At NASCAR in Bristol reporting 100,000 empty seats

[dan in daytona]

Now a days the only time a TV watcher gets to see the grandstands is from the in car camera's or the replays of accidents. Clearly the France family has instructed the networks to keep the view inside the tracks outer wall when covering the (supposed) action. It's so obvious when viewing the race. Very rarely (NEVER) do they pan the empty seats. I don't watch enough to know, but is the Goodyear blimp still giving overhead coverage ? In yesteryear's soldout races this was always a great shot. The tracks were jammed full. Oh well, times are a changing...   

[dan in daytona]

1 hour ago, HawgGoneIt said:

This has become an issue as well. 

Up until a couple of years ago, Daytona was forcing you to buy a 3 or 4 day pass to even consider getting seats for the 500. 

Alright, this costed around 800 bucks per person for half decent seats.

Go check hotel prices for decent hotels in Daytona and the surrounding areas. The prices adjust as the week rolls on. Thursday night for the rooms I used to get at Ormond Beach was 139. Friday 179. Saturday 169. Sunday 139. 

That shit adds up and prices many out of being able to go. 

Back in the day, you could buy the race tickets for each day all separate. 

All true. I grew up with guys who sat in the same seats year after year. Then in the mid 80's they were informed that those premium seats were now being sold only in a three day package (Friday, Saturday, Sunday). And for the kicker.....the money had to be in by an early September deadline. Multiply that by 10's of 1,000's of premium seats and the greedy Frances pissed off a lot of lifelong local fans.    

[HawgGoneIt]

3 hours ago, dan in daytona said:

All true. I grew up with guys who sat in the same seats year after year. Then in the mid 80's they were informed that those premium seats were now being sold only in a three day package (Friday, Saturday, Sunday). And for the kicker.....the money had to be in by an early September deadline. Multiply that by 10's of 1,000's of premium seats and the greedy Frances pissed off a lot of lifelong local fans.    

Exactly. 

They kind of pushed people out inadvertantly. They were enjoying such a boom of new fans when Jeff Gordon hit the scene and then Jimmie Johnson, that they thought their fans would just pay up. 

They slowly pushed people out financially, then these people lost interest as their favorite drivers retired as well. If you had annual seats at Daytona and they kept upping the cost, and eventually forced you into a 3 or 4 day package, and then your driver retired without you really caring much for a new kid, why would you think of renewing those seats. 

I think it was when Brian France started having so much input that it started changing for the worst.

[dan in daytona]

1 hour ago, HawgGoneIt said:

 

I think it was when Brian France started having so much input that it started changing for the worst.

Brian is a France in name only....silver spoon child

[imaGoodBoyNow]

On 4/7/2019 at 2:31 PM, HooverOutlaw said:

At one time the toughest to get ticket in NASCAR.

Maybe America is moving on from that Hillbilly Hobby

 

Or people are actually realizing that it’s really not that fun to watch a car make 2,500 Left hand turns

[imaGoodBoyNow]

On 4/7/2019 at 8:12 PM, HooverOutlaw said:

Hey Buford I have been to Talladega in the 70's, 80's, 90's , 00's , and 10's.

Been to almost 80 NASCAR races. .

Bro my condolences... So sorry you had to endure that 

[BUFORDGAWOLVES]

Well Dega is almost here boys, gals and whatnot....

History is history,

I'm gonna have fun.

Hit me up if you're interested next year, tickets and pit road passes on me.

Suite on one day, stands for the other... Flipped it this year, gonna do suite for Sunday's race and stands for Saturday.

Regards,

BGW

@AztecPadre

 

 

[AztecPadre]

48 minutes ago, BUFORDGAWOLVES said:

Well Dega is almost here boys, gals and whatnot....

History is history,

I'm gonna have fun.

Hit me up if you're interested next year, tickets and pit road passes on me.

Suite on one day, stands for the other... Flipped it this year, gonna do suite for Sunday's race and stands for Saturday.

Regards,

BGW

@AztecPadre

 

 

What's Dega?  Sounds fun with all the hook ups you got. 

[HawgGoneIt]

5 hours ago, AztecPadre said:

What's Dega?  Sounds fun with all the hook ups you got. 

 

 

 

 

Nah... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

👍

 

 

 

[BUFORDGAWOLVES]

5 hours ago, AztecPadre said:

What's Dega?  Sounds fun with all the hook ups you got. 

TallaDEGA ese. 

Orale 

BGW

[Wosinc]

5 hours ago, AztecPadre said:

What's Dega?  Sounds fun with all the hook ups you got. 

If you have to ask you wouldn’t understand.

[Wosinc]

6 hours ago, BUFORDGAWOLVES said:

Well Dega is almost here boys, gals and whatnot....

History is history,

I'm gonna have fun.

Hit me up if you're interested next year, tickets and pit road passes on me.

Suite on one day, stands for the other... Flipped it this year, gonna do suite for Sunday's race and stands for Saturday.

Regards,

BGW

@AztecPadre

 

 

I want one of everything!

[BUFORDGAWOLVES]

6 minutes ago, Wosinc said:

I want one of everything!

I’ll put you down for “ hold out your hands, one hand is what you get, the other is what you want, which hand is gonna fill up first?” 🤣🤣🤣 My dad’s saying, pretty much it will be one race Saturday or Sunday in the suite rotation every year, pit road passes, and race in the stands, high as I can get. 

BGW

 

[HawgGoneIt]

1 minute ago, BUFORDGAWOLVES said:

I’ll put you down for “ hold out your hands, one hand is what you get, the other is what you want, which hand is gonna fill up first?” 🤣🤣🤣 My dad’s saying, pretty much it will be one race Saturday or Sunday in the suite rotation every year, pit road passes, and race in the stands, high as I can get. 

BGW

 

Wosinc is cool bro! 

If he wants to do it, there's you a guy.

[BUFORDGAWOLVES]

27 minutes ago, HawgGoneIt said:

 

 

 

 

Nah... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

👍

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

👍

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a dude last year in a Ricky Bobby wonder bread race outfit that got to deliver some lines from the movie Talladega Nights. Hilarious. “Get paid, get laid”

BGW

[BUFORDGAWOLVES]

2 minutes ago, HawgGoneIt said:

Wosinc is cool bro! 

If he wants to do it, there's you a guy.

Let me see, may not this year. Definitely remember for next go around. 

BGW

[HawgGoneIt]

6 minutes ago, BUFORDGAWOLVES said:

Let me see, may not this year. Definitely remember for next go around. 

BGW

Anybody that drives from New England to Moultrie just to buy Hawg an Allagash White is a cool mofo!

 

Well, maybe it wasn't just for to buy me a brew, but, he did ramble off his path to do that. 

[BUFORDGAWOLVES]

4 minutes ago, HawgGoneIt said:

Anybody that drives from New England to Moultrie just to buy Hawg an Allagash White is a cool mofo!

 

Well, maybe it wasn't just for to buy me a brew, but, he did ramble off his path to do that. 

Duly noted, I’ll see what I can do. 

BGW

[Wosinc]

44 minutes ago, BUFORDGAWOLVES said:

I’ll put you down for “ hold out your hands, one hand is what you get, the other is what you want, which hand is gonna fill up first?” 🤣🤣🤣 My dad’s saying, pretty much it will be one race Saturday or Sunday in the suite rotation every year, pit road passes, and race in the stands, high as I can get. 

BGW

 

That’s fair ...

[Wosinc]

1 hour ago, HawgGoneIt said:

Anybody that drives from New England to Moultrie just to buy Hawg an Allagash White is a cool mofo!

 

Well, maybe it wasn't just for to buy me a brew, but, he did ramble off his path to do that. 

Who could pass up Moultrie?

[dan in daytona]

Talladega 1981

Sitting on the couch on an early Saturday morning burning one with my lifetime, but now late best friend CE "Bubba" Purcell we start talking about auto racing. He says Sunday's race is in Talladega, Alabama. An hour later, after running by the house for a change of clothes for Sunday and a fold up map of the southeastern states, we're flying north on I-95 in a four cylinder Chevy Chevette, no radio, no AC, and no spare tire (Cell phones weren't invented yet). Talladega is between Atlanta, Ga and Birmingham, Alabama. Problem is it's in the middle of nowhere. I mean nothing is near the race track but woods. We head to Birmingham looking for a room. Find a motor inn just before dark. Get something to eat. Now let's checkout the big city on a Saturday night and party. Drive all over town...Dead, Dead, Dead. Desperate we whip into a food store parking lot and stop a guy getting into his car. He says we might try an old section of town with old abandoned brick warehouses. Somewhere among them was a club. Long story short "It's Jamming."  Great time, pretty girls, everything. Thanks Birmingham. Head back to the track in the morning. Daytona and Talladega are sister tracks. Both are mirror images of each other. Daytona 2.5 miles- 31 degree banking, Talladega 2.66 miles- 33 banking with the finish line further down the track. No tower seats then but we're close to the top. First thing we notice is when the cars are going down the back stretch we can only see their roofs. I bitched about that for years. The race is pretty entertaining and it ends up in a three car photo finish. With the finish line further down Ron Bouchard, a northerner, wins his first and only Nascar race. Many in the crowd booed when it was announced  Got gas and drove straight back home after the race. It wasn't the smartest thing I've ever done, but the memories live on. RIP Bub.         

[HawgGoneIt]

9 minutes ago, dan in daytona said:

Talladega 1981

Sitting on the couch on an early Saturday morning burning one with my lifetime, but now late best friend CE "Bubba" Purcell we start talking about auto racing. He says Sunday's race is in Talladega, Alabama. An hour later, after running by the house for a change of clothes for Sunday and a fold up map of the southeastern states, we're flying north on I-95 in a four cylinder Chevy Chevette, no radio, no AC, and no spare tire (Cell phones weren't invented yet). Talladega is between Atlanta, Ga and Birmingham, Alabama. Problem is it's in the middle of nowhere. I mean nothing is near the race track but woods. We head to Birmingham looking for a room. Find a motor inn just before dark. Get something to eat. Now let's checkout the big city on a Saturday night and party. Drive all over town...Dead, Dead, Dead. Desperate we whip into a food store parking lot and stop a guy getting into his car. He says we might try an old section of town with old abandoned brick warehouses. Somewhere among them was a club. Long story short "It's Jamming."  Great time, pretty girls, everything. Thanks Birmingham. Head back to the track in the morning. Daytona and Talladega are sister tracks. Both are mirror images of each other. Daytona 2.5 miles- 31 degree banking, Talladega 2.66 miles- 33 banking with the finish line further down the track. No tower seats then but we're close to the top. First thing we notice is when the cars are going down the back stretch we can only see their roofs. I bitched about that for years. The race is pretty entertaining and it ends up in a three car photo finish. With the finish line further down Ron Bouchard, a northerner, wins is first and only Nascar race. Many in the crowd booed when it was announced  Got gas and drove straight back home after the race. It wasn't the smartest thing I've ever done, but the memories live on. RIP Bub.         

That's what racing was about for me in the early 90s. 

Spur of the moment bad ideas! Hahaha. 

Go all the way to Talladega with hardly any money. Enough to buy a couple of tickets, gas there and back and actually maybe even sleep in the car or bed of the truck depending on which time I went. 

Later in the 90s we got a little better. Atlanta was a day trip usually, but we did move up from sleeping in the car to staying at the Scottish Inn at Apopka when going to Daytona, and would stay all the way in Montgomery when going to Talladega. Across from the Ampitheater we got a good deal on some rooms the last time we did that and 3 Doors Down was playing there so we just sat out front of our room drinking Crown and Coke.

Now and days, I plan a little better. Hahaha. Well, a lot better. At the same time I'm more able to do so now too. 

It helps to have pretty durn alright friends and other connections too. 

[dan in daytona]

5 minutes ago, HawgGoneIt said:

That's what racing was about for me in the early 90s. 

Spur of the moment bad ideas! Hahaha. 

Go all the way to Talladega with hardly any money. Enough to buy a couple of tickets, gas there and back and actually maybe even sleep in the car or bed of the truck depending on which time I went. 

Later in the 90s we got a little better. Atlanta was a day trip usually, but we did move up from sleeping in the car to staying at the Scottish Inn at Apopka when going to Daytona, and would stay all the way in Montgomery when going to Talladega. Across from the Ampitheater we got a good deal on some rooms the last time we did that and 3 Doors Down was playing there so we just sat out front of our room drinking Crown and Coke.

Now and days, I plan a little better. Hahaha. Well, a lot better. At the same time I'm more able to do so now too. 

It helps to have pretty durn alright friends and other connections too. 

I was born in Daytona. Most all my friends, black and white were too. We didn't have big league ball teams or hockey. We argued about race cars (Dodge, Plymouth vs Ford, Mercury), and drivers. It was hard not to be a fan back then for a home towner. 

[HawgGoneIt]

1 minute ago, dan in daytona said:

I was born in Daytona. Most all my friends, black and white were too. We didn't have big league ball teams or hockey. We argued about race cars (Dodge, Plymouth vs Ford, Mercury), and drivers. It was hard not to be a fan back then for a home towner. 

On t.v. I prefer short track racing. In person I prefer Talladega and Daytona. 

I liked Atlanta because it was the closest place and I have some good memories from the March race there too. 

The 400 on Saturday night in Daytona is really tough to top for me. Under the lights in Daytona with a huge fireworks show after. 

There is something different to love about each venue which is part of what I like about the sport. 

Seeing the images that Blackhatter posted from his seats in Vegas makes me want to try there. 

It will always be tough to beat the memories of that sticky carpet at the Scottish Inn in Apopka though! Hahahaha

[HawgGoneIt]

I haven't been to the 400 in Daytona since the year that Dale Sr. died and Jr. won that 400. They busted fireworks that looked like giant 3's in the air. 

I never went back to the 400 after that thinking there would be no way to top that night.