Should Auto Club go back to 1 race?

[dalejrgamer]

See, if I had to choose one thing as ACS' biggest problem, it's the fact that every single seat in that grandstand is beyond a rip-off. Those great deals that other tracks offer simply do not exist at Auto Club Speedway. I'm sure there are thousands of fans that would love to pay what an Atlanta, Pocono, or even Charlotte offers for their less-than-perfect seats, but can't because those affordable prices simply are not offered.

that's rich folk speak for "buy our great deals or go away."

I'm sure there are thousands more fans that would LOVE to pay even $100 for the GOOD seats near the top of the grandstands at either end (you know, the ones you saw totally empty last weekend), but CAN'T because the morons at Auto Club Speedway REQUIRE BOTH COMPLETE RACE WEEKENDS be purchased in order to have access to those seats. Think you get a discount for buying up 2 complete race weekends worth of racing? Think again! Those seats cost $330 each. A family of four has to pay $1,320!!!! just to see a Cup race at Auto Club Speedway from good seats!!! THAT'S INSANE! You're paying big bucks for everything from qualifying on Friday to the race on Sunday, and that's just to be able to sit in the cold metal grandstand. We haven't even mentioned the cost of things like souvenirs and food yet.

I would play a "everyone does that" card, but I can think of some great deals for sporting events. For example, $20+a facility use fee to see a Ducks game during "college students night."

Oh, did I mention that ACS killed its convenient Metrolink (train) service to the Speedway this year because not enough people bought $20-35 tickets for it?

THIS TRACK CHARGES INSANE PRICES FOR EVERYTHING, AND DOESN'T CARE ABOUT ANY RECESSION!!!

Like saying that you need to pay $1,000 for a plane ticket round trip to Las Vegas for a NASCAR race, which I'm sure only Monty Burns can afford.

If anyone saw the race last weekend, you saw that it's not really "boring" racing keeping people away from ACS. The racing is just fine. It's the fact that my 4 year old niece could run this track better than Gillian Zucker is running it. Why does Zucker get blamed? Because she's the bloody track president. The buck stops at her. If something improves, she also gets the credit, although at this point it'll be tough to give any credit because she's the one who has continued the horrific policies that this track has suffered from since day 1 of its existence. She's the President. She has all the power, and all the responsibility

While I disagree about the racing there (I think it sucks), you're right about the management. I've never seen worse management since the Matt Millen days of playing GM for the Detroit Lions (lol).

Zucker is also the one who'd undoubtedly make the choice to CLOSE the track completely rather than just run one major weekend's worth of racing. From day 1 California/Auto Club Speedway has had at least 2 major weekend's worth of racing. It began as 1 Cup weekend in June and 1 CART weekend in late summer. It morphed into 1 Cup weekend in May and 1 IRL weekend. Later on it became simply 2 Cup weekends worth of racing. The ticket pricing & format has never changed, and attendance has suffered greatly for it. If Zucker's reaction to the lack of train ticket sales is any indication, I seriously fear for the track's future should 1 Cup weekend date be lost with no replacement.

YOU KNOW, LET'S ADD 30 DEGREES WORTH OF BANKING AND SLAP ON RESTRICTOR PLATES. REEL RAESIN!!! [/Michael Waltrip]

So this is what ACS' big problem is, and always has been. You want the good seats? Then you must buy EVERYTHING! (Simply good seats, not PSL's.) The only reason why I've EVER been to a CART/IRL/IndyCar race was because we were forced to buy tickets for that race in the late 90s in order to have good seats for the one Cup race a year. It was pathetic. Once the price got too high, we simply stopped going to the track. We make over $100,000 a year and we could not afford going to this track! Thousands, and thousands of other fans have done the same. The result is the state of the grandstands you saw last weekend. It doesn't matter that most Nascar fans don't care about other types of racing. It doesn't matter that California is in seriously financial trouble, and the folks here are suffering under 18% unemployment along with all the other numerous joys of this recession. Zucker and her team are just in a complete state of denial, and it is KILLING the track. What is the end result of a terminal disease that doesn't get treated,or gets treated too late? This is why I fear for the future of Auto Club Speedway - a track that, like its predecessors Ontario & Riverside, doesn't deserve to die, but will if nothing changes.

wee buy tickets for events i don't care about.

Doesn't work that way.

One group of people that you can't blame are the fans. We love our Nascar here. We waited years for it come back after Riverside closed. We drove to Phoenix in '94, '95, and '96 before California opened in 1997. But when the track pulls shenanigans like this, what are we to do? Going to a Nascar race, as much as we love Nascar, is a luxury. When the economy sucks and our state government is worse, we have to cut more luxuries than anyone else in other parts of the USA do. Then add the fact that this track seems content with charging insane prices for everything, we just in large part cannot afford to show the at-the-track support that we'd like to. Read this post, and the others that I've posted about Auto Club Speedway's numerous examples of how not to run a race track, and tell me the fans are to blame. We don't want to see our Nascar leave, but we have no say in the matter. When Gillian Zucker prices tickets at a level that we CAN pay, then we'll show you how we are some of the most passionate & dedicated Nascar fans anywhere in this country.

Honestly, there's more deserving tracks than California. Say, Laguna Seca, Sears Point, Phoenix, and what have you. Las Vegas can keep their date since they actually draw a good crowd. California can't. Honestly, I wouldn't mind that California gets the boot, and I'm sure as hell won't miss it. But it's our loss since now the only track in California that's on the NASCAR schedule is Sears Point.

Rebuild Riverside.

 

[shane9]

Rebuild Riverside - AMEN

 

[canadienhits]

Wow....when we were having the idiot discussion on ACS' "Dale and Danica" tix package what..six weeks ago...I never thought things were that bad at ACS. As I said before....the "sister" track...Michigan...has been mindful that their fans are in recession. They realize people don't have a million dollars to spend at the track. Shame about ACS, it seems like the marketing teams are poles apart.

 

[shane9]

I guess i'm old fansion... hehe even though i'm only a young 21 i grew up watchin old race tapes my dad had from the late 80's and early 90's. ya know back when it was about the racing... not how much they were going to win... hehe the bob jenkins era =p

back win a million dollars was a big deal... now a days they make a mil in a couple of races its crazy. can we just go back in time?

 

[Frigus5]

I haven't read anything else on this thread except the first post.

The way I see it, ACS is in fact a track that needs only one date. BUT, I believe that Kentucky and a second Indy race would be great. Sadly, I don't see Kentucky coming to Sprint Cup competition any time soon. Pocono, well, how did they get two dates again? When was the last time a race there wasn't decided on fuel mileage or end under caution? And why is it always so gloomy there? Who knows. But, it's an underrated track the deserves to keep it's two dates. Everyone says Darlington should have two races. Here's my simple solution: Keep it to one race and just move it to labor day weekend. A simple fix right there. I still say a second race at Indy would be great! Hopefully on the roadcourse! (Tony George didn't build it for nothing now, did he? No, he built if for F1, who seven years later would cut it off the schedule because of one 9 degree corner and the fact that it is in America. The damn chairman hates America.) So yeah, that's my two cents.

 

[JeffJordan]

No.

Darlington I think needs two races. The 500 mile race is simply too long for one race.

 

[shane9]

I haven't read anything else on this thread except the first post.

The way I see it, ACS is in fact a track that needs only one date. BUT, I believe that Kentucky and a second Indy race would be great. Sadly, I don't see Kentucky coming to Sprint Cup competition any time soon. Pocono, well, how did they get two dates again? When was the last time a race there wasn't decided on fuel mileage or end under caution? And why is it always so gloomy there? Who knows. But, it's an underrated track the deserves to keep it's two dates. Everyone says Darlington should have two races. Here's my simple solution: Keep it to one race and just move it to labor day weekend. A simple fix right there. I still say a second race at Indy would be great! Hopefully on the roadcourse! (Tony George didn't build it for nothing now, did he? No, he built if for F1, who seven years later would cut it off the schedule because of one 9 degree corner and the fact that it is in America. The damn chairman hates America.) So yeah, that's my two cents.

that indy roadcourse is a great course. I had seen the F1 cars on it... quite frankly i'm gald they're gone lol cause theres not a much of a race with them.

They still use the course for the Superbikes or whatever they're acutally called. Ya know with nicky hayden and valintino rossi which i seen them in action and that was alot of fun.

Nascar or that course... would be very interesting... if you remember they did that thing with juan pablo and jeff gordon. Maybeeeeee i'll get lucky haha

 

[Markfan]

I haven't read anything else on this thread except the first post.

The way I see it, ACS is in fact a track that needs only one date. BUT, I believe that Kentucky and a second Indy race would be great.

Wow, just . . . wow.


California Speedway definitely needs a race removed, preferably the chase race, the cars get drawn out into long strings which is just plain boring. The only tracks with worse racing are Indy and MAYBE Pocono, but the fuel thing actually makes the pennsylvania races different in a good way because it's about conservation, though otherwise it's too hard to pass on and suffers from the same "physics problems" that plague the Brickyard's racing.

 

[Frigus5]

that indy roadcourse is a great course. I had seen the F1 cars on it... quite frankly i'm gald they're gone lol cause theres not a much of a race with them.

They still use the course for the Superbikes or whatever they're acutally called. Ya know with nicky hayden and valintino rossi which i seen them in action and that was alot of fun.

Nascar or that course... would be very interesting... if you remember they did that thing with juan pablo and jeff gordon. Maybeeeeee i'll get lucky haha

Yeah, everyone loves the Indy Roadcourse. I went to the F1 Race and MotoGP races that have been there. It's a great course.

 

[Frigus5]

Wow, just . . . wow.


California Speedway definitely needs a race removed, preferably the chase race, the only tracks with worse racing are Indy and MAYBE Pocono, but the fuel thing actually makes the pennsylvania races different in a good way because it's about conservation, though otherwise it's too hard to pass on and suffers from the same "physics problems" that plague the Brickyard's racing.

The Brickyard has nothing wrong with it. I'm SO DAMN SICK OF PEOPLE HATING INDY. I don't hate any tracks and why is it that Indy is always picked on?????

 

[DanAsher26]

The Brickyard has nothing wrong with it. I'm SO DAMN SICK OF PEOPLE HATING INDY. I don't hate any tracks and why is it that Indy is always picked on?????

I've been to the Brickyard 400 every year since 2003. All I'm gonna say is there's a lot more to Indy than they show on TV.

 

[Frigus5]

I've been to the Brickyard 400 every year since 2003. All I'm gonna say is there's a lot more to Indy than they show on TV.

Exactly! Been there 3 times and love it! 3 Brickyards (2000,2004,2009,) and 4 Indy 500's (2002,2003,2006,2008) and I have a blast every time. The racing is great.

 

[shane9]

The Brickyard has nothing wrong with it. I'm SO DAMN SICK OF PEOPLE HATING INDY. I don't hate any tracks and why is it that Indy is always picked on?????

cause they're jelous of INDY ahahahahaha

hey its my home track =] i gotta back up my track. Its a great historic place. Holds the biggest race in Indy car... which could argueably be the biggest race in the world... keyword ARGUEABLY

Daytona.. its a big race at a historic track... Indy a big race at a historic track

but i bow to indy :notworthy: all hour a 15 min drive up there i'm bowing to its greatness and i get chills everytime i walk through the gate into the tunnel... even if i was just in that tunnel 10 min before hehe

I love my racing, and i just want it to be racing... not school... not a business... just racing to put on a great show for the people who pay to watch it like all of us.

 

[Markfan]

The Brickyard has nothing wrong with it. I'm SO DAMN SICK OF PEOPLE HATING INDY. I don't hate any tracks and why is it that Indy is always picked on?????

Three reasons right off the bat:

-2008 *shudders*
-Almost no passing potential, Edwards and Martin were both faster than Johnson in '08 and '09, but they couldn't get around him because of the way the track AND cars are designed, the racing used to be much better in the past
-If a car is in the lead, they're pretty much going to stay there and pull away unless there's a miscue on pit road or they wreck.

F1 and the older cup cars worked much better on this track and actually did it justice.

 

[DanAsher26]

I went to the 500 once in 2008, I'm going this year, when I turn 18 I'm actually gonna work at the track as safty patrol... (my dad is one, he gets me into every race for free, hes already got me the job, just need to turn 18)

 

[shane9]

I went to the 500 once in 2008, I'm going this year, when I turn 18 I'm actually gonna work at the track as safty patrol... (my dad is one, he gets me into every race for free, hes already got me the job, just need to turn 18)

lol dont hassle me to bad =p i promise i'll be a good boy


the 2008 *shudders* were goodyears fault... could only run 10 laps under green... wasn't the track... it was goodyear

and that track design is just fine. The cars get so aero tight when your right up on another car... which happens at many tracks and your right the racing was much better in the past...

just my opionion

 

[Markfan]

He asked why is it always picked on, and yes I know that was Goodyear's fault, very much so.

Yes it's not the track that is the problem, it's mostly the aeropackage of the current car that causes problems, but that in itself will easily cause hatred to a track that is "incompatible" with it.

 

[DanAsher26]

lol dont hassle me to bad =p i promise i'll be a good boy


the 2008 *shudders* were goodyears fault... could only run 10 laps under green... wasn't the track... it was goodyear

and that track design is just fine. The cars get so aero tight when your right up on another car... which happens at many tracks and your right the racing was much better in the past...

just my opionion

Lol, Just so you know I always have to sit in the short shute in 1 and 2... That's where I'll work also.

And the 2008 race... I LOVED that race... The cars were bunched up all the time, Plenty of breaks to go use the restroom or get refreshments, and not miss any racing...

 

[MattSRD28]

The Brickyard has nothing wrong with it. I'm SO DAMN SICK OF PEOPLE HATING INDY. I don't hate any tracks and why is it that Indy is always picked on?????

Indy has had its problems like any other track, plus the tire debaccle of 2008. That wasn't exactly the track's fault, but it is a stigma attached to any mention of racing at Indy. Therefore, when someone mentions maybe a 2nd race at Indy, it raises some worry.

hey its my home track =] i gotta back up my track.

Auto Club Speedway is my "home track" in the sense that its the closest Nascar facility to where I currently live. But I can't forgive or turn a blind eye when the track is being run straight into the ground by those who are responsible for its growth & prosperity.

Again, the racing at Auto Club Speedway is not the problem. Last weekend saw very exciting Nationwide and Cup races there. ACS is also in the 2nd largest media market in the USA. Having 2 races there, one at the beginning of the season, and one in the Chase, is perfect. The only thing lacking is huge crowds. But, as I outline in the link above, the crowds aren't showing up because the racing is boring. The crowds are being forced away by insane ticket prices leveed by a track management group in utter denial. We'd LOVE to see a race for the price that fans pay at Atlanta, Pocono, Charlotte, and other tracks. Last year, I found GOOD seats at Pocono offered for $70. GOOD seats at Auto Club Speedway are $330. If those $330 seats were even half that price, $165, Auto Club Speedway would be sold out for every race EASILY. No track in any part of the country would draw a huge crowd if they were all run as poorly as ACS is run.

The solution is not take a race away from ACS, blame the fans in SoCal, or anything like that. The solution is very simple - fire Gillian Zucker and the rest of the idiots, and bring in a new management group that has proven experience at running a racetrack well.

 

[DannyM]

The Brickyard has nothing wrong with it. I'm SO DAMN SICK OF PEOPLE HATING INDY. I don't hate any tracks and why is it that Indy is always picked on?????

The Brickyard has got to be my least favorite track for the cup guys.... closely followed by Pocono.