At California, heat is always on in more ways than one (cont'd)

"I don't think there's any question this was the best race we've ever seen at California Speedway," Zucker said.

But like everything else since 2004, it wasn't enough to fill the place up, despite a pool of 16 million potential ticket-holders to draw from. They've tried everything -- having the track president learn Spanish, drafting Juan Montoya to try and lure the Hispanic market, bringing Jimmie Johnson to San Diego again and again, even starting up a Myspace page. Still, rain or shine, hot or cold, seats remain empty. No other track in NASCAR faces the scrutiny that California does in terms of attendance, as evidenced by a post-race interview session that saw Zucker surrounded by a dozen reporters, all wondering what's missing here.

"I don't think anything's missing," she said. "I actually think you see a lot of impact from the great initiatives we're doing."

Really, that's all she can do -- add millions of dollars in improvements, plead with NASCAR for better dates, and try to attract the disparate locates of Los Angeles and the Inland Empire at the same time. It's a tough job. Because although the speedway works hard to tie itself with the glamour of Hollywood, redesigning its logo to include movie-premier spotlights, and giving competitors the red carpet treatment Wednesday night in a kickoff party featuring the likes of Paris Hilton, this isn't L.A.'s speedway. Anyone who's ever driven from downtown Los Angeles to Fontana knows that.

The track truly belongs to the Inland Empire, that long arm of sprawl stretching from Interstate 605 to the San Bernardino Mountains, a home to 3 million people consistently overshadowed by its glitzier neighbor to the west. Over on the site of the old Ontario Motor Speedway, they're building a sports arena, a first for the area. It's too bad that too few people seem to realize that the place has one already, a beautiful but ultimately frustrated facility hulking at the intersection of Interstate 10 and Cherry Avenue.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.