Surviving the ride at Bristol Motor Speedway

By Brian T. Smith
Media General News Service
Published: November 25, 2008

Two words, one answer: Work harder.
It’s the best response to a struggling American economy and a series of mounting questions surrounding the future of NASCAR, Bristol Motor Speedway owner Bruton Smith said.
It’s also the only practical solution for a diverse array of abstract, economic-based issues clouding relationships among race tracks, sponsors, drivers, team owners and fans, said Jeff Byrd, the speedway’s president and general manager.
“We are better positioned to weather a downturn in the economy than any other NASCAR track, just because our fan base is so loyal and their affection for Bristol is so strong,“ Byrd said in a Nov. 12 interview.
Yet before the green flag dropped at the speedway Aug. 23 for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sharpie 500 race, Byrd sounded less optimistic.
Yes, BMS was about to put its 53rd-straight NASCAR Cup race sellout in the record book as fans once again packed the grandstands 160,000 strong. But in mid-July, General Motors had told Smith’s Speedway Motorsports Inc., which owns eight NASCAR tracks, that it would not renew sponsorships at two of them, including Bristol Motor Speedway.
And in the weeks leading up to Bristol’s August race, a normally hectic time of year that seemed heavier because of the economic downtown, Byrd sounded nervous and tense.
“The combination of gas prices, the economy [and] NASCAR in general [has] made it the most challenging time we’ve been through,“ Byrd said then.
Three months later, sitting in a chair inside his spacious office in the Bruton Smith Building off Volunteer Parkway, Byrd sounded resolute. He chose his words slowly. He answered every question in detail. And his voice was layered with strength and confidence.
Questions still remained. Some had become more alarming. But, Byrd said, he and his boss had found a simple, true answer.
“Bruton, as always, is bullish on the future, short-term and long-term,“ Byrd said. “I asked him the other day what we needed to do to weather this economy. And he said, ‘Just work harder. … I’ve been around a lot longer than you have, kid, and I’ve seen these things before. And the companies that work the hardest to please the consumer are going to be the ones that successfully get past this.’ “

Running on empty
NASCAR began its 2008 campaign singing a new song. After a decade filled with change, it was settling down for a little while.
Brian France, NASCAR chairman and chief executive officer, declared at the start of the ’08 season the sport would return to its roots, rewarding its devoted fans with more old-school, free-spirited racing and less clatter, confusion and change.
The on-the-track result is debatable.
Side-by-side racing was more evident this year. Made-for-TV dramas over personalities and race results followed NASCAR’s most-popular drivers, including Carl Edwards, Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kevin Harvick. And NASCAR received a much-needed energy infusion when 23-year-old Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 20 M&M’s Toyota Camry, cleaned house from February to August, eventually winning eight Cup races and 10 in the second-tier Nationwide series.
But Busch flatlined in the Chase for the Cup – an end-of-season event routinely maligned by critics and fans – and NASCAR appeared to lose the pre-Chase momentum it had worked so hard to build. Large, empty sections of seats became a recurring late-season theme.
Moreover, less debatable is the fact that NASCAR soon might be forced to return to its roots – just not in the manner nor for the reasons France originally envisioned.
The faltering American economy, combined with the threat of bankruptcy facing the American automotive industry – primarily General Motors – has saddled NASCAR with financial-based issues it hasn’t seen in such severity since the 1970s.
“We’re going through a period in NASCAR, just like the rest of America, just like every other business, every other household,“ said Ramsey Poston, NASCAR’s manager of corporate communications.
“What we’re seeing in the industry, it’s a time of belt-tightening and being smart and having to make the best decisions, whether it’s from NASCAR or the teams or the industry, to go forward,“ Poston said. “Everyone knows what’s at stake and is trying to be as efficient as possible.“
While NASCAR seeks efficiency, a renewed focus on everyday penny-pinching and thrift strikes at the core of what makes NASCAR run strong: its fans.
Fans buy tickets, automobiles and logo-heavy merchandise to support and promote their favorite drivers, teams or auto manufacturers.
“NASCAR events are dependent upon people who have discretionary income,“ said Steb Hipple, an East Tennessee State University economics professor. “And in a recession, people’s discretionary income declines.“
Meanwhile, cost-cutting mergers, cutbacks and layoffs – foreign ideas in NASCAR-land during the past decade’s expansion boom – are now the norm. And the annual well-rehearsed fight by once-well-funded teams to secure sponsorship and security is quickly turning into a real-life knockdown, drag-out brawl.
“From NASCAR’s perspective, we are the stewards of the sport,“ Poston said. “So, while we’re not in the business of hiring or firing on the team level, our responsibility, our role, is three things, and it’s been this way for 60 years: [No.] 1, competition; 2 is safety; and 3 is to manage costs.“

No more Bowtie?
General Motors is also trying to manage costs.
While the company’s chief executives lobbied in Washington, D.C., this week for a financial bailout, GM Racing’s NASCAR group manager, Pat Suhy, is focusing on saving money and trimming costs.
“We’ve talked about it continuously here since June, when things kind of went in the tank,“ Suhy said. “We’re looking at everything we do from a NASCAR perspective. … We’ve been obviously challenged to reduce our [spending]. And as part of that, we need to make sure that every penny we do spend is used effectively.“
Suhy said everything is on the table when it comes to GM’s belt-tightening.
In July, when GM said it would not renew the sponsorship contracts at the Bristol and New Hampshire tracks, the Associated Press reported that the automobile manufacturer had contracts with a dozen of the 22 tracks where NASCAR’s top Sprint Cup races are held. Since then, the New York Times reported last week, the automaker has pulled the Cadillac sponsorship from the Masters golf tournament and declined to renew its long-standing partnership with the U.S. Olympic Committee.
“They were a longtime partner [with Bristol as well], and I hated to see them go,“ Byrd said of GM. “But I understand the pressures on their business.“
As GM cuts back, so has NASCAR.
From the top of the organization to the smallest teams, the economic strain seems to be forcing a Darwinian kind of effect, allowing only the strongest and richest to survive.
NASCAR announced Nov. 7 that it was canceling testing for all three of its major series – Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Trucks – in 2009. About a week later, Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Chip Ganassi Racing – teams considered a year ago to rest solidly in the upper-echelon of racing – announced a cost-saving merger.
Also among the signs:
- Several NASCAR teams have turned to layoffs.
- Eastman Kodak Co. declared in October it was ending its 22-year partnership with NASCAR.
- And long-standing and revered racing organizations such as the Wood Brothers, Petty Enterprises and the Abingdon,Va. -based Morgan-McClure Motorsports have split, sold their assets or otherwise seen their futures dim.
Despite such signs, Suhy isn’t convinced NASCAR is doing everything it can to prepare for what appears to be a major incoming storm.
“They’ve taken a first step [by banning testing],“ Suhy said. “But my thought is they could’ve gone a little further. … They could do things like get back to wind-tunnel [testing], which I understand they’re concerned about, because it affects the crowd at the tracks on Fridays [for race qualifying]. … But in terms of saving the teams money, I think they could’ve done a few more things and gone further than they did.“

Hard work
Bruton Smith, owner of Bristol Motor Speedway, said BMS is doing everything it can to weather the economic downturn, while also reaching out to and showing support for the dedicated fans that have packed “The World’s Fastest Half Mile” solid and tight for 53 straight NASCAR Cup races.
His part-plea, part-stern advice to “work harder” has become a mantra at Bristol Motor Speedway.
“I think the whole world has realized we’re in a recession. And when you’re in a recession, you just work harder,“ Smith said. “We’ve told all of our [upper]-echelon people to direct all their employees in that direction, because sometimes you just have to go to work and work harder for what you get, and that’s what we’re doing.“
While Smith hammers away at the big picture – stating his support for a bailout for the American auto industry, and again advocating that NASCAR place a renewed emphasis on winning, rather than counting Chase points – Byrd chips away at smaller, though no less integral, NASCAR-related issues. Byrd trumpeted BMS’ ability to hold down ticket and campground prices, while also offering race fans and regional-area residents low-cost entertainment alternatives when NASCAR is out of town. Among them are a series of other races, the adjacent dragway, and the holiday-season light shows and ice skating rink.
Additionally, the Bristol chapter of Speedway Children’s Charities handed out $575,000 to 83 area children’s charity programs Nov. 13.
And Byrd proudly recapped his effort to answer every e-mail he receives – compliment or complaint – from NASCAR fans and Bristol Motor Speedway devotees worldwide.
The hands-on approach is key to BMS’ past and current success, Byrd said, and he is optimistic the track will reach its 54th consecutive NASCAR Cup sellout March 22.
He also said there are no current plans for layoffs at the Speedway.
While the state of the American economy, the automotive industry, travel costs and the current sea change in NASCAR are out of their hands, Byrd and Smith said, other things are more controllable.
Namely: Stay the course. Stay focused. And work harder.
Hipple said he believes BMS has some advantages.
“I think Bristol may be better [suited] than some of the other venues for NASCAR, in the sense that it is a unique venue as a short track, and is certainly located within an easy drive of a significant part of the population of the United States,“ Hipple said. “And it seems to attract a special intensity among the fans that you perhaps don’t see at other tracks. So, I think among the venues that NASCAR has, this may well cushion it against some of the impact that we’re going to see.“