FanHouse EddieGossage

Texas Motor Speedway's Eddie Gossage has figured out a way to slash the prices on some tickets, remove 21,000 seats and still be in a position to make more money in 2009.

Perhaps we need to put ol' Eddie in charge of this seriously fun economic situation. And by seriously fun, I mean, well something a whole lot different.

Anywho, Gossage announced that -- count 'em -- 21,000 backstretch seats will be eliminated over the next 75 days and replaced with a nice, hopefully level, viewing mound that will accomdate the parking spots of 74 motorcoaches who will pay $15,000 per year for the most luxiorous accomodations a speedway could offer.

Wireless internet, pre-race pit passes, a dedicated concierge/assistant and a plethora of other offerings one would probably expect after dishing out $15k for a few race weekends are included, as well as passes for 10 people to the motorhome area, pit area during pre-race and a access to the track's Speedway Club.

So, if any of you NASCAR highballers out there need a know-it-all blogger to indulge in the fruits of your hospitality, I'll gladly make my way to the Lone Star State to help you out.

For the rest of us, TMS also announced a pretty good deal some of the remaining seats along the backstretch, or what is now dubbed "burnout alley".

Last season, Texas Motor Speedway track president Eddie Gossage took some heat over his marketing campaign involving the IndyCar series race there.

In that instance, Gossage played on the fact that Danica Patrick and Dan Wheldon had had a verbal sparring match after the previous race in Texas with a "Dan vs. Danica" theme.

This time around, though, the players are much different.

In anticipation of April's Samsung 500 at Texas for the Sprint Cup series, TMS has been running an ad campaign called "reasons" and includes a picture of a driver and a reason why they want to win.

One of those drivers was Dale Earnhardt Jr. And TMS thought he wanted to win because of the way Junior parted ways in 2007 with his stepmom's team, Dale Earnhardt Inc.

The billboard used to show Junior and read "Reason No. 88: Stepmom".

Not so fast, says the Earnhardt Jr. camp:

Hendrick Motorsports 2008 Starting Lineup
Point Guard: Jeff Gordon
Shooting Guard: Jimmie Johnson
Small Forward: Casey Mears
Power Forward: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Center: Rick Hendrick

I suppose it might be difficult for the NASCAR-challenged to understand the magnitude of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s announcement that he will sign with Hendrick Motorsports, currently the most dominant team in NASCAR.

In an attempt to help those unfamiliar with the sport, many have attempted to put things in perspective with sports analogies:

Eddie Gossage, Texas Motor Speedway President - "With Dale Earnhardt Jr. joining Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson at Hendrick Motorsports it is like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird playing together in their prime."

Jenna Fryer, AP Auto-Racing Writer - Now they've got Dale Earnhardt Jr., and the four-car stable has turned into NASCAR's version of the New York Yankees.

But would you believe there are still those out in the world who don't understand the value of NASCAR's most popular driver?

John Swansburg, Associate Editor, Slate: "The instant analysis on ESPN2 yesterday was that Junior's move was somehow like Clemens going to the Yankees, the first time around. But such comparisons are by necessity tortured ones, because there is really no analogue for Dale Jr. Has any other professional sport ever been so dependent on an athlete who wasn't close to being the best in the game? ... To offer my own tortured analogy, he's as famous as Tiger Woods and as good as Scott Verplank."

Of course, Swansburg's analogy is flawed. Why? Because I've never even heard of Verplank. Maybe that's supposed to be the point, and to be fair, I don't really follow golf. But I think the writer would be hard pressed to find a single golf fan who has never heard of Earnhardt Jr.

I'll go one further and say that I even resent this analogy, because this fan still believes that Junior is the fifth-most talented driver in the garage. But now that he'll be back on a powerhouse team, even I expect him to prove he has the driving skills, as he has in the past. I have no doubt he is up to the challenge.

I also have no doubt that HMS will be the team to beat in 2008.