NASCAR - ISC makes wise choice scrapping NY track
I always thought it was a terrible idea for NASCAR to build a track in the NY tri-state area. Much to my happiness, ISC (Int'l Speedway Corp.) announced yesterday they were scrapping plans for a newly-built track on Staten Island. YEA!!!!
NASCAR needs to slow down. The sport has seen a meteoric rise in popularity since 2000. Millions of new fans. New races. New faces. Old-school tracks like Darlington were bagged for boring, large-market tracks like Fontana, CA. So it shouldn't have been a surprise that TV ratings started taking a dip this year. The growth could not be sustained. It's been the talk of the NASCAR world the past month, but I don't think a drop-off in popularity should be a surprise to anyone who is involved in the sport either as a drive or a fan.
Back to New York. I don't know how many of you have been to a NASCAR Nextel Cup race. I personally never have, but I did have an experience with the nightmare traffic that results after a race. In Sept. 2001, I was driving home from North Carolina to Connecticut (I missed my plane in Norfolk because the flight was changed but I didn't find out until I got to the airport). That day happened to be the same day there was the second Dover race. The race ended when I was an hour and a half south of the track. Traffic was fine until I got near the track. From there, I crawled in mind-boggling, turtle-slow traffic for FIVE GODDAMN HOURS! All the way through central New Jersey I don't think I ever got above 20 mph. I almost lost my mind.
If this expanse of highway couldn't handle the NASCAR load, how in hell would the joke of a highway system around New York City EVER handle it? It would be impossible. Just take a look at how bad traffic is when the Yankees play. If you're anywhere near the city, you're sitting in traffic. And there are ten different ways to get there. But ISC wanted a track in Staten Island, of all places! If you've driven anywhere in the 5 boroughs, you know how awfully-planned the highway system is. The rejects who laid it all out in the early 1900's had no clue what they were doing, nor can the roads handle every day, normal traffic. A NASCAR race in Staten Island would bring the region to a crawl.
This is another victory for those of us in the tri-state area. The first was the rejection of New York's bid for the 2012 Olympics, which would have been just as bad, but only would have lasted 2 weeks. This was another silly concept thought up of by NASCAR that's been rightfully put to bed. Instead, they need to concentrate on bringing us better races at the tracks we already have, renovating older tracks (bring back Darlington, dammit!) and supporting smaller teams so there's at least a smidgen of competition every weekend.
NASCAR needs to slow down. The sport has seen a meteoric rise in popularity since 2000. Millions of new fans. New races. New faces. Old-school tracks like Darlington were bagged for boring, large-market tracks like Fontana, CA. So it shouldn't have been a surprise that TV ratings started taking a dip this year. The growth could not be sustained. It's been the talk of the NASCAR world the past month, but I don't think a drop-off in popularity should be a surprise to anyone who is involved in the sport either as a drive or a fan.
Back to New York. I don't know how many of you have been to a NASCAR Nextel Cup race. I personally never have, but I did have an experience with the nightmare traffic that results after a race. In Sept. 2001, I was driving home from North Carolina to Connecticut (I missed my plane in Norfolk because the flight was changed but I didn't find out until I got to the airport). That day happened to be the same day there was the second Dover race. The race ended when I was an hour and a half south of the track. Traffic was fine until I got near the track. From there, I crawled in mind-boggling, turtle-slow traffic for FIVE GODDAMN HOURS! All the way through central New Jersey I don't think I ever got above 20 mph. I almost lost my mind.
If this expanse of highway couldn't handle the NASCAR load, how in hell would the joke of a highway system around New York City EVER handle it? It would be impossible. Just take a look at how bad traffic is when the Yankees play. If you're anywhere near the city, you're sitting in traffic. And there are ten different ways to get there. But ISC wanted a track in Staten Island, of all places! If you've driven anywhere in the 5 boroughs, you know how awfully-planned the highway system is. The rejects who laid it all out in the early 1900's had no clue what they were doing, nor can the roads handle every day, normal traffic. A NASCAR race in Staten Island would bring the region to a crawl.
This is another victory for those of us in the tri-state area. The first was the rejection of New York's bid for the 2012 Olympics, which would have been just as bad, but only would have lasted 2 weeks. This was another silly concept thought up of by NASCAR that's been rightfully put to bed. Instead, they need to concentrate on bringing us better races at the tracks we already have, renovating older tracks (bring back Darlington, dammit!) and supporting smaller teams so there's at least a smidgen of competition every weekend.
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