Thursday, May 10, 2001
NASCAR boom boosts Ky. Speedway
By John Erardi
The Cincinnati Enquirer
NASCAR's TV ratings are as hot as its cars, and that's good news for Kentucky Speedway, which kicks off its first big racing weekend of 2001 Friday.
Friday's lineup features a USAC midgets-car race (featuring NASCAR Winston Cup star Tony Stewart) and an ARCA truck race. On Saturday, the main attraction is the Kentucky 150, featuring ARCA stock cars.
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SCHEDULE
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Season-opening events at Kentucky Speedway:
FRIDAY
• 4 p.m.: Gates open. Fans can see the final practice by the ARCA Series on the 1.5-mile tri-oval.
• 6 p.m.: USAC Midget Car Series/ARCA Lincoln Welder Truck Series.
• 8 p.m. Features races, both series.
SATURDAY
• 10 a.m.: Gates open
• 10:30 a.m.-11:45 a.m.: Autograph Session (Michael Waltrip, Brett Bodine, Sterling Marlin and Ernie Irvan).)
• 1 p.m.-1:30 p.m. NASCAR Winston Cup Drivers Legends Celebrity Race.
• 2 p.m.: ARCA/REMAX Kentucky 150.
Tickets: Call 1-888-652-RACE.
• Special Ky. Speedway section
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Earlier Saturday, Winston Cup drivers Michael Waltrip, Brett Bodine and Sterling Marlin and former driver Ernie Irvan will sign autographs and drive in a legends race.
“We are pretty well sold out every weekend (with NASCAR),” said Jon Lawhead, general manager of Fox's local WXIX-TV. “I wish I had more of it.”
He said ratings for NASCAR racing on Channel 19 “have increased considerably from when NASCAR was aired on cable.”
“We've been quite pleasantly surprised how it's done,” Lawhead said. “We figured with the track (Kentucky Speedway) opening and all the excitement that's accompanied it, we'd do well, but it (NASCAR) is doing a huge rating every weekend.”
Officials at New York-based FX (a Fox cable affiliate) issued a press release Wednesday that said FX's telecast Saturday of NASCAR's Pontiac Excitement 400 — the network's first Winston Cup race — “delivered the highest viewership of any program in its seven-year history.”
The telecast ranked No.1 among all basic cable programs that day. The telecast averaged 2.6 million homes and over 4.5 million viewers.
“(NASCAR) is up across the board — TV ratings, sou venir sales, sponsorships,” said Mark Cassis, executive vice president and general manager at Kentucky Speedway. “I think it will have one of its biggest years ever.”
Are the numbers up because of the interest generated by the death of racing great Dale Earnhardt during February's Daytona 500?
“Yes, no question about it,” Cassis said.
People who had never paid attention to auto racing began tuning in or going to the track because they figured they were “missing out on something,” Cassis said.
“Dale Earnhardt's death reached the entire world,” he said.
He also suspects one reason the ratings were down last year compared to this year is because ESPN and CBS had stopped marketing their NASCAR telecasts vigorously because they were in the final year of their TV contract.
Now FOX and FX are banging the drum loudly for NASCAR.
“They've marketed it and advertised it,” Cassis said.
NBC takes over Winston Cup and Busch series coverage in July. Kentucky Speedway goes prime-time June 16 with its Busch race — The Outback Steakhouse 300 — on FX.
Cassis said that last year 300,000 people went through the turnstiles at Kentucky Speedway. The track's business plan calls for doubling that number this year to 600,000.
“We're so pleased with the growth,” he said. “We're pleased with the enthusiasm in the corporate community, big and small companies. It's been great.”
The speedway's ultimate goal, of course, is a Winston Cup race. Meanwhile, the Sparta, Ky., track is putting up some huge numbers compared to other tracks that have similar events.
Last weekend, an ARCA truck race in Madison, Ill., drew 500 fans and the ARCA stock cars in Madison drew 1,000; this weekend in Sparta, the ARCA truck race/midgets race Friday is expected to draw 15,000, and the ARCA stock cars are expected to draw 30,000-35,000 Saturday.
Along with the Busch race in June, the speedway has a truck race in July and an Indy Racing League event in August, all of which are expected to draw close to the track's capacity of 66,000.
Gallatin County had a 681 percent hike in tourism spending last year to $23 million — almost solely because of the $100 million speedway in Sparta. Spending by tourists in the 13-county region the state tourism board considers Northern Kentucky increased 11.8 percent last year to nearly $727 million, the largest increase of any part of the state. State officials credited the speedway and the Newport Aquarium as the key sparks.
Besides drawing some eye-popping numbers at the gate, the speedway is building support among the Winston Cup drivers. Pulling in Stewart, Waltrip, Bodine and Marlin for this weekend's festivities does more than bring in fans.
“We try to invite as many drivers in as we can to see the track (and) to test their Winston Cup machines,” Cassis said.
“For example, a couple of weeks ago Terry Labonte tested here and then he went (to the next Winston Cup race) and the other drivers ask him, "Where've you been?' He says, "I was testing at Kentucky.' And then he talks about the track, and word spreads through the garage area.”
Special Ky. Speedway section
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NASCAR boom boosts Ky. Speedway
