October 2, 2007

By Brian Watkins

Brian Watkins

The 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule is out and for now it appears that the lessons learned at the August race at Michigan International Speedway were forgotten. Once again there is no break after the July 27th Allstate 400 at the Brickyard. I would have thought after the prospect of racing at Michigan in November came close to being all too real, NASCAR would have moved one of its breaks into the post season or at least after the last northern race.

The upside to the Michigan rain adventure this year was that we had tickets. We went up on Sunday and waited, waited at home on Monday and then on Tuesday (we had to work so attending was out of the question) we started praying for continued downpours. It’s not that we wished the drivers to be frustrated, or the fans that were in the stands to be even more miserable. It was because we were wishing for our mid-season Michigan tickets to be turned into final-race-of-the-season gold. We had high hopes that we’d get to use our tickets in late November and watch the championship race happen in our back yard. Instead we just watched as others enjoyed the race and our tickets simply became damp souvenirs.

While I can’t imagine a delayed northern race such as Michigan, Dover or Loudon being rescheduled to late November, if an extended storm hits late on a race weekend; it could certainly come to pass. While it would certainly be miserable for the fans I can only imagine how fun it would be for drivers and crews. It could be even more interesting if a red flag is flown due to early winter storm- instead of track driers they’d call on the local highway department to spread salt on the track.

Seriously though, I really thought after such an extended delay at Michigan that the schedule would have been altered some what. In the end though, the powers that be at NASCAR are obviously smarter than I am- or I’d be the one raking in the cash and setting the schedules and they be writing columns. Such is life.

Hog Heaven

While rain delays or bad weather in general can put a damper on any race fans day, Lowe’s Motor Speedway (LMS) has taken steps to keep fans happy, even if it’s raining.

Making its NCNCS Debut for the October 13th Bank of America 500 is the LMS “Feast with the Beast” all-you-can-eat grandstand. Gone are the days of saving your money for souvenirs by skimping on the concession goodies.

While the all-you-can-eat buffet is common place along interstate’s en route to a race, the all inclusive offering at LMS appears is a first in Cup racing. While it’s no Golden Corral, the unlimited food included in your ticket price (ranging from $59 to $99) includes “All the hot dogs, hamburgers, peanuts, popcorn, chips, Coca-Cola soft drinks and water you can eat and drink” which is quite a cost savings no matter how you look at it. If you figure the average NASCAR meal (minus the beer) runs about $3 for each item (hot dog, soda, fries) and you get two dogs, a Coke and fries you’ve run up a $12 heart attack. If your significant other attends with you and has an equal appetite, you’ve just added $24 (or likely more) to the cost of your tickets. Not hard math really. The ticket prices at Lowe’s that include free food (I’m still having trouble using the word “free” and NASCAR in the same sentence) aren’t that out of line with what you’d pay to watch the race without having the grub included.

There are limits though. The all-you-can-eat portion of the grandstands overlooking turn 2 allows race fans with a wrist band access to free food one hour before the race starts and for two hours after the green flag drops. While not being one to knock free anything, it would have been nice if they’d kept it open for the duration of the race, or at least until the last 75 laps. But I’m not complaining. Free food is free food and one should never be so bold as to complain about it. I’d thought of suggesting they include beer in their list of goodies, but I can only imagine the chaos that would ensue by the third lap.

Many of you may have already heard about this offering at LMS, but the reason I chose to write about it was to recognize that while many tracks are becoming less and less fan friendly it’s refreshing (pardon the pun) to see that some tracks are taking the opposite line, making changes to improve not only the fans experience and the relationship those fans have with the track, but also recognizing that attending a race can be a costly endeavor. Eliminating (or certainly greatly reducing) the cost of attending a race by providing food as part of the ticket seems like a win-win for everyone involved at Lowe’s, except of course for the guy stuck cooking all the hot dogs.

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.