Times are tough....no joking, no sponsor, no kidding no.......

well, you know the rest. However I witnessed first hand on how the average NAS/FAN turns the uneducated nose in the air at road courses and then clamors to for all the tinsel hand crafted cheddar when it comes time for one of the "new tracks" and its wall paper racing. In any event here lay the article from Jay and after a link to the ratings table for the last few years. Surprised as I am by the slide the Glen has, to a decimal point thinking, that's my job, honey is the pool warm, CEO in charge it makes sense. However from a realistic, now that's what I call racing, never a dull moment it is what it is forget what you heard, take good look point of view the whole numbers game is on backwards. Form an opinion, we love opinions, never let your opinion, be effected by another or then it's just bullshit.

Sponsor woes hold up plans for The Glen: Watkins Glen International is still without a title sponsor for their NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event with less than two weeks until race team haulers start rolling in to the facility. Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips had been the presenting sponsor of the track's Cup Series race since 2009 but pulled out of their contract earlier this year. It's a situation that WGI president and West Seneca native, Michael Printup, has now come to accept with his attention turning to making final preparations for the tens of thousands of race fans that will descend on the road racing facility located in the Finger Lakes. Printup was on WGR's Fast Track on Sunday morning and discussed how hard the search to find a replacement was. "You're always chasing and we chased all year with Heluva Good! walking away," Printup said, "we did have somebody really close but we decided not to pull the trigger, we just couldn't activate it enough." The new race name will highlight the part of New York state that "The Glen" calls home. "We're going with the because that's the kilometer count, we're going to hype the tourism in this area and give some branding and naming," Printup said.
While the lack of a sponsor won't affect any of the on-track action it does put a dent in the budget for WGI and their parent company International Speedway Corporation (ISC). "It's big, an entitlement sponsor for NASCAR is anywhere from $500,000 to 2 million dollars per race," Printup said, "as we got closer we'd never get 2 million but we're pretty comfortable in saying we would have landed somewhere between a half a million and a million dollars." This setback for WGI won't affect future Sprint Cup dates at the facility but it does push back a major capital improvement project that was planned for next year. Printup divulged that the plan was to repave the racing surface before the 2013 Sprint Cup race at WGI but that has now been tabled. "We decided as a management team this week that we're not going to repave next year, we're probably going to put it off to 2014 or 2015 we feel we have enough life in the asphalt," Printup said. ISC has made several upgrades at the facility over the last few years including putting in new grandstands and making several safety improvements to the race course. Now the plan for next year will be to fill the time that was originally blocked out for the repaving project with new racing events.(WGR Sportsradio 550-AM, see a video there)(7-30-2012

The ratings table link:
http://www.jayski.com/pages/tvratings2011.htm

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Permalink Reply by WJM on July 30, 2012 at 10:35pm

I also checked on the November Phoenix race: $4,400. I also thought of renting an RV: $6,500 just for the space at the track for the weekend. No shit.

Permalink Reply by Chris Koropeski on July 31, 2012 at 1:09am

geez. that's a lot of cash..

I was in Montreal in 2010 (gopher year)... we were already going to be in the city... so, outside of travel, the entire weekend.. food, hotel, tickets, etc was just over $500 for 2 adults. and I drank a lot that weekend (oh, they don't stop you from bringing your own in your own cooler right into the grandstands.. just "no glass", so add another $200 to that if I had to buy beers there!)..

no wonder places like Montreal sell out every year.. our tickets were obviously a bargain! (and were 4 rows up and 20 feet from start/finish line!)

Permalink Reply by Jay on July 31, 2012 at 12:23pm

We rode the raceday bus from Sacramento to Sonoma for $99 each, bus fare and a race ticket, and sat in the second from top row in the "esses" of turn 9.

Now, I am not sure what Bristol will cost us, but we are flying to Greenville Spartenberg on free Southwest tickets, starting in Sacramento, staying in Asheville, NC and taking a $50 raceday bus ride to the track. Since my wife works for a LARGE beverage brewer she managed to score a couple of comp tickets, maybe with a meet and greet included (Harvick). It will cost us more for the rest of the 10 days in the south!

Permalink Reply by Brad Duerr on July 31, 2012 at 12:26pm

There are deals to be had out there, I purchased tickets for Pocono and the Glen. Strait up Walmart special, 4 tickets, 4 hot dogs, 4 hot passes, a program for $100 for each track. The Glen, I selected 4 tickets that are usually $135 each for what equates to around $20 a piece.

Permalink Reply by TOG on July 31, 2012 at 12:44pm

yeah you gotta look

Permalink Reply by laura_a_Robbyfan on July 31, 2012 at 10:50pm

@WJM

your a very nice dad...wanta adopt me?

Permalink Reply by RG7FAN on August 1, 2012 at 3:01am

Thats the spirit WJM, just buy some Clabber Girl tomorrow for good measure

Permalink Reply by Jeff Upp on July 31, 2012 at 1:53pm

My guess w/ Kansas being so expensive, is because it's still one of the newest hot-spots.They're first cup race was only 3 yrs ago. NASCAR awarded them a 2nd race starting last yr. The racing is boring. All the same stuff happend w/ Calif Speedway a few yrs ago too. The all-new exitement will wear off quickly, & the grandstands will look just like Pocono, Michigan, etc..probably by next year. There are too many races IMO.

Permalink Reply by WJM on July 31, 2012 at 2:17pm

The dates I noted above at Kansas and Phoenix are also part of the Chase. Although I don't think it's warranted, it appears NASCAR added a premium to the last ten races.

Unfortunately for me, since NASCAR bought and all but shut down Pikes Peak Raceway I don't live close enough to a venue to take advantage of ticket deals that normally come up as the race weekend approaches. I have friends who have shown up on race day at Fontana, Phoenix, and Texas and bought what was a $85 ticket for as little as $15.

For guys like me who would like to take the family to a race weekend and have to plan and reserve well in advance, NASCAR and their 'partners' really put the screws to us.

Permalink Reply by alan4s on July 31, 2012 at 2:34pm

I wonder what an NHMS package would be for you?

I'm local, so it's cheap for me. Parking is free. You can bring in your own food and drinks. I don't know about hotels. Southwest flies into Manchester, and usually has good deals. I haven't heard of local biz jacking up prices.

Permalink Reply by David Z on July 31, 2012 at 2:37pm
I used to go to several different NASCAR events. Now just stick to Texas and NH. Texas where I stay at my moms house and use her car. NH where I stay at home and drive in every day. All I can afford now.
Permalink Reply by Sean Soule on August 1, 2012 at 12:30am

I got tickets here in phoenix to the nationwide series for $7 each. Bought 20 and could afford to give them away at that price to friends. Gotta look for deals.

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