The sky is falling. The world is in shambles. The economy is in the toilet and somebody’s about ready to flush it down the drain.
Woe is us.
Woe is NASCAR.
Whoa, folks! Park your panic and hold your horses. Let’s not get carried away with all this doom and gloom.
Sure, the economy is in rough shape. People are struggling. Banks are failing.
NASCAR teams, too, are coming to grips with this new reality and face some grim times ahead.
But this isn’t the first time we’ve dealt with economic hardship and this certainly won’t be the last. NASCAR has had to deal with it before, it will deal with it now and it will certainly deal with it again in the future.
Will car counts go down? Maybe. Will sponsorship dollars wane? It has already happened. Will attendance continue to suffer? Likely so, until gas prices go through the basement and races become even more affordable destinations for families and fans (i.e., lower ticket prices, concession prices, etc.).
But this is part of the natural cycle of economies and sports. Economies, ebb, flow and sometimes crash.
Sports leagues ride booms and survive busts.
NASCAR’s challenge is to remain relevant, affordable and, most importantly, entertaining. And something tells me that it will.
So put away your panic and enjoy the racing. I’ll see you on the other side of the gloom and doom.
