westracing01 wrote: There is a very real fear within the NASCAR world that if Indycar ever got their shit together they could once again give NASCAR a real run for it's money. Only the split gave NASCAR the rapid rise to prominence it has enjoyed over the last 15 years. NASCAR's popularity has waned as of late, unfortunately the ineptitude of Indycar has failed to capitalize on this leaving fans of oval racing with a lack of anywhere to turn. If Indycar ever manages to pull its head out of its ass and give the fans a product they can be passionate about, then it could once again rival NASCAR for popularity. This is something that NASCAR clearly does not want, and since they are the decacto controllers of ISC, ISC makes it a point to make life very difficult for Indycar.
SMI is more or less a purely financial deal. Texas draws a good crowd, that race will stay. If Indycar was smart, they'd look real hard at the few independent tracks still out there... Here's looking at you Pocono.
Pressdog: Oval Race Buyers' Market
Quote: So here comes the real New Hamphire Motor Speedway and the track president says in an article posted today on the UnionLeader.com that the track likely won't host an IndyCar race in 2012.
Why? Because they needed 40,000 fans to break even and 28,000 showed up. President Jerry Gappens says "it was a significant loss." Meanwhile, more than 100,000 are predicted to show up for the upcoming NASCAR race. That will most likely be a sigificant profit. (Read the article here.)
The common response is "the IndyCar race wasn't marketed well enough!" Nah. I don't think so. That was always the excuse for crappy attendance at Chicagoland and Kansas, along with undertones of NASCAR-owned Internatonal Speedway Corporation, which owns Chicagoland and Kansas Speedways, not trying very hard to sell the race.
I gotta say it: bullshit.
End of the day, the IndyCar brand is not making oval fans want to spend at least $100 per (when you include tickets and food etc.) to attend. So don't blame the oval fans. Don't shrug it off and say "if the fans would just put their money where their mouths are, all would be well." True in the abstract, but never blame the customer. If the customer is not buying, it's not his or her fault. The customers ARE always right when it comes to how they choose to spend their money. This is business, not charity, and expecting fans to donate their disposable income to a business to keep that business running is, well, unAmerican.
http://pressdog.typepad.com/dogblog/201 ... arket.html
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