Maybe it's not Johnson, but it's just different, isn't it?

[6 Shooter]

I saw a picture on a wall at Lowe’s Motor Speedway Saturday night and had to stop and look. Pictured were the track’s grandstands. What jumped out was that fans were sitting in them. They sat side by side. They filled almost all the space. They were everywhere.

I hope the speedway wasn’t banking on a big crowd at the NASCAR Banking 500. The grandstands were nothing like the picture. Plenty of good seats were available. Plenty of bad seats were available, too.

I’ve seen most of the Sprint Cup races here since 1981, and I don’t ever remember a race – a Sunday or Saturday race, not a race rescheduled because of a rainout – with fewer fans.

Official attendance was not available Saturday. But empty seats don’t lie.

Is it the economy? Obviously we have less money to spend. Did we all simultaneously decide not to spend it on race tickets?

Is it the competition from football?

Is it the weather? The race was interrupted at 8:12 p.m. for 21 minutes because of a rain delay.

Yet the forecast was for bleak skies and possible showers, not a downpour that would push the 500 back a day. Race fans don’t back down from a light shower, not if they want to see a race.

Is in the cold? At 10:30 p.m., the temperature was 48 degrees, one degree warmer than the temperature at Yankee Stadium, where New York was playing the Los Angeles Angels.

It was cold. The wind whipping the flags in the infield moved faster than the 88 car of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and made those 48 degrees considerably colder.

If you didn’t know where you were, and somebody said, “Winnipeg,” you would have said, “Thought so.”

Is it Earnhardt? Junior officially dropped out of contention not long after the drivers were introduced. He quickly fell 30 laps behind and fans quickly left.

By 10:30 p.m. the roads leaving the track were jammed. The race’s hoped-for exciting conclusion had yet to start.

Are fans so hung up on Junior that when he goes bad fans stay home?

Is it Jimmie Johnson?

Johnson excels at this track, which means that Lowe’s has a lot in common with every other track. Perhaps sustained excellence is boring.

But to watch one of the best drivers of all time and one of the best teams of all time go after a fourth straight title is not without merit.

Johnson, incidentally, says the new series he will film with HBO will show the real Jimmie Johnson, not the “vanilla” Johnson about whom the media writes.

Maybe fans will like him more then. Wonder what flavor the real Jimmie is?

Is beige a flavor?

Maybe NASCAR, which became so popular so quickly, has lost its way.

Maybe the racing isn’t close enough, the personalities not compelling enough, the sport not entertaining enough. Maybe the car of tomorrow should be parked, never to return.

Maybe the drivers inducted this week into the first hall of fame class – Junior Johnson, Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt – didn’t do it this way. If they had, maybe they would have been bored, too.

Article

 

[muddywaters]

I have always been a "Motorhead", I've had 6 Vette's, 1 Mustang 5.0, numerous 4 Wheelers, but I find Racing in general, boring. NASCAR especially, too many Okie sales pitch's too much trash talk. It seems like everything these days goes the way of Heavy weight wrestling. It's all just a show with no substance. Sponsorship is dwindling also, with big companies pulling out, after all, in the end, it's just oval advertising.....My 2

 

[vett boy]

Well I stayed up and watched the entire race.Wish I hadn't .I'm done for the season.

If you knew the Yankees would win the world series every year -------If you knew the Pat's would win ever super bowel -----------If you knew Orlando was going to clinch the basketball season.

 

[Hib Halverson]

No question about the empty seats at Lowes last night.

I attribute it to a mix of the tough economy (biggest factor), the weather (next biggest)--it was cold and the short rain delay made it worse--along with a certain amount of lack of fan interest in the current car configuration (the COT) in Cup right now.

I couldn't tune in until about 70 laps from the end, but the race certainly was competitive and the last bunch of laps with the 24 taking 2 tires then passing for and taking the lead was the stuff great races are made of. But, then...reality set in and the 4 tires that the 48 had warmed-up and made the car wicked fast to the end.

 

[jrose7004]

I think the racecars look uninspireing. Of course football and weather take it's toll. Or is in the sqeaky clean mold that the drivers are cut from now! Maybe the season is too long, I don't know but it's not as much fun as it used to be to follow it.:confused

 

[Dad]

For the first half hour I thought I was watching a circus. That was soon updated to advertising overload, might have been less painful in the stands. Then we got to watch a non-car run around the track for your viewing pleasure, even though nothing about it is a stock car anymore. Only the name badge resembles what was once an interesting company rivalry, all the metal parts are now fashioned for ROI.

On the other hand I’d like to see Jimmy take it again this season and the next, and the next. Might as well kill this ailing beast with a flourish.