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Re: Economic Impact of NASCAR this weekend at KY Speedway.

by Steve P » Sat Jul 09, 2011 9:54 pm

Brian Taylor Clark wrote:20 mile backup on the x-way, I'd say they're tailgating at about 0-3MPH right now! Great economic impact for the state, they've been working on getting the race here for years.


We left our home in Garage Logic at 2:15pm for the 32 mile drive to the track....we came to a dead stop 17 MILES from the track. FIVE HOURS AND FORTY FIVE MINUTES later (and 15 minutes AFTER the race started) we were still two miles from the track mired in traffic. We turned around and came home. While I pin most of the blame on the speedway for a ridiculously ineffective traffic plan, the Highway Patrol also has to take a hit on this one. Despite being in the area "in force" they did NOTHING to expedite traffic and are in fact some of the laziest and most worthless pieces of pig dung ever to wear a uniform. As bad as I feel for the fans, it is the innocent travelers who got caught up in this mess who I feel most badly for...I talked to one poor elderly lady at the gas station on our way home who spent 5 hours getting from the I-71/I-75 split to Carrollton.

I will continue to be a race fan (it wasn't NASCAR's fault)...but I will never-EVER visit this speedway again.
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Re: Economic Impact of NASCAR this weekend at KY Speedway.

by Madeline M » Sun Jul 10, 2011 12:04 am

Steve P...Give them a few years to get it worked out. At least you didn't wait the extra time just to get to the gate and be turned away due to no parking like some people. Parking for an extra 100,000+ people is a challenge for any town, hope they get it figured out or that may be one expensive, empty landmark in a few years!
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Re: Economic Impact of NASCAR this weekend at KY Speedway.

by Steve P » Sun Jul 10, 2011 12:58 am

Madeline M wrote:Steve P...Give them a few years to get it worked out. At least you didn't wait the extra time just to get to the gate and be turned away due to no parking like some people. Parking for an extra 100,000+ people is a challenge for any town, hope they get it figured out or that may be one expensive, empty landmark in a few years!


I wish...after spending I don't know how many hundreds of dollars, I felt so compassionate and understanding...but I don't. This was a severe black eye on Kentucky, not just among race fans but the non-participating travelers who were caught up in this massive traffic debacle.
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Re: Economic Impact of NASCAR this weekend at KY Speedway.

by Brian Curl » Sun Jul 10, 2011 7:40 am

Sounds frustrating to be a nascar fan, all of that to go watch some guys drive around in circles?

Sounds like the title of the thread needs to be "Environmental Impact of nascar on KY', with thousands of cars just sitting all day to watch cars go around in circles there's no telling the amount of carbon monoxide that was released into our air.

Maybe we can get officials to turn that monstrosity into a horse track and get the drivers to learn a real sport - horse racing!
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Re: Economic Impact of NASCAR this weekend at KY Speedway.

by Steve P » Sun Jul 10, 2011 1:34 pm

Brian Curl wrote:Sounds frustrating to be a nascar fan, all of that to go watch some guys drive around in circles?

Sounds like the title of the thread needs to be "Environmental Impact of nascar on KY', with thousands of cars just sitting all day to watch cars go around in circles there's no telling the amount of carbon monoxide that was released into our air.

Maybe we can get officials to turn that monstrosity into a horse track and get the drivers to learn a real sport - horse racing!


Hey Brian...I'm a little tired and a little hung over but I still manged to just come up with a great idea. Why don't you take the rest of the day and go fuck yourself you arrogant dickweed.
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Re: Economic Impact of NASCAR this weekend at KY Speedway.

by JustinHammond » Sun Jul 10, 2011 4:15 pm

Steve P wrote:
Brian Curl wrote:Sounds frustrating to be a nascar fan, all of that to go watch some guys drive around in circles?

Sounds like the title of the thread needs to be "Environmental Impact of nascar on KY', with thousands of cars just sitting all day to watch cars go around in circles there's no telling the amount of carbon monoxide that was released into our air.

Maybe we can get officials to turn that monstrosity into a horse track and get the drivers to learn a real sport - horse racing!


Hey Brian...I'm a little tired and a little hung over but I still manged to just come up with a great idea. Why don't you take the rest of the day and go fuck yourself you arrogant dickweed.


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Re: Economic Impact of NASCAR this weekend at KY Speedway.

by Brian Curl » Sun Jul 10, 2011 4:39 pm

You might be a redneck if you leave your home in Garage Logic at 2:15pm for a 25 minute drive to the NASCAR race....come to a dead stop 17 MILES from the track and FIVE HOURS AND FORTY FIVE MINUTES later and a case of cold Bud you turn around and go home and have nothing to show for it but a $200 charge on your credit card and a bad hangover.
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Re: Economic Impact of NASCAR this weekend at KY Speedway.

by Robin Garr » Sun Jul 10, 2011 4:45 pm

Brian Curl wrote:You might be a redneck if you leave your home in Garage Logic at 2:15pm for a 25 minute drive to the NASCAR race....come to a dead stop 17 MILES from the track and FIVE HOURS AND FORTY FIVE MINUTES later and a case of cold Bud you turn around and go home and have nothing to show for it but a $200 charge on your credit card and a bad hangover.

Okay, guys, both of you. Calm down and cool it. Steve, you know better than to use language like that in the forum. Brian, take a little of the starch out of your shorts, if you can. :shock:
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Re: Economic Impact of NASCAR this weekend at KY Speedway.

by Matthew D » Sun Jul 10, 2011 11:35 pm

I was wondering where this thread might go. 'Dem some fireworks, fo sho.

Steve P wrote: I will continue to be a race fan (it wasn't NASCAR's fault)...but I will never-EVER visit this speedway again.


Have to disagree with you here, Steve. If NASCAR awards a track to an unprepared area, that ultimately comes back on NASCAR.

IIRC (and I don't know all the details), NASCAR settled on this race after buying the track from the original owners so to settle a nasty lawsuit. For all these years, NASCAR had been telling the owners that the area was not ready for a race (among many, many different arguments and excuses). Once NASCAR gained rights to the track and moved ownership on to Burton Smith, all the sudden it was race-worthy. Seems like shortsightedness to me on the part of NASCAR and Smith. Hell, Smith got all heated about all the problems he sees with I-71. Seems like bad business planning to buy a track that's situated on a highway you don't like - especially when that highway is the ONLY way to and from the track. There's plenty of blame to go around, but NASCAR isn't blame free.

On the point of the highway patrol. Me no fan of authority, but authority can't get all the blame when they location didn't even have enough parking spots. A little civil engineering mixed with large event planning mixed with simulation runs should provide some sense of how many parking spots are needed. Plan high, and account for the worst possible outcome. That one falls back on NASCAR and/or the owner (Burton Smith) too.

And now Smith's going to raise all kind of hell with the state. If I were the governor, I'd tell him to shove it where the sun don't shine. [hope that's not out of line, Robin :D ]
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Re: Economic Impact of NASCAR this weekend at KY Speedway.

by Gary Guss » Mon Jul 11, 2011 7:12 am

They really need to finish putting 3 lanes in each direction all along I-71 from the split down to Louisville, no good alternative route and every time they have any accident that thing is backed up forever anyway. Dumb place to build a Speedway but great economically for the people that live in the county. I hate driving that stretch of road
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Re: Economic Impact of NASCAR this weekend at KY Speedway.

by Alan H » Mon Jul 11, 2011 10:41 am

Matthew D wrote: A little civil engineering mixed with large event planning mixed with simulation runs should provide some sense of how many parking spots are needed. Plan high, and account for the worst possible outcome.


Right up my alley 8) ....where do I send my resume' ?.... :D



Matthew, you hit it right on the head.
It was the talk of the town yesterday ( other than womens soccer :D ) there were a lot of people throwing each other under the bus, but from what I heard from different medias NASCAR is going to put this under a microscope and decide to keep it just in the truck series format possibly or smaller races.
I have been to Bristol and there was a delay of about 2 hours but I was told it is part of the deal ?
Only happens once a year ?, so live with it....
Makes you wonder how many refunds they are going to pay back to fans ?
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Re: Economic Impact of NASCAR this weekend at KY Speedway.

by Brian Taylor Clark » Mon Jul 11, 2011 11:22 am

Alan H wrote:
Matthew D wrote: A little civil engineering mixed with large event planning mixed with simulation runs should provide some sense of how many parking spots are needed. Plan high, and account for the worst possible outcome.


Right up my alley 8) ....where do I send my resume' ?.... :D



Matthew, you hit it right on the head.
It was the talk of the town yesterday ( other than womens soccer :D ) there were a lot of people throwing each other under the bus, but from what I heard from different medias NASCAR is going to put this under a microscope and decide to keep it just in the truck series format possibly or smaller races.
I have been to Bristol and there was a delay of about 2 hours but I was told it is part of the deal ?
Only happens once a year ?, so live with it....
Makes you wonder how many refunds they are going to pay back to fans ?



I echo both of your sentiments. I do hope they issue refunds as a measure of goodwill, and after such a debacle, I'm sure heads will roll. I hope they give it another shot, as I'm sure they will have figured out what NOT to do after this weekend. It is still a great event for the state, and hopefully they can move forward with planning/development for the next one.
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Re: Economic Impact of NASCAR this weekend at KY Speedway.

by Steve P » Mon Jul 11, 2011 11:25 am

Matthew D wrote:I was wondering where this thread might go. 'Dem some fireworks, fo sho.

Steve P wrote: I will continue to be a race fan (it wasn't NASCAR's fault)...but I will never-EVER visit this speedway again.


Have to disagree with you here, Steve. If NASCAR awards a track to an unprepared area, that ultimately comes back on NASCAR.


Matthew,

Mmmmmmmm....kinda-sorta most of what you said was somewhat correct but I won't get into any long winded clarifications...We can do that over beers sometime.

Restricting my remarks (more or less) to KY Speedway and "Carmagedon", it is important to note that Bruton Smith (who in addition to being something of a carnival barker is also a freaking business genius) and his company Speedway Motorsports Inc (SMI) have a long history of strong arming state and local politicians to get improvements for his facilities (SMI owns 8 tracks). More or less the exact scenario that occurred this weekend has occurred in Las Vegas, Atlanta and Charlotte (to name just three). The M.O. is to gain control of a speedway, promote the hell out of a race, create gridlock and then stomp your feet in front of elected officials until you get the improvements you want...and if they aren't forthcoming, you sue them (as most recently occurred in Charlotte). Perhaps Bruton's most famous (or infamous) example of strong arming was when he goaded Atlanta and the State of Georgia into completely realigning a major highway (Rt 20) to accommodate traffic for his two races at Atlanta Motor Speedway and THEN after the realignment was complete, he paid them back by taking one of the Atlanta races...and moving the date to Kentucky Speedway. So yeah, Bruton has some history with this kinda thing.

There is NO doubt in my mind that KY is in for a little Bruton Smith "grandstanding" in the coming months. Personally, even though I'm a fan of the sport, I hope the Commonwealth doesn't cave in to his tactics and to take it a step further, I really hope NASCAR (acting as the sanctioning body) refuses to sanction another race at the speedway...That said, I'm enough of a realist to believe neither of these things will occur. The Commonwealth will (eventually) cave in to his demands to spend millions of dollars of our money to help make a billionaire more wealthy.

Concerning the Highway Patrol...While I pin fully 85% of what caused "Carmegedon" on the lack of access combined with incompetent speedway workers/officials, I stand by my comments about law enforcement. Their performance was absolutely pathetic. In the 16 miles I spent alternately parked or creeping along the interstate, I observed one Highway Patrolman...sitting in his car, in the median, eating a bag of Cheetos and drinking bottled water. In the meantime, we were passed...on the berm...which was littered with overheating and or out of gas cars...by no fewer than 6 ambulances who were trying to navigate the berm en route to the hospital in Carrolltown. Once one GOT to the speedway (which we managed to do on Thu and Fri), law enforcement was quite visible...Dozens of uniformed officers, all standing around with their thumbs up their butts. At this point I will note that the mood on the highway on Saturday was somewhat carnival like...people were basically tailgating en route...having a good time, standing around on the highway...talking, playing frisbee, DRINKING ALCOHOL...in the hot sun. So what IF things would have turned "ugly" ? What IF a traffic incident would have occurred or an argument would have escalated ? The cops were all 15 miles away...at the speedway...their vehicles lost in the gridlock. Coulda gotten real ugly...real fast. So yeah, I'm going to go out on a limb and call their "plan" and performance pretty pathetic.
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Re: Economic Impact of NASCAR this weekend at KY Speedway.

by Steve P » Mon Jul 11, 2011 11:31 am

BTW, if anyone is interested (we've been been told they are not...but what the hell) my description of "Carmagedon" made the sports section of the Charlotte Observer:

http://thatsracinluckydog.blogspot.com/ ... -tale.html
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Re: Economic Impact of NASCAR this weekend at KY Speedway.

by Matthew D » Mon Jul 11, 2011 11:53 am

Steve P wrote:
Matthew D wrote:I was wondering where this thread might go. 'Dem some fireworks, fo sho.

Steve P wrote: I will continue to be a race fan (it wasn't NASCAR's fault)...but I will never-EVER visit this speedway again.


Have to disagree with you here, Steve. If NASCAR awards a track to an unprepared area, that ultimately comes back on NASCAR.


Matthew,

Mmmmmmmm....kinda-sorta most of what you said was somewhat correct but I won't get into any long winded clarifications...We can do that over beers sometime.

Restricting my remarks (more or less) to KY Speedway and "Carmagedon", it is important to note that Bruton Smith (who in addition to being something of a carnival barker is also a freaking business genius) and his company Speedway Motorsports Inc (SMI) have a long history of strong arming state and local politicians to get improvements for his facilities (SMI owns 8 tracks). More or less the exact scenario that occurred this weekend has occurred in Las Vegas, Atlanta and Charlotte (to name just three). The M.O. is to gain control of a speedway, promote the hell out of a race, create gridlock and then stomp your feet in front of elected officials until you get the improvements you want...and if they aren't forthcoming, you sue them (as most recently occurred in Charlotte). Perhaps Bruton's most famous (or infamous) example of strong arming was when he goaded Atlanta and the State of Georgia into completely realigning a major highway (Rt 20) to accommodate traffic for his two races at Atlanta Motor Speedway and THEN after the realignment was complete, he paid them back by taking one of the Atlanta races...and moving the date to Kentucky Speedway. So yeah, Bruton has some history with this kinda thing.

There is NO doubt in my mind that KY is in for a little Bruton Smith "grandstanding" in the coming months. Personally, even though I'm a fan of the sport, I hope the Commonwealth doesn't cave in to his tactics and to take it a step further, I really hope NASCAR (acting as the sanctioning body) refuses to sanction another race at the speedway...That said, I'm enough of a realist to believe neither of these things will occur. The Commonwealth will (eventually) cave in to his demands to spend millions of dollars of our money to help make a billionaire more wealthy.

Concerning the Highway Patrol...While I pin fully 85% of what caused "Carmegedon" on the lack of access combined with incompetent speedway workers/officials, I stand by my comments about law enforcement. Their performance was absolutely pathetic. In the 16 miles I spent alternately parked or creeping along the interstate, I observed one Highway Patrolman...sitting in his car, in the median, eating a bag of Cheetos and drinking bottled water. In the meantime, we were passed...on the berm...which was littered with overheating and or out of gas cars...by no fewer than 6 ambulances who were trying to navigate the berm en route to the hospital in Carrolltown. Once one GOT to the speedway (which we managed to do on Thu and Fri), law enforcement was quite visible...Dozens of uniformed officers, all standing around with their thumbs up their butts. At this point I will note that the mood on the highway on Saturday was somewhat carnival like...people were basically tailgating en route...having a good time, standing around on the highway...talking, playing frisbee, DRINKING ALCOHOL...in the hot sun. So what IF things would have turned "ugly" ? What IF a traffic incident would have occurred or an argument would have escalated ? The cops were all 15 miles away...at the speedway...their vehicles lost in the gridlock. Coulda gotten real ugly...real fast. So yeah, I'm going to go out on a limb and call their "plan" and performance pretty pathetic.


And I agree with all of this. The fault lies with NASCAR, Burton will pin it on the state, and then we shall see what the state does. It is a wonderfully horrible business model. Purposefully screw up the first event, blame someone else, and get richer.

Regarding the patrol, I'd love to have been a fly on the wall in those traffic planning meetings. I wonder how much say the patrol actually had in developing the plan. I can't really fault them for showing little interest in a plan that was doomed to fail. It was made to fail. They were just pawns in a larger system. And Burton will come out the best in the end.

Like I said, I don't know all the details. But I know enough about Smith and his system of operation to know where this is going. The sooner Beshear announces him to be Persona non grata in the commonwealth, the better this will all end (for those of us ultimately footing the bill).
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