Tight budget puts NASCAR growth in slow lane

SONOMA, Calif.

Soaring gas prices and a shriveling economy forced Scott Halbach and his family to choose between vacation destinations this year.

Disney World or NASCAR?

Score one for "Toy Story."

With gas prices straddling $4, some NASCAR Sprint Cup fans are making similar choices to skip races. Ten of the season's first 15 races have seen attendance drop from last year, based on crowd estimates listed in NASCAR's race reports (tracks don't publicize official attendance numbers).

The estimated crowd at last weekend's Michigan race was 30,000 less than the same event in 2007. Dover and Charlotte both had crowd listings that were at least 12,000 less than a year ago.

One reason to think the economy is the culprit: NASCAR's TV ratings on Fox for the first third of the

season were up 2 percent, which would suggest overall fan interest in the sport isn't waning.

Halbach and his family, which includes two children younger than 10, could have traveled from their home in Riceville, Iowa, to Michigan for the race, but they decided it was too expensive. In November, the family drove about 2,000 miles to Texas Motor Speedway. The family - Tony Stewart fans - spent about $1,000 on tickets, hotels, food, gas and other items.

They couldn't afford two pricey vacations this year, so NASCAR loses. Halbach says paying $3.90 for a gallon of gas in Iowa is making it tough to drive to work.

Yet Halbach has it good compared to some other places. Gas was $4.15 a gallon about an hour from Michigan International Speedway last weekend, and prices reached $4.59 in San Francisco, a 45-minute drive from Infineon Raceway, where the Cup series will race Sunday.

Diesel prices are even higher, which is why even Joe Baumann is backing off. Baumann, who fulfilled a dream and attended every Cup race in 2004, says he's seen diesel topping $5 a gallon near his Erie, Pa., home. That hasn't deterred him from attending 22 to 25 races a year - staying most of the time in a motorhome - but he finds it's keeping friends from joining him at the races.

He says he had about 100 different friends go to races with him in 2004. This year, he says, he'll be lucky to find half as many companions.

"I'm starting to run out of people to go with me anymore," he says.

That could affect the number of races he attends. Fewer friends means fewer people to share costs. Baumann, who owns a carpeting and flooring business, traveled with about eight friends to Talladega this past spring. Each person paid about $100 for fuel to help offset the cost of the motorhome. Then there was money for food, tickets and drinks.

NASCAR is more susceptible to economic downturns because many fans travel 200 miles or more to the races, some tracks report. Fans who attend a major league baseball or NBA game, by contrast, typically come from homes closer to the venue.

NASCAR president Mike Helton, who is aware of the challenges the fans face and the complaining that drivers have been doing about racing with a new car, sat down with the competitors in a private meeting last weekend at Michigan. In essence, the message was to quit griping in public. The worry seems to be that the more fans hear about how bad drivers think the racing is, the less likely they will go to races and spend their money on NASCAR.

Even with those concerns, NASCAR still averages about 125,000 per race, based on crowd estimates.

Vickie Koenig of Carrollton, Texas, symbolizes those fans who are shrugging off gas prices and continue to attend races. She has season tickets for the races at Texas Motor Speedway

but plans to go to next year's All-Star race in Charlotte, and wants to go to Daytona sometime.

"It's my one passion and one thing I splurge on for myself," says the Jimmie Johnson fan.

Among those going to races, there still are plenty of choices about how much they'll spend. Donald Colvell of Virginia Beach went to the Martinsville spring race and has tickets for the Richmond race in September. He's not planning on attending any other NASCAR races this season and won't buy as many souvenirs when he's at the track.

"I used to buy everything and anything," Colvell said - mostly merchandise related to his favorite driver, Jeff Gordon.

Now, Colvell, who is in the Navy, limits himself to buying a single die-cast car per race.

"It's an expensive sport," he said.

And these days, too expensive for some.