Spend, Spend, Spend

By Brian Watkins

Brian Watkins

Anyone that follows NASCAR knows that doing so can come at great expense. Sure, you don't HAVE to spend money to be a fan -- but its hard not to.

It starts simple enough -- a race here or there. Ticket prices have dropped over the last few seasons, but it still isn't free. Even before you head into the venue there are vendors everywhere selling just about anything you can imagine, most of it racing related. Once inside the fence you are welcomed by the siren song of the souvenir haulers. Anything you couldn't find in the vendor area's you'll certainly find in the official gear sellin' semi's. 

Let's say you managed to sneak past all the driver emblazoned gear -- can you get to your seat without buying a seat cushion or a program. What about that fancy Sprint headset??? For the cost of another ticket you can watch the race just like you were at home.

I'm certainly not knocking any of these purchases, or any of the folks selling things at the track. It's just an observation at how easy it is to spend extra cash. But it's not just those who attend the races that are susceptible to spending. In fact, thanks to the internet you can spend as much (or more) at home, and it starts with the TV. Well, not really the TV itself although I'm sure more than a few fans have opted for a big screen to satisfy their race watching needs, but rather accessing the stations that cover the races.

I first got hit by the NASCAR TV bill when I upped my satellite plan so I could get TNT to watch Cup races when they jumped from Fox. By next season I'd upped it again to get SPEED, which allowed me to catch the truck races and some quality pre/post race broadcasts. I haven't opted for the package that allows you to jump from in-car cameras and listen to driver chatter, but I'm sure it's not far off.

For a lot of fans though, the expenses directly related to race watching are negligible when compared to the money spent online at fan sites, die cast retailers and NASCAR gear stores like one at NASCAR.com or just a click away on most team pages. Die casts easily set you back $70 or better by the time they're shipped -- and special autographed editions can run to the hundreds of dollars. While t-shirts are usually reasonably priced, why stop there? You can pick up a pit crew jacket or other top of the line gear that almost makes you look like part of the team -- for a price, of course.

Some of the coolest NASCAR collectibles I've seen for sale are the "race used" items. There's a guy at Michigan that sells race used tires every season, which would be an interesting addition to your garage or basement.

But the Joe Gibbs racing site (www.joegibbsracing.com) as well as other sites offer something a bit more dramatic (and expensive) for the NASCAR collector: race used sheet metal. From contingency panels to hoods and rocker panels, you can bring home pieces of your favorite driver's car. Prices for these items run anywhere from $50 on up. While many interesting pieces can be had for a few hundred dollars, the prized pieces will set you back a bit more.

My "dream garage decoration" is currently on sale on the JGR store site. It's the entire wall-gouged right side of Kyle Busch's Darlington car. Why settle for a die cast when you can have a chunk of the real thing? Well, for me the reason is simple. I can get a decent die cast for $70 -- the slice of the M&M's Camry would set me back $2000, plus a long drive to North Carolina to pick it up. Given that, I think there will be a big empty spot on the garage wall for a long time to come.

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