[Texas Eagle]

Frequently, your local diner owner and your neighborhood bartender, without a college degree between them, can tell you more about the economy than Washington and Wall Street’s “bright lights.”

You can tell everything you need to know about the economy by looking at the grandstands of a NASCAR race.

Normally, they are filled to overflowing, but these days, they are half empty.

[Ouderkirk]

Part of NASCAR’s problem is the product sucks too. The “races” are like festivals not races, the actual competition is lousy and has been for years... Add in the crappy economy and voila! you have half empty bleachers.