Ontario, CA, 3/8/2006
NASCAR slammed by baseball
Paul Oberjuerge, DailyBulletin.com Staff Writer
http://www.dailybulletin.com/sports/ci_3573564

Counting the house, comparing the numbers . . .
The Dodgers sold out Opening Day in 15 minutes Saturday.
That's 55,000-plus tickets, and just one of 81 home dates.

California Speedway couldn't sell its 92,000 grandstand seats
for one of its two Nextel Cup dates, the weekend before last.

Those numbers tell us baseball remains a huge attraction in
this market, and NASCAR remains a shaky one.
One race, annually, at Fontana would be plenty
to cater to hard-core motor heads.
However, two dates in "Los Angeles" is so important to
sponsors and advertisers eager to get into the nation's
second-biggest market that Fontana is likely to keep its
second race indefinitely.

CRU: Apparently NA$CAr still has some selling to do with LA writers/fans?
Notice Oberjuerge didn't recommend eliminating BOTH Fontana races.
Maybe there's still hope of returning a race to Rockingham NC
and/or Darlington's Labor Day Race?
Leave those Mothers in Cal one race!


--
Crusader

In article <478nguFej30hU1 (AT) individual (DOT) net>, cru32 (AT) comcast (DOT) net says...
What a hoot. Comparing MLB to any other sport is like comparing apples to
oranges. MLB is a corrupt game consisting of drug enhanced player performance
and corked bat cheaters. If I had 'star' players like Balco Barry, Sammy The
Cork and Mark The Syringe I believe I'd keep my yap shut.

"Crusader" <cru32 (AT) comcast (DOT) net> wrote

I hear ya buddy. All I can say is, don't hold yore breath. Honestly, as
staunch of, and I do mean DIE HARD, supporter of Rockingham as I am, I'd
simply love to see a Southern 500 on Labor Day at Darlington again, ahead of
everything else. That was one rock solid tradition that didn't need any
effing around with. It was akin to killing or moving the Daytona 500 or Indy
500 IMHO.

It has done my little old Southern heart good to hear drivers talk about
Rockingham the past few years as we go to Cali for race 2. I think Matt
Kenseth was the one I heard come out this year and say he missed The Rock
and thought that its races (and racing) were sorely missed among the teams
and sport. Of course that's no consolation to a "$400 million" race track
sitting along US 1, rotting away with little to no hope for the future. At
least when Bruton Smith stole the NHRA date from the The Rock's drag strip
several years ago, the IHRA stepped in and put TWO dates down in place of
it. Thank God someone still likes the South. I personally don't think Bruton
Smith likes any part of the South that he doesn't own or otherwise
control...

"SimRacer" <nOspaM@simracer68 (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> wrote

Bruton is only playing by Nascar's rules. If you lament the loss of race
dates at any tracks, Nascar is ultimately to blame.

"armpit" <udontneedit (AT) myemail (DOT) addy> wrote


What happens the day ISC buys out SMI???

"Crusader" <cru32 (AT) comcast (DOT) net> wrote


As soon as NASCAR has household names in it like Jose, Juan, Enrique,
Carlos, Franquelis and Olmedo they'll fill up Fontana...

"SG" <spaamtrapper (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> wrote

That probably won't happen now, and wasn't likely even before now. But, ISC
and SMI are partners now in the conglomerate that is Motorsports Authentics.
The new behemoth diecast company that was Caliber Diecast and Action
Performance Diecast until ISC and SMI partnered up to buy them late last
year.

"armpit" <udontneedit (AT) myemail (DOT) addy> wrote

On paper, what you say looks correct, but it isn't IMO. NASCAR complained
about Rockingham's lagging ticket sales for years after building the seating
capacity up, but did nothing about it but complain. Nothing that is, until
Bruton got his "shareholders" to file suit for a second Texas date...I can't
see how NASCAR playing the role of appeaser can implicate them fully in the
loss of both of NCS's race dates...not when it was Bruton pushing for its
closure so he could then have at least the second date for Texas that he
wanted.

That's ok, they're going to appease themselves soon, and pull a Martinsville
date to go to whichever track they can get the tax payers to build for them
next (Washington or New york). If those don't pass quickly enough, they'll
eventually yank one to give to Kentucky to "settle" that lawsuit. Jesse
Jackson long ago exposed NASCAR to the world as the appeasement camp that
they are, and now people are just lining up to get "theirs" from them while
the getting is good IMO. Perko was first at bat, Kentucky is on deck the way
I see it. So blaming NASCAR entirely, to me, is often putting the cart
before the horse. They do what they do based on whose suing them that week
and for what.

"Gordon" <jimmygator (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote

LOL! Tell Christian Fittipaldi that. Or Jorge Geotters (sp).

"SimRacer" <nOspaM@simracer68 (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> wrote

hehe, where do we sign up - surely there is something "a group of
fans" can come up with some nutty case to file ;-)