Photo blog: Cincinnati media at Kentucky Speedway

Post race press conferences as viewed through my video camera

Last weekend at Kentucky Speedway was a lot of fun. I rubbed shoulders with some of the best in the business, both literally and figuratively.

Jeff Gluck, of SBNation.com talks to fans during Saturday's tweetup

I also got to stand back and watch all four local TV stations in Cincinnati broadcast live shows from the turn one TV compound that Kentucky Speedway had set up for us.

Joe D about to go on live at 6 p.m. on Thursday evening

Joe Danneman and Brian Giesenschlag from FOX19 were my partners in crime if you will, along with photographer Dan Wood.

Dan Wood shooting some NASCAR Sprint Cup practice

Brian talks to Jerry Carroll former Kentucky Speedway owner as Joe D works the camera

Joe Danneman...Dale Earnhardt Jr... need I say more?

Brian and Joe on Friday nights "Final Quarter" on FOX19

I also hung out quite a bit with Mark Slaughter, from WCPO, Channel 9, when he wasn’t asleep in the pop-up trailer that WCPO had in the infield at Kentucky Speedway.

Slaughter tests audio for Channel 9 ("Come on dude, don't take a picture of me dude")

The number of great quotes Slaughter had might have reached 1,000 by the time Saturday night rolled around.

Slaughter sits down to join the rest of us in turn one at Kentucky hours after the Quaker State 400

From Channel 5 (WLWT) in Cincinnati came Denny Hamlin fan and photographer JT, who loved this shot I took of him filming his favorite driver.

JT was fired up to see Denny Hamlin. He just kept repeating the word "Denny" throughout the weekend.

After the race, as traffic was all but stopped at the speedway, we all sat in turn one and chatted about the weekend.

We were there so long they turned out the lights on us.

It was also a fine time to catch up with former FOX19 Sports reporter Zach Wells, who now works for Cincinnati’s Local 12 (WKRC).

Zach Wells doing his best Zach Wells impression (He does some great impressions, by the way)

All in all, I’d say it was one fun weekend at Kentucky for all of us involved in the local TV side of the show. If you stay tuned throughout the next few weeks I’ll find another time to show off some great photos of Joe Danneman and Dan Wood doing interviews throughout the week.

Larry Mac: Weatherman

Larry McReynolds strolled into the media center on Thursday afternoon. As part of TNT’s coverage of the summer portion of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule, McReynolds—more commonly known as “Larry Mac” around the garage area—was at the track to check up on testing at Kentucky Speedway.

Larry Mac talks with ESPN Radio after he chatted with Joe D and myself

He chatted with some folks before FOX19’s Joe Danneman and I walked up and asked him to join us for a few seconds. Larry Mac obliged.

‘This is pretty cool,’ I thought. ‘I get to interview Larry Mac. Going to have to put that on the resume.’

We began talking about the excitement that had become the storyline of the day. For the first time ever, NASCAR’s big stars—guys like Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson—were running laps at the speedway located 40 miles from my hometown.

“Well it’s very exciting,” Larry Mac said. “It’s hard to believe that this speedway has been here for ten years. We’ve watched what this track has done with the Nationwide and Camping World Truck series for ten years. The way the fans have reached out to those races for ten seasons and it’s very fitting that we are finally bringing Sprint Cup racing to Kentucky.”

NASCAR fans who turn on the TV love to hear Larry Mac’s expertise. After 18 years atop the pit box—including two Daytona 500 wins—McReynolds ventured to the TV side of the sport in 2001.

“I really enjoy it,” he said. “It’s hard to believe I’ve been doing it for eleven years after sitting on the pit box for 18 years. People ask me all the time, do I miss being a crew chief the answer is absolutely. If I didn’t miss it, I probably would have wasted that part of my life.

“I’ve really enjoyed the opportunities that FOX, TNT and SPEED have given me each and every weekend and now, to some degree, I feel like I’m the crew chief for all 43 teams, I just don’t have to take the heat for my calls on Monday morning. But I do enjoy everything I do for all three networks.”

But wait, Larry Mac doesn’t just do work for all three networks he mentioned. He also is a weather expert. In fact, when the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series visited Atlanta a few years ago, McReynolds stopped by the Weather Channel’s headquarters and actually helped do some weather broadcasting.

“I love the weather. It’s a huge passion. If I can’t watch it, I get my wife to tape it and I watch it when I get home. That’s pretty passionate I guess,” he said with a smile.

“Weather man has been a NASCAR fan this year,” he said. “We’re almost halfway through 2011 but unlike last year, he has shined and smiled on us.”

If you need help understanding what it’s like to sit atop the pit box, ask Larry Mac. If you want to know what the weather is going to be like, ask Larry Mac.

I did, and it was pretty sweet.

Another inaugural race marred by traffic at Kentucky Speedway

I don’t want to say I knew it was going to happen, but I knew it was going to happen. And I wasn’t the only one who predicted that traffic would be terrible heading into the Kentucky Speedway on Saturday evening, numerous friends of mine told me the same thing.

Joe Danneman and I even discussed it last week while at FOX19. Joe said, “I just hope that all those people see the beginning of the race.”

I responded, “They won’t, I guarantee it.”

Last August, right after Bruton Smith announced that the Kentucky Speedway would be holding its first ever Sprint Cup race, I wrote about the horrible time my dad, brother and I had on the trip down to Sparta before the first-ever NASCAR sanctioned race at the track in Gallatin County.

“My first thoughts of Kentucky Speedway are of anger and resentment,” I wrote. “We scored free tickets for the track’s first race in 2000 and left Cincinnati around 3:30 p.m. for the 8 p.m. event. We never made it.

“Stopped three miles short of the exit for the track, we shut off the van and played football on the highway around all the other stopped vehicles. When we got back in the van to get turned around and head back to Cincinnati (because the state police had told us to turn around because the exit to the speedway had been shut down) the van wouldn’t start.”

Friends and family said, “Well obviously you didn’t leave early enough.” My dad said, “We don’t even leave that early when we got to Indianapolis, and we get there with no problem.”

Last night’s Quaker State 400 will not be remembered for Kyle Busch’s dominating performance in the No. 18 car. Nor will it be remembered for all the pomp and circumstance that comes with the sport’s biggest names descending on a track in the Bluegrass State to race for the first time since 1954.

No, this race will be remembered in the same vain that the 2008 Brickyard 400 will be remembered by. And that is unfortunate.

 

But I just knew it was going to happen.

‘You don’t get it,’ I’ve been telling people. ‘You just don’t understand how big of an event this is and will be. This is a big deal.’

Kentucky Speedway officials knew it would be, but they somehow failed to make it all work.

National writers have been lambasting the speedway all day, some of them even took to Twitter (along with myself) last night to tell the tales of those who were stuck outside the track.

But their words can only go so far.

David Caraviello of NASCAR.com wrote, “Saturday brought the big show to a venue that had been expanded to 107,000, and the result was automotive apocalypse so bad that at one point Interstate 71 -- the main artery to the race track -- eventually backed up for 20 miles.”

The Gaston Gazette’s Monte Dutton wrote a column, saying, “At 4 a.m., I was trudging into a hotel elevator at the same time as a man and his wife. The man was wearing a Mountain Dew cap that looked as if it might have dated back to Darrell Waltrip instead of Dale Earnhardt Jr. I didn’t have to say a word. The woman looked at me and said, simply, ‘Never again.’”

I take pride in my city and knew this could be a fantastic opportunity to see NASCAR big stars in and around Cincinnati. Folks in Cincinnati had to pay attention to NASCAR now. Unfortunately, many in Cincinnati my never pay attention again.

“What really hurts is that many of these fans were relatively new to the sport…and some families with kids,” wrote Mike Mulhern of MikeMulhern.net.

“Kentucky has been staging races for 11 years,” wrote ESPN’s Terry Blount. “Surely they have learned something about traffic flow during that time, even for crowds half as large.”

Jeff Gluck of SBNation.com wrote, “Places like Daytona and Talladega routinely see crowds of way more than 107,000 without this kind of backup. It was simply a matter of poor planning.”

Blount called the race a black eye for the sport. Mulhern agreed.

“This was to be a shining hour for this sport. A new market, with new fans, new potential sponsors. And a market that seems filled with solid, bedrock NASCAR fans. Alas, it may have been all but thrown away. Repairing the damage may take a while. This debacle was on par with the 2008 Brickyard 400, in terms of negative impact on fans. And Indianapolis is still struggling to recover from the fallout and disenchantment from that mess.”

FOX19's Joe Danneman interviews frustrated race fans in traffic

They are, and I’ve seen it with my own two eyes. That 2008 race was rough, but I feel that Indy and Goodyear, along with NASCAR did their best to make up for it. It’s an uphill battle, but it’s a battle that Kentucky speedway is about to fight.

“As far as earning back people’s trust, we have to earn people’s trust every single day,” said Kentucky Speedway GM Mark Simendinger (as reported by Bob Pockrass of Scene Daily). “We have to earn their business every single day. … Obviously this will be something that will get a lot of attention over the next 12 months. I’m confident we’re going to earn people’s trust.”

“It sounds simple but I’m not sure it is because there are many fans that have likely already decided they won’t return to Kentucky Speedway. And no doubt there are many more who are thinking seriously about it,” Pockrass wrote.

And Indianapolis Motor Speedway even announced that come Monday they will be tweeting information to fans of the race that didn’t make it in for a special ticket deal to the Brickyard 400.

It didn’t stop there. Talladega Superspeedway issued a statement from their track Chairman, Grant Lynch.

“After hearing how rough the fans had it at Kentucky this weekend,” the release stated, “I wanted to let them know that we're ready to show how a race weekend is supposed to run. We put fan experience at the forefront of everything we do. That's why we allow coolers in our grandstands and provide hundreds of acres of free camping.”

It forced Kentucky to issue a statement, around 7 p.m. on Sunday evening.

“Kentucky Speedway regrets the traffic conditions surrounding the 'Quaker State 400.' We're committed to working with NASCAR, state and local officials and traffic experts to assure that this never happens again. The details of these improvements will be announced over time as they are formulated.

“We also recognize the traffic problems resulted in some fans not being able to attend the 'Quaker State 400.' We are gathering information on this and will announce a policy for these affected fans within seven days.

“Our 'Quaker State 400' ticket holders are invited to share their experiences with us through fans@kentuckyspeedway.com.  We thank all our fans for giving the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series such a great welcome to our venue."

Nowhere in that statement did Kentucky Speedway or Speedway Motorsports Inc. say the two words that NASCAR fans across the country have been waiting to here: we’re sorry.

Gluck issued five things that Kentucky Speedway needs to do to improve their situation. Number one on that list was apologize to fans.

NASCAR issued their own statement around two hours after Kentucky’s statement.

Chairman Brian France said, “While NASCAR was thrilled by the incredible response to our inaugural NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race in Kentucky, we also are 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.”

 

A fan from LaGrange, Ky., wrote to the Charlotte Observer with his tale of how he finally gave up and headed back home after nearly seven hours in traffic. (Read it here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/07/10/1335400/one-fans-kentucky-traffic-tale.html)

The Lexington Herald-Leader reported that a race fan, “camped in neighboring Sanders, which is typically a 10-minute drive from the Speedway. On Saturday, it took him two hours.”

Kentucky’s Governor, Steve Beshear, who gave the command to fire engines on Saturday night, also issued a statement on Sunday.

“There is no question that the entire week at the Kentucky Speedway was a big success, but it's also clear that there are issues, such as traffic flow, which must be addressed before next year's event. We will work with track officials to determine what can be done to address these problems, so that next year's NASCAR event will be even bigger and better.”

“NASCAR Sprint Cup race No. 1 at Kentucky Speedway was a complete, unmitigated disaster,” wrote SPEED TV’s Tom Jensen. “Immediate action is required to fix the damage.”

It may take years before everything is resolved completely around Kentucky Speedway though. On Thursday, right as the Sprint Cup teams were preparing for their first practice session of the day, I ran into one NASCAR team official, who was angry about the state of the track’s media center.

“This place is totally unprepared,” she told me.

No matter what Bruton Smith promises, fans in Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana, and those that came from other parts of the country will always remember this first time they came down to Sparta.

We were at the track so late the lights were turned out on us

The track’s former owner, Jerry Carroll, stated this weekend that he was still bitter toward NASCAR for not giving him a Sprint Cup date when he owned the track. I wonder what he thinks of the traffic meltdown that besieged his former track on Saturday night?

It’s going to be another year of improvements, another year of headaches and another year before the big boys of NASCAR descend upon Sparta again. If the fine folks at Kentucky Speedway learned anything last night, it’s that they were totally unprepared for a Cup date, no matter what they said before the event.

I could have predicted that a year ago.

I never wished to say ‘I told you so,’ to all those people who were frustrated, ticked off and missed the race. But I’ve been in their shoes. As much as the Kentucky Speedway has won me over, this event has once again made me believe that the track located 40 miles away from me may not deserve a Cup date after all.

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I had a fantastic weekend (traffic aside) at Kentucky. One track official noted that he loved seeing my stuff online, which was awesome to hear. I attended the Jeff Gluck tweetup (and Jeff even blogged a link to it!) and got to ride in the pace car for a lap with Brett Bodine. Both of those stories are on FOX19’s NASCAR page. However, I will blog about those experiences as well as talking to Larry Mac on Thursday.

I will have more photos, more stories and more memories as the week progresses. I can finally get into my favorite time of the year, the Brickyard 400 countdown too.

Kentucky Speedway GM Mark Simendinger goes 1 on 1 with FOX19’s Joe Danneman

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”?

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.

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.