ISC PROPERTIES FEELING HARD ECONOMIC TIMES

Ticket sales at tracks owned by International Speedway Corp. — NASCAR’s publicly held symbiotic cousin — are down 17 percent from last year, even with discounted tickets being offered for many of its Sprint Cup races.

That was revealed Thursday in a national teleconference between ISC and financial analysts. The majority of ISC stock is controlled by the France family, which owns NASCAR outright.

Because ISC is publicly held it must honestly — and publicly — disclose its financial condition.

In this case, you have to love federal bureaucracy.

ISC spokesman Wes Harris told those listening in that the drop in advance ticket sales has gone 15 percent to 17 percent over the past seven weeks despite its move to reduce prices for about 150,000 seats for several of its race weekends.

No such news yet from Speedway Motorsports Inc., which owns seven Cup tracks including Las Vegas Motor Speedway. But it’s safe to bet the decline in its advance ticket sales will be comparable.

Another interesting part of the call was that ISC’s media rights revenue last year was $257 million. But a NASCAR representative said that its television contract for Sprint Cup races is based on having 43 cars start each Cup race.

It’s likely that won’t be a concern for the first few races, but if the economy continues to dip, having full fields of 43 competitive cars could become a challenge.

NASCAR might have to look the other way if it needs to rely on marginal teams as “field fillers” or “start-and-park” cars that race around for a few laps before heading to their garage because of mysterious mechanical malfunction.

More drama to come in future episodes of "How the Stock Car Turns."