Hyper fascinating story from the Charlotte Observer on NASCAR ticket revenues over the last five years. Simply put, they’ve fallen over a cliff during the recession, with the UPoR estimating a 38 percent reduction in ticket revenues. Wow. Let me repeat that: wow.

And the worst part, in a single sentence from the story: “Admission revenues peaked between 2006 and 2008 and have fallen every year since.” That’s right, NASCAR hasn’t hit bottom yet on ticket revenue.

Far from it actually, as the Los Angeles Times reported on Friday:

In a call with Wall Street analysts to discuss the results, [International Speedway Corp.] President John R. Saunders also said Fox TV, which carried the first 13 of the season’s 36 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races, saw a 4% drop in ratings from a year earlier.

In addition, ISC’s “advance ticket sales for our Sprint Cup events remain approximately 8% and 9% off from last year in units and revenue, respectively,” Saunders said.

As good as the data the Observer provides is, its analysis of what’s going is weak. Actually not sure you can really even call it analysis — it’s more like spin. Yes, clearly the weak economy is playing a big role as the paper keeps saying but it’s also clear that interest in NASCAR is decreasing. And that’s in part a demographic problem for which there’s no easy answer.

Bonus observation
: This also means that Charlotte bought high when it won the bidding to host the NASCAR Hall of Fame.