The 2002 season is upon us. The "Super Bowl" of stock car racing will kick off what should be another exciting season of NASCAR Winston Cup racing.
The Daytona 500 is the ultimate event for racers who have spent a lifetime trying to make it to the pinnacle of auto racing. But, also, there is the Busch Series, the Truck Series, and every other weekly racing series event held throughout the county during the spring and summer under the NASCAR, ASA, ARCA, and other sanctioning banners.
Those divisions are important to the financial health and vitality of the sport. Those divisions are where the future stars of the elite Cup series usually come from. Motorsports is big business in this country, no matter if it is Winston Cup or the Late Model series at your local track. Auto racing fans beget sponsors, and sponsors pay the bills.
Last season, in Winston Cup, was surely one of many stark highs and deep lows. Rehashing the lows won't do any good at this point.
Looking back on high points should serve as a reminder to us that the competition in Cup racing is strong. There were 19 different winners and five first-time winners. The list of competitive races and story lines is as long as the season: Steve Park's win over Bobby Labonte at Rockingham; Kevin Harvick's stunner over Jeff Gordon at Atlanta; Elliott Sadler's comeback at Bristol; Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s electric win at Daytona in July; Gordon's dominance at Indy; Ricky Rudd's determination at Richmond; Ricky Craven's breakthrough at Martinsville; Bill Elliot's return at Homestead; and Jerry Nadeau's sputter at Atlanta that paved the way for Labonte.
As strong as Winston Cup is, there were kinks in the armor that should remind insiders, stakeholders, and leaders that they must continue to focus on improving the overall financial health of motorsports in general. What affects Cup teams also affects Busch, ASA, truck, and weekly racing teams. What makes fans stay away at Rockingham makes them stay away at Greenville-Pickens.
A weak economy didn't just start last March as the federal government says, and September 11 didn't, in and of itself, bring about the avalanche of empty seats we saw this past season. Consumers were feeling the pinch as early as the summer of 2000.
The decline in the pool of sponsors who can put up a fistful of cash for a racing team was sorely evident in 2001, but the origins of that declining pot have deep roots. The Busch Series saw a deep decline in the number of corporations that wanted to come to the party, and, in turn, a steep decline in the number of teams that wanted to play. And why not? Busch has seen spiraling and runaway costs the last three years.
And let's not even get on the subject of Winston Cup, where the vanguard are trying to push sponsorship costs upwards toward $15 million to $20 million a year.
The price for tickets has skyrocketed, and track operators insult us by charging $5 for a burger and bun. I've said it many times in this space: something has to give. And give it did in 2001. How many seasons of large, unsold ticket inventories can track operators endure? Speedway Motorsports Inc. had to lay off employees last year.