NASCAR Sticks it to Roush

NASCAR has always protected its interests and has always ended up smelling like a rose. It hasn't mattered what kind of faux pass it has created in the sport of stock car racing, or how it has exerted its will. Even though its massive power has kept it out of harms way, one of these days NASCAR may step on corporate structures a little too hard and end up paying dearly for it.

Any of you who have attended an event this season, or have viewed the competition on television, can attest to the fact that races which are usually sold out, haven't been that fortunate this season. On the average, television ratings are also down, as reported by FOX, FX, NBC, and TNT. There are events at facilities that are always sold out, like Bristol for instance. There is something like a four year waiting period for Bristol tickets, with the exception of new seats being added. Dover is usually that way, but watching the Dover race, it was clearly evident that there were hundreds of empty seats. That popular facility near the hub of the northeast is just one example of the decline in NASCAR's popularity. New Hampshire, which is usually always sold out, had lots of empty seats this season as well. Combine high fuel and traveling costs along with higher ticket and concession prices, and you have elements in the formula for a decline that will probably keep going down until the economy levels out. When and how that will happen is open to lots of conjecture.

Delphi Automotive, one of racings largest and most powerful sponsors, has declared bankruptcy, following a trend in business collapse that has been going on since the turn of the new century. When corporate giants like Delphi go under, the little companies that have been supplying and supporting them over the years are now without work. The large corporate bankruptcy's set off a chain of costly events that severely affect racing in a lot of different ways. NASCAR may be premature in limiting team ownership; it may come to pass that future corporate sponsorship may aid in setting ownership limits.