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It
seems like every year
about this time the
media brings up the
possibility that
Martinsville Speedway is
on the verge of losing a
race to some other track
somewhere. Why is that?
Maybe it's because the
other track with rich
history, Darlington
Raceway, lost one of
their dates some time
ago, but you have to
wonder why.
Martinsville Speedway
is hard to reach no
matter where you live
unless where you live
happens to be in south
central Virginia. And
yet, the crowds come to
see NASCAR Sprint Cup
racing here in large
numbers. No, they didn't
sell out this year, but
they didn't miss it by
much, and I'd almost bet
that they had less
attendance at that track
the International
Speedway Corporation
(who owns Martinsville)
covets called Auto Club
Speedway in California..
So why does this come up
every year?
This year, it is
because Kansas Speedway
(incidentally, another
ISC track) wants another
Sprint Cup date because
they are building a
casino that I understand
will be in the infield
of the track. That
started everyone to
speculating that one of
Martinsville's two dates
would go to Kansas. Or
Kentucky or somewhere
else. The list is
endless.
As I looked out on
the track on last
Sunday, there were some
empty seats, but not
many. The area of
Virginia where the track
is located is undergoing
some hard economic
times, not unlike most
of America, so that was
not a surprise. What was
a surprise was how many
people were there. On
Saturday, the Craftsman
truck race had a crowd
of over 30,000. It was a
good weekend for Mike
Smith, Clay Campbell and
the entire staff at
Martinsville Speedway.
Although the odds were
that crowds would be
small, it didn't happen.
That's not mentioning
that the fans got their
money's worth, even
though Jimmie Johnson
pretty much ran away
with the win.
To take another race
away from the area where
NASCAR began would be a
travesty. We've already
lost Darlington's
signature race, the
Labor Day Southern 500,
and now even the thought
of not having two races
at a track that
pre-dates the
establishment of NASCAR
is unthinkable. Maybe
cooler heads will
prevail, but I remember
going to North Carolina
Speedway in Rockingham
years ago when just such
talk was prevalent and
before we knew it, that
track was history.
That's what makes me
nervous. But take away
another short track in
favor of the
cookie-cutter tracks
that ISC has built over
the years would be proof
positive that everyone
in charge is insane and
needs to be committed to
the mental ward. If
Brian France wants
NASCAR to be more like
and challenge the NFL,
then replacing the close
racing and action of
Martinsville with
another boring race on a
cookie-cutter track
makes no sense at all.
Sunday's race was
held when the
temperature was in the
40's early in the
morning and only warmed
into the high 50's by
race time and great
numbers still came out
to see the major league
of racing at a time when
most people have little
spending money. No, this
is not Hollywood or a
place where you can
gamble away your money
while you wait for a
photo op with a star.
It's where this sport
began and continues to
entertain with great
food (we've gone on and
on about the hot dogs)
and great racing. Isn't
that what it's all
about? At least I
thought it was.
You can
contact Ron at
ron.fleshman@verizon.net
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