Kentucky’s inaugural race was uneventful

On Thursday I sat in the Kentucky Speedway media center and happened upon an article by Yahoo’s Jay Hart. He said that NASCAR’s move to Kentucky was a bad move. The race would be bland.

The green flag drops on the inaugural Quaker State 400 at Kentucky

“Nothing against the good people of the Bluegrass State, who have done their damndest to earn a Cup date, but I can’t get behind it,” he opined.

I thought, he can’t be right. The bumpiness of the track in Sparta made for some interesting races in the years I was there. The racetrack was going to be great for racing, drivers were going to search for multiple grooves in the track and the track was good enough to promote a lot of side-by-side racing.

I was wrong.

“If that weren’t enough, the racing at these cookie-cutter tracks tends to be really, really – what’s the word? – oh yeah, boring,” Hart said.

A view of the Quaker State 400 racing action from turn one at Kentucky Speedway

And after sitting back and thinking about it, I’d be hard pressed to do much but agree, and I’m not the only one.

Don’t get me wrong, I love NASCAR with every fiber of my being. I enjoyed being at the track this past weekend and truly enjoyed seeing NASCAR’s big boys at the track closest to my house. But the Quaker State 400, dare I say it, was boring.

Kurt and Kyle Busch ran away with the first part of the event, and due to long, green-flag runs, clean air was paramount.

A few weeks back Carl Edwards was angry about having to race downforce at tracks like Michigan rather than racing his competition.

“Sadly, downforce is such a big factor in these (current) cars, and I am really hoping NASCAR will take the opportunity in 2013 to take downforce away so the fans can see the guys race race cars and not race downforce,” Edwards said.

A view of the stands at Kentucky late in the race

He continued with, “Let's say all of the cars are a tenth (of a second) apart and you are behind two or three cars, your car is two-tenths of a second slower. You can't make (it) up. I'm not whining; Denny (Hamlin) earned this win and those are the rules we are under. Track position was huge, and I just wish it wasn't like that.”

“Track position is the name of the game,” said Lance McGrew to Mark Martin before the green flag dropped on Saturday night.

Even though there were a lot of late race passes, the first 150-plus laps were little more than a parade. At one point Busch had a ten-plus second lead.

I often hear non-NASCAR fans criticize me. ‘It’s so boring. I don’t know how you watch them just drive in circles,’ people tell me.

This week was NASCAR’s chance to impress first-time visitors to the track in Sparta. A lot of non-NASCAR fans were coming to Kentucky from Cincinnati, Louisville and Lexington for the first time. And if they feel that NASCAR is boring because it’s just guys driving in circles, I feel their feelings were confirmed by the first part of the race at Kentucky.

Even some NASCAR fans who were watching on TV tweeted at me during the race that the race was a little bland and boring.

And that is sad. I love Kentucky Speedway, but it’s going to be tough to sell people to come to a track that has a horrendous track record with parking and has questionable racing.

I wish it was better, but we’ve got one year to see if Kentucky will fix anything. Until then, we’ll have to wait and see what kind of improvements Bruton Smith and SMI make to the facility in Kentucky. They’ve got a long list of things to fix. We have to have faith that they’ll get it done.

But I’m afraid the damage has already been done.

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.

Kentucky Speedway construction on schedule

It’s a place that used to make my blood boil, used to make me extremely angry. It’s a place that I hated. Bring up those two words together and my heart rate would raise and I would start on my rant.

Those words? That place?

Kentucky Speedway.

As Greg Biffle was driving a truck around the 1.5-mile oval in Sparta, Kentucky in 2000, I was sitting in traffic in the family van on I-71, miles away from the speedway.

Needless to say, I never saw the inaugural race at the speedway, and I wasn’t alone.

So it’s taken some time for me to warm up to the place, but after two years of covering NASCAR Nationwide and Camping world Truck Series races at the track, I’ve come to appreciate the little D-shaped track in the foothills of Kentucky.

When Bruton Smith announced last August that the boys of the Sprint Cup Series would be coming to the track in July of this year, I was excited. A decade ago would have been nice, but good things come to those that wait, or so they say.

And I’m not the only one excited. Local NASCAR fans are all pumped up. And so is A.J. Allmendinger.

“Something for me that has me excited about the event is just in the past couple years with the Nationwide event coming here you could see how big the crowd is, and how excited the fans are here,” he said. “For me as a driver, that’s something that knowing what just the standalone Nationwide race was compared to what the Sprint Cup event is going to be with over 100,000 people gets me pumped up to get in the racecar and drive it.”

“The fanbase here is huge and with all the construction that’s going on,” he continued. “Just in the three years I haven’t been here, just to see how far along that this place has come is absolutely amazing. I can’t wait to get here.”

Wait, did he say construction?

It’s hard to go the Kentucky Speedway today and not find a dump truck moving land or a guy in a hard hat working on the reconstruction of the newest Sprint Cup venue.

With the addition of 40,000 seats in two new towers, Kentucky Speedway will now hold over 100,000 race fans on raceday. Pit road is moving some 200 feet closer to the racing surface and speedway officials are excited to open the “Pit Road Club,” at the entrance to pit road near the exit of turn four.

It’s a two-story temporary structure that will hold as many as 2,000 fans.

Also, the track has dealt with a massive amount of spring rain, and is working on correcting the issue of “weepers” in turns one and two. By sealing the track, groundwater can’t seep up through the track.

Allmendinger didn’t talk about the construction going on around the track too much, but did say he was eager to see how the track has changed in three years since he’s driven on it.

“When I tested here it always had a decent amount of grip so it’ll be interesting to see how the track has changed over the last three years and what bumps have built into it,” he said. “It will be a lot of fun to see.”

Kentucky Speedway GM Mark Simendinger mentioned that the track is also moving out the inside retaining wall in turns one and two for safety.

All signs point toward one heck of a race weekend at a darn good looking facility. I doubt I would have said that ten years ago, but I can’t wait for the Quaker State 400 coming up in July.

Kentucky Speedway Cup race gets sponsor

On Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the inaugural Sprint Cup race at Kentucky Speedway got its sponsor. Quaker State oil will sponsor the Quaker State 400 on Saturday, July 9 at Kentucky.

Mark Martin, driver of the No. 5 Quaker State Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports (Quaker State has been a huge HMS supporter) was on hand for the announcement. He will drive the dark green Quaker State paint scheme in the race that begins at 7:30 p.m. in Sparta.

Martin, who won Saturday’s Nationwide Series race, was fired up for his first visit in a Cup car to the 1.5-mile oval.

“I think it's great that NASCAR continues to expand the tracks we race, and I am very proud to not only have Quaker State technology under the hood, but also the Quaker State logo on the hood of our car for the inaugural race at Kentucky Speedway,” said Martin. “I'm looking forward to, hopefully, piloting the No. 5 Quaker State Chevrolet to Victory Lane.”

Let the countdown begin.

Kentucky Speedway to announce race sponsor Sunday

Kentucky Speedway is fired up about their first opportunity to host a Sprint Cup race. But, we’re still confused as to the name of the “Name still TBD” 400 on July 9th.

That is, until now. On Wedensday, Fox19 Sports Director Brian Giesenschlag tweeted that the speedway will announce their sponsor for the inaugural Cup race on Sunday before the race at its sister track in Las Vegas.

Giesenschlag tweeted, “Sprint Cup race at Kentucky has agreed with a title sponsor. Announcement coming Sunday before race in Vegas.”

Last month, speedway General Manager Mark Simendinger told Mark Story of the Lenxington Herald-Leader about the details behind such a big sponsorship.

“You're talking about a seven-figure sponsorship,” Simendinger told Story. “It's a pretty complex deal that takes time to work through all the moving parts on both sides. I am very optimistic we will be having an announcement in the next couple of weeks.”

My best bets are Cincinnati-area companies like Kroger or maybe a Proctor and Gamble product will be on the race. The P&G 400 brought to you by Tide. That kind of has a ring to it.

We’ll find out on Sunday.