Richmond

I attended the Nationwide race at Richmond and was a bit surprised by what I saw.

I have attended 9 of the last 10 Nationwide (or Busch) Friday night September races there. Attendance is off at least 20% from what it used to be as recently as 2 years ago. There are fewer vendors on the “midway” and even the Chevrolet pavilion has lost something.

I still had a great time. The race was excellent. The areas accessible to spectators are well maintained. Food prices seem to generally be steady.

Saturday night I watched the Cup race on television. It was painfully obvious that, not only is the race no longer a sell-out, but it appeared that 10% of the seats were not filled. It was only a couple of years ago that it was difficult to get a ticket for that race. No more.

So, what is the problem? I don’t believe that it is all about the recession. That is what NASCAR and the media want you to believe. It seems we have crested the hill in fan interest and have started on the downhill side. True, ESPN has managed to hold or even slightly improve their ratings over last year. But, not enough to make up what they lost previously.

There must be something going away either in the product or its presentation, or both. In most companies when this happens a change in management is used to get things going again. I suggest that is what NASCAR needs to do. Mike Helton, John Darby, and others may need to be pushed into other positions and be replaced by some fresh thinking new people. I hate to see the product continue to go downhill.