Dale-Jr.-won-his-second-500-at-Daytona1.jpg” alt=”Dale Earnhardt, Jr. finally won his second Daytona 500. (Credit: AP photo)” width=”207″ height=”207″ class=”size-full wp-image-74″ /> Dale Earnhardt, Jr. finally won his second Daytona 500. (Credit: AP photo)[/caption]Dale-Jr.-won-his-second-500-at-Daytona.jpg” alt=”Dale, Jr. won his second Daytona 500″ width=”207″ height=”207″ class=”size-full wp-image-65″ /> Dale, Jr. won his second Daytona 500[/caption]With the Daytona 500 and Speed Weeks over, it’s now the start of the grueling NASCAR season that won’t end until the last race at Homestead a week before Thanksgiving. It’s the longest season in sports. Let’s get down to what’s really bothering a lot of the fans that are still following NASCAR. It’s the original core of fans that were around before the fickle newbies left for other things. Like the youngsters who are more preoccupied with their ipods and ipads than NASCAR or any other sport.

The old hard core, who have stuck with NASCAR, are not very happy with the way it was doing business since Brian France took over the helm. Everything he did has been reversed. Brian, though, continues to stick with his tweaking of The Chase to the Nextel Cup. The core base fans hate The Chase format. They prefer the old way of determining an annual champion such as starting out at Daytona and ending up at Homestead purely on points. That’s the way NASCAR determined a champion in the Sprint Cup Series and that’s the way it’s still done in the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series.

Frankly, I like the Chase format but that does not matter because I’m not a ticket buyer. I’m a journalist gear head that followed all types of motor sports since the early 60’s. I’ve always subscribed to the idea that you give the customer what they want. In the case of NASCAR, Brian France is shoving down fans’ throats what he thinks they should like. The ticket buyers and those who watch the races on TV are not buying it.

Case in point – all of those empty seats at all of the races for the past five years. We think that it’s time that Brian France should think about trying something else. His tenure at the top of the NASCAR heap isn’t working. And I’m not the only one that thinks so. We’ve also heard the same from those who work the NASCAR weekends. Brian is among the missing at the races. Maybe he’s got something better to do? How about Lisa France Kennedy taking over NASCAR and Brian France moving over to the helm of the International Speedway Corp? It’s been said that when corporate executives stay in the same job too long, they get stale.

Although we do have to give Brian France credit for getting a 48 percent increase in the TV rights money starting in 2015 and running up to 2024. He’s a great salesman and got NBC back into the mix along with Fox. We read that both TNT and ESPN didn’t even bother to bid on the contract. Brian can hang his hat on this one. Otherwise NASCAR would be in deeper trouble than they are in now.

By the way, Fox Sports announced that the Daytona 500 drew 200,000 fans? We find that hard to swallow because there were plenty of empty seats when the cameras panned the grandstands. True enough though it was the best crowd that’s turned out in a long while.

Let’s talk about the date change of the Speed Weeks at Daytona. Lots of fans made their vacation plans around Speed Weeks every year. Time shares and school vacations played a part in the plans. Along came the TV networks that told NASCAR they needed to make change not to conflict with the much speculated NFL expansion of adding other teams and or a changing playoff formats. TV took it a bit further and said that night racing was they way to go in order to increase the ratings. Well that hasn’t worked either.

For the past few years, weather and other things have impacted the Daytona 500. Had the race been held on the original Presidents Day weekend, they wouldn’t have had problems with about 60 percent of the most recent Daytona 500’s. Fans attending the race would have a Monday holiday off to travel home without missing work. We say let’s go back to the original President’s Day weekend for now. And when and if the NFL expands, then take a look at the Daytona 500 date and determine if a week later date is the right thing to do.

Another pet peeve of the folks who follow NASCAR is that the tickets are too expensive. There’s been a lot of discounting to make the sales lively. Let’s reduce the prices permanently like they did this year at Daytona. According to an AP story which claimed that the 2014 Daytona ticket prices had the largest drop ever.

While were at it, let’s start kicking the Cup drivers butts about being more open to the fans about signing autographs and getting closer to the fans. That fan friendly approach is what sets NASCAR ahead of the stick-and-ball sports, and that’s one reason NASCAR picked up momentum before it all came crashing down in 2008 in the recession. But even prior to that it was obvious there was an erosion in ticket sales.

Then there’s the other problem that NASCAR does not have control over. The minimum 5-6 day stays at nearby motels. The tracks that host the NASCAR events have to play hard ball with those motels and restaurants who try and gouge the fans. Tie the ticket sales to good deals for overnight stays and not rip off the fans. Force them to make good deals.

On that note, we know that for many years the fans from 700 miles away just come down for the Daytona 500 from Virginia, Carolinas, Alabama and Tennessee leave Saturday mornings early and head for Daytona. They stop about 200 miles away and buy their food, beer and soft drinks to avoid the Daytona rip-off and find a parking spot and pay the fee. Following the 500, they blow out of Daytona town and head for home and maybe get there in time to go to work or their business.

Finally, the fact that JR won his second Daytona 500, aka the 10 hours of Daytona, is a good thing. This guy is very like able and is now the poster boy for the 2014 season. He’s always been a ticket seller. We wish him well this season.