Race Attendance Vs The Price of Going

By Keith Ott

We NASCAR fans are a nation of sport crazy nomads. No other sporting genre in America draws crowds from a larger geographical area than a NASCAR race does. It has to be that way. There’s only one Cup race per weekend, and, if you want to see it live, you have to go to it. That means one thing in America. While formerly known as the gas and go, it now has such titles as, “The gas and cry,” “#!@###! OPEC,” and, “Pump pain.” It doesn’t matter what you call it, you have to do it to get there. Which brings up the question, “Where do you draw the line between gas prices, expenses, and attending.”

What is your comfort zone?

 

Me, I have no comfort zone. Call me, “Low end.” I have a comfortable lifestyle. I have my toys and hobbies, but I just can’t see the price of travel and a ticket to most events. I’m a bit on the green side too, so 30k+ cars idling fumes waiting hours to get in doesn’t thrill me. My options, as I see them, are…

Don’t go. I have a 60” HDTV. A restroom not shared with 150k of my new best friends. There are no lines for burgers, wings, pink hotdogs, or beers. Which are not, at home at least, $5 a pop.

A bus trip. Still expensive but it solved most of above except the 150k in the restroom and the food, and beer. 

The Local track. Cheap tickets, no wait, good prices, military discount. You’ll find me here www.langley-speedway.com. I won’t make it a link because I have no association with the track except fun. Besides, you have your own in your area.

Actually, I can see a lot of fans embracing their racing fix at local tracks. A family adventure where you don’t have to sell the first born to attend.

So, that’s my comfort zone.  What’s yours?  How do you and yours deal with the growing expense of being a fan?