July 12, 2011
By Doug Demmons
Bruton Smith could see it coming.
Even before the NASCAR Sprint Cup race that he worked so hard to secure for his Kentucky Speedway, he knew there would be problems.
While holding court for the media before the race he joked that the fans that bought every seat he had to offer might get home “by Tuesday.”
But even Smith had to be stunned by Carmeggedon, the debacle that saw fans backed up on highways for miles on end, fans with tickets unable to get to the track, fans who eventually got to the track turned away because there wasn’t enough parking.
Smith had been vocal in his complaints about Interstate 71, the main feeder to his track in Sparta, Ky. He called it a “disaster.”
And Smith knows well from experience about traffic problems at race tracks. He has faced them -- and solved them -- before.
Atlanta Motor Speedway -- the track that lost a race so Kentucky could host one -- used to be a traffic nightmare. It isn’t any more.
Smith’s Speedway Motorsports Inc. has made huge improvements to tracks in Texas, Las Vegas, Bristol and New Hampshire. Eventually, SMI will make Kentucky work too.
But it is quite clear that Kentucky is not yet ready for prime time.
It was bad enough not having enough parking, not having an adequate traffic plan, and having the presidents of other SMI tracks -- including Smith’s son Marcus -- outside helping with traffic. That was embarrassing enough.
But speedway officials don’t even know how to say “we’re sorry.” A terse statement released Saturday night did little more than acknowledge there was a problem and pledge to fix it. There was no apology.
Even the owner of a mom and pop restaurant knows to bend over backwards to make it right to a customer who hasn’t been treated right. That basic fact of business seems to have eluded the folks at Kentucky Speedway.
It is especially shameful because Kentucky fans made possible what precious few tracks have seen recently -- a sellout. And this is how they were treated.
Smith is correct that there isn’t much he can do about an inadequate interstate highway. That’s the job of state and federal officials.
But there are plenty of other improvements -- such as adequate parking -- that need to be addressed ASAP. And the track needs to go way out of its way to make it up to fans who spent the race in bumper-to-bumper traffic.
And the condition of the track itself needs to be addressed. The rough asphalt made for a single-groove track which led to yet another boring race at yet another cookie-cutter track.
Repaving sooner rather than later is called for.
But none of this will happen overnight. Interstate highways are not widened at supersonic speed. Anyone who has driven on I-20 between Birmingham and Talladega Superspeedway can attest to that.
There will surely be incremental improvements before next year’s race, but that’s not enough. If the infrastructure around the track cannot get 100,000 fans in and out in a reasonable amount of time, then it’s time to break out the tarps, cover sections of seats and reduce the number of available tickets.
Of course, after Saturday night’s fiasco, they might not be able to give away tickets to next year’s race.
Doug Demmons is a writer and editor for the Birmingham News ~ he writes daily and weekly auto racing columns ranging from NASCAR to open wheel to Formula One, local tracks and more... you can read Doug's columns online at Blog of Tommorow
Follow Doug on Twitter: @dougdemmons
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.
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