New York has no shortage of economic indicators (cont'd)

Perception, though, can be deceiving. The Victory Lap, a galvanizing event that commandeered an estimated 100,00 pairs of eyeballs last year, meant more expense for teams, who had to truck a show car up to New York. It cost almost $1 million to put on last year, and likely would have cost more this year. Yet it also led to complaints from locals, and NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said the idea to table it was made last December, long before the current financial crunch. Same goes for the move of the annual champion's lunch, from 21 Club -- the kind of place where diners are served by waiters in white dinner jackets -- to Foley's, an Irish bar in the shadow of the Empire State Building. Chalk that one up to the NASCAR mantra: back to basics.

"I think it would be a leap to make any connection to the economy in this case," Poston said. "Next year may be different. I think that's where you're going to see any effects, if we see them, because now we're on a different budget cycle and people and making their decisions from today."

To Johnson, who's being whisked from one event or awards ceremony to the next, the week appears no different. Still, the struggling economy is never very far away, as evidenced by the reigning champion's first visit Wednesday morning -- the New York Stock Exchange, to ring the opening bell. He's been there twice before, but never with the market down more than 30 percent for the year. "Who are we bailing out now?" one trader says as the Johnson party wanders through the trading floor, crowded and strewn with scraps of paper even 10 minutes before the session begins. The place is cramped, crowded, and dominated by numbers, either those shouted by traders or blinking on computer monitors too many to count.

But Johnson, who still keeps a secondary residence in New York, has his moments. "Should I shoot myself in the leg or something?" he quips, referring to the plight of beleaguered New York Giants receiver Plaxico Burress, when presented with a memento by NYSE chairman Duncan Niederauer. He hits the button sparking the opening bell not at 9:30, but 9:29 and 48 seconds. "Got to play off the 48, of course," he says, referring to his car number. Traders press forward for an autograph or just a glimpse of the driver. A security guard laments the demise of the planned NASCAR track on Staten Island, doomed by a political firestorm. "A lot of people wanted that," he says, voicing an opinion not often heard in the city. "It would have brought in a lot of revenue."

Of course, as soon as the index opened, it went down again, a stark reminder of why some sponsors have cut back their involvement in this year's NASCAR banquet. Hendrick considered doing the same, but ultimately decided his championship team had worked too hard to be short-changed. There is, though, one benefit -- hotels, eager for scarce tourism dollars, are more willing to cut deals on room rates. "It's nice to feel wanted," Hendrick said. And how does he usually feel coming to New York? "Like a pimple on a buzzard," the car owner joked.

That's the kind of sentiment that leads some to believe the banquet should be moved to a more NASCAR-friendly locale, rather than shoehorned into a city that even in good financial years barely stops to notice. Bruton Smith, owner of the race track conglomerate Speedway Motorsports Inc., wants the event in Las Vegas, where he also happens to have a track. Hendrick has an idea, too. "You know what I think would be really cool? To do it in Charlotte after the Hall of Fame is finished," he said. "The city would roll out the lights. It would be the thing."

NASCAR, which moved its banquet from Daytona Beach to New York in 1981 as part of an attempt to attract more sponsors and become more nationally recognized, has heard it all before. "We've been here 27 years, and this is one of the things that is part of our heritage," Poston said. "It is part of our tradition, just like racing at Daytona and Talladega and Charlotte, it's part of the tradition. Doing banquet week and coming to New York is part of that tradition."

And recession or no recession, that tradition will continue in 2009. "I don't see any reason," Poston said, "why we wouldn't be here next year."

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.