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I typically don’t do this, but I have a special request for all you NASCAR fans:
If you have a TV, tune in to Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500.
Or, if you live in the Atlanta area and have, say, a few hours of free time and an extra $50 or so for a ticket, head on out to Atlanta Motor Speedway to watch the race in person.
No, I’m not being paid a commission by track owner Bruton Smith or track president Ed Clark for every extra body that passes through the turnstile.
What I’m trying to do is actually two-fold:
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—Preserve AMS’s place in history as one of the premier racing facilities and give the attendees or viewers the experience of seeing a good, legitimate, competitive race on Sunday.
—Keep the spring race in place at AMS. For if the crowd is only 40,000 or 50,000 instead of a sellout of 90,000-plus, I’m afraid Sunday will be the last spring race to ever be held at AMS.
It’s no secret that AMS, the fastest track on the Sprint Cup circuit, has had a huge problem with attendance—or lack thereof—in recent years.
And I’m afraid that if we see more empty seats than full ones on Sunday, the annual spring event will go the same way that the Labor Day tradition at Darlington went after nearly 50 years.
Poof, gone, the race date given to another track.
It’s no secret that Clark wants to keep both Cup dates. It’s also no secret that his boss, Smith, wants a Cup date for his newest toy, Kentucky Speedway, or a second annual race date for one of his other prized possessions, Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
That LVMS was packed to the gills for last week’s race doesn’t help AMS’s chances of keeping its spring event. And while we have a great forecast for Sunday, let’s face it: Early March weather in Atlanta is unpredictable at best.
But with temperatures expected to be in the low to mid-70s with lots of sunshine and few clouds likely, there’s no reason why true NASCAR fans can’t venture over to AMS if they’re in the area, or at the very least, watch the race on TV.
I’ve received tens of thousands of e-mails from fans over the years, and one of the most impressive things that stands out from most of them is their passion and love of the sport. They reminisce with fondness about defunct former Cup tracks like North Wilkesboro and Rockingham. They lament how Darlington lost one date and almost lost its second date before a $20 million renovation once again made The Lady In Black one of the brightest shining lights in the Deep South.
And, oh, how they love Atlanta. How Bill Elliott literally is God there, even to this day, or how the late Dale Earnhardt was so revered.
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Let’s not forget what probably was the most memorable race in NASCAR history: the season finale in 1992, right here at Atlanta. It was where Alan Kulwicki, perhaps one of the greatest underdogs in NASCAR history, beat Elliott by 10 points to win the then-Winston Cup title. Unfortunately, Kulwicki wouldn’t be able to enjoy his championship very long, tragically dying in a plane crash less than six months later outside Bristol, Tenn.
