The six-hour, 20-mile long traffic jam trying to get into the inaugural Sprint Cup Race at Kentucky Speedway has led to a continuation of the verbal jousting between rival track operators SMI and ISC.
Brian France, NASCAR’s CEO has added his weight to the complaints.
In a statement, he said “we are also extremely disappointed by the traffic problems and inconveniences endured by fans who wanted to be part of our races at Kentucky Speedway. NASCAR will be in close communications with Kentucky Speedway and Speedway Motorsports Inc. to see that they work to resolve the issues. This situation cannot happen again.”
When Bruton Smith’s Speedway Motorsports Inc. purchased the 1.5-mile oval there were only 66,000 seats which were adequate for the Nationwide Series and the IndyCar Series.
After years of lobbying NASCAR, and giving up a race date at Atlanta Motor Speedway, SMI was granted a license for a Sprint Cup event and the track was upgraded to seating for over 107,000. The problem was that the roads to the track weren’t upgraded also. There were only two exits off the main highway which was miles from the track.
Many fans with paid tickets didn’t arrive at the track until midway in the race, and, even then the parking lots were full.
In the days after the race track operators of the rival, International Speedway Corporation-owned, tracks fired verbal shots across SMI’s bow.
Michigan’s track president, Roger Curtis, sent out a statement entitled “The Fan Experience Should be Priority No. 1.” “As a track promoter I am saddened and embarrassed about what happened this weekend….That speedway, having been open for racing since 2000, should have known the challenges it would face when it tripled in size,” he said.
Then he added “It’s about apologizing and doing what’s right when you are clearly in the wrong. It is about having your priorities right in the first place - on the fan experience. That’s why I’m upset.
It is bad enough the racetrack went into the weekend knowing traffic was going to be worse than they had previously had with other series. But to think Bruton Smith made light of it with the media, and then pointed the finger at the State of Kentucky when posed with traffic questions is unfathomable.”
Talladega Superspeedway, a track known for monstrous traffic jams years ago, piled on in a statement by president Grant Lynch “After hearing how rough the fans had it at Kentucky this weekend, I wanted to let them know that we’re ready to show how a race weekend is supposed to run,” said Lynch. “We put fan experience at the forefront of everything we do.”
Even the independent Indianapolis Motor Speedway (which had two black eyes from tire problems in NASCAR and Formula One) took a shot by offering disappointed Kentucky ticket holders a promotion.
Eventually Kentucky Speedway came around issued an apology and an offer for ticket exchange.
"To those fans that were not able to attend the Quaker State 400, we offer our sincerest apologies," said Mark Simendinger, general manager, Kentucky Speedway.
"We'd also like to apologize to all of our fans who endured challenging conditions during our event weekend. As we said earlier, we're committed to working with NASCAR, state and local officials and traffic experts to address Saturday's traffic issues to ensure that we never have this type of experience again."
“I would like to apologize on behalf of Speedway Motorsports to the fans who had tickets, yet due to logistical issues, were not able to attend the inaugural Sprint Cup Series race at Kentucky Speedway," said Marcus Smith, president and chief operating officer of Speedway Motorsports, Inc. "For those fans with tickets who were unable to attend Saturday night's event, we will honor their ticket at any remaining 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at a Speedway Motorsports facility or the 2012 Sprint Cup race at Kentucky Speedway.”
Whether fans forgive Kentucky Speedway is yet to be seen.
Brian France, NASCAR’s CEO has added his weight to the complaints.
In a statement, he said “we are also extremely disappointed by the traffic problems and inconveniences endured by fans who wanted to be part of our races at Kentucky Speedway. NASCAR will be in close communications with Kentucky Speedway and Speedway Motorsports Inc. to see that they work to resolve the issues. This situation cannot happen again.”
When Bruton Smith’s Speedway Motorsports Inc. purchased the 1.5-mile oval there were only 66,000 seats which were adequate for the Nationwide Series and the IndyCar Series.
After years of lobbying NASCAR, and giving up a race date at Atlanta Motor Speedway, SMI was granted a license for a Sprint Cup event and the track was upgraded to seating for over 107,000. The problem was that the roads to the track weren’t upgraded also. There were only two exits off the main highway which was miles from the track.
Many fans with paid tickets didn’t arrive at the track until midway in the race, and, even then the parking lots were full.
In the days after the race track operators of the rival, International Speedway Corporation-owned, tracks fired verbal shots across SMI’s bow.
Michigan’s track president, Roger Curtis, sent out a statement entitled “The Fan Experience Should be Priority No. 1.” “As a track promoter I am saddened and embarrassed about what happened this weekend….That speedway, having been open for racing since 2000, should have known the challenges it would face when it tripled in size,” he said.
Then he added “It’s about apologizing and doing what’s right when you are clearly in the wrong. It is about having your priorities right in the first place - on the fan experience. That’s why I’m upset.
It is bad enough the racetrack went into the weekend knowing traffic was going to be worse than they had previously had with other series. But to think Bruton Smith made light of it with the media, and then pointed the finger at the State of Kentucky when posed with traffic questions is unfathomable.”
Talladega Superspeedway, a track known for monstrous traffic jams years ago, piled on in a statement by president Grant Lynch “After hearing how rough the fans had it at Kentucky this weekend, I wanted to let them know that we’re ready to show how a race weekend is supposed to run,” said Lynch. “We put fan experience at the forefront of everything we do.”
Even the independent Indianapolis Motor Speedway (which had two black eyes from tire problems in NASCAR and Formula One) took a shot by offering disappointed Kentucky ticket holders a promotion.
Eventually Kentucky Speedway came around issued an apology and an offer for ticket exchange.
"To those fans that were not able to attend the Quaker State 400, we offer our sincerest apologies," said Mark Simendinger, general manager, Kentucky Speedway.
"We'd also like to apologize to all of our fans who endured challenging conditions during our event weekend. As we said earlier, we're committed to working with NASCAR, state and local officials and traffic experts to address Saturday's traffic issues to ensure that we never have this type of experience again."
“I would like to apologize on behalf of Speedway Motorsports to the fans who had tickets, yet due to logistical issues, were not able to attend the inaugural Sprint Cup Series race at Kentucky Speedway," said Marcus Smith, president and chief operating officer of Speedway Motorsports, Inc. "For those fans with tickets who were unable to attend Saturday night's event, we will honor their ticket at any remaining 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at a Speedway Motorsports facility or the 2012 Sprint Cup race at Kentucky Speedway.”
Whether fans forgive Kentucky Speedway is yet to be seen.