John’s right. Over half the tracks are owned by NA$CAR’s incestuous twin I$C. And over half the race are at I$C tracks. Back before the races were actually sponsored by Fortune 500 companies, a percentage of the gate money is what was used for the race purse. Since then, the race sponsor’s money is what’s used for the race purse. The money from the TV contracts, concessions, and the ticket sales are pure profit for the tracks. So by cutting the purses for the races is just putting more money in the track owner’s pockets. One lamestream media writer wrote a while back that the tracks could be empty and both NA$CAR and the tracks would still turn a profit. They didn’t need fans in the grandstands. Well, with the way things are going, we just might see that being put to the test soon enough.
Geoff brought up a good point. When a business is being run by a Trust Group, which usually means the business has been run into the ground through poor leadership or management of funds. Now look at what’s being said about Motorsports Authentics and their being run by a Trust Group. Spin, plain and simple. If the Trust Group is turning things around, what does that say about the actual leadership of Motorsports Authentics and how it was run before the Trust Group took over?
Right Guard going to Tony Stewart to replace Old Spice? That’s the rumor that’s going around. Another one is that Mobil 1 is also going to be on Tony’s car. I wonder how that’ll go over with team owner Slick Rick since he’s got Quaker State as a sponsor?
The 16 engines that were taken for the dyno test at Michigan were from the 48, 14, 29, 42, 11, 83, 56, 47, 66, 87, 77, 12, 46, 99, 9, & 26. Still no results released yet.
I haven’t quite figured out how the number of viewers for the Bristol race can be up when the share ratings were down versus last year. In 2009, they had a share rating of 3.8 but only 5.3 million viewers. And 2007 had a higher share rating, a 4.1 with 5.7 million viewers. Compare that to the 4.8 share in 2002 before Faux King Brian took over. It’s dropped a full share point and the 4.8 share appears to be the all-time high for the night time Bristol race.
I’m glad to read about Brian Vickers getting the hole in his heart repaired and that this should solve the clotting problem. However, I have to wonder about the wisdom of his doctor clearing him to return so soon. Heart surgery isn’t exactly like removing a hang nail or having an appendectomy and returning to work in a couple of weeks. Should something happen to Vickers on the track that’s related to the clotting or the heart surgery, you can bet there’s going to be a massive lawsuit the likes of which we’ve never seen before.
Mary dropped me an e-mail regarding a call she made to NA$CAR PR regarding the butchering of the National Anthem that we‘ve seen this year. While they’re apparently keeping track of it, NA$CAR says that it’s up to the individual tracks to handle the complaints. So, call up NA$CAR, complain to them about the way the National Anthem is being handled, call up I$C or $MI and complain to them since they run the tracks and complain about how the National Anthem is being treated, and then call the individual tracks where the National Anthem is being slaughtered and complain to them. If enough folks call in and complain about it, maybe then the track operators, owners, and PR people will finally get a clue that we fans want our National Anthem performed the way it’s supposed to be. And if you have a little bit of gumption left in your tank, call the race teams whose drivers and crewmembers don’t bother to render the proper respects to the flag while the National Anthem is being played. As patriotic as NA$CAR is supposed to be, you’d think Faux King Brian would ensure that the National Anthem and our flag are given the proper respects.
For the sake of the Ivory Tower Gang and their short attention spans, I will mention this again about why the ratings are off and why there are so many empty seats. It’s called consumerism. The “show” as NA$CAR and the drivers likes to call it, is a “product”. The fans are the consumers. Like any product, if you deliver a good product at a reasonable price, consumers will beat down your doors to buy that product. That means that you have to have cars, drivers, and racing that is exciting and different in order to sell your product. However, when you have races and drivers that are boring, cars that all look the same, and prices that aren’t affordable to your consumers, you have a product that does not meet the needs of the consumer and as such will not sell. This is why there are so many empty seats in the grandstands, why the TV ratings are off, why souvenir and concession sales are down and why there are so many complaints about your product. And when you advertise your product, how about some “truth in advertising”? Showing multi-car wrecks from Talladega or Daytona for example for a race at Loudon or Indy which are both flat tracks is deceptive advertising. Showing a race incident that happened 10 years ago at Dover for a race at Watkins Glen doesn’t make a lot of sense either. Consumers who show up and don’t see what was in the advertisements will be disappointed and won’t return which hurts the bottom line because you lose repeat customers. This also contributes to the biggest form of advertising which is called “word of mouth” advertising. If the consumer likes the product, they tell other people about it. If they don’t like the product, they tell people about it and why they don’t like the product. So let’s review. Good products sell, bad products don’t. Race fans are smart consumers. Smart consumers buy good products and don’t buy bad products. Deceptive advertising isn’t good for business especially if you count on repeat customers.
How smart is the brain trust at Texas Motor Speedway where they can’t sell out a race? Instead of lowering prices to try to get more seats filled, they’ve decided to raise the price on tickets for their spring race because it’s at night. Hello? When was the last time these folks were drug tested?
Remember all the hype and hoopla about not
only the Hall of Fantasies but also the Towers?
Businesses were supposed to beat down their
doors to be in there according to the
announcements. Well, it looks like once again,
just like the races; the reality didn’t live up to the
hype. And if Regions does foreclose, it looks
like NA$CAR’s Charlotte office might have to
find a new home somewhere. I understand there
are several buildings in Huntersville, Mooresville,
Welcome, and Statesville that use to house
race teams who have been forced out of
business by the high cost of single-source
suppliers used by NA$CAR that are available to
be rented. I bet they could work out a deal with
Jeremy Mayfield to use his old shop for favors
to be named later like a certain manufacturer
did when they coughed up $93 million to buy into NA$CAR.
And speaking of Jeremy Mayfield, it looks like he’ll be heading to a mediation with NA$CAR on September 8th regarding NA$CAR’s breach of contract claim against him and then to court sometime during the week of September 20th regarding the Wicked Witch of the West (Carolinas) and the death of his dad. From what I’ve heard about that case, there could be some surprise revelations that come out. It’ll be interesting to see if it will also impact the November 1 st lawsuit filed against Mayfield by the Wicked Witch. Mayfield still has the countersuit by NA$CAR to contend with and also his appeal to some previous legal decisions. So expect this to continue on into 2011.
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