Washington’s NASCAR Stimulus Package

January 29, 2008

By Brian Watkins

Brian Watkins

A lot was made last year when a Democratic staffer who works for Rep. Bennie Thompson indicated an "unusual need for whomever attending (NASCAR events at Talladega and Charlotte) to be vaccinated against hepatitis A and B," as well as "the more normal things -- tetanus, diphtheria, and of course, seasonal influenza."

Republicans had a hay day with the comment, and more than few fans were rightfully offended.

When it was all said and done apologies were offered and “no offense was intended”. Offense, however, was definitely taken. It seems law makers both in Washington, D.C. and Washington state (you may recall Washington State House representative Larry Seaquist, who said of NASCAR fans "They'd be the ones with the junky cars in their front yard and would try to slip around the law.") have a fairly low opinion of NASCAR and it’s fans.

However a recent turn of events inside the D.C. beltway may be Washington’s way of apologizing to the citizens of the NASCAR nation by facilitating their attendance at races this summer. Is the government giving our race tickets? Pit passes? Free die casts? Not exactly; but pretty darn close.

Once the senate and the President sign off on the newest economic stimulus package, the treasury department will begin processing nice little checks that will hit our mailboxes around June. Supposedly these checks will be in the $600 range per adult plus and extra $300 per child.

So, the average NASCAR lovin’ family of Mom, Dad and their 2.5 kids will get a check for just under $2000. Let’s say this family lives in Wytheville, VA (an Army buddy of mine is from there... nice place) which is just under a 2 hour drive from Martinsville. Let’s say this family drives a Chevy Silverado that gets 21 MPG on the highway. Once they get their check, they can buy tickets for the four whole people in the family (the .5 kid can stay at grandma’s house) for the fall Martinsville race.

Tickets for four in the ”Petty Tower” section will run them $300, gas to get there and back will run about $35 (figuring $3.25 a gallon). For food/drink and modest souvenirs figure another $150-$200; bringing our family’s Martinsville experience to a grand total of $535, leaving them another $1400 of their NASCAR fun money. They can then take that cash and head south for the fall race at Lowe’s, kicking out $360 for four tickets to the all-you-can-eat grandstands, $42 for gas, $120 for a hotel room; leaving them more than enough to pick-up 4 ($100) pit-passes for the event.

All told, they’ll have stimulated the economy of Charlotte by $922 plus any incidentals they spend along the way- and still have money left when they get home. Even if they drove a motorhome and paid for camping, they’d still come out a bit ahead, not too bad for “found money”.

Sure they could spend their money on a new plasma television and watch all the races in their living room in HD and surround sound. But that’s short sighted, really. First of all, it will send that money overseas to the TV manufacturer (something all you Toyota haters certainly don’t want to do) and second, do you really need anymore excuses to not get out of the house?

Take the kids to the races folks- let ‘em smell the smoke and tires and fuel. Let them eat a $5 hotdog and slurp on a $4 Coke. Let them have a chance to see drivers and cars up-close and personal. You know they’ll love it, and you know you will too; though I can’t make any promises about how much they’ll enjoy the drive to and from the track or the wait in traffic -- but hey, besides that it’s all good.

So when you finally get your ‘stimulus’ check, find the closest track and go stimulate it!

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.

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