Submitted from NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog
Each and every Labour Day weekend, up until recently, the two things I looked forward to were the airing of Q107’s 500 Greatest Rock Songs of All Time (as voted by the listeners) and the “Southern 500″ at Darlington Raceway.
Q107 is the Classic Rock Station out of Toronto that is easily the best radio station anywhere. Don’t believe me, then give it a listen. And if you are one of those that were influenced by the San Francisco sound of the 60’s and Woodstock, then you must listen to Q107’s Psychedelic Psunday from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm (EST) each and every Sunday. Also, Weekdays, 5am - 9am (EST), is Derringer in the Morning with Maureen Holloway, and it is absolutely the best morning drive show in the business.
With that being said, at least I still have the 500 Greatest Rock Songs of All Time, because for the last 4 years the Southern 500 has been gone to California, and my Labour Day weekends haven’t been the same. Now don’t get me wrong, California has a top notch facility and it located in a market that NASCAR sees as essential to the betterment of various racing series, but on the other hand, so is tradition.
Last night I struggled to stay awake for the race, and believe it or not I fell asleep with 3 laps left - Edwards was closing, but would he make it? - and woke up as Jimmie was getting the checkered flag from the flagman. Couldn’t they at least start the race an hour earlier?
Another problem I see with the Labour Day race being in California is attendance. I’m not the only one that has noticed this either. Seeing those empty seats in the grandstands made me angry, when Darlington had that date it was sold out - no questions asked. Sure there was a heat wave, and if I lived in Cali I might have reconsidered going to the race - especially if I were taking my kids - and I might not have gone. But really, there were more empty seats than ticket holders staying home.
It has been estimated that 70,000 seats were actually occupied in the 92,000-seat facility. That means that there were about 22,000 empty seats. The powers that be might justify the empty seats by saying they actually sold, say 87,000 seats and that there were only really 5,000 empty seats, the reason why there were so many empty seats is because ticket holders elected to stay at home. What they don’t say is that any tickets that may give to corporations, like Kodak for example, they class as being sold and if the corporation doesn’t use all of them they are still classed as being sold. Corporations also purchase tickets to give out, but I’m sure there are some corporations that were stuck with more than a few left over tickets.
I know California is an important market for NASCAR, and they need to get a better foothold there if they want to continue to grow, but tradition is important too. Give Darlington back the Labour Day race and let tradition continue to grow the sport, at least on that weekend, and give California a different date, like maybe the Homestead race in November. I think I would rather see the Championship Weekend Driven By Ford in California rather than Miami. Finish the season on the West Coast and and celebrate on the East Coast. Fitting.
Before you go, check out what I had to say over at The Pit Stop about who might be driving the 8 car if Dale Jr doesn’t make The Chase.
Photo Credits: Not sure. These were old images I found hidden away on my computer. If you know please let me know so I can give credit where credit is due. Thanks.
