Brrrr…istol Keeps Fans Away

If you put aside the fact that there were two rain delays, temperatures in the middle 40s, and a caution that NASCAR admits shouldn’t have been a caution at the race’s end, I’d say all 38 people in attendance at Bristol Motor Speedway got to see a pretty good show Sunday night.

Okay, so that opening sentence may sound a little harsh, but it’s pretty much what we got at Bristol.  Now to be clear, I thought the race (once it finally happened) was as good of a Bristol race as we’ve seen in a few years.  It was competitive, the speeds were fast, there were great story lines, the list goes on.  I know some fans have been critical of the track’s reconfiguration along with the new cars getting rid of the good ole “bump and run” days, but I actually really enjoyed the action on the track.  I think most fans (except for the stubborn few who will never be satisfied until we go back to racing cars driven off the lot from the 1970s) would agree.

The two biggest stories, however, are the phantom caution to end the race and the weather/crowd.

Let’s start with the caution.  If you haven’t heard yet, NASCAR says the caution was triggered by someone in the flag stand who accidentally “leaned on the switch.”  Two officials and a photographer were in the flag stand at the time.  NASCAR’s Robin Pemberton told the Associated Press the flag man saw the lights come on and then had to wave the yellow caution flag.  They admit it was a silly and stupid mistake.  Luckily, for all involved, it likely did not have an effect on the outcome.  Congrats to Carl Edwards on a nice victory.

Now to the weather and crowd.  Both were awful.  There’s no way to spin it.  Fewer than half the 160,000 seats were sold, and looking at the crowd once the race resumed at night, it looked like only half or so of those who purchased tickets bothered to show up in the 40 degree drizzle.  Most estimates I’ve seen say only about 20% of the seats had a butt in them Sunday night.  And keep in mind, this is a track that had 55, count ‘em 55, consecutive sellouts until 2010 when the numbers slowly trickled off.

To be fair, there were still more people at this race than any NBA, NHL, or MLS game, and more than what attend an average MLB game as well.  But in a 160,000 seat track that used to be sold out every time, this still clearly shows a lot of trouble.

So what’s the problem?  It can’t be the racing.  Everyone I’ve talked to, every comment and blog, and every caller on satellite radio loved the race.  It was exciting.  They were three wide at Bristol for crying out loud!  How awesome is that?!

Some have pointed to the high prices of a race in Bristol—not necessarily the tickets themselves, but to stay in Bristol for the race.  Bristol is a small market with few hotels and campgrounds to offer.  With fewer choices, these places can—and do—jack up the prices during race weekends.

But perhaps the biggest reason of all is the timing of the race.  The Bristol race used to be in April.  It was the sixth race on the schedule.  Then it got bumped up to five…now to four.  I realize it can rain anytime in Bristol, Tennessee, so moving the date of the race can’t guarantee a dry race.  But it can change things with the cold.

Middle March in Bristol, Tennessee just does not make sense.  The temperatures are too unpredictable.  People are less inclined to buy tickets in advance not knowing the weather situation.  Those who did wait, seeing the forecast called for cold temperatures and rain all week, sure as heck weren’t going to buy tickets when they could just watch all the action from the comfort of a nice warm sofa.

I realize moving a race isn’t easy and there is a whole lot of politicking and logistics in rearranging a schedule.  But unless NASCAR wants the embarrassment of cameras showing nothing but empty seats at one of their most famous tracks, they need to be working to do something.

That’s my take.  I welcome yours in the comments below.