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Maybe I'm crazy, but nobody has to earn the right to speak the truth - it's a God given right and if everyone did it the world would be a better place. Of course, the right to free speech comes with a responsibilty to be respectful... and that's generally where the wheels fall off.
Yes, the stands have a lot of empty seats at a lot of the events. I imagine that to a degree some of that can be traced to the escalating costs of running a race car, regardless of the class, but not much of it. If anything, that's limiting the car counts because people can't afford to compete... which, in turn, makes it somewhat boring to watch because the same handful of teams are head and shoulders above everyone else. I get it.
The bigger reason for empty seats would be better argued on the politics board because the state of the economy in this great nation is in the tank. If the economy was booming, there'd be plenty of corporate money and the escalating costs of racing would be moot. In addition to the economy having a negative impact on major sponsors (See: Ford dumping John Force - the face of NHRA Drag Racing whether you love him or hate him), it's impacting where and when hard working Americans are willing to spend what little money they're making. Hell, I can't afford to race so I work at a race track just to be close to it and to earn a few extra dollars....
