRusty89 said:
Those things never bothered me. In fact, I actually embraced it because I knew i was part of something awesome! Plus, if you went to a track a couple of times it was easier to learn some of the "local tricks" to help with traffic. I said earlier in the thread that we had Dover figured out BEFORE the boom and Pocono got better by the late 1990's. Michigan in 2003/2004 wasn't bad even though we had heard nightmares about getting in and out. When I went back in 2016 it was like attending a local HS game in terms of traffic/elbow room.

I attend football games at Penn State once in a while and went to the Big House last year for my 100k fan fix.
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100k fan fix? Ugh, dealt with that enough at Bristol from 90-05. No thanks....
 
Ford 222 said:
100k fan fix? Ugh, dealt with that enough at Bristol from 90-05. No thanks....
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Absolutely! I love the energy and vibe at a major sporting event with that many people! They're all dealing the same "headaches" as you are to be part of something truly epic! In hindsight I wish I made it to Bristol back in the day. We had a chance in 03/04 but opted to go to the August Michigan race instead. If nothing else, Dover with 140k had a similar look to Bristol because the seats "kind of" circled a highly banked concrete track.

I'll be at Martinsville in 2.5 weeks for the first time since 2003. I "went" last year but the snow killed my weekend and never made it to the track on Monday. I'm interested to see how that vibe/experience has changed. To be fair, last time I went we camped behind the backstraight in a tent for like $20. Now it's like $150 and for campers only iirc...lol.
 
I attended many races before the boom and I think Bristol International Raceway only sat something like 40k when we first started going.
I never minded when the boom started as it just meant that the party was bigger and I knew it was good for the tracks.

I get why people like smaller crowds at the track but if you like Nascar it is really counterproductive. If good crowds were still attending races talk of slashing the number of races by 8 or so wouldn’t be a topic.
 
kyle18fan said:
The worst thing is that PIR has priced us out of going to the races like we used to. We used to attend every NASCAR event there but can't do it anymore, plus, all the recent changes have taken the homey feeling of the track completely away. I loved that place, used to call it my " second home"
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You guys had a very nice family tradition going. Sucks that it got taken away.
 
KodiakRusty89 said:
Absolutely! I love the energy and vibe at a major sporting event with that many people! They're all dealing the same "headaches" as you are to be part of something truly epic! In hindsight I wish I made it to Bristol back in the day. We had a chance in 03/04 but opted to go to the August Michigan race instead. If nothing else, Dover with 140k had a similar look to Bristol because the seats "kind of" circled a highly banked concrete track.

I'll be at Martinsville in 2.5 weeks for the first time since 2003. I "went" last year but the snow killed my weekend and never made it to the track on Monday. I'm interested to see how that vibe/experience has changed. To be fair, last time I went we camped behind the backstraight in a tent for like $20. Now it's like $150 and for campers only iirc...lol.
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Have fun! Martinsville is the last race I've been to (I think?). May have been All Star in Charlotte? Anyway it was Martinsville when Mark Martin came back and raced Denny's car and got a top 10. Love me some Martinsville too! Now it was packed....had some pretty gross dude beside me, didn't look like he bathed much or even changed his clothes...but he was a good guy. Even offered me a Bud when I ran out of Lite. Lol...
 
IanMcVittie said:
I attended many races before the boom and I think Bristol International Raceway only sat something like 40k when we first started going.
I never minded when the boom started as it just meant that the party was bigger and I knew it was good for the tracks.

I get why people like smaller crowds at the track but if you like Nascar it is really counterproductive. If good crowds were still attending races talk of slashing the number of races by 8 or so wouldn’t be a topic.
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I keep hearing about how it's to give the drivers a break because their season is too long. Yeah, wish I had Dec-Mid Feb off. Plus a few weeks in between. I can see the team employees though.
 
IanMcVittie said:
I attended many races before the boom and I think Bristol International Raceway only sat something like 40k when we first started going.
I never minded when the boom started as it just meant that the party was bigger and I knew it was good for the tracks.

I get why people like smaller crowds at the track but if you like Nascar it is really counterproductive. If good crowds were still attending races talk of slashing the number of races by 8 or so wouldn’t be a topic.
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They could run 52 a year and I would love it, but todays society has to many other things to do.
 
Spotter22 said:
They could run 52 a year and I would love it, but todays society has to many other things to do.
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Having 2-3 different series competing over 52 weeks might be doable especially if X and trucks were split off and ran down south in NASCAR’s off season. IDK if there would be enough tracks up to par or that would be worth bringing up to par though.

It would be interesting to hear what Nascar feels it would accomplish by shortening the cup season if that is truly how they feel. It makes complete sense from my perspective though as I think Nascar is over saturated with product and needs to bring supply in with demand.
 
On reddit they said Bristol will not be selling corner seats for the spring race.
 
rowdy3 said:
On reddit they said Bristol will not be selling corner seats for the spring race.
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Well I guess we know what the hot topic will be on NASCAR radio. Hard to believe a track that had a waiting list now has to resort to this. I know the Night race still does very very well but never thought I would see this. Bruton and Marcus, take my advice, dig up the track and put it back like you had it. Its obvious people want crashes and helmet throwing at Bristol so give em what they want.
 
Spring Bristol is another race that routinely has crap weather, or at least forecasts.

The Night Race is still a bucket list type of event though.
 
Spotter22 said:
Well I guess we know what the hot topic will be on NASCAR radio. Hard to believe a track that had a waiting list now has to resort to this. I know the Night race still does very very well but never thought I would see this. Bruton and Marcus, take my advice, dig up the track and put it back like you had it. Its obvious people want crashes and helmet throwing at Bristol so give em what they want.
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IDK why Bruton felt the need to change what his paying customers saw as a good thing but he did indeed. If you have a product people like and pay to consume it is a good idea not to mess with it.
 
DIDIT said:
That is just another dagger in fans attending the race. There are many fans that prefer to sit in the corners.
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We had season tickets at the start finish line a little higher than the flag stand and we really liked it. I know that a lot of people prefer the corners and at Bristol you can see a lot from them.
 
DIDIT said:
That is just another dagger in fans attending the race. There are many fans that prefer to sit in the corners.
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I said 3-4 years ago that Bristol would eventually be horseshoed. I think that time is closing in. Bristol is prime example of a track that was overbuilt for the fad fan. It basically became Smith's trophy piece over Charlotte. He wanted it to be the "World's Largest Coliseum" and that's what he got. Unfortunately, the seats were only full for about 10-12 years of the 20+ they've existed. A 100k seat Bristol with views of "Thunder Valley" would help bring its soul back. The energy of a packed Bristol is unmatched. Go watch those 90's night races. The track would play the Rolling Stones "Start Me Up" before the command to fire engines was given and the place would go crazy!!

If nothing else, for much of its life Bristol didn't have seats in the turns. I'm a longtime fan but not "old" per se, 36, yet I vividly remember Bristol as an asphalt bull ring that sat about 60k on a good day. I always thought the extremely high tiered backstraight stands were cool as hell! It's great to have Youtube these days to reaffirm what you saw.
 
IanMcVittie said:
Having 2-3 different series competing over 52 weeks might be doable especially if X and trucks were split off and ran down south in NASCAR’s off season. IDK if there would be enough tracks up to par or that would be worth bringing up to par though.

It would be interesting to hear what Nascar feels it would accomplish by shortening the cup season if that is truly how they feel. It makes complete sense from my perspective though as I think Nascar is over saturated with product and needs to bring supply in with demand.
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They actually could run in Mexico during the winter. Lots of tourists down there.:D
I also think the fans in Mexico would enjoy it.
 
KodiakRusty89 said:
I said 3-4 years ago that Bristol would eventually be horseshoed. I think that time is closing in. Bristol is prime example of a track that was overbuilt for the fad fan. It basically became Smith's trophy piece over Charlotte. He wanted it to be the "World's Largest Coliseum" and that's what he got. Unfortunately, the seats were only full for about 10-12 years of the 20+ they've existed. A 100k seat Bristol with views of "Thunder Valley" would help bring its soul back. The energy of a packed Bristol is unmatched. Go watch those 90's night races. The track would play the Rolling Stones "Start Me Up" before the command to fire engines was given and the place would go crazy!!

If nothing else, for much of its life Bristol didn't have seats in the turns. I'm a longtime fan but not "old" per se, 36, yet I vividly remember Bristol as an asphalt bull ring that sat about 60k on a good day. I always thought the extremely high tiered backstraight stands were cool as hell! It's great to have Youtube these days to reaffirm what you saw.
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The first time I drove by the track and swung in to see it, not sure what year, I literally drove up outside of turn 2 to looked down into it.
.
 
Best I can tell off some youtube vids , it looked like at 76 - 85% capacity for Cup at Phoenix .
Seems to be a fairly healthy / avg year so far overall.

New tunnel for Talladega to make it easier to fill the pits and infield . Gonna miss
the ol dusty tracks at the cross over. Amazing they have made it this
long with out a tractor trailer size tunnel.


New-Talladega-Superspeedway-tunnel-828x552.jpg
 
Not bad for Cali, a track that has always had lackadaisical turnout. Kinda funny they acted like the 5 wide was a funeral procession though :p
 
Maybe the bad weather kept people home. You know all that rain and it being cold...lol.
 
Not sure they had this last year but they took some seats in the center and made every other row into a table.
 
While we lament only 35k showing up to yesterday’s event it won’t be that long before we see it as a decent crowd for many races.

Due to the current broadcast deal the tracks are flush with cash and are not gate driven entities. However if the current broadcast deal cannot be duplicated the tracks could become more dependent on gate receipts and low attendance will hurt them.

I think a lot of people easily forget that a multitude of NASCAR’s problems are being covered by the broadcast deal’s largesse. No sense in worrying about going over a cliff until we reach the precipice though.
 
looks like a 70-80% full house today for the Cup race at Martinsville. Good crowd and
plenty of elbow room. Perfect fan conditions.
 
IanMcVittie said:
While we lament only 35k showing up to yesterday’s event it won’t be that long before we see it as a decent crowd for many races.

Due to the current broadcast deal the tracks are flush with cash and are not gate driven entities. However if the current broadcast deal cannot be duplicated the tracks could become more dependent on gate receipts and low attendance will hurt them.

I think a lot of people easily forget that a multitude of NASCAR’s problems are being covered by the broadcast deal’s largesse. No sense in worrying about going over a cliff until we reach the precipice though.
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thanks for the daily reminder of what you think is going to happen 6 years from now.
 
From the article.....

This:
I am just thinking of how many people would have come to a racetrack that has been abandoned by NASCAR that is in NASCAR’s wheelhouse -- a track like, say, Rockingham, or even a second race at Darlington. The stands are smaller there, but they’d be more filled. Better optics.

NASCAR has some interesting decisions about what to do with its national racing series moving into the next decade. It is clear that there are still fans in NASCAR’s cradle, or backwoods still, and NASCAR needs to double down and play to its base.
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StandOnIt said:
thanks for the daily reminder of what you think is going to happen 6 years from now.
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You are welcome but it is happening today and will be the norm prior to 6 years. It looks like Martinsville needs to enhance the fan experience by doing something with its excess seat inventory.
 
Looks like another crowd of about 35k today which should be the rock bottom for any cup race, IMO.
 
IanMcVittie said:
You are welcome but it is happening today and will be the norm prior to 6 years. It looks like Martinsville needs to enhance the fan experience by doing something with its excess seat inventory.
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good deal, you keep us informed..it's a useful job, kinda like a weatherman
 
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