I usually like reading Brock Yates. Sometimes he seems to rant just to hear himself rant but other times he has a gem or two to offer.

This week, Yates offered what he thinks could be a solution to open-wheeled racing’s difficulty in getting attention … the attention of sports fans and press who seem to think that if it doesn’t use a stick, a ball or a carburetor, it’s not sport.

Yates still is writing about the dichotomy two weekends ago when over 150 thousand people jammed the stands surrounding Bristol International Speedway’s half-mile bullring to watch a WWFish parade, while a tenth that many were on hand for a faster, closer, more skillful race on the two-mile oval at Fontana, CA.

Yates, writing for Speedvision, notes the departure from the conventional wisdom. The CW says that a major sports attraction has to be built in or near a major city, or major market … near concentrations of people.

Bristol, on the one hand, is located in the mountains of Tennessee, not near anywhere particular. Fontana, on the other hand, is next to the second biggest market in the country but attracted only enough people to make a respectable restroom line at Bristol.

He attributes the sedan racing series’ success to the wisdom and foresight of Bill France, Sr., who make sure the sport was firmly imbedded in its southeastern U.S. birthplace. Only after whipping the locals into a frenzy did France allow his organization, NASCAR, to venture into more citified markets.

Despite his show’s obvious success on TV, he made sure that its main focus was to put fans in the seats. Not just fans, but rabidly enthusiastic fans, who will not only buy a ticket to root for their favorite driver and/or car maker on Sunday but will also buy T-shirts, models, hats which proclaim their allegiance.

As an example, Yates points out that about 20 years ago, France, Sr., stood up to television network executives who continually pressured him to shorten the Memorial Day World 600 from five hours so it would better fit the TV schedule on the same day as the Indianapolis 500.

He told them the event was created for the fans at the track, not on the couch.

Yates goes on to say that CART replaced the old Can-Am series of sports-racing cars, essentially by taking the fenders off and allowing technology to evolve, on the road courses like Mid-Ohio, Elkhart Lake, Monterey and even the streets of Long Beach.

But CART was too eager to jump to the major markets, New York, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Chicago with street courses and ovals instead of appreciating its rural fan base.

We’re not saying that CART fans come from the farm, but they come from the suburbs and the cities to rural venues to watch some of the best drivers in the world.

As for the IRL, Yates’ take is that the oval track open wheeled series has abandoned the fan base which watched its drivers learn their trade on the one-mile dirt and asphalt tracks in towns like Springfield, Sacramento, Terre Haute.

He proposes that CART keep its series almost exclusively on natural road courses and that the IRL runs its series on one-mile ovals with or without pavement.

Once a year, the two series could work together to put on the Indianapolis 500 and a few other joint events, with each bringing along its particular fans to fill the seats.

Yates’ proposals often seem to fail to take into account some realities. But he at least is offering some suggestions.