Columnist Ron Kantowski: Auto racing may hit the brakes

Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2001 | 9:56 a.m.

Ron Kantowski's column usually appears Thursday. Reach him at ron@lasvegassun.com or 259-4088. Regular sports columnist Dean Juipe is on vacation.

On the way to visit Auntie Em in Kansas last week (in reality, none of my in-laws are named "Auntie" or "Em") I got lost on the way to Roy Williams' house north of Lawrence and pulled off Interstate 435 where it intersects with I-70, a k a the Kansas Turnpike.

"Oh, there's Kansas Speedway," my wife said as I tried to make sense of the nonsensical map of the Heartland provided to us by the good folks at the Avis rent-a-car counter.

(I've got news for you -- Avis didn't try harder when it came to its courtesy map of the Kansas City area.)

Lo and behold, it was Kansas Speedway, which opened this year to rave reviews, many of which no doubt were inspired by its ideal location. Not only is it situated smack dab in the middle of the country, but with the all those cloverleaf on-ramps within a stone's throw of Turn 2, getting in and out is a breeze.

"Eighteen lanes, four directions," is the way Sun photo editor Marsh Starks, who shot the Winston Cup debut at the track in September, so appropriately put it.

Which is about 16 fewer lanes and three fewer directions than Las Vegas Motor Speedway has at its disposal on race day.

Location is half the battle in doing good/repeat business, but Kansas Speedway might have hit on another secret to success, even if it only was due to an empty wallet. Looking into the track from the Interstate, you don't need a spyglass to determine where the grandstand begins and ends.

By keeping the place quaint -- if you can call 70,000 seats quaint -- the Kansas track may be the ideal size when the recession belts the auto racing industry like Jimmy Spencer does the Turn 4 wall.

A headline in last weekend's Sun proclaimed that 400,000 Americans have lost their jobs since Sept. 11. It's safe to assume that a decent percentage of them are race fans. So unless Junior's not going to get his BB gun for Christmas so Dad can afford Daytona tickets, there are going to be a lot of empty seats next year -- especially in these cavernous speedways that can accommodate 150,000 or more.

Outside of NASCAR, most domestic racing series already are feeling the crunch, and not just from an attendance standpoint. Were it not for the Indy 500 and tracks that force fans to purchase Indy Racing League tickets in order to get NASCAR ones, oval track open-wheel racing already would be in serious trouble. And while road racing enthusiasts still show up in huge numbers for Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) events on temporary street courses and permanent road circuits, Joe Six Pack doesn't seem to care for races where drivers turn both left and right.

Having said that, it's sponsors, more than fans, that are the lifeblood of today's technology-driven auto racing industry, and they were starting to go away even before America started tightening its collective purse strings.

I know several people out at Las Vegas Motor Speedway who are worried about starting 2002 one lap down, as Speedway Motorsports Inc., LVMS' parent company, has indicated it will dramatically be trimming its work force during the Christmas holidays.

Perhaps I'm being overly pessimistic, but as a devoted fan of the sport, I'm concerned. And I rue the day when the best racing in town will be between a couple of high school dropouts in deuce coupes on a deserted county road.