BRISTOL, Tenn. – Friday’s rain kept race-goers out of the stadium and under canopies, leaving them plenty of time to muse about the unusually abundant green space around Bristol Motor Speedway.
From his roomy perch on a hill, Tim Kiser looked in vain for his friends from Northern Virginia, New York, North Carolina and Florida – the main reason he comes to the event.
Rob Spielman, of Waukesha, Wis., and a patron of the BMS spring race for 20 years, noticed four empty parking spaces across from him that are usually full.
Next to Jeff Sheridan, of Grand Rapids, Mich., was a vacant green lot where for years a father and son from Pennsylvania have camped. They sold their tickets, Sheridan learned Friday.
Most years, campers begin filling the lots in the days leading up to the event, some staying a week or longer.
Race fans from Southwest Virginia to Ontario, Canada, on Friday remarked on the unoccupied campsites and parking spaces that riddled the normally teeming swath of racing country, and traded theories about the empty spaces.
"It’s the cost of fuel – the economy," said Kiser, of Lebanon, Va. "Everything’s going up but wages," he said, ticking off his race budget: $260 to get in the gate, $50 for a golf cart, a few hundred for food and beer, a couple tanks of gas – perhaps $800.
Kiser, who has been coming to the speedway "since it had concrete bleachers," hasn’t bought race tickets in years, preferring to save the money and watch the action on TV. Mostly, he comes for the community anyway.
But where was the community?
"They’ll be here," said Loren Schmidt, of Fairmont, W.Va., a 15-year veteran of the Bristol races. He believes it’s the timing – and the weather, specifically – that have kept people away so far.
"If the weather had been 80 degrees, this place would’ve been full," he said. "There are always empty spots when the weather’s not so nice."
Out of a dozen or so interviews Friday, with rain alternately sprinkling and falling in sheets, the theories most race-goers cited were the feverishly high cost of gas, and the unpredictable weather, incumbent with this year’s earlier start.
In general, fans who traveled further griped about gas prices, while those closer in blamed the weather – with a few exceptions.
Jeff Sheridan is spending $1,000 on fuel this year to haul his trailer, which gets about 8.5 miles to the gallon. That’s $300 more than he spent last year, he said.
Popping open a beer can, his son, Clayton, said the beverage was "so we don’t think about the gas mileage."
But even though Laurie and Scott Handegard, of Dilworth, Wis., drove 1,300 miles to get to BMS, gas mileage wasn’t on their minds. The couple traveled in a car rather than a trailer, and are holing up in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. The better fuel economy cushioned them from the prices at the pump – working out to about $10 extra per tank, Scott Handegard figured.
Canadians, however, weren’t griping about either fuel or the weather.
"Gas is a bargain here," said Jim Brearley of Ontario, noting that it costs much more than $4 a gallon north of the border.
Ian Heustin, also of Ontario, said he and his wife experienced the economic pinch much more four or five years ago, when faced with an unfavorable exchange rate for the Canadian dollar. He believes the rain may have played a factor in the lower turnout, but it beats the three feet of snow waiting for him at home, he said.
With the rain, at least, "you don’t have to shovel it," said the 63-year-old retiree.
dgilbert@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2558
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