NASCAR suddenly a tough sell

We're liable to see empty seats at RIR tonight for the first time in 17 years, and a sour economy is only the half of it. Yeah, $80 tickets and $3.60-per-gallon petrol squeeze Joe Fan's discretionary income. Toss in a night or two at the Red Roof, a few meals, some cotton candy and a T-shirt for the kiddies, and a family needs to take out a second mortgage to go racin' nowadays.

Assuming it hasn't already rescinded its loyalty oath to the sport.

Fewer people are pledging allegiance to NASCAR these days, and it's not just because their pockets are shallower, it's because they're estranged. They're like the hippies of the '60s — turned off and tuning out (presumably minus the purple haze). France Family U. has only itself to blame.

This isn't the start of an obituary. NASCAR isn't in jeopardy of becoming Linens-N-Things or Skybus. It's not about to go belly-up. But it's in an extended rut marked by declining turnstile counts and TV ratings (although the Nielsens are up a tick this year), and the trend continues.

Seats unwarmed by fannies are noticeable across the circuit this year — Martinsville, Atlanta, Phoenix, Texas.

Richmond, which seemingly couldn't toss up grandstands fast enough to satisfy demand, once was immune from this sort of cloud cover.

No longer.

"There's a lot of discussion over the last couple of years about whether fan interest has leveled off," said Jon Ackley, who teaches a business-of-NASCAR course at VCU. "NASCAR says it has 70 million fans. The last two or three years, those numbers don't seem to hold as much weight as they did in the past. It's clear people aren't watching the races as devoutly as they did in the past." More at InRich.com