Will Chase Race be Cure For What Ails Fontana?
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Lost amidst Tony Stewart’s celebration Sunday at Kansas is what lies ahead next on the Chase for the Sprint Cup schedule:
Auto Club Speedway of Southern California, a.k.a “Fontana.”
You know, the same place that struggles to fill the majority of seats around the two-mile, high-speed oval.
You know, the same place drivers seem to criticize more than any other track on the circuit.
You know, the same place that far too many Southern California race fans have avoided like the plague in recent years, particularly when temperatures start reaching the mid-90s and exploding into the triple digits.
You know, the only “new” track that has come into the Chase since its inception (with Atlanta losing its Chase race in the worst “trade” NASCAR has seen in years – well, the worst trade for Atlanta fans, that is).
This Sunday’s Pepsi 500 at ACS is likely to be watched far more closely because not only does Fontana now have it’s long-sought Chase event, it’s also essentially facing a make-or-break edict: NASCAR has given the track every opportunity to succeed now.
If it doesn’t, perhaps once and for all we’ll find out that it’s not the temperatures or the high ticket prices or the traffic or the distance from center-city Los Angeles that are the real reasons why Fontana has struggled the last five years or so.
Maybe, once and for all, if the trend does not swing positively for ACS, NASCAR will finally realize that the real fault could very well be the track itself.
Earlier this year, a high-ranking NASCAR official told me this was going to be a very closely watched episode. That if ACS does not turn things around and becomes a significant success compared to other ISC tracks in roughly the next three to four years, particularly now that the nation’s second-largest TV market finally is represented in the Chase, that any and all possibilities would be considered regarding ACS’s future.
In other words, if the track doesn’t make marked increases in attendance, popularity, public reaction, driver favor and TV ratings, that anything could happen, from taking away one of its two races per season to potentially blowing up the place and rebuilding a brand new, smaller track (which still seems to be the favorite in many people’s opinion).
I may be in the minority, but I like ACS. Sure, I don’t like the heat at times, or the traffic (although I’ve found some killer shortcuts to the track that get me there pretty quick). But at the same time, I don’t want to see the place essentially torn down and start from scratch.
Gillian Zucker, ACS track president, has done a great job in a very trying environment and circumstances. You could bring in some of the world’s greatest promoters, like P.T. Barnum or Bill Veeck, and I’m willing to bet they couldn’t do much better of a job at making the overall experience at ACS more enjoyable than Zucker has during her tenure there.
We’re going to hear a lot about ACS this week as race day gets closer, particularly about its future … or potential lack thereof if things don’t start changing significantly for the positive.
For Zucker, her employees and all NASCAR race fans in Southern California, I hope things do turn very positive this weekend, that the stands are packed and fans enjoy a great race and pleasant overall ambiance – and that it stays that way for many more years to come.
After all the criticisms and media bashing ACS has taken over the last few years, it deserves not only a good turnout but also some high praise and compliments because, quite frankly, it’s not really that bad of a race track in the first place.
Rather, it’s just been a good track in a bad situation. Hopefully, that starts changing for the better this week.
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