Be careful what you wish for, Staten Islanders.

At least, some of you.

We were thinking that the other day after scanning the numbers coming in from Bristol Motor Speedway for their annual NASCAR super date of last weekend.

The 165,000-seat Tennessee track was reported to be more than half-empty when pole-sitter Carl Edwards defeated second-place finisher Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the Food City 500.

And the TV ratings for the race were reported the lowest since Fox began airing the event in 2001.

Thing is, while those figures are disappointing for the folks who own and operate NASCAR they are no surprise.

NASCAR attendance and viewership have been shrinking for a while now.

Which was one of the reasons the people who run the business were so energized about the idea of planting their flag at a new facility on the West Shore of Staten Island a decade ago.

They were looking for the New York City bump, a way to expand the brand of a business popular in more rural outposts.

And since Wall Street was already developed, NASCAR began searching for some open space somewhere in the five boroughs.

That's where they ran into some Islanders - business and political - only too willing to buy into the idea.

Why not, there was money to be made, perfectly legal political donations to be accepted?

That is America, after all.

82,000-SEAT TRACK

What emerged was a plan to build an 82,000-seat track in the shadow of the Goethals Bridge.

The corporate dream was to run a NASCAR event at a location where a TV blimp could broadcast scenes across the world - racing cars and the Statue of Liberty in the same frame.

Pictures of the track - with stands packed - and a gauzy backdrop of lower Manhattan.

Something that says, "We are welcome here."

And never mind the Islanders looking to get over the Goethals on a summer day during race week.

Former Congressman and borough president Guy Molinari signed on as a consultant to NASCAR, the wily local veteran who would navigate through the process and squelch any opposition.

The land was purchased.

The rush was on.

But there was opposition mounting, and plenty of it.

Island residents, already pushed to the breaking point by some of the worst commutes in the country, lined up at public meetings to voice angry concerns over traffic pressures on an already outdated and insufficient road and bridge infrastructure.

They demanded to know what NASCAR's traffic plan was, and why the Island should assist in the construction of a private business that would basically add just a handful of jobs to the local economy.

Things grew heated more than once.

"As the process unfolded, I transitioned from originally dubious to outright opposed," said current BP Jim Oddo, then a member of the city council. "I just didn't see enough benefit for Staten Island."

Plenty of other people felt the same as Oddo.

NASCAR sent manager Michael Printup to the Island to work with local track advocates as the corporate shepherd of the deal.

Printup appeared to be willing to work with the community in the same way the Barclays Center developers were trying to reach out to concerned local downtown Brooklyn citizens during the same time frame.

It was self-interest in Brooklyn, naturally.

But in the end Barclays was built, wasn't it?

The Island Chamber of Commerce spent more than a little time and effort attempting to bring the two sides of the NASCAR track together in a meaningful way.

And, for a long time, it looked as if the oval under the bridge might actually happen.

Finally, though, grassroots opposition rose to such a level that momentum stalled and NASCAR gave up on the idea.

They simply walked away, eventually selling the 650 acres.

The racecar business continues to have its challenges drawing new fans.

The traveling road show that is NASCAR is visiting Richmond, Va., this weekend, where track seating has been cut in half since its peak, and a string of 33 consecutive sellouts ended in 2008.

Yesterday's crowds were smallish.

Meanwhile, a much-needed and long overdue new Goethals Bridge is being constructed right alongside the old one.

And can you imagine the mess if the construction was being undertaken at the same time that thousands of RVs were streaming into town for a big race?

And what of the land, you ask?

Oh, yes.

You've probably already read in the Advance that the Matrix Development Group is constructing warehousing across 200 acres it's purchased, and that as many 1,800 permanent jobs will be coming to what is now called the West Shore Green Zone.

Which sounds like a lot better deal than the couple of dozen real jobs that would have come from constructing an 82,000 seat NASCAR track, doesn't it?