Brickyard 400 swirling down the drain
In the summer of 1999, I was living alone in a two-bedroom duplex in Columbus, Georgia. I was working six days a week from 5:30 a.m. into the evening training Army infantry basic trainees. My Sundays were a needed opportunity to rest.
I was able to execute a perfect Sunday a few times that summer. A buddy of mine would pick me up a little before 6 a.m. and we would go to Fort Benning for 18 holes of golf. After that, I was hanging at the duplex reading the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer and watching sports. The NASCAR race was always part of my viewing schedule.
NASCAR became very interesting to me when I saw the inaugural running of the Brickyard 400 in the summer of 1994. Beginning in 1995, I began bouncing around Army posts throughout the American southeast for five years. I was in the heart of NASCAR country and very much into the sport.
Not any more. I can't tell you the last time I watched NASCAR with any regularity. If you look at the attendance figures for last weekend's 24th running of the Brickyard 400, you will see I am not alone.
I had some spare moments this past Sunday to check out the pre-race coverage and I was stunned by how few people came to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Dakota Crawford of the IndyStar compiled tweets showing how empty the place was for the race. In comparison to the 250,000 that attended the first Brickyard 400 in 1994, it is astonishing that the race could lose that much popularity.
According to Jim Ayello, also of the IndyStar, the Brickyard is only attended by the most die hard of fans and there were only 35,000 in attendance by the finish of this year's race. Bad weather did roll in on Sunday to chase some patrons away, but an almost 90 percent drop in attendance sounds like a death sentence to me regardless of weather conditions.
This is not a problem unique to Indianapolis, but is prevalent throughout the NASCAR circuit. Even the crown jewel of the series, the Daytona 500, is not immune. More than 50,000 seats have been removed from that historic race track, because they are no longer needed.
Even someone as passionate as me about any and all sports has to admit the sports landscape is over-saturated. Owners and athletes would lose money, but every sport could stand to shorten its regular seasons and even contract failing organizations.
NASCAR is planning on moving the Brickyard 400 from July to September next year in hopes that milder temperatures will help draw more fans. They could get rid of the race altogether and I wouldn't mind. I am pretty sure that not many other people would care either.
For additional information on the decline of NASCAR: see this in depth article by Peter Cheney. It is a great read -- highly recommended.
I was able to execute a perfect Sunday a few times that summer. A buddy of mine would pick me up a little before 6 a.m. and we would go to Fort Benning for 18 holes of golf. After that, I was hanging at the duplex reading the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer and watching sports. The NASCAR race was always part of my viewing schedule.
NASCAR became very interesting to me when I saw the inaugural running of the Brickyard 400 in the summer of 1994. Beginning in 1995, I began bouncing around Army posts throughout the American southeast for five years. I was in the heart of NASCAR country and very much into the sport.
Not any more. I can't tell you the last time I watched NASCAR with any regularity. If you look at the attendance figures for last weekend's 24th running of the Brickyard 400, you will see I am not alone.
I had some spare moments this past Sunday to check out the pre-race coverage and I was stunned by how few people came to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Dakota Crawford of the IndyStar compiled tweets showing how empty the place was for the race. In comparison to the 250,000 that attended the first Brickyard 400 in 1994, it is astonishing that the race could lose that much popularity.
Tweet from Matt Glenesk of the IndyStar during the 24th running of the Brickyard 400 Sunday.
This is not a problem unique to Indianapolis, but is prevalent throughout the NASCAR circuit. Even the crown jewel of the series, the Daytona 500, is not immune. More than 50,000 seats have been removed from that historic race track, because they are no longer needed.
Even someone as passionate as me about any and all sports has to admit the sports landscape is over-saturated. Owners and athletes would lose money, but every sport could stand to shorten its regular seasons and even contract failing organizations.
NASCAR is planning on moving the Brickyard 400 from July to September next year in hopes that milder temperatures will help draw more fans. They could get rid of the race altogether and I wouldn't mind. I am pretty sure that not many other people would care either.
For additional information on the decline of NASCAR: see this in depth article by Peter Cheney. It is a great read -- highly recommended.
Comments
Post a Comment