by: Dirk Gibson
NASCAR has been taking a beating regarding the low turn out by fans to the races. It is important to remember, however, that the current economic meltdown isn’t just occurring in the United States. The world’s biggest racing championship found that out over the weekend.
The only things NASCAR and Formula One have in common is the fact that they race on paved surfaces. The technology and crowds are so different it is hard to draw any comparisons. It is much like the comparison between American football [the NFL, etc,] and what the rest of the world calls football [soccer]. Well, at least that was the case until this past weekend at the Turkish Grand Prix.
The Turkish Grand Prix is run in…wait for it…Turkey. The circuit is only a few years old and provides for amazing racing. It involves plenty of twists and turns as well as numerous places for passing. Oh, and it seats in excess of some 150,000 people.
The 150,000 number is significant. Why? The actual Formula One race had an attendance of 36,000 people. That was the announced total, which is usually optimistic. If we take that number at face value, that means roughly 3 out of every 4seats was EMPTY! Think about that for a minute. The “crowd” was so sparse that the company broadcasting the race world wide actually eliminated cameras showing parts of the track where there were no fans!
The drivers and teams were shocked by the lack of attendance. Things were so sparse, they actually suggested to race officials that fans should be let in for free. With tickets sell for between $60 and $450, the race was a huge failure from a revenue point of view. If you figure an average ticket price of $200, the Turkish Grand Prix lost some $22,800,000 dollars.
NASCAR has had some sparsely attended races this year, but none where three out of every four seats were empty. Some of the races have been so boring that three out of four attendees may have wished they weren’t there, but that is another subject. Regardless, NASCAR deserves much of the criticism thrown its direction, but people need to realize economic woes and attendance issues are happening everywhere.
About The Author
Dirk Gibson writes for http://www.dcjautoparts.com/ - get high performance auto parts and accessories for your car or truck.
Nascar Illustrated
No comments:
Post a Comment