Nascar and the weather

I know I’m a little late on this one, but without my laptop it’s a little more difficult to find the time to make entries.

I wanted to talk about Nascars decision to call the Daytona 500 just past the halfway mark due to rain.

Now I understand all the reasons Nascar does what it does, but maybe it’s time to look for some new ways.

My points are relatively simple, and are based on fan satisfaction. Unlike other major sports which have many localized venues for there respective seasons, Nascar events seem to cover only a few small geographic areas of the country. This forces fans to make a pretty big deal about seeing an event. Not just pack up the family on a whim and drive 30 minutes to the local stadium. For a lot of Nascar events tickets have to purchased months in advance along with making hotel/camping reservations and other travel arrangements. All that to get there and be sent home unsatisfied because the event was cut in half.

Now I’ve been to a few Cup and Busch events and have been lucky that weather has never been a factor. But for the folks who went to Daytona and were probably there for most of speed weeks, they had to go home with a sour taste in their mouth.

DW made a comment about the shortened 500 during the opening of the Subway 400 to the effect of ‘The rules are the rules so too bad fans’. Well DW, I’m sorry you think that, Nascar should always be looking for ways to keep the fans happy.

Reason to run the full distance every week:

  • Tickets are expensive. Not just really expensive, but crazy money expensive!
  • Time and effort put in to getting to the event
  • Most folks can only attend one event a year, so they should get the full event.