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Joined: 7-21-2006

City: 20smoke's Biggest Fan

State: Nunavut

Posts: 22721

The World's most Missed speedway

5/5/2008 10:57 PM

Anybody catch the crowd at the ARCA race there Sunday?

Filled it about like the last few cup races there....

Talk about your empty sections.................

Bandman

Joined: 7-21-2006

Posts: 3557

The World's most Missed speedway

5/5/2008 11:04 PM

That was almost as sad as the lack of a safer barrier was scary.

Bandman

Joined: 7-21-2006

Posts: 3557

The World's most Missed speedway

5/5/2008 11:04 PM

I thought you were gonna break out Ontario.

Eldora Three

Joined: 8-18-2007

Posts: 2371

The World's most Missed speedway

5/6/2008 7:52 AM

I watched it because it was The Rock. It would have been nice if there was more people there and I'd like to see Andy make a go of it. Wonder if the lack of people was due to the track or because it was an Arca race? And it was a busy weekend of racing.

texracr

Joined: 7-21-2006

City: Space City, USA

Posts: 7804

The World's most Missed speedway

5/6/2008 9:01 AM

Eldora Three wrote:

............Wonder if the lack of people was due to the track or because it was an Arca race?

I think it's the track. Not the surface, per se...... but the track as a whole. They couldn't sell the seats when it was a NASCAR venue...........either.

I believe (at least where Cup racing is concerned) The Rock suffers from reverse Real Estate-itis. You know the deal......location, location, location?

The Rock's problem is..........there are too many other good race tracks so close.......nobody really wants to go there to see a race.

jlb

Joined: 7-21-2006

City: The Woods of Lothlorien

Posts: 31086

The World's most Missed speedway

5/6/2008 1:02 PM

Ever been to The Rock tex?

We've been. We loved it. In a way, it's like going back in time. Look at where the track is at on a map smoetime.

No interstates within reasonable distance and the ones that are there are not heavily traveled or not completed.

You are right about it's location. It is not a tourist attraction and couple that with the fact that it had both races at very bad times of the year, weather-wise, one of which followed Speedweeks in Daytona and it's not a surprise it failed.

Darlington is only 60 miles away and close to Interstate 95 and Florence, SC. Myrtle Beach is not unreasonably far away, either. Lot's more to do. Rockingham is well inland and located in the heart of what used to be textile country.

I still do believe though, that if they would have put lights in at the track and moved it to this time of year, The Rock probably could have survived with one date intact.

Darlington proves that. I still think that NASCAR (ISC) thought that Darlington would fail, but the fans came through. A night race in early May in South Carolina.

Gee, sounds like a recipe for success to me.

To be repetitive, Rockingham is only 60 miles to the northwest of The Lady in Black.

Oh well....

We miss The Rock.

Bill

Joined: 7-21-2006

Posts: 34295

The World's most Missed speedway

5/6/2008 5:43 PM

The Rock is awesome to watch a race at!!!

pacekar

Joined: 3-28-2008

Posts: 6799

The World's most Missed speedway

5/6/2008 6:40 PM

keep in mind that when nascar was a southern sport , all the tracks were within a days drive just about
and as more and more tracks were built in other areas , less people traveled great distances to see races unless they were diehard fans who wanted to witness and feel the racing at historic tracks like the rock , darlington , n. wilksboro etc
besides being 60 or so miles from darlington as jlb mentioned , it's also only 75-80 miles east of charlotte .....
and no doubt the "spring" february date was almost always very frigid , october was usually iffy weatherwise ..
i've sat in 30 degree weather {not sure of the windchill } at atlanta . i'll never sit and watch a race in those temps again.
cold weather in march / early april is half the reason i always sell my "spring" bristol seats .
now leaving out location , weather , and lack of anywhere nearby hotels and restaurants ,
the track itself always provided great racing . and it was a great place to watch a race.
i only made it there once and of the 10 tracks i've been to , it was my favorite place to watch a race .

texracr

Joined: 7-21-2006

City: Space City, USA

Posts: 7804

The World's most Missed speedway

5/6/2008 8:34 PM

I was there back when Bill Elliott drove the Budweiser Ford for Junior Johnson.......so that would have been in the early 90's if memory serves........

The track itself is good, and Garage Area was cool. But the shortcommings with The Rock seemed to be the things like VIP Suites and such.

Other track relatively nearby had 'em............The Rock didn't.

Keep in mind.......at the time I was comming from Texas to see NASCAR Cup racing. The physically closest track to me was Talladega. North carolina was a haul. I never could figger out why the folks who lived closer wouldn't support the track.

jlb

Joined: 7-21-2006

City: The Woods of Lothlorien

Posts: 31086

The World's most Missed speedway

5/7/2008 1:00 AM

texracr wrote:

I was there back when Bill Elliott drove the Budweiser Ford for Junior Johnson.......so that would have been in the early 90's if memory serves........

The track itself is good, and Garage Area was cool. But the shortcommings with The Rock seemed to be the things like VIP Suites and such.

Other track relatively nearby had 'em............The Rock didn't.

Keep in mind.......at the time I was comming from Texas to see NASCAR Cup racing. The physically closest track to me was Talladega. North carolina was a haul. I never could figger out why the folks who lived closer wouldn't support the track.

When the textile industry moved off shore, that area was hit hard. That had a lot to do with it from what I've heard and read from people who know the area.