Persistent Zucker turns up focus on Auto Club track

Auto Club Speedway president Gillian Zucker knows it's going to take more than just nice weather and a Chase date to fill the all-too-often empty spaces of her sprawling grandstands on race day.

Not even the scantily-clad Speedway girls are pulling in the fans these days. Although a favorable forecast, as opposed to the above-100 degree heat typically served up this time of year in Southern California, along with the excitement of NASCAR's playoff battle emerging in the sport's second-largest market, certainly will make an impact.

After NASCAR recently announced changes to its 2009 schedule, Zucker said Auto Club Speedway was the big winner as the track's second race date, normally held on Labor Day weekend, will now be Oct. 11; the fourth week of the Chase for the Sprint Cup. It's also a time of year that produces picturesque weather.

Not since California was awarded a second race date five years ago has the speedway been able to produce a sold-out crowd. Critics blame a number of reasons: bad weather, boring racing, bigger and better things in the region for fans to do.

California native and Cup driver Kevin Harvick said the impact of the date change is yet to be seen but believes "the first race has to be full first. I think in that particular area, there's just so much to do and there's so many things happening. I think there's just not as big a market as some of the markets that we go to as far as racing is concerned."

In 2005, Zucker was tapped to improve the track's attendance, among other things, and is well on her way to accomplishing some major goals. She's optimistic, maybe even a big giddy.

Auto Club's switch of dates from Labor Day weekend to one in the Chase is one of the changes to the 2009 schedule.

• 2009 Sprint Cup schedule

Zucker has reasons to be proud; her pleas for a date change were finally answered.

"It's something I've been lobbying for a number of years," Zucker said. "Mike Helton never officially took a restraining order out against me, but he may have contemplated it. So, from our standpoint, no, we didn't feel like we had the ideal date on the schedule. I frequently spoke with the media about it and acknowledged that more temperate dates were important. What ultimately happened was an alignment of the stars."

The stars may be aligned and even continue to show up at her annual red-carpet events in Hollywood to gain that big-market exposure Zucker covets, but she isn't resting on her laurels.

Zucker still has a lot of work to do convincing the SoCal masses that NASCAR racing at her house is a must-see event with some of the finest offerings of any sports venue in the region and hopefully among the best on NASCAR's circuit.

And Zucker still has to silence the haters. The haters who say California doesn't deserve a second date because the racing is boring, or insist NASCAR in the West will always be second to the South. (Continued)