The rest of this cartoon can be seen at the American Spectator blog.
Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR Fighting to Keep Sponsors, Fans and Dollars Coming In
At the Speedway: Empty grandstands, empty suites
Daytona International Speedway saw this economic storm on the horizon and decided to close its backstretch grandstands for the Coke Zero 400.
“Projecting our numbers out, we knew we could get everybody on the frontstretch and they would have a better experience,” Daytona president Robin Braig said.
“We will try this at least one year or until our attendance starts picking back up,” he added later.
The Speedway was not caught in GM’s money squeeze. The track hammered out a deal — cash, cars and trucks — with the automaker in January. GM paid its contract before the bankruptcy.
“At this point, we have all of our (GM) vehicles on site; we have all the support they promised us,” Braig said. “We have no issues with this event. Right after this event, they will have fulfilled their contractual obligations to us for the year.”
Almost every racetrack that has hosted a Cup event this season has seen empty grandstand seats…
Race teams: Missed payments, cutbacks
Richard Childress Racing was supposed to get a $2.5 million quarterly payment from GM, but there was no check in the mail.
“I don’t know really what all is going to happen,” Childress said last weekend. “We’re going to have to make cuts like everybody in the sport or in the business.”
GM cut all its support of NASCAR Nationwide and Camping World Truck series teams in the first week of June. Among those on the hit list was JR Motorsports, a Nationwide team owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr.
“We’ll try to do the best we can to cover the void that will create,” Earnhardt said. “Chevrolet is going through some very challenging times. I had a true understanding that this would be coming down the pipe and they would have to make some adjustments.”
Race teams are powered by marketing dollars from corporations. Some of the nation’s largest companies use the NASCAR arena to advertise their wares. There is considerable concern about sponsorship renewals among competitors.
“Look at the country,” driver Clint Bowyer said. “Look at the world, for that matter. Everybody is struggling. All of corporate America is struggling and when you look at our sport, we rely on corporate America more than any other sport out there.”
