Bruton Is Scraping Down The Outside Line of Bristol

Today (4/25/12) Bruton Smith had announced what they're doing to Bristol's track surface.  The kludge being applied to the mini-superspeedway will be focused on the outside line in the corners.

-Bruton Smith, in a radio press conference noted that the cars coming off the outside line had an advantage in the last event held there and from what he described, he wants to remove that advantage.  To do that, he's going to take off some of the angle in the top groove of this progressive banked track in the corners so that the cars that end up there don't have more banking than the cars in the middle or lower grooves.

By removing the "advantage" that, in Smith's eyes, will "mix it up."

This change is a result of a survey that Bruton Smith gave fans, and the fans said they wanted more bumper to bumper racing.  But their own survey indicated that around 40% of the survey takers wanted change, so change it is!  The minority has spoken.

But even so, Smith indicates that ticket sales have increased, (tripled) since they announced a change will be made to the track.  I wonder how large a number that is... is that the now sold 3 versus 1 ticket?  Snark!

His tackling the track surface like this is in response to what he (Smith) believes are that fans want more wrecks.  So he's catering to them.  I'm sure the hard core fan is aghast to that premise.  Hell, if he wants to give that demographic of fans more wrecks, why not install a figure-8 track in the middle of the place?  Everyone will have a great seat for that one!!!

But despite the long-term, hard-core fan not liking the idea of wrecks, other fans, the casual fans, light up and enjoy them.  I've been in sports bars and when NASCAR comes on one of the tubes and they show wrecks, the crowd gets animated.

And that kind of attention from the casual fan is hard to ignore because of the potential of numbers that the casual fan can represent.  At the end of the day, the dollar is the bottom line, no matte what hard-core, long-time fans may worry about.

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So applying this kludge is going to eliminate the third, outside lane of racing, forcing racers to use the inside or middle lines.

We'll see how that goes.

This change will put you in one of two groups.  Those who like it and those who don't.  But once Smith jumped the shark with the 2007 change, the original track was lost forever, and so too, the spirit of the races at Bristol.  Bruton is NOT bringing back the old configuration.  He's adapting the newest or best approach he thinks will work.  Before we condemn him, remember, he does have a knack for finding what works and making it happen.

Well see how things pan out at the next event at the bullring.

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So Does Bruton Smith Need to Change Bristol For The "Race" Fans?

After last weekend's race at Bristol Motor Speedway, the attendance at the track seemed to raise questions about if the reconfigured racing surface and faster racing, was too boring for fans.  To me, the expression that racing boring to fans is an oxymoron.  A true fan would recognize what it is about a race that makes it good to watch and enjoy.  Then there are those that like the spectacle of fender paint trade-offs.

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Part Time Fans Driving The Show?

Upon initial estimates from those on the outside, looking in, it seems that fans want the track back to the way it was.  At least those that are taking the time to voice their opinions around the web.

But are race fans really comprising the majority of the nay-sayers, or is it just wreck-fest fans who are clamoring for what they want to see?  Upon initial oversight, I think the wreck-fest fans make up the bulk of the money demographic?  I got a chance to see general fans in action the other day at a bar that just happened to have a NASCAR telecast going.  It was a rare opportunity because the bar-goers were actually looking at the TV.

The amount of oohs and ahs that came from the crowd during the crash replays was disheartening and amazing, all at once.

And suddenly I realized that NASCAR has to appeal to the generic fan who gravitates to the visual of the wrecks in NASCAR.  Suddenly I realize why Fox promos contain so many wrecks.  They need to cater to the bulk of their viewers.  The same viewers who take their news-drama from pretty, hot-looking anchors.

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The Variables of Attendance

The boys on The Morning Drive (Mike Bagley & Pete Pistone) on SiriusXM brought up an additional interesting point about the attendance at Bristol this weekend: 

The economy and Kansas having a cup date may be contributing to diluting attendance numbers at Bristol.  Obviously the economy is hitting folks in many ways.  And when you only have so much money to drop on something like attending a NASCAR race, then you probably pick the closest venue.  And it's been said that there were concerns that Kansas would impact Bristol attendance.

There are many variables in the background that make up the attendance of a race.  Many that fans don't dwell on right away, that what seems obvious might not be at all.

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In Chess, You Save the Queen Till Later
So folks say the racing at Bristol today is boring.  They just go around in circles.  (For a second, I thought that's what racing was...  laps around a formatted structure, testing the mettle of the driver and the machine on each and every lap.  Not a figure-eight race.)

That driving strategy, based on wear-and-tear on a driver's machine and the other machines around him, dictating the moves, is what it's all about from inside the cockpit of  car.  It's not an all-out sprint for 500 laps.  In chess, go ahead and throw all your non-pawns out there and go for the throat instantly and tell me how well you do? 

Racing is a bit like chess... At least from on top of the pit box and behind the wheel.  It just moves a little bit faster.

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Progressive Banking Makes It A True Race

The progressive banking puts the tactics back into primary play and makes the race about the tactics and planning.  A well planned strategy wins the day.  (Unless you're eaten up by flat tires, exhaust pipes and the wrecks everyone loves to see.)  And the masses seem to want the wrecks.  Or at least that's what pays out for the tracks and TV numbers.

If, what's been hinted at, Bruton Smith does dump a Million to flatten the track, well, it would be disappointing to some while putting a show back on for others.  No one really wins or loses.  True fans will stick around.  Others will come along to see what the four and five hour show is all about. (Flat Bristol made for verrrrry long telecasts sometimes.)

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My father (a pilot) once said he hates seeing airplane accidents because that's a plane not flying. (Amongst other things.)  Cars wrecking isn't racing.  But you'd need to be a hard-core fan to understand that.

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Is Bruton Smith Changing Up NASCAR's Bristol Motor Speedway?

According to the eyeballs and some quick glimpses of the stands at Bristol Motor Speedway this last weekend, despite every trick in the book to keep the cameras off the stands during the race, it would have seemed that the stands "looked" about half full this last Sunday for the Food City 500.

Considering that a seat at Bristol was one of the most sought after seats in all of NASCAR, it's hard to say one way or the other what's up.

But one thing is for sure... if radio reports and what not are true, every since Bristol Motor Speedway went to the progressive banking, the seats have been over so slowly clearing out.

According to track owner Bruton Smith, whose cup is always half-full, he indicated that rain chased a few attendees away last Sunday and that they sold 102,000 tickets for the 160,000  seat-capacity track.  But visually, folks were saying it seemed less than that.

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IF you float around online, you'll see so many comments about how the race is just going around in circles and that folks just aren't that happy any more.  But then there are some that don't mind that the race doesn't take forever to complete, like it used to when it was flat.

But you have to admit, when you have a spare fifty-thousand plus seats sitting around for this track that is on many a bucket list, something is afoul.

And Smith has been reported to be considering dropping a cool million on the track to change things up.  But then, despite getting ready to offer up a cool mil, he also suggest that rain probably kept many fans away.

And you have to admit, rain is a deterrent, if for anything else, the lack of a refund policy if your race gets rained out.  It's kept me at bay sometimes, that's for sure.

So we'll be hearing soon what's going to happen to the track.  But keep something in mind, for the new fan that is... if they do flatten the track, it will be a totally different beast and the races will usually take a lot longer due to the myriad of cautions that take place as fenders and 'tudes collide!

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[ foxsports: Smith Considering Changes to Bristol ]

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