I live in Portland Oregon and I have spent tens of thousands of dollars over the last 15 years as a NASCAR fan, going to races with my family. If there was a track in Washington, I would be spending my money there every year, less air fare of course. The people I have met at the tracks are a melting pot of a diverse group of fans from all over the United States and Canada. I would venture to say that there is 50 percent local, and 50 percent out of state race attendees at any given track, with the out of state group spending an overwhelming amount of money. The family fan base in Washington and the surrounding area is bigger than imagined, as I have met many of those people at the tracks I have attended. I don’t have to list the expenses of a vacation as you are obviously aware of them. Simple math and past new track performance tells a person the economic benefit would be an enormous success.

It seems that everything International Speedway Corp. and NASCAR touches, turns to a golden success. They are business geniuses. They are growing this sport leaps and bounds. They know how to attract fans from all different age and gender groups. The television changes and advertising I have seen to promote the sport have been evolving over the years to the extent that so to speak “hooks” the new fan and keeps the existing.

I don’t know how the state-financed stadiums for the Mariners and the Seahawks have paid off because I only follow NASCAR. I do know that if they stop winning, most fans stop going to the events. But I give you this as something to ponder, I have watched the attendance of my cities Portland Trailblazers basketball team drop off as the team has been faltering to the point of their stadium filing bankruptcy. People have fallen out of favor with the team for shortcomings, trouble, nonperformance and general disgrace. NASCAR has all the same problems, but the difference is that while the NFL, NBA, MLB, and most other sports, have only 2 teams playing each other at each event, NASCAR events have 36 to 43 teams doing battle at each race. There are 122 teams or more in the top 3 divisions. You may loose a fan or two because they have given up on their driver but you still will have the other fans going to the race for the other 121 teams. Point being, the attendance will still be up at the NASCAR event, making the facility a success well into the future.

John Stepnioski
Portland, Oregon