TV ratings for the Sprint Cup Series, down the last two years, are up 2% this season while attendance at the tracks has dropped or remained flat. Many who attend seem to decide at the last minute, unable or unwilling to shell out for rising gas prices and average hotel room rates of $200 with three- or four-night minimums.
That might also explain a spike in demand for camp sites at places such as Talladega Superspeedway, site of Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 Cup race. Operators of the Alabama track, mindful fans travel an average of 300 miles to the race, have opened more space for campers and expanded free parking.
Efforts to offset costs for fans have begun at such tracks as Lowe’s Motor Speedway outside Charlotte, promoting its $39 tickets for the 165,000-seat Coca-Cola 600 on May 25 as part of affordable packages.
“We don’t want to leave money on the table, but tickets (left) on the day after a race are absolutely useless. It’s like yesterday’s news,” Lowe’s track President and general manager H.A. “Humpy” Wheeler. “We’re on the edge of something that will be with us for a while, because I don’t think the economy will turn around real quick.”
NASCAR teams are not immune, not with diesel-powered 18-wheel rigs (at 5 mpg) transporting race cars. From the U.S. government’s Energy Information Administration, the average price of diesel is $4.14, up $1.29 from last year.
The economic realities have forced NASCAR fans to face the difficult choice of fueling their cars or their passion — forcing operators of the tracks hosting Sprint Cup events to be more creative about keeping up attendance levels.
Overall, levels are about even with this point last year, boosted by sellouts at the season-opening 50th running of the Daytona 500 and last month’s UAW-Dodge 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee.

usatoday.com

One foot forward will be for Peg. The next step might be for Andrew. The one after that, and the hundreds - thousands - to follow will all be in memory of those touched by cancer.
Christopher Barry won’t know all their names, but they’ll be with him for Monday’s 112th running of the Boston Marathon nevertheless, each of the names affixed to shirt, shorts or firmly in his heart.
Barry, 28, is running Boston as part of the 19th annual Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge, which is expected to raise some $4.5 million for cancer research. Barry, a 2003 Keene State graduate, said he raised $6,838.06 as of Friday, and by Monday’s race expects to have more than $7,000 toward his $8,000 personal goal.
Barry said he wrote letters to everyone he knows explaining his role in the marathon challenge and asked respondents - with or without a donation - to provide names of cancer victims they’ve known. Those are the names Barry will wear on his T-shirt on Monday. Peg is for Peg Barry, Barry’s grandmother who died of breast cancer in the early ’90s. His friend, Andrew, died of testicular cancer at the age of 22 a few years ago.
“A few years after (my grandmother) died I saw how much it affected my grandfather who lost his life partner of all those years. It showed me just how deeply cancer affects not just the person who has it, but everyone else,” Barry said, explaining his inspiration behind running what will be his second marathon and his first in Boston.
“It’s easy to get up at 5:45 on a winter morning and get out and do the run. You have that little extra motivation and especially on the runs, when I get out I’m just so happy to be doing it and to be challenging myself. I think of a lot of the people who I’m running for who I know - and the people who I don’t know who I’ve been told about - and there’s a story for every one of them.”

sentinelsource.com