The racing industry the last quarter of the year resembled the nation as a whole. Tempers were short and tensions were high-but not in the usual way.
Usually by late September, teams that aren't doing well begin to come apart at the seams during the long and stressful 20-race stretch from July to the end of the season-only punctuated in 2001 because of terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
This year many within the industry were on edge, but not just because of the schedule. Blaise Alexander's death at Lowe's Motor Speedway in October at an ARCA race brought to the surface once again the issue of safety.
A scientific study of the sport would no doubt reveal that the deaths over the past 18 months are a statistical anomaly. At no time in the sport has there been such a rash of fatalities.
NASCAR through the years has said that it didn't want to mandate safety in one area of the race car or racetrack that might inadvertently make other areas dangerous. Sounds logical. But that logic has been used far too long. At some point thoughtful action is required. After the Challenger space shuttle disaster in 1986, NASA shut the program down and redesigned many of the systems to prevent a similar disaster.
Am I saying that kind of drastic move is required in NASCAR? No, but it's time for action. After Alexander's death, NASCAR said that it was closer to mandating head and neck restraint devices, after most of the season saying it wanted to leave the drivers' cockpit-or cocoon-alone. I wouldn't say it's too little too late, but ..
For years our nation's airlines, citing costs, have resisted making cockpit doors stronger to thwart hijackers. What if the airlines had taken the initiative of retrofitting those doors regardless of cost? It just might have been harder for hijackers to waltz in and commandeer an oversized Cruise missile full of people and ram it into an office building full of people.
The economic side of motorsports in 2001 also caused tension. Lowe's Motor Speedway President Humpy Wheeler had tow trucks backed up to NBC's TV satellite trucks ready to cut off the electricity if it didn't agree to use the track's official name during the broadcast of the UAW-GM 500.
Lowe's, a North Carolina-based chain of home-improvement stores has paid $35 million for naming rights for 10 years. Since Lowe's didn't buy advertising on TNT and NBC broadcasts that weekend, announcers referred to the Grand National race on Saturday as "NASCAR Busch Series racing from Charlotte" with no further identification. But on Sunday announcers referred to the track as "Lowe's Motor Speedway."
The flap enraged and embarrassed NASCAR's Bill France Jr., who flew to Charlotte that weekend to apologize to television executives. Wheeler was somewhat appeased, but in the end Lowe's bought more advertising the rest of the year.
The controversy underscored a jittery financial situation in motorsports. Wheeler wanted value for his sponsor, Lowe's. In October, track parent Speedway Motorsports Inc. (SMI; NYSE: TRK) wanted value for its stockholders when it announced a layoff of about 150 employees at SMI's six tracks by January. SMI also said at the time that its third-quarter earnings would be lower than previously expected because of lost revenue following the September 11 terrorist attacks. Corporate ticket sales were markedly lower as was track advertising.
The NASCAR community hasn't seen this type of downturn in years. This period will be difficult for everyone. The economy has exposed some fundamental weakness in the industry that will have to be addressed over time.
Television ratings continue to be the only bright spot in the motorsports financial picture. Winston Cup series broadcasts continued to show strong gains in the last quarter of 2001.