Top Row Seat - Charlotte
Dateline: 10/05/98Stand Up And Admit It
I have watched a great deal of motorsports in my life, NASCAR, CART, Midgets, Sprints, D.I.R.T, anything with a motor that drove in circles. But this weekend was the first time that I ever saw a driver willingly take the blame for an incident that just wasn't his fault.
Lap 203 of sunday's race saw Bobby Labonte drive off into turn one and dive low under Mark Martin to try to take the lead. Then Bobby lost it, hit the wall and took out a bunch of other quality race cars.
After the incident, every driver involved said that there was something on the track. After the race, Mark Martin said that he drove up the track and left the bottom lane open because he "saw something shiny" on the track that he assumed was oil or water and went high to avoid it. However, in Bobby Labonte's post-wreck interview he denied that there was anything on the track and claimed that he just plain drove it off into turn one and lost control.
I appreciate a driver not wanting to blame anything or anybody else for an incident but Bobby, sometimes an incident really is not your fault.
NASCAR Blackout
According to NASCAR2Day (the premier Sunday morning motorsports show) on ESPN2 Sunday morning, Charlotte Motor Speedway still had approximately 10,000 seats remaining unsold for the race. As a result, the race was blacked-out in the Charlotte area.
All I can say is "Wow." How is it possible that the number one spectator sport in America can be short of spectators? All of the pre-race interviews talked about how Charlotte Motor Speedway was in the heart of NASCAR Country and how that made it one of the most important races of the year. I guess the fans didn't think so.
I believe that the fans rebelled against paying the same average ticket price of around $90 to see 100 fewer miles of racing than the Memorial Day weekend show. Humpy Wheeler is famous for caring about the fans and doing everything possible to put on a good show. The problem here is that fans are expected to pay the same price for 17% less racing.
Humpy needs to adjust the ticket prices based on the real show.
