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.