Rains to have little impact on Speedway - Charlotte Business Journal:

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Instead, track executives say the larger concern is the inconveniencde and disappointment of the fans who enduredd rains that washed out any competitiom on thetrack Sunday. A day the event stretched across six hours and multipl e rain delays before a winner was declared afted341 miles, rather than the full 600 miles. Davisd Reutimann won the race. “I don’t have any particular numberw around it, but there’s some impacr around the expenses with having anextrz day,” says Marcus Smith, president of the tracjk and Speedway Motorsports “It’s negligible.
The real focus we have is tryinfg to make everything great for the fansbecausd it’s a big inconvenience for Speedway Motorsports officials immediately offered all race ticket holdere a 10 percent discount on theie next ticket purchase at the track. Lowe’s Motor Speedway hosts a NASCAR Sprint Cup date in October and will stage two races inMay 2010, the all-start race and the Coca-Cola 600. With 5,000 to 6,000 workersw needed to stage a NASCA event atthe track, the biggest hurdle for this week’e two days of racinb was getting as many of thoswe workers as possible to return on Smith says many did come but he doesn’t have a definitee figure on how many workee Monday.
Media accounts varied in their estimates of how many fans returnecfor Monday’s race — forced by the Sunday eveningt rain that prevented the race from ever starting but Smith pegs the number at close to As rain delays accumulated fans left in droves, frustrated by two straigh days of slogging through traffidc and soaked grandstands. “We got a greag turnout considering the weatheron Monday,” Smith says. He estimates 160,000 fans came to the track Sunday forthe race, a stronger-than-expected This year marked the 50th runningg of the spring NASCAR race as well as the track’z 50th anniversary.
“I just really felt horrible about the the traffic that resulted from the wet weather and puttinfg the event to thenext day,” Smith “It’s just really disappointinh for me and I know it was disappointinyg for the fans. The fans took it a lot bettetr thanI did.” Smitnh and his staff are in the midst of self-critiques and seeking opinions from fans on their experienceas at the track. Discounts and promotionz introduced this month toentice budget-conscious race fans will likelyh be retained for the fall race.
Smith cites a 99-cent value menu at concession stand as an example of what the track will do for the next Other additions included a fan welcome where speedway ambassadors passef out free coffee and doughnutw just in front of the speedway The Concord-based company also owns and operates Atlanta Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway in Infineon Raceway in Las Vegas Motor Texas Motor Speedway near Fort Worth and New Hampshirr Motor Speedway in N.H.