Track suffers when big boys are on TV

By Brian Hilderbrand

Wednesday, May 21, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Mike McKearn faced a decision Saturday night: Sit at home and watch the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ all-star race on TV or head out to The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and catch the local short-track racing card.

It was an easy choice for McKearn.

“It’s much better live,” he said, “and, to be honest with you, short-track racing is a whole lot less boring than some of those long NASCAR races.”

NASCAR fans increasingly are having to decide between watching Sprint Cup races on TV and attending their local short track as NASCAR bows to sponsors’ and advertisers’ wishes to hold more races in prime time. This season, NASCAR has scheduled eight Saturday night points races plus its all-star race in direct competition with its “farm system,” the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series.

So far, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series appears to be winning the battle. A recent NASCAR Weekly Racing Series card at The Bullring that went head to head with a Saturday night Sprint Cup race attracted a crowd estimated at 1,200 — about half the size of a typical Bullring crowd. Saturday night’s card, which featured touring Modifieds and Pro Truck series, attracted about 1,000 fans.

Is NASCAR sacrificing its grass-roots racing series — where most of its superstar drivers got their starts — for TV ratings? Chris Powell, general manager of Las Vegas Motor Speedway, thinks so.

“I think it does have a negative impact on us but I can understand NASCAR’s decision in that they have to work with the television networks as far as starting times of these (Sprint Cup) races,” said Powell, who would not disclose specific attendance figures. “They’re trying to appeal to the masses and it definitely has an impact on NASCAR short-track racing.”

Powell also noted that NASCAR has been increasing the number of Sprint Cup races it schedules on Saturday nights even as it has been running commercials promoting local short tracks and its grass-roots racing series.

“I think you could say (NASCAR) has spoken out of both sides of its mouth on this issue for years because they do speak of the importance of the grass-roots level of racing and that is without question what the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series is,” Powell said. “It is where, after all, the guy who is leading the points in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series today (Las Vegas native Kyle Busch) cut his racing teeth — right here at The Bullring on Saturday nights.”

Robin Pemberton, NASCAR’s vice president of competition, said he believes that a healthy Sprint Cup Series is vital to the success of NASCAR-sanctioned short tracks.

“The short answer to that is that a successful, strong NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is not a bad thing for a NASCAR-sanctioned short track that’s also displaying that logo very proudly,” he said.

“The reality is, for short-track promoters, it’s a difficult business. Depending on the region of the country or the time of the year, short-track operators are competing with minor league baseball, college and high school football, the local cineplex, the Internet and, yes, Saturday night (Sprint Cup) racing.”

He went on to say that “creative entrepreneurial promoters find a way to compete in that environment and in some cases take advantage of it.”

For example, Pemberton said, some short tracks show some Saturday night Sprint Cup races on jumbo TV screens in the infield of the track or on smaller monitors in concession areas.

Irwindale Speedway, a half-mile paved oval track in Southern California, is one of those NASCAR-sanctioned tracks that attempts to serve two masters. In addition to running its weekly racing card Saturday night, the track televised the Sprint Cup all-star race on a 20-by-27-foot screen in the infield.

Kevin O’Brien, chief marketing officer for Irwindale Speedway, said his track has noticed about a 30 percent drop-off in attendance on the nights when it goes head to head with Saturday night Sprint Cup races and doesn’t set up the jumbo screen.

“We definitely hold our own on Saturday nights when we bring the big screen out,” he said. “It’s not a cheap proposition because they’re expensive, but we’ve been very fortunate that we’ve been able to find corporate sponsorship support to help defray the cost.

“This will be the third year that we’ve done it and we’ve seen steady growth. Have we filled the place? No, but we’ve seen a steady increase as far as attendance in the two previous years that we’ve done it — to the point where we think it has paid off for us.”

Powell said he has tried showing selected Saturday night Sprint Cup races on TVs in the concourse area of The Bullring, but “people paid very little attention to it.” For two seasons, he even refused to race on the same nights as NASCAR’s premier series but found that played havoc with the schedule and forced competitors to race virtually every weekend in the heat of summer.

Powell said he now sets up The Bullring’s schedule with no regard to the Sprint Cup schedule and the track takes off much of July. The Bullring also offers more family-oriented promotions (such as a petting zoo and pony rides Saturday nights) and a $1 food and drink menu to make an evening at the track more affordable.

But it wasn’t the petting zoo or the pony rides or even the $1 food and drink items that attracted McKearn and his 6-year-old daughter, Heather, to The Bullring on Saturday.

“Short-track racing is much better racing, in my opinion,” McKearn said. “It’s nonstop action for the most part where NASCAR races, the first 400 miles, they’re just riding around.

“People are starting to realize it’s a lot of fun to go out to the local track and see the live action and then go home and watch the recorded race.”