http://www.nascar.com/2006/news/headlines/cup/02/27/california.speedway.empties/index.html

Many fans were underneath the grandstand, track president says

Gillian Zucker, the president of California Speedway, had her own take
as to why there appeared to be 10,000 or more empty seats during
Sunday's Nextel Cup race.

~~~~

10,000 folks shopping? What did they do? Shop in shifts or was it the
same 10,000 folks shopping the entire race?

I don't 'Buy' it.

"Gordon" <theo (AT) bestway (DOT) net> wrote

Their excuse was similar.

Carey in Manvel

"Carey Akin" <cmakin (AT) att (DOT) net> wrote in
news:NCDNf.6582$J02.2702 (AT) bgtnsc04-news (DOT) ops.worldnet.att.net:

http://www.sbsun.com/search/ci_3552984
http://www.sbsun.com/search/ci_3559427
http://www.sbsun.com/search/ci_3556767

The local observers say it's the smallest crowd for a Cup event since the
track opened. That said, the area under the track is a nice place to hang
out, eat, drink, watch the race on the many TVs down there and also a
great area for girl watching. The cup races at Fontana are such a snore,
I've usually spent nearly as much time under the stands as in them while
there for Cup races.

Bud

Bud Hufstetler <bud.hufstetler (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote in
news:Xns977A4A7464E7Ebudhufstetlergmailco (AT) 216 (DOT) 168.3.50:

Just for clarification, Carey: My total BS remark was directed at
NASCAR's comments, not yours. I'm in agreement with you and I need to be
more careful with my attributions.

Bud

"Bud Hufstetler" <bud.hufstetler (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote

clarification nonetheless.

Carey in Manvel

"Bud Hufstetler" <bud.hufstetler (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote

Hey, at least Matt Kenseth stuck up for the old Rock in one of those pieces
you linked to Bud. Another generation down the road though? The Rock? Wasn't
that a Nick Cage movie? :-)

I have to admit though, Cali not selling out since getting its second date
is a little bit of vindication to me, even if their less-than sellouts still
represent more seats sold...It's still just a shame that NASCAR so blatantly
put the importance on the number of tickets and not the quality of racing in
regards to these 2 tracks. Maybe the COT will put on better shows in Cali,
the current cars certainly put on a suck ass show there IMO.

"SimRacer" <nOspaM@simracer68 (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> wrote in
news:nBFNf.50263$no3.1125 (AT) tornado (DOT) southeast.rr.com:

I don't think it has as much to do with ticket sales as it does with
increasing the overall BASCAR brand awareness in a huge market. Here's my
remarks made in another forum on the subject (complete with spelling
errors):

The area under the stands is a great place to hang out and the ontrack
action at Fontana lleaves a lot to be desired. I believe the local
observers who say it was the smallest Cup tturnout in the track's
history. OTH, Evil Jack's probably right when he says NASCAR needs to
be here twice a year. That sucks because of the boring races here, but
it builds brand awareness in a huge market. The PR machine goes all
out and saturates every local news source with NASCAR during the 2-3
weeks leading up to the race. You can't go anywhere , pick up a local
paper, go to the grocery store, listen to the radio or watch any of
tthe 30-40 local TV stations without being bombarded by the NASCAR
mesaage during that period. I've read that the LA TV market alone is
near 17 million people and once you add in the San Diego, Santa
Barbara and BAkersfield markets, you're somewhere in the neighborhood
of 22 million. That's a lot of peeps to preach the NASCAR religion to
with one event.

Me? I'm still disappointed that the SoCal track was built here in
Fontana instead of the big road course that was proposed north of Palm
Springs at the time. It would have been an awesome layout with plenty
of elevation changes and lots of passing room that could possibly have
become the best North American road course ever.

Claifornia Speedway is the nicest facility I've ever been to, but it's
sterile and soul-less, kind of a Disney version of the racing
experience. Unlike the NASCAR racing at Riverside and Ontario, it's
not a must-see kind of thing for me. I've actually quit a couple of
jobs to go to races before, but a hangnail might be enough to keep me
away from Fontana. There just isn't any "there" there.

You know what I like best about NASCAR races at California Speedway?
It's the flyovers. We're just about 5 miles due east of the track and
the planes fly right over the top of our house 30-60 seconds after you
see them on the tube. We always gather up the grandma and the
grandbabies, rush out the front door and stand on the veranda as they
whoosh by.

Saturday's Busch flyover was especially sweet here. There was a crew
of about 6 illegal aliens doing some cement work in the frontyard
across the street from us and the sudden appearance of those 4
lowflying fighters scared the crap out of them. Their reaction was
even better than we'd hoped it would be.

Bud

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

has changed much since I was a mere lad. I still find it interesting that
it represents what, the second largest market in the US, yet doesn't even
have a single football team? Yet a limited market (and likely permanently
shrinking) like New Orleans has one. Truth be told, Nagin has put more
effort into keeping them there (even pre-Katrina) than his hurricane plan.
Oops.

Carey in Manvel

"Bud Hufstetler" <bud.hufstetler (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote

<snip>
seconds before the jets passed over, the reaction would have been a little
more sedate. . . . .

Carey in Manvel

"Carey Akin" <cmakin (AT) att (DOT) net> wrote

Just goes to show ya, you can take NASCAR outta the south, but you can't
lead a non-NASCAR market to a race even with Fantasia and Jewel...