Sparkplug 18

I call this week's Sparkplug “A Tale of Two Racetracks” because I want to compare and contrast two famous motorsports facilities and the way they do business. One of the tracks is Glen Helen Raceway, host of this weekend's National motocross finale. The other track is NASCAR's California Speedway, which hosted a big Nextel Cup race just last weekend over the Labor Day holiday. Ironically, these facilities are within 50 miles of each other here in Southern California, so they both service the same large population center.

Clearly, comparing NASCAR to AMA Motocross is like comparing your favorite NFL team to your kid's high school squad. But I think the comparison is important because it gives us motocross fans a good idea of how big our sport could be if it were managed competently.

Let's look at the bottom line first: attendance. Last weekend, about 90,000 people attended the Nextel Cup event at the California Speedway. According to a cover story in last week's Fortune magazine, the average ticket price for a NASCAR event is $88. Doing the math, that equates to nearly $8 million at the box office. Last year's Glen Helen national drew a crowd of around 24,000 (just guessing here) and the average ticket price could not be higher than $30, but for the sake of argument, let's say it was $40. That comes out to a little less than $1 million. Big difference.

Of course, ticket sales are not the only means for generating revenue. NASCAR track owners get a split of the TV money. FOX, NBC and TNT currently pay the organization $543 million a year for the privilege of airing the stock car races. Of that, the track owners get $318 million. Let's look at those last two sentences again... three major media outlets are PAYING the sanctioning body more than a half a billion dollars A YEAR. Do you think their broadcasts ever get pre-empted? Compare that to what will pass for television coverage this weekend at Glen Helen. The Outdoor Life network (OLN) is great, but they are in no position to either pay or demand to be paid good money for airing our races. This particular point is so painful I'll just leave it at that.

With regards to sponsorship, NASCAR tracks are splitting some $94 million a year in sponsor fees. Divided by the 36 events, and that's only $2.6 million per event. Could this possibly be an area where Glen Helen can compete? Get real; AMA Pro Racing would probably sell title sponsorship of the entire National series for not much more than that.

Well then, how about the golden calf called Merchandising? In NASCAR, the tracks sell and profit from merchandise, the teams sell and profit from merchandise and the sanctioning body gets a cut from both. Win, win, win, baby! A total of some $320 million is divided among the parties. Back on the motocross side of the fence, AMA Pro Racing prohibits teams from selling merchandise at the races. There is a vendor's row, and businesses can sell all the stuff they want, just as long as the track and AMA Pro Racing get their cut. The teams are left out in the cold. And how much are they making? Sorry, I do not have that information, but I think it's safe to assume that it's much, much less than $320 million a year.

But it's not just about the cold hard cash, right? What about the sport itself? What about the racing experience for the fans? Well actually, this is the area where the California Speedway REALLY kicks Glen Helen's ass. The facility is built to handle over 100,000 fans in comfort, with bleacher seating, paved and lighted parking lots, real bathroom facilities, luxury suites for those with extra cash, state-of-the-art sound systems, comfortable press facilities with high-speed internet access, hardwired broadcast facilities, kitchens, garages, showers ... you name it, they've got it. Meanwhile, down the arroyo over by the penitentiary, Glen Helen DOES have some flushing toilets... only there's no roof over those toilets for some reason. Parking? Forget about it. Comfort? Are you kidding? Sound system? Only if you brought it yourself. Seriously, Glen Helen has a P.A. system... it's just not very good. Truthfully, the racetrack itself is Glen Helen's ace in the hole. It's a World Class circuit. Too bad it's surrounded by Third World accommodations.

I'm not going to beat this horse any further; I think my point was made. But here's the deal: last week at Steel City, I was able to watch the motos in air-conditioned comfort because the track owners had the foresight to build a few VIP viewing suites next to their announcer's tower. It also helped that the track was laid out in a manner that offered excellent viewing from almost anywhere in the park. This type of facility should be the bare minimum for a National motocross race, not the gold standard.

Ultimately what I would like is to be able to view a track with the characteristics of Glen Helen, but in the comfort of a facility like the California Speedway. It can be done; so who's going to be the first? I believe what they said in that movie is true: “If you build it, they will come.” Someday soon, someone will build our sport’s “Field of Dreams”… and I will go to every race they hold!