Atlanta proves NASCAR wrong for taking away race
Race fans filled the stands at Atlanta Motor Speedway for Saturday's Nationwide race (won by Jamie McMurray) and Sunday's Emory Healthcare 500. (AP photo).
(Folks: Getting ready for some racing here. I’ll be weighing in with comments during the race if you’re up for some live blogging. Then I’ll update this blog later. Thanks, JS.)
It’s not every day that a such monstrously successful enterprise does something so galactically stupid, but NASCAR pulled it off last month.
A race wasn’t just taken away from Atlanta Motor Speedway. A major event was removed from NASCAR’s corporate center and from a track as rich in history as almost any this side of Daytona. Consequently, while AMS will have but one event on the Sprint Cup circuit next season, 13 tracks will have multiple races — including such garden spots as Dover, Delaware (where banners cover empty seats).
If NASCAR ran baseball, there would be one team in New York and two in Cleveland.
Why did Atlanta get dumped on? Because in addition to Sunday’s Labor Day event, the Emory Healthcare 500, the other race fell during the weather-plagued second week of March. Officials will tell you the race had to go because attendance suffered, and it did. But even the weather excuse is somewhat thin.
Atlanta Motor Speedway's Ed Clark wasn't happy with the decision by NASCAR and Bruton Smith (lower left) to take away the track's spring race.
“I guess it’s better to have a smaller track with 65,000 seats and sell 60,000 than it is to have 90,000 and sell 75,000,” AMS president Ed Clark said, his words dripping in sarcasm. “In my opinion, it’s better to sell 15,000 more seats. But evidently not.”
He’s still upset. He should be.
Clark will shoot down NASCAR’s excuses for the decision left and right. He’ll choose his words more carefully when it comes to the role of track owner Bruton Smith because, well, duh.
But in NASCAR’s big picture, how can this be good? As Clark noted, “NASCAR has more corporate players headquartered in Atlanta than any other city.”
Atlanta Motor Speedway has hosted two Cup races every year since 1969. “Fireball” Roberts won the first race at then-Atlanta International Raceway on July 31,1960. Fifty years later, that passion for racing was more than evident this weekend.
Atlanta Motor Speedway set a track record for a Nationwide event Saturday, drawing 71,000 fans. Another 85,000 were in attendance for the Cup race. Add Friday’s qualifying and some-170,000 total were on the grounds. There were fans from 50 states and 11 countries.
Take that, Dover.
