Monday, March 9, 2009

NASCAR Gets An "Eye-Opener"

Tony Stewart said Detroit is doing a great job and Americans should start spending money again. Jeff Gordon stated he was a little "baffled" by the crowd size at Atlanta Motor Speedway yesterday. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. hinted that Atlanta could lose one of its two races because of poor fan support. At least Carl Edwards admitted that NASCAR is not recession proof. Hey Tony, its tough for Americans to spend freely again when jobs are being terminated, hours cut, and no large, looming optimism in our economic near-future. And Jeff, don't be perplexed. A guy isn't going to a race after he's been in the unemployment office trying to save his family, not to mention his dignity. Give me a break, Junior. It isn't Atlanta's fault the track was said to be only two-thirds filled. You're going to see other venues at less than capacity before we pull out of our economic doldrums. Thanks, Carl. Your insight is refreshing because your sport is certainly not exempt from the economic downturn the majority of the taxpayers in our country are experiencing. NASCAR gets no immunity on this one, and it had better be cautious. It's expensive to attend a racing event, the popularity of the sport has declined to some extent, and in most cities it's certainly not the only game in town. Furthermore, GM's own internal auditors said last week they didn't see how the corporate giant could survive. How devastating would the eventuality of that possibility be to the auto racing industry? That yellow caution flag that NASCAR loves to wave in order to insure competitiveness might just be waving at the sport itself.

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