On last night’s SportsWrap on FOX19 Joe Danneman had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Kentucky Speedway General Manager Mark Simendinger. Simendinger was part of the original group who picked the site of the newest track to hold a Sprint Cup event back in the late '90s.
Here is his discussion with Joe D, presented in question and answer form (a blog first!)
Q: With just days until the Quaker State, is it exciting to hear the words “race week”?
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| Simendinger with AJ Allmendinger |
A: It is. It all started a long time ago and for us everyone started showing up last week so we’re in the middle of it right now.
Q: How important is the sell-out to bring NASCAR back year after year?
A: Not only do we want to put on a good event to bring it back year after year but we want to make sure that this mid-Summer date, right around the Fourth of July, time is a great date for us so we want to really lay claim to that. The best way of doing that is having a big success like we’re going to have.
Q: What is your advice to first-time NASCAR fans going to their first-ever NASCAR race?
A: There’s a lot of things, advice wise, that I would give them. If you’re only going to come on Saturday, I would come early because there’s a huge corporate display area. There’s a big vending area with 52 trailers of all different things which creates a shopping mall that people like to go up and down.
We’ve got a prerace concert at 5 p.m. All the prerace festivities and the flyover and all that kind of stuff, you don’t want to miss any of that, and that’s really a big part of the experience.
Even if you’re not coming Saturday, or even if you are, Thursday and Friday are incredible shows and they’re very affordable. You get to see the Cup drivers, they’re either practicing or qualifying. The trucks and Nationwide races are fantastic races, and it’s a great way to come down to the Speedway for not too much money.
Q: How is Kentucky different from tracks that other NASCAR fans have visited in the Midwest (like Indy, Michigan or Bristol)?
A: All of our grandstands are brand new. The way that our track is built down into a bowl gives a lot of commanding views from all of the seats. We’ve moved pit road closer to the fans, so I’m partial to the place because I’ve been a part of it for a long time but I think it’s as fine a place to watch a race as there is on this Earth.
Q: No complaints from the June 1st tire test. That’s a good sign, right?
A: That’s one of the best things, of course.
Q: Kentucky is unique, and some big names haven’t raced there. That should make for some good racing, right?
A: I think it will. I think NASCAR is going to try to equalize that by giving them six hours of testing on Thursday when they come here to try to get everybody on equal footing. But we’ve got guys like Joey Logano who has won three times [in the Nationwide Series], Kyle Busch has won a couple of times at our place, Carl Edwards, guys like this, and Kevin Harvick.
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| Mark Martin during the tire test |
They all know their way around there pretty well. It’s going to be interesting to see if the other guys, the Jimmie Johnsons and the Earnhardts and the Gordons, can they catch up knowledge wise to what these other guys are bringing to the table.
Q: The average, non-NASCAR fan still may not realize exactly what this means for Sparta and Gallatin County. Talk about the economic impact of the race weekend.
A: When you consider that Gallatin County has, I believe, less than 7,000 people and we’re going to check in at about 125,000 or so by the time it’s all said and done by the time you count the campers, and the people that work there and everybody, that’s a pretty big deal.
It’s having its effect, and this is one of the great things about this event. I feel good that this isn’t just an event that [Kentucky Speedway] do well with. We’re going to do well with this event obviously. But so will the city of Cincinnati and their hotels and their restaurateurs, so will Lexington, so will Louisville, so the entire region draws off this thing and benefits from it and that’s what gives it so much popularity.
Q: What last minute preparations are you going through?A: Everybody thinks that sports marketing is the greatest, sexiest business in the world, but in the last couple of days some employees and I spent some time stuffing bags for campers and putting credentials together and some of the most unglamorous stuff. The guys from the Reds and Bengals know what I’m talking about, you’ve got to do all that stuff. But that’s the last minute detail stuff that we’re doing.
All the major construction stuff is done. We’re just painting lines and stuff like that. We’re ready to go.
Q: Speaking of construction, the highways are open?
A: The highways are open, and I am really thrilled about that on so many levels. Not only will our fans be able to come in, but I can get to work a lot easier now.
Q: Can people still get standing room only tickets?
A: Yes, standing room and we’ve also got the Pit Road Club inside which is a high-end, hospitality area, which is really pretty cool. It’s kind of an expensive ticket but if you’re selling clients, it’s a great place to watch the race.
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Those tickets are available on Kentucky Speedway’s website www.kentuckyspeedway.com or by going to FOX19.com and finding the link on the sports page.
Happy Fourth of July everyone and happy birthday to my mom today as well. The Quaker State 400 is just days away. Check out all my blogs leading up to the race. I’ll be tweeting and blogging away from Sparta starting Wednesday. It should be a blast of a time.
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