 | RACING PERSPECTIVESFontana and Vegas Dance
Between the Raindrops
by Michael Daly-Staff Writer
02/28/2008
Just when Fontana needed something to bring itself some positive coverage, it got instead a rain-soaked weekend, water seeping up from the ground, subpar attendence, and a quality of racing noticably down from last September's strikingly fierce affair. Surprisingly a story circulated that the Oscar ceremony was concerned that the race might cut into ratings for the Academy Awards broadcast, but it's a little hard to buy that one, and certainly the presence of Tom Cruise - whose only "good" movie, Top Gun, succeeds not because of him or Kelly McGillis but because of Val Kilmer, Rick Rossovich, Michael Ironside, Tom Skerritt, and terrific aerial footage - added nothing to the Fontana weekend any more than his ill-conceived NASCAR movie, Days Of Thunder, added anything to racing.
The weepage of water that plagued the Sunday 500 miler will likely be the lasting image of the weekend and the lasting indictment of speedway management after sealer was laid down to hold the surface together better. Some compared this fiasco to water weepage at Texas in 1998, ignoring that weepage was the least of that track's problems at the time. This incident certainly doesn't help anyone, and raises further questions about the Fontana track and justification for it.
The track drew poor crowds all weekend, with some listed attendences being pathetically implausible on their face. It has never drawn all that well, selling out only barely in the late 1990s and early part of this decade. Why it doesn't sell out is something NASCAR seems not to want to ask, as the track's beleagured leader Gillian Zucker is undoubtedly working the promotional effort to the best of her ability but seems to be working for a questionable cause.
The blunt truth is that southern California is not a NASCAR demographic. It wasn't when Ontario Motor Speedway was in existence and it wasn't when Riverside International Raceway died out. When it was added to the schedule it wasn't a big controversy, but in now twelve seasons the track has still not proven itself a viable spot on the tour, and the controversy began when it was given a second date, benefactor of the sacrificial lamb of Darlington.
This Fontana race debuted the COT and despite a few spurts of good racing it was just like every other non-restrictor plate COT race - the cars responded poorly in dirty air, there wasn't any noticable increase in passing, and the winner (Carl Edwards) had no challenge at the end. This is the opposite of what the COT promised, and the bungling that has gone on at Fontana met its match here.
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The sport leaves this weak demographic and goes to Las Vegas, and we're bound to get an earful from Bruton Smith about his track. That it sells out is surprising (and downrigth puzzling) given that Vegas is anything but a racing demographic and also given Bruton's recent inability to sell out his other tracks in better demographics. Bruton banked it up and will no doubt talk about all the hotels in the area to justify getting a second date, but hotels do not make a demographic and the new banking at Vegas has hardly meant more competitive racing - all it's done is make it run faster.
Carl Edwards' Fontana win gives him a momentum spurt for this Vegas race while the Hendrick tandem of Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon got back on track at Fontana and look to overtake Edwards at Vegas. The other two Hendrick cars, meanwhile, have fallen strikingly behind Johnson and Gordon, and the hype for Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Hendrick suddenly looks a little silly with a bad Fontana wreck following his mediocre Daytona run.
Toyota's one-team effort at Daytona became almost a one-car effort at Fontana, though that was salved somewhat by Brian Vickers' effort during the two days of racing there. Kyle Busch nonetheless is taking the lead for Toyota and may have the most momentum of anyone entering Vegas.
The same cannot be said for Kurt Busch or Dodge, which didn't distinguish itself at Fontana despite a superb effort by Kasey Kahne and a noteworthy run by Juan Montoya. Even with this Dodge may have lost the momentum it got at Daytona and Vegas is not the best place to try and get that momentum back.
With Fontana done and Vegas looming, the grind of the 2008 season is only beginning - let's hope they can dance between the raindrops and race.
Questions? Comments? Contact Michael Daly at stp43fan@hotmail.com
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