Alfred Biddlecomb
Published: May 9, 2008

I still remember the look on my wife’s face when I took her to her first NASCAR race five years ago. The race was in Dover, Del., which is a tame venue when compared to tracks in Talladega, Ala., or Bristol, Tenn.

Still, as we were strolling around the acres of parked cars and campers surrounding Dover Downs Speedway a few hours prior to the race, we were confronted by a shirtless, intoxicated stranger who proceeded to interrogate the two of us on our driver loyalties. I figured we were safe being that neither of us were Jeff Gordon fans.

After that encounter, my wife whispered to me, “It’s 10 a.m. on a Sunday and that man is falling down drunk.”

She was wrong. “No!” I said. “That man has been drunk since 10 a.m. on Friday.”

Having attended these races since I was barely old enough to walk, very little shocks me. For the newer generation of race fans, however, it’s an acquired taste.

Back in 2003 NASCAR was in the midst of unprecedented expansion as the sport’s popularity continued to reach new heights. No longer was it just a niche sport restricted to the southeast. NASCAR had gone corporate and was courting fans in middle America, the northeast and on the west coast.

The sport had overtaken hockey and soccer and was hoping to join basketball, baseball and football as our country’s top spectator sports.

Now it appears this surge in popularity has peaked.

Proof of this was on display this past weekend down in Richmond —- a track that holds well over 100,000 fans and has sold out for 16 straight years. On the
Friday prior to the race (just as hardcore fans were cracking open their first cold beer) tickets were still available. This would have been unheard of five or 10 years ago when fans had to purchase tickets almost a year in advance. Television ratings have leveled off as well.

Primary blame for this drop off in popularity will no doubt be placed on a weak economy which includes skyrocketing gas prices. That may be true, but there are other forces at work here.

NASCAR’s decision to expand its audience and demographics over the past decade has paid off with new fans, but this may have come at the expense of its traditional base.

The cars themselves are unrecognizable. I remember when a Ford looked like a Ford and a Dodge looked like a Dodge. Now we have Toyota racing in
NASCAR and frankly, if a gun was pointed at my head, I would have a tough time distinguishing a Camry from a Chevy.

Over the past decade NASCAR has also expanded to cookie-cutter tracks in Chicago, Kansas City and Las Vegas. By doing this the sport has turned away from traditional tracks in Rockingham and North Wilkesboro, N.C.

NASCAR even did away with the famed Southern 500 in Darlington, S.C., a few years ago.

The cookie-cutter tracks that replaced these legendary race venues all look the same and none offer exciting, side-by-side racing. Now when you watch a televised race in Chicago or Kansas City, you can go out and clean your gutters without missing a thing. Just return to the TV for the final 5 laps. It’s boring and often unwatchable racing.

I honestly think NASCAR is in a predicament similar to baseball in the 1960s and early ‘70s. That’s when cities built cookie-cutter stadiums shaped like doughnuts. Pittsburgh had Three Rivers Stadium, Philadelphia had Veterans Stadium and Cincinnati had River Front Stadium. The Pirates could be playing the
Reds and it was impossible to tell which city was hosting the game. 

It wasn’t until Baltimore built Oriole Park at Camden Yard that baseball came out of its funk.

I’m sure NASCAR will come out its funk eventually. They could start by building tracks that look more like Bristol and Richmond rather than Kansas City and
Las Vegas. And I can’t complain too much. After all, it’s still the only major sport that allows you to bring in coolers full of beer.

But to continue as a major sport, NASCAR will have to tread lightly when expanding its fan base. They don’t want to court the Merlot crowd at the expense of the Budweiser drinkers.

Alfred Biddlecomb is the former Opinion Page editor for the Potomac News and Manassas Journal Messenger.