Remember the NASCAR race Atlanta lost? It went … not well
Oddly enough, traffic flows freely on the Bruton Smith Parkway in Georgia. (AJC photo by Johnny Crawford)
You’ll recall that the annual spring NASCAR race at Atlanta Motor Speedway became the new summer NASCAR race at Kentucky Speedway, which sits 40 miles from Cincinnati off I-71. About this piece of highway, Bruton Smith — who owns, conveniently enough, both AMS and the Kentucky Speedway – said on Speed TV:
“I’m trying my best to get the governor [Kentucky's Steve Beshear] to understand that Interstate 71 sucks. That is the worst interstate highway I’ve ever been on. I think it’s a disgrace to the great state of Kentucky to have something like that.”
As Terry Blount of ESPN noted, Bruton Smith spoke those words three hours before the Saturday night race. Imagine what he must be thinking now.
One of the Busch brothers won the inaugural Sprint Cup Event at the Kentucky Speedway, but nobody will remember which. Everyone involved was so appalled by the road conditions that varying voices have spent the hours since issuing varying statements of regret. Said NASCAR chairman Brian France: “This situation cannot happen again.”
So what exactly happened? Traffic.
I-71 was backed up for 15 miles. It was backed up so far that people holding tickets to the race arrived so late they found that the parking lots were closed (more about this in a moment) and that the roads supposed to offer access to the Speedway had, in the forlorn effort to smooth traffic flow, been reversed and were leading away from the track.
On Sunday night, general manager Mark Simendinger issued a statement on the track’s Web site saying, “Kentucky Speedway regrets the traffic conditions.” By Monday afternoon, that statement had been amended to this: “We offer our sincerest apologies.” (The track has also offered a ticket exchange for other NASCAR races, including — small world, huh? — the Sept. 4 event at AMS.)
But wait. As Kevin Kelly of the Cincinnati Enquirer reported, Michigan International Speedway president Roger Curtis took the unusual step of issuing an 18-paragraph e-mail blasting the Kentucky Speedway. The highlights:
As a track promoter I am saddened and embarrassed about what happened this weekend. To think all the hard work that we’ve done here at Michigan International Speedway and other tracks have done could be so quickly erased by Saturday’s events. That speedway, having been open for racing since 2000, should have known the challenges it would face when it tripled in size.
Just to be clear: This isn’t about kicking a race track when it’s down. We all make mistakes and MIS has certainly had past issues with traffic.
And it isn’t about trying to sway a Kentucky Speedway ticketholder to come to Michigan – though we will be happy to treat them the way they should be treated should they want to give us a chance.
Wow. And here we thought the only good feuds in NASCAR involved one of those Busch brothers.
As Jenna Fryer of the Associated Press reported, the issues could have been — and actually were — foreseen. She wrote:
Traffic was always going to be a problem. A July 1 press release from The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet that touted the traffic patterns set for Saturday night even noted near the bottom that “Kentucky Speedway is able to accommodate approximately 33,000 vehicles in its 10 parking lots.”
Track owner Bruton Smith’s addition of 40,000 seats had made it a 107,000-seat speedway, and all the seats sold a week before the race.
Clearly there was going to be a shortage, and everyone seemed to know it ahead of time. Even Smith, who spent millions on improving infrastructure since buying the speedway in 2008, acknowledged it Friday when he joked that track officials “expect to have everyone home by Tuesday.”
Wrote Brant James on SI.com: “[It] was one of the most inept debuts of a facility as a big-league venue in recent memory.”
We in Atlanta probably shouldn’t chuckle. We’ve sat on congested roads a time or two ourselves. But it is kind of funny that the thing for which AMS was known most — having the worst traffic anywhere on the NASCAR circuit — was beginning to ease just as one of its races got transplanted to Gallatin County, Ky. And you know what helped the race-day conditions down around Hampton, Ga.?
A redesigned State Highway 20 that cuts across to the track from I-75. It’s officially known as the Bruton Smith Parkway.
We’ll see if his new pals in the Bluegrass State’s government feel compelled to commission some paving projects for him. Speaking of whom:
Kentucky Senate president David Williams, who’s running against Beshear for governor, issued a statement on Monday: “I sympathize with those angry people who didn’t get in. I was one of them.”
A Williams aide said the lawmaker spent six hours in his car Saturday. Good luck with those legislative hearings, Bruton.
By Mark Bradley
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80 comments Add your comment
cattledawg
July 12th, 2011
1:45 pm
To hell with the entire transportation industry in kentucky. The biggest bunch of jerks in the nation.
sheepdawg
July 12th, 2011
1:55 pm
JM- Amen.
Putting Kyle Busch’s wins in perspective – ESPN (blog) | sportsheadline.org
July 12th, 2011
2:13 pm
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AreYouKiddingMe
July 12th, 2011
2:26 pm
~Born & Raised~ in the most awesome__ state of Ga., but you got this wrong Mark & AJC !!! Atlanta, the fans, Ga., and surrounding states had their chance. Every time I watched a AMS race, the empty seats was embarrassing. Even the last couple yrs. when___ we *KNEW* the loss was possible, the stands were empty. ~NOW~ the race in Sept. is appreciated. Kentucky did what they said they would do…..SELL IT OUT. Does that excuse the debacle, NO, but the guy that got Atlanta’s traffic woes in order, is one and the same
THE NASCAR NEWS . INFO » Kentucky Speedway gets a mulligan - ESPN
July 12th, 2011
2:31 pm
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Mark Bradley`s Booster
July 12th, 2011
2:34 pm
Atlanta Motor Speedway has come a long way from its beginning. The reason it lost the spring race is bacause of bad weather. When some of the road courses and others lose their status, Atlanta will get the spring race back.
Fans would support a late April or early May date.
woman in the throes
July 12th, 2011
2:35 pm
I can be at AMS in less than 30 minutes on race day but have no desire to go. “Racing” on the cookie cutter ovals is so boring. I drive to Bristol and next year am going to try Indy and maybe Richmond but never again in Atlanta or the similar tracks. If NASCAR was smart they’d reconfigure tracks to offer a different racing experience at each. Make some steeper, some flatter, different shapes, hell maybe even have ‘em run counter-clockwise on some. Bristol racing ain’t perfect but it’s the best NASCAR has to offer.
woman in the throes
July 12th, 2011
2:36 pm
’scuse me, clockwise
NASCAR fan
July 12th, 2011
2:44 pm
I know as writers at the AJC, Mark is required to take up for anything Atlanta and take it personal if anything ever leaves. Smith, as the owner of Atlanta and Ketucky, had the right to move the dates. There was nothing “convenient enough” about it, that is simply how it goes and how you get new tracks in NASCAR.
The Atlanta race is certainly one of the more exciting 1.5 miles tracks, but what was the attendance last yr? It wasn’t over 100k and it wasn’t a sellout. Maybe having only one race will help attendance figures, although Labor Day is a tough weekend in Atlanta as there is the Chick Fil A game at the Dome, along with the start of college football across the South. Flip it with Darlington, let them have their rightful Labor Day Southern 500 and run Atlanta in the spring.
As for Kentucky, we’ll see how the race shapes up beside the traffic issues. It looked boring, but Kyle obviously had the best car, and I’m sure if you watched Richard Petty lap the field two or three times 40 years ago you’d say the same.
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July 12th, 2011
2:50 pm
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phil
July 12th, 2011
3:22 pm
Bruce France, Mark? Please….at least get the names correct before you start bad mouthing a sport which I seriously doubt you follow one iota.
Have you forgotten the years of attendance issues we had at Atlanta before this move was made? Did you pay attention then? Maybe so, but we deserved to lose the race.
phil
July 12th, 2011
3:31 pm
PMC
July 12th, 2011
9:37 am
“It’s always brutally difficult to go see a nascar race. They don’t run in the weather, so if it rains, have a nice time in traffic.
Not only have they neutered the racing experience, they make it difficult to actually get to an event and then they wonder why people lose interest in the sport.
Maybe they should find a way to curb overall speeds without the ridiculous restrictor plates at super speedways. Maybe that might be more interesting to watch.
Petit Le mans is always a better more fun event than anything in Hampton.”
Wrong. I go to the summer Daytona race each year, and once we used our heads and figured the traffic patterns out, it became a cinch to arrive and depart with almost no delay. Attendance remains down there, as it’s been for 3-4 yrs now at least, but it’s not the traffic that’s to blame. Tandem racing may hurt em if it keeps up, but as soon as the grip is lost from the new track surface, it’ll be back to pack racing. Plates have to stay on too. Just too dangerous for the fans.
phil
July 12th, 2011
3:36 pm
CONservative Johnson
July 12th, 2011
10:06 am
“The traffic was only a problem to those that couldn’t get in. The racing was ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE!”
Agree it wasn’t good at all. But the stands looked pretty darn full to me from my seat on the couch. How were the seats full if the interstate was clogged for 15 miles with people trying to get to the race? Exaggeration of the problem perhaps? I’m sure it was bad, but it wasn’t quite what we’re being told. How could it have been?
As for AMS, parking isn’t a problem there again if you use your brain and are willing to do a little walking. It too is a cinch…
phil
July 12th, 2011
3:40 pm
Tech Fan
July 12th, 2011
11:23 am
“Unless you have a mullett and can only afford to drink Milwaukee’s Best, you have no business watching NASCAR.
Worst fans ever. Nothing but rednecks and white trash.”
This bit of wisdom is brought to you by a fan of a program so inept and pathetic that it actually REMOVED thousands of seats from its football stadium…
phil
July 12th, 2011
3:44 pm
Tech Fan
July 12th, 2011
11:34 am
“In order to be a NASCAR fan you must also be a UGA fan.
Common links in UGA and NASCAR fans:
1. Majority of fans have mullets
2. Majority of fans have awful windown decals
3. Favorite beer is rejected Miller Lite (Milwaukee’s Best)
4. Majority of fans have at least 2 teeth missing
5. Majority of fans have done at least one night in prison
6. Majority of fans never actually went to college, much less finish high school
The results of this fanbase analysis are ground breaking and rather stunning.”
As is your lack of basic grammar skills….did you manage to at least finish high school somewhere along the way?
Hillbilly D
July 12th, 2011
3:50 pm
When they reconfigured Atlanta to make it another Charlotte, they ruined it. It was a unique race track, with long corners and short straights for many years. Nothing quite like watching Cale dive off into turn three, straight into the setting sun, on the old layout.
Rick
July 12th, 2011
3:52 pm
I actually love watching racing as a whole. I can’t stand the likes of Bruton Smith and Bill France (Sr., Jr, III IV V.. whatever) who have attempted to make the sport a National marketing gimmick.
My favorite moment in racing was when Allison and Yarbrough (Donnie and Bobby and Leroy I think) were fighting in the infield at Daytona. That was not marketing that was two old tough ex garage monkeys who really wanted to win and really did not have much to lose. Great sport.
Racing, Nascar too, is truly an American tradition that has become a whorish marketing disgrace.
Bring back Jody Ridley and Dick Trickle and Leon Sells and Cale Yarborough who would kick your behind.
Bill lapping the entire field at Talladega (twice) … Yeah Baby!! Kurt Bush… Puke!
Hillbilly D
July 12th, 2011
4:08 pm
Rick
That was Cale, Donnie and Bobby. Jody and Trickle are both 69 years old now but were two of the best short track drivers, that I ever saw. Sells was awfully good on dirt.
The best driver I ever saw, period, was Pearson.
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Karla
July 12th, 2011
6:22 pm
We camped in the mud at the Speedway’s Ponderosa campground since its opening at noon on Tuesday. Traffic was terrible on every inch of the speedway, let alone I-71. It took 2 hrs to drive the 1/2 (approx) mile thru the campground to the showers on Sat. morning, then another 2 hrs to drive back to campsite. One handicapped man in our group flew from Oklahoma, rented a motorized wheelchair/scooter in Ohio which his son hauled in his pickup to the campground. Leaving camp 2 hrs early and going to the race, we decided to take only one vehicle due to traffic. There were 4 in cab of pickup w/handicap sign hanging on mirror, and 5 of us in the bed of truck with the scooter. We were waved past what we thought was the handicapped parking area, then waved on past the next parking areas on the left and right, and waved on past ALL of the other parking areas until we were at the end, with nowhere else to go. We had asked 3-4 different parking/security persons where the handicapped parking area was… None of them knew. One kind lady finally told us we could pull in her parking section and unload the handicapped gentleman and his scooter but we could not park there… we’d have to turn around and try where we’d just came thru. Fun. It wouldn’t have been so bad if it hadn’t been for the empty parking spaces we could see in the blocked off lots as we drove by each section, being waved on by… NOR would it have been so bad if we hadn’t seen all the tail-gaters taking up so much parking room with their EZ-ups, grills, chairs, and corn-hole boards. In the one lot, there was enough room between the rows for a single row of cars to have been parked, but, NO, they were playing corn-hole there.
This was my first race ever and it will be my last. The Speedway facilities were beautiful, but I wish I hadn’t got the tour in the bed of a pickup. If I ever watch a race again, it will definitely be at home, with my truck and camper parked in my driveway, AND my money in my pocket.
really???
July 12th, 2011
8:03 pm
woman in the throes @ 2:35 -
I’ve said to my friends that I would like to see NASCAR adopt a plan whereby the tracks they race at twice per year have different style events. The first race at Daytona should be run as normal, but run the July race on the road course that the 24 Hours race uses. After the first normal race at Charlotte, run the next race in the opposite direction. Do something to change things up.
Of course, I’ll stand by my early statement that NASCAR loses some people because they don’t let a race decide itself, they seemingly have to interject their own drama by throwing late cautions.
Rick
July 12th, 2011
8:26 pm
Hillbilly D,
Sounds like you are a Georgia guy who has been to a few races. My dad, who is dead now, starting going to the LaGrange, GA track in the 1940’s and 50’s and was a huge race fan. He actually took me to s few (cough) as well. We did AMS, but more often did Rome, Lanier, and even the old Peachbowl with the figure 8.
Georgia has a great racing tradition. Losing the AMS spring race was not a good thing for Georgia race fans. The diaster surrounding this Kentucky traffic issue, has to make you feel that a little justice was served, accept for the difficulty the fans endured, which was totally undeserved.
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July 13th, 2011
12:42 pm
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pbred8
July 14th, 2011
12:57 am
That’s what ole man BS gets for taking the spring race from Atlanta and making the d…..Henry and Spalding taxs go up. To H.. with him. They didn’t even have Old Atlanta Rd. to head south on as a good secape road to Griffin and all points south.
bill
July 15th, 2011
12:10 pm
najeev the cops won because money buys speed. in this case your money.
Kevin
July 16th, 2011
6:58 pm
What Nascar Dale Jr still Losin he like The chicago cubs of auto racein…..No one even shows up for nationwide series today at New Hampshire more wide open empty seats n..i puzzled fans in the hills watchin why just seat in Grandstands make full….other wise Nascar is losin fans as fast as u can grease a Pig!…..
Mere
July 19th, 2011
11:52 am
SmyrnaMan has clearly never been to a race.