NASCAR burning issue of the week: How strong is the NASCAR economy?

This is a follow up piece to a story I wrote last week speculating how the current economic crisis cold reshape the NASCAR cup schedule. Since wiring that article I have been accused of raising unnecessary fear based solely on my own opinion.

While my piece of reshaping the NASCAR schedule was an opinion piece, the thought process that went into that analysis was based on facts widely reported around the internet and print media alike.

I am now going to lean on my Business degree triaging to explain the importance of economic indicators. Having been accused that I let my opinion raise unnecessary fears let us look at the facts I used to form the opinion.

-If we consider that Bobby Ginn Racing was a three car operation, DEI was a four car operation, and Ganassi was a four car operation, those three organizations were fielding 10 teams. In a little over two years those ten teams are now four.

-Right now 39 days from the running of the Daytona 500 there are only 29 fully funded race teams that are committed to running the entire Cup schedule.

-I could count the number of team committed to the full Truck series schedule on both hands.

All three of these facts, and they are facts widely reported by Jayski, Sporting News Today, scene Daily, and many others are simply the facts. These facts lead me to believe that 2009 is going to be a very lean year for NASCAR. That is not an opinion it is just a sad fact.

Does that mean the quality will be less? No of course not. I would also add that no matter what this writer will be watching 95% of all NASCAR TV coverage regardless.

The flip side of this argument was brought to my attention by Ramsey Potson who is the Director of Corporate Communication for NASCAR.

He gave me several other economic indicators to ponder:

-Average race attendance for NASCAR Cup series was 120 thousand fans in 2008

-17 of the 20^th highest attended sporting events in 2008 were NASCAR races

-There were 30 Cup races with at least 100 thousand fans in attendance

-NASCAR Racing is the second highest rated Sport on TV

For me these facts seem to point out that if you’re Bruton Smith, CEO of Speedway Motor sports, a shareholder of International Speedway Corporation, An executive at ESPN or Fox Sports, Jack Roush, Richard Childress, Joe Gibbs, or Rick Hendrick then everything is fine.

I really wonder if guys like Richard Petty, Glen and Eddie Wood, or Bill Davis would agree with that analysis.

With that being said having less then 43 cars committed to the schedule does open up opportunities for new owners to establish them in the sport. Jayski is now reporting that former Crew Chief Tommy Baldwin is starting a cup operation. If that team can get to the first five races, achieve a high enough owner’s point position then that is good for the sport.

If Boris Said can attract enough sponsorship maybe his #60 team could be at the track each and every week. That would be good for the sport as well.

The main point of all of this is this, sure the overall business structure of NASCAR is strong, and sure 2009 is going to bleak because of the economy, but I was hardly selling any of this as doom and gloom.

My assertion in the end is this economic crisis is going to change NASCAR on many levels, and the facts I have gathered from both sides seem to support that premise.

Last Week’s Burning Issue