NASCAR souvenir sales steady at Bristol

Race souvenir sales might be down all over the country, but Bristol is an exception, said Chris Williams, vice president of trackside sales for Motorsports Authentics. The company, which takes 40 licensed merchandise trailers to races around the country, is seeing better overall sales this year than last, Williams said. Sales are off 15 percent to 17 percent this year, he said; last year they were off 35 percent.

But in Bristol, he said, sales are right on target.

On Saturday, he was more worried about the potential effect of the rain than that of the economy.

“Bristol is such a unique individual. Bristol has so much history," Williams said, before describing the wrecks, bumps and spins that fans find exciting on the half-mile track.. “You can go see some things [at Bristol] than you don’t normally see."

Besides Bristol, he said, only Las Vegas, Daytona and Texas have been seeing normal amounts of souvenir sales.

“They want stuff that says Bristol," said Michelle Harbaugh, who was manning a souvenir stand at the speedway for the Fairmount Elementary School PTA. “The hottest items have been what we call the event shirts, the ones that have the date and ‘The 100th race at Bristol.’ " Tricities.com