NASCAR LOSING FANS

I like many other fans are going to and watching less races. There are 36 NASCAR races per season and in 2005 they averaged almost 130,000 fans per event. In 2012 they only averaged 97,000. I realize that the economy might have some impact. A friend of mine in Dallas TX area says that the Texas Motor Speedway in some cases has lost half the fans in the seats. Once there were 250,000 at a race now it is more like $125 - 150,000. He says a Truck race might draw 50,000. Why are they losing fans? For one every race there is a different set of rules. Who can keep up with that? When I started going to NASCAR races in the 70s they ran the same basic rules at all races. Now we have restrictor plates and different size wings and spoilers. Even the number of manufacturers running cars is down. Once there was Dodge, Plymouth, Oldsmobile and even American Motors. Even this year Chrysler has dropped out of the racing. So no more Dodges. Also the number of teams is greatly reduced as some mega teams have up to 5 drivers per team. The old independent one car team is gone. Also the prices for tickets is outrageous plus the cost of refreshments.

 I live near the Kentucky Motor Speedway but I won't be going to any races. One they only run races at night. By the time the race is over and a couple hours drive home it isn't worth it. There are very few motels close to the track. I would pay to go see practice even but you have to buy a ticket to a night race to even do that. I wrote the management and asked about it and never got a reply. I wanted to take my grandson just to see them practice. He was a race fan at one time but has pretty well given up on it too. I guess NASCAR is more interested in the money than they are in the sport or the fans. What do you think?

NASCAR has also announced that they will no longer provide attendance figures for races. That tells you that there is a reduction in the number of people attending races when they don't want to show that decrease in attendance records.