Saturday Night Fever

DARLINGTON, S.C. -- It is Sunday morning, 1:34 a.m., and the majority of the NASCAR press corps is typing away in one of the two Darlington Raceway media facilities.

None are happy. Most missed deadline. Not that it matters, mind you. The west coast television broadcast sailed right into primetime, and that's most important, right?

Hopefully east coast fans -- especially the coveted casual variety -- chugged some Red Bull. The Dodge Charger 500 produced a thrilling finish, and it would be a shame if folks became disinterested due its marathonish length (four hours, six minutes), and resulting 11:30 p.m. conclusion.

The race needs to be 400 miles. Or start earlier.

I love night races. And I wouldn't disapprove of having more on the schedule. The buildup for a night race is figuratively more electric, presumably because it is literally more electric.

Those lights produce an aura one doesn't get from a typical Sunday afternoon event. But Saturday night races require shorter distances. I'm not sure all races couldn't be hacked down some.

	MARTY SMITH •   E-mail Marty •   Opinion Archive •   Store: 'I Agree With Marty' tee MESSAGE BOARD •   Read all the responses

Four hours is an eternity. Call me crazy, but I even think the season's best event -- the Bristol night race -- is too long for today's viewer. Heaven knows Darlington went too long.

While shooting the breeze with Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the garage after the race, I broached the topic. He agreed with me.

"Absolutely," he chuckled. "Four hundred miles around here is plenty of racing. That's something they need to look at, man. If we're going to keep racing here they need to take some of the length off.

"The television audience? I'd be surprised if 25 percent of them didn't miss the end of it. I was expecting to get home in time to do a little partying, but it don't look like we're gonna get to do that."

And that's just TV.

Night races can also have a negative impact on the local economy in the race market. On occasion, Saturday night shows mean one less day in town for the industry, as well as reduced patronage at local establishments. (Even though the Saturday night October race in Charlotte had a huge positive impact on the overall economy, and Darlington isn't complaining. They still have a race and it proved very successful.) We still pay three-night minimums at hotels, so the Super 8 doesn't suffer much.

But we still get to the track early and stay there all day, so we aren't going out to dinner or the club after work.

"I left Saturday night at 9 to go to my lake house, and on a normal race weekend I didn't have a chance of leaving before 1 (a.m.)" said Dale Barth, owner of the popular Redbone Alley bar and restaurant in Florence, S.C., an industry and fan favorite.

"We took a big hit. We fed some fans and teams on Thursday and some lunches on Saturday, but it was fractional compared to what a typical race weekend is."

ALSO •   Saturday night all right for racin'? •   2005 Schedule •   NASCAR regional racing •   NASCAR Weekly Series

Does the same apply for local short tracks? Are fans that would otherwise attend a short track late model race instead enticed to stay home and watch the big boys play?

NASCAR VP Jim Hunter said Monday that, yes, Saturday Cup races do have an impact on short track events. But good promoters, he said, find a way to make that impact a positive one.

"Some tracks move their event to Friday night, and others will put up a big screen and show the Cup race," Hunter said. "In speaking with many fans, they do both -- go to the short track and TiVo the Cup race."

Yet another example of why TiVo is the hottest thing since the hair dryer.

Are you in favor of continuing to move races to Saturday night or are you concerned that it will erode the local track experience?

The vast majority of responses said such a notion is unlikely, if not preposterous. Truth is, Saturday night Nextel Cup dates do affect attendance at local short tracks.

Minimally? Maybe. But when you're talking about 700 fans, even a small impact is visibly noticeable.

Hyperdrive21: I think it does have a negative effect on the local tracks. My local track used to never close. Now I see on the schedule that it is closed six times this year for Cup races on Saturday night.

To me six dates closed is significant. They told me that they just can't put enough people in the stands when the Cup Series runs Saturday night. This includes Daytona in July, which is 600 miles away.

There you have it. KG offers a plain, simple, first-hand account that pretty well sums up the Saturday night dilemma. Not that simply closing the doors is necessary, mind you. As Hunter stated above and Ichiro bolsters below, crafty promoters find innovative promotional methods to get butts in the stands.

MarinerMan: I love watching the races under the lights, but I also love my local dirt track races. My local track put up a huge plywood projection screen and now projects the NASCAR races while I am enjoying the show -- wear a set of headphones to listen to MRN & voila -- heaven! Watching racing while watching racing at the races! All for the price of a local dirt track entrance fee!

Awesome idea. Beats a smoky, crowded bar. Plus, the fan is enveloped in a true racing atmosphere: the smell, the sound. Heck, it's like being at the Cup race, only with leg and elbow room and cheap funnel cake.

Along those same lines:

LHProp1: The increase in Saturday night races will affect some local tracks where others will flourish. The ones who will flourish will be the ones who are willing to adapt and try new things like Friday nights (not during HS football season), Saturday afternoon races and novelty races (trailer races, figure eights, flagpole races, etc.)

The ones who don't try new things will go belly-up. Of course, the dirt tracks will always have their diehards, so they'll have to do less to keep their attendance than the paved tracks.

NASCAR's not completely to blame for this Saturday night phenomenon. After all, it's the networks that dictate a lot of the timing and the broadcast schedule. Whether it's Fox, NBC, Mr. France, or the local track owner, they're all just trying to make a buck.

Aren't we all?

Tony Rice is correct on all counts here, specifically the point regarding dirt track fans (dirt fans are going to go to dirt races even if the Daytona 500 is on TV) and short track promoters. Good promoters will flourish. Bad promoters will flounder.

And by all means, don't even think about racing on fall Friday nights. Prep football is religion where I come from.

go88ford: I am a huge fan of the night racing. I don't know what it is, but I'm glad that NASCAR is starting to add a few more this season. Racing under the lights is where every driver starts at their local tracks. It may take away from the local tracks, but only for 1 week.

The beauty of the local circuits is that they have racing damn near every Friday or Saturday, and being it's local the fans can feel more involved and closer to the racing itself.

Even if there is a NASCAR race in the same vicinity as a local racing circuit, not every fan can afford the tickets and travel expenses to the NASCAR events. So in that respect, the local tracks will still draw in crowds. I don't think it hurts the local tracks that much.

Excellent response, David Barnes. I'll let Frank Beamer address it:

future_champ: I race at a local short track and we had a race this weekend on Sat. with the Cup race, and yes there was a very noticeable difference in attendance. The crowd shrunk by about half.

Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images

Yes like people have said the 'die hard' fans will come, but honestly at most short tracks the 'die hard' fans are friends and family of the drivers. I really like the night races but it is a fact the it has a major affect on the fan turn out for local tracks.

Coach Beamer makes an excellent point, which is at the crux of the argument -- newer NASCAR fans are enamored by the celebrity and pageantry in the Cup Series, and will more often than not chose the television broadcast over the local track.

Meanwhile, old school fans are fed up with that same big-time atmosphere. Hence, they'd be more apt to chose the grass roots short track.

The former presently outweighs the latter, though some feel that dynamic changes daily.

ltrain37: I think Saturday night NASCAR races are great, and I didn't think it would hurt local short tracks until I went to one this weekend. It was a beautiful night and there was nobody there.

And I don't mean attendance was down -- I mean it went from several hundred people to less than 100. With that being said, unless NASCAR moves a ton of races to Saturday night, the local tracks will survive.

Unfortunately, the people who will feel it will be the fans who will pay a higher price for concessions and the drivers who will be racing for a smaller purse. The promoters will find a way to make their money.

Good news, Lionel Simmons, NASCAR has no intention of running every event at night, as some have speculated recently.

"That's a myth," Hunter said. "That's not going to happen. Television doesn't want Saturday night races in the summer. People are doing other things."

Fuzzman: No, I don't think Saturday night NASCAR races will hurt local tracks very much. NASCAR's schedule is announced far enough ahead that I am sure the local track owners and managers will juggle their schedule to Friday night, Saturday afternoon or Sunday afternoon, which will give the local fans a full weekend of racing to enjoy. Could be a win-win for all.

Good point and well-taken, Al Borland, though I'd venture to say that's easier said than done. From a promotional standpoint, consistency is important. Repetition plays a big role.

This may sound stupid, but it's true: A guy who's accustomed to showing up on Saturday night may just show up on Saturday night, unaware of a schedule alteration stemming from a Cup race. As a fan, that's frustrating. The last thing a promoter wants to do is upset his fan base.

mealhead291: Since NASCAR is competing with the NFL for ratings, racing at night is only way to get better ratings. A lot of people watch both on Sundays in the fall. If a race is moved to Saturday night then you're not competing with football anymore.

I really don't know if Saturday night racing will hurt the local tracks. I'm tempted to say no, but I know a lot of people would stay home. But of course they could just Tivo it.

Above comment re: TiVo applies yet again.

Bristol208: I would like to see it, and personally here in the Bristol area the dirt tracks either don't run those weekends or they run during the week to draw some of the fans who come in for the races.

The track owner of Volunteer Speedway, which is about 45 minutes from BMS, is having a $30,000 to win race the Wednesday and Thursday of the August Bristol race.

I'm in. Anybody have a car they're willing to loan me on Aug. 24th?

Last Lap appears on NASCAR.COM every Tuesday. The opinions listed here are solely those of the writer.