Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Dropping green flag for second Cup race
Tracks that hold the bulk of NASCAR races saw admission revenues drop by 7.4 percent in 2016. It was the ninth consecutive year of decline.
That won’t prevent the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority from considering a proposal Wednesday that would have the bureau contribute $2.5 million annually over the next seven years to bring a second Cup Series race to town.
Next weekend’s Kobalt 400 is expected to attract about 90,000 visitors, which is a lot of visitors for a sporting event. It’s just not as many as before. In 2015, LVMS took a steam shovel to the grandstand between turns 3 and 4 and buried it, because it can’t fill those seats anymore.
Other tracks have done likewise. Daytona International Speedway has reduced its seating capacity by roughly a third.
But the LVCVA wouldn’t be talking about spending money on a second race if it didn’t think it can succeed.
The only one talking Friday was driver Kevin Harvick, after he won the pole position for Sunday’s race in Atlanta.
The 2014 Cup Series champion mentioned Auto Club Speedway in California, which added a second race in 2004, only to see attendance plummet at the first. Seating capacity was reduced from 92,000 to 68,000 before Auto Club lost its second race.
“I love Vegas, and I think it’s a great sponsor,” Harvick said. “I think it would be good. But sometimes you can turn one great (race) into two mediocres. That’s just something you have to be careful of and look at and really evaluate.
“Vegas is a great place to race. I enjoy going there. If it did wind up with a second race, I would be fine with that, but I would be cautious to look at a California-type situation where you have one great event that we had there, and when we had two, it wasn’t so great.”
BOB MILLER CALLED IT
It was Sept 27, 1991, it was the NHL in Las Vegas of all places — and this is what Bob Miller said before the opening face-off: seldom plays on the power play. His 5-on-5 points-per-game average of 2.89 over 60 minutes not only is impressive but also leads the NHL.
Wrote one hockey blogger: “The question is no longer whether Jason Zucker is having a career year. The question is, is he having one of the best offensive seasons in franchise history?”
KRUGER GETS NO. 600
Lon Kruger recently became the 33rd coach to win 600 NCAA Division I games when Oklahoma blew out his alma mater, Kansas State, 81-51.
The former UNLV coach has taken five Division I schools (Kansas State, Florida, Illinois, UNLV and Oklahoma) to the NCAA Tournament, which is unprecedented.
He has been to the Final Four twice, with Florida in 1994 and Oklahoma last season.
He still might be coaching here, but after he guided the Rebels to the Big Dance four times during a fiveyear stretch, UNLV boosters and fans decided they didn’t want him anymore. 0:01
Evel Knievel’s daredevil suit fetched $108,000 and his walking stick (with the secret compartment for storing Wild Turkey) $78,000 during a Heritage Auction in Dallas. So that’s $186,000 for both items. At $4 per slice, one could have purchased 46,500 slices of “Cheesy Rider” pizza at Evel Pie on Fremont Street for the same amount. But then you’d probably need extra for a small Coke with which to wash it down.