So now they're going to swap around three dates to move California's fall race from September to October, when it will fall during the Chase.
According to Auto Club Speedway President Gillian Zucker, Auto Club Speedway (formerly California Speedway) would get Talladega Superspeedway's date in early to mid-October, Atlanta Motor Speedway would get the Labor Day weekend race and Talladega would receive Atlanta's fall date later in October.
Got all that?
There's only one flaw in all this: it won't fix California's problem, which is that they can't sell tickets to their races.
Zucker says it's because the September date is too hot for the fans. That, of course, doesn't explain why she also can't sell-out the 92,000-seat facility for the February race. (Is it too cold then, Ms. Zucker? Perhaps you could build an indoor track if California race fans are that picky.)
Actually, the Auto Club Speedway hasn't sold out since 2004, when NASCAR took the Southern 500 date away from Darlington, and gave it to California. (Apparently, no one thought to ask about the weather in Fontana on that date before the decision was made.) Not many long-time race fans were pleased with that move, and nowadays, it's looking like it was a really dumb idea.
And then there's the track itself. Fans complain it provides boring racing. This February, of course, the excitement it generated came from watching crews try to fix the "weeping" problem, as water seeped from under the asphalt onto the racing surface, causing officials to postpone the race until the next day...after several cars had already wrecked.
Californians don't much seem to care about stock car racing, which makes it even more frustrating that tracks in the south, the home of the sport, lost their dates to the state in a misguided attempt to expand NASCAR's footprint. But you can't force people to come see an event in which they have no interest, and that's the root of the problem here.
This whole thing is even sadder when you realize that NASCAR has made the same mistake twice now. Ontario Motor Speedway, not far from Fontana, was built in 1970 and drew over 78,000 fans for its inaugural NASCAR race in 1971, but by 1980, the NASCAR race was drawing just 15,000. NASCAR dumped the race and the track was demolished, but NASCAR didn't learn from its mistake.
Well, if they don't want NASCAR in California, I can think of a track in North Carolina that's all shined up and ready to go. Just give Andy Hillenburg a call.
Comments (6)
I agree with you 100 per cent. Especially the part about the NC track, but that would make too much sense and we all know that NASCAR has very little of that.
Posted by yankeegranny | August 19, 2008 2:30 PM
Posted on August 19, 2008 14:30
Trying to run a NA$CAR race in California is like trying to play Hockey in Florida. They have been unsuccessful in the attempt to make Soccer a popular sport in the USA and they will fail to make NA$CAR a popular sport in California. Some sports are and should remain regional. Grits and Gravy sells in the south but no matter how hard you try, it won't sell up north.
Posted by Ken | August 19, 2008 2:58 PM
Posted on August 19, 2008 14:58
how nice we have now rewarded the infamous track on the left coast with a "chase" date as a reward for having the lowest percentage of filled seats under the premise of being a better weather date. When Darlington and Rockingham lost race dates we were told it was because of lack of attendance, no one ever offerred Rockingham anyting but mid February and late October as well as the next week after Daytona and Darlington's prize was being penalized with Mother's Day weekend. But, alas the rules are not the same for the favored track of nascar, they will not get to run a chase date in front of the tarp covered seats with the tv camers told NOT to pan the non-existant crowd. Oh how wonderful it must be to enjoy the perks and privileges of being nascar's favored tracks and now that the ocsars and grammys and emmys and toni's will be over, they will all rush from the hollwood appearances to "see and be seen" at the track with lots of empty seats...maybe mohter's day weekend for 2010.
Posted by Larry | August 19, 2008 5:04 PM
Posted on August 19, 2008 17:04
hey now...don't cast all stock car fans in california as disinterested just cause of what happens in fontana...have you ever been to sears point????..did you ever get to riverside???..irwindale??...lots of real interested people at real interesting races..half the people at phoenix are from california.don't be a hater cause we are lucky enough to have lotsa choices here...we just want to go to the good stuff...what they should have built was a mirror image of richmond...800000 seats with tickets that are hard to get like bristol..the place was built for indycars at 250mph!!!oh by the way..the southern 500 should be at darlington on labor day..i went to the last one in 2003...awesome...93 degrees..92% humidity..no shade..place was full..one of the holy grails of racing...i better shut up now!!!
Posted by gary | August 19, 2008 6:15 PM
Posted on August 19, 2008 18:15
Why would NASCAR have a race in CA then in LV about 2-3 weeks later? If I want to see a race in person, it would be at LVMS because there is so much to do between races. What does Fontana have to offer? Sure you can drive to Hollywood. They make it sound like it's just down the freeway. Yeah, about 65 miles.
What's Gillian got on NASCAR?
Posted by D Jones | August 19, 2008 7:56 PM
Posted on August 19, 2008 19:56
It's also gonna be interesting to see if TV ratings go up for California with this very accomodating swap. It's just not any fun to watch, it's a mirror image of Michigan. Kentucky Speedway puts 70,000 in the stands for both NNS races and its great to watch on TV. So are the truck races. But man, that place can't get any respect from NASCAR. What gives?!
Posted by Sparks | August 19, 2008 10:41 PM
Posted on August 19, 2008 22:41