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- Thread starter SoapyCy
- Start date
It would be like if Des Moines built a stadium with the promise that it would host some NFL games as long as fans showed up for some XFL games first. And then for many years, that happens and they are told to keep doing it and you’ll get those NFL games. And those NFL games never come.
NASCAR screwed itself when they locked into the same exact schedule with the same exact races (and many tracks got two races) for a decade plus. Had to please big companies that own the tracks. Now they are paying the price.
NASCAR screwed itself when they locked into the same exact schedule with the same exact races (and many tracks got two races) for a decade plus. Had to please big companies that own the tracks. Now they are paying the price.
For #1, they had Indycar, the Nationwide/Xfinity Series, and the truck series. That's pretty solid, since Cup isn't just coming to an unknown product. Take Kentucky Speedway for example. It took a lawsuit from the owners of the track, plus being purchased by SMI and SMI moving a Cup race to Kentucky from another track in order to get the big money race. And now they no longer have a cup race, since SMI moved it somewhere else.
I agree with #2 to an extent. The Sports Business class I took at ISU showed how big of a load of crap these community back stadiums are. All this expected return, which is drastically overstated.
I looked it back up and the speedway received a 5% annual rebate of their sales tax revenue, up to $12.5 million throughout the years. As of 2014, they saved $3.5 million through it. Plus the original owners received a property tax abatement, which I do not think extended to NASCAR when they purchased it.
It’s a good question. Saying they are all ovals is like saying all golf courses are the same because they have 18 holes. The lengths, bankings, straightaways, etc are all very different which makes the racing very different. Add in a few road courses. But you are partially right, NASCAR has too many cookie cutter 1.5 mile tracks that, while the racing is a little different, it acts very similar for 1/2+ of the season. They finally realized this and are planning on more variety in the coming years.
ISC/SMI went way overboard building cookie cutter 1 1/2 mile D-shaped ovals at one point (Chicago, Kansas, Las Vegas, Charlotte, Texas). Iowa wanted to be different, so it built a 7/8 mile progressive banked D shaped short track. It was still very aero dependent and struggled getting lots of side by side racing. Once a track is built, it would take tearing it apart and rebuilding to change it (look up what they plan to do with California speedway and what they did a few years ago with Texas).
It was declining prior to this but a big chunk of this sports hardcore fan base found a new pastime over the past 5 years.
I love racing but never really made it out there. I've heard the Indy race there is awesome. If the Cup series came through it would made a huge difference, because I think they would have continued to come.
I think they have an ARCA series event coming this summer but that's like single A baseball. It would be cool if they for the Whelen Modifieds or something.
I think they have an ARCA series event coming this summer but that's like single A baseball. It would be cool if they for the Whelen Modifieds or something.
it really is a huge difference in fan base (granted even the Indy car race here couldn't pull many fans), the Long Beach Grand Prix was fun as hell, IMSA Sports car and Stadium Super Trucks (best race of the day) where there as well and it was well worth the 2 1/2 hrs from San Diego that day back and forth, this was filmed from lower in the same stands I was in at the time.
Honestly is if it isn't mini golf, have only picked up a club probably twice. and only then because my aunt/uncle, and cousins lived on a golf course for a while and we would tee off on the green right behind their house. other then that never saw the fun in it. and it is a huge waste of space/resources.
So are you.
In all seriousness though, I like going to the races. The power of those vehicles and the skill to keep one on all 4 wheels in a group is impressive. But I’m fully addicted to golf. I know that our course logged over 30,000 rounds this year. That’s a record by almost a 1/3rd. Some people remembered why they bought memberships and started using them and loving golf again. Will it stay strong? Don’t know, but it will always have a strong market I’m guessing. Beautiful landscapes combined with competition. Doesn’t get much better for me.
We could just tax consumption instead of income (corporate or even individuals) if we wanted to avoid these issues altogether. Then you wouldn't have to figure out what is a taxable profit for corporations or taxable income for individuals and the whole thing becomes easier. But ah, I digress.
As a lifelong IndyCar fan it sucks that I can't drive 45 minutes to go see a race now. Pretty much all the guys in the paddock would rave about racing at Iowa. I'll never forget the 2019 race that was delayed by rain until after 10:30pm. We had our two young kids out there all night, haha. The race finished after 1am.
I have my fingers crossed Roger Penske will eventually buy the track.
I have my fingers crossed Roger Penske will eventually buy the track.
They sucked at getting people to want to come back. Also at first they promoted the hell out of every race and made it an event. As time went on the promotion of it slowed and even stopped. There were race weekends that had limited advertised or were never advertised. Once Rusty got out of pushing the track it failed. It was almost like they figured out they couldnt get a cup race so they just gave up on everything. In the end NACSAR bought the track do have less competition to get races at tracks their ownership group owns. That and NASCAR is currently poorly ran.
Agreed, but we'll see if it's due to the pandemic and it sticks or it keeps declining like it was before. Golf was probably one of the few winners from COVID.
Farley suffered because the track always rubbered up and became one lane. Go to many of the other Iowa dirt tracks and they are packed