Ticket sellout streak rolls to an end at Bristol Motor Speedway

BRISTOL, Tenn. – It’s so long to the long streak.

For the first time since the days of Ronald Reagan and big hair, Bristol Motor Speedway was unable to celebrate a sellout Sunday for a Sprint Cup event, snapping the longest run of packed grandstands in NASCAR history.

NASCAR officials estimated the attendance for the Food City 500 at 138,000, well short of the facility’s 160,000 capacity. BMS does not release precise ticket sale figures.

The speedway’s record streak of 55 sellouts began back in August 1982 – when the track could accommodate a mere 30,000 fans.

In the ensuing 28 years, BMS has gone through multiple expansions, including the addition of nearly 100,000 new seats since the current ownership group, Speedway Motorsports Inc., purchased the track in January 1996. Work on expanding the speedway to its current size began after the fall 2002 race.

But until Sunday, demand to be at the track had managed to out-pace – or at least match – the ticket supply.

While BMS barely pulled out a sellout for the 2009 spring race and the writing was on the wall for the streak to end in the days leading up to this year’s main event (a marquee outside the speedway Sunday morning advertised that tickets were still available), seeing the streak officially come to an end was still tough, said Lori Worley, the speedway’s director of public relations.

“Obviously it’s disappointing because it has been a long streak, but … we outlasted every other race track for a pretty good while,” she said. “We just have to look at it that we can start a new streak in August.”

The August race has always been an easier sell with more reliable weather and the intrigue of racing under the lights.

“I feel like we’ll do well in August,” Worley said, adding that an iffy weather forecast for Sunday was likely the final nail in the coffin for the record run. “I think as the economy gets better, so will we as far as selling seats.”

While Worley said BMS doesn’t have any immediate new ideas to announce to bring more fans to the track in August or next spring, she said track officials will continue to search for ways to add value to the fan experience.

“It’s an opportunity to look at other things you can do, but you’re not very good in business if you don’t constantly look for things that can improve your product or make it more enticing for the fans,” she said.

Two of the first four tracks to host 2010 Sprint Cup races prior to the Food City 500 were able to claim sellouts – Daytona and Las Vegas – but attendance problems have plagued NASCAR events around the country as the national economy has roiled in recent years.

USA Today reported in January that a number of tracks have lowered their seating capacities for 2010 – including Daytona, which slashed more than 20,000 spots to go from a 168,000-seat facility down to 146,000.

Worley said downsizing hasn’t been brought up for Bristol.

“We have not discussed that at all,” she said. “That has never even come up here.”

Prior to 2009, tickets for Sprint Cup races at BMS had been a challenge to obtain, with no single-event Sprint Cup seats available to the general public through the box office since SMI came on board as owners in 1996.

But despite the change in climate from ticket scarcity to abundance, Worley said the loss of the streak doesn’t mean the sky is falling.

“All in all, I guess people would look at you and say you’re crazy if you were disappointed with this crowd because anybody else would be thrilled to have it,” she said about Sunday’s turnout.

NASCAR agreed with Worley’s assessment, with one official remarking that 138,000 people in the stands is “still a helluva crowd.”

nhubbard@bristolnews.com (276) 645-2543