Half of Auto Club 400 Crowd Partakes in “Empty Seat T-Shirt” Promotion

In a saturated sports market like greater Los Angeles, it takes a lot to get a sellout crowd to an event.  Well, Auto Club Speedway had one today for its Nascar Cup Series race, with at least half the crowd drawn in by the track’s Free Empty Seat T-Shirt Promotion.

Elbow-to-elbow!

“Around Los Angeles, people think that everyone wants to be seen”, said track promotions director Will Minton, “but some people really want to blend in to the background.  Well, what better way to do THAT than with a t-shirt that allows you to look like an empty seat?”

The promotion is one that appeared to help the track announce a sell-out, something difficult this day in age for all sports properties, even the NFL (well, in Los Angeles at least).

“We know how much fans watching from home care about how many people are in the stands, for, um, REASONS, so we did everything we could to make sure it was a packed-full grandstand for raceday”, Minton said.  “This Empty Seat T-Shirt event has already drawn interest from the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are considering handing them out to fans in the sixth and seventh innings of home games.”

When asked if the Empty Seat T-Shirt would be used next weekend at Martinsville, a representative for that track laughed and hung up.

Uncle Max: California Weekend Picks

Weekly picks from Spade Racing’s writer/webmaster/janitor Mike Mackler’s uncle.

Man, what a week.  Not only was I busy at work with the usual bull, but I made the mistake of setting up a midweek date.  Don’t get me wrong, the lady was quite nice, but still, it feels wrong to be going out to a bar & grill on a Thursday night.  As for the date itself, well, lets just say there were philosophical differences—she was philosophical, and I was different.

I mean, look—I understand that you can’t get off weekends because you work at the casino, but really, you expect me to not at least GLANCE UP at the tv screens?  Its the Sweet Sixteen—I have a reputation to uphold?  So yeah, I haven’t heard from her since, but at least I’m still in the lead for my March Madness pool!  Of course, the guy running it is the lovely lady’s cousin, so we’ll see if that grand prize actually comes in cash.

Anyways, here’s my picks for the upcoming race weekend at California (total wins in parenthesis):

Xfinity Series Service King 300 (2 wins): Kyle Busch—the king of the minors is back, and I’m back to ride his coattails!

Cup Series Auto Club 400:  FAVORITE—Kyle Larson—the winner of the runner-up awards graduates to victory lane—and from my “dark horse” section.  NEXT FAVORITE—Joey Logano—seems like the kind of race Logano would somehow win on pit strategy.  DARK HORSE—Ricky Stenhouse Jr.—hey, it could happen!

Carl Edwards Chases Kids Out of Garden

Recently-retired NASCAR driver Carl Edwards has found that while retired life isn't nearly as chaotic as his time on the racing circuit, it does present stressors of its own--namely keeping neighborhood kids out of his prized flower garden. 

"I told you kids yesterday to stay out of my flowers!" Edwards was heard yelling at a small group of grade-school kids. "Do it again and I'll call your parents--I mean it this time!"

"Jeez, I mean, you work so hard on something, and then you have these kids riding their bikes across it!", an exasperated Edwards told reporters. "I mean, daffodils are so fragile, and it's not like there's any time to replant."

While the children in question weren't able to be reached for comment, it is believed that by cutting across said garden it decreases the trip home from school by up to 45 seconds. But Edwards was hearing none of it. 

"Maybe it's because they're not used to me being around this much, maybe it's because we gave out factory-second M&Ms last year for Halloween, but they're making this personal", Edwards said. "This is somehow even worse than that hawk that keeps eyeballing the bluebirds at my bird bath."

Edwards is reportedly considering investing in an upgraded privacy fence as a solution, or simply putting up old cardboard cutouts of him and Jared from Subway.