becomes more of a destination, bringing more tourists in than it already does. We're doing the same in Daytona, where we're looking at some other guest amenities across the street that would be complementary to the track. Over time we would like to develop some retail and dining."
Mad Mikie: It’s not enough to fleece the race fans with high ticket prices and outrageously priced souvenirs you now want to fleece them at the craps table? And will Her Highness be charging the normal outlandish hotel rates for the rooms like most hotels do on race weekends? Fans can barely afford to get to the races and buy race tickets and you think they’re willing to drop a few hundred or thousands playing roulette? I think Her Majesty has been having some of her brother’s “sodas”. Considering the drop-off in fan attendance at Daytona, is it a really smart move to start getting NA$CAR into the hotel business in Daytona? You’ve already got retail. Every week during the race season you’ve got haulers going from track to track selling t-shirts, hats, flags, and laser-etched, gold-plated, monogrammed nostril inhalers. You’ve got the “wonderful” Ameri-Clown company operating the concession stands at all the I$C tracks. You’ve even got Rolfgag Puke’s prune and guacamole burrito stand in Fontana. Every time you and your brother try to break away from what made the family successful, you put it in a deeper financial hole, Your Highness. And if last quarter’s $50 million losses haven’t garnered your Royal Attention, then maybe you‘re in the wrong job.
France on Pacific Northwest:
"The sport has, over the years, been shifting toward major market areas in some respects. The Pacific Northwest has also been geographically underserved, so that will always be, I think, of interest. The last couple of years, we've been really refocusing on tracks that we have and trying once again to provide the most value and really going back to basics and back to our core. That's where we need to be right now."
Mad Mikie: The folks in the Pacific Northwest pretty much made it clear Your Majesty that NA$CAR wasn’t welcome there. So why push your luck? Right now, with the financial losses I$C and NA$CAR are taking, you can’t even afford to try another shot at Washington or Oregon. Heck, you can barely get fans to show up at Fontana. So don’t push your luck. Your Highness had a great track at Pikes Peak that pulled in people from 4 surrounding states and you shut that down. Concentrate on giving fans back some real racing. Go back to tracks that have a unique flavor of racing to them like The Rock and North Wilkesboro. Give the people something that actually resembles what’s on the street. Maybe then you can get some of the core fans you and your family abandoned in the quest for cookie cutter tracks and PC cleanliness. And improve the broadcasting and its’ commentary. We fans are not all like your brother who has to have things explained to him a dozen times. We understand what a gear shift is, we know what a pass is, and we know what a pit stop is. And stick a sock in the mouth of the cheerleading morons in the broadcast booths. We can listen to MRN and PRN and get real race commentary. Until that happens with your current networks “partners”, fans will keep tuning out.
France on Overseas:
"Without putting a specific timeframe on it, Montreal is doing well," Kennedy said. "We'll always be interested as well in Mexico and looking to explore the right opportunities there. But in the next couple of years, we're going to stay as close to home as possible. We'll always look at international opportunities but I think our resources really need to be spent right here domestically. It's going to be much more important for us."
Mad Mikie: You lucked out on Montreal because there are enough fans on both sides of the border that will make the trek for a race there. Canadians love racing in a lot of different forms. But you need to be thinking about the long term. A Busch Series race is only going to pull them in for so long. Eventually they’ll want a Cup Series race there. Where will you get that date from? Mexico has proven to be a lost cause. If the teams were given the option, they wouldn’t have gone to Mexico in the first place because of the high cost and the danger of getting there and back. And until there’s another El Presidente who’s willing to pay NA$CAR to show up there, you can forget about NA$CAR being in Mexico any time soon. Forget about China and Europe. Concentrate on keeping what you’ve got alive.
France on The Queen of Hype
"I can tell you, Danica is huge," Kennedy said. "She is going to bring so much enthusiasm and excitement to our sport. Whenever she's doing well on the track, you've got viewers that are tuning in. She's going to be terrific. NASCAR is the most competitive form of motorsports in the world, and Danica is competitive. She's strong and I'm going to be excited to see her."
Mad Mikie: Danica is huge as compared to what? An elephant? A flea? What? So far, the only thing Danica has brought is hype and I’m not expecting to see much more than that. You’ve obviously forgotten what happens when you bet the farm on one driver and hype that driver to high heavens. You turn fans off. And what about the other IRL drivers who have tried NA$CAR and failed? I didn’t see them getting the Royal Treatment with being hyped to the high heavens. Danica hasn’t been doing that well on the track either. So just who is she competitive to? Outside of her gas mileage win in Japan where the 8 cars in front of her ran out of fuel, what has she done lately? What has she done in her career? What are her stats? Other than being a pretty, made up face for advertising, her career hasn’t been much to write home about. Part of the reason for her popularity has to do with the IRL subsidizing her souvenir products. So they
have a vested interest in hyping her. Is NA$CAR
also going to subsidize her souvenir products?
As to NA$CAR being the most competitive form
of motorsports in the world, you’ve got a lot of
people out there who will debate that point. Like
F1 fans, rally racing fans, the V8 Supercar fans,
ARCA fans, IRL fans, USAC fans, NHRA fans,
and a host of other race series fans. Danica is
strong? How? Body odor? Looks? It sure isn’t
her racing. I’m glad you’ll be excited to see her.
Maybe she’ll have her make-up person and hair
stylist give you a make-over Your Highness. That
should really excite you to no end. And while
you’re at it, have the person who handles her
wardrobe find something for you. The dowdy
look is so not “IN”.
Well folks, that about wraps it up. Obviously, Princess Lesa drinks a lot more Kool Aid than her brother does and reads straight from Pharaoh Ramses Posthole’s propaganda sheets in a manner which puts Faux King Brian to shame. Of course, he does have an excuse. It is hard to read something when you’ve got double vision from too many “sodas“. But the Royal Mouth, no matter which one it is, continues to spout the party line.
I want to give a big hand and thank you to Sears for helping out our military folks and their families during the holidays. The Heroes at Home program helps provide military families and military personnel with a little help for Christmas. You can find out more about the Heroes at Home Program and how you can help out by going to www.sears.com/shc/
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