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| - Wow, I never thought in a million years that I'd be clicking on 4 stars for the CMS and saying, "Yay! I'm a fan." But it is true. And I'm not even into racing! (I am too ADHD to sit around for hours watching people driving around in circles on the tube and I am not excited about going out to the racetrack to sit in the chicken-bone throwing section of the stands with the 'real fans'!)
However, on my one and only visit to the Charlotte Motor Speedway, I experienced the holy grail of racing-dom... I was a guest in the President's Suite, got a "backstage VIP tour" including meeting all the execs and Bruton himself (dude is really short!). We even got to go up on the roof and see where some of their cameramen get those shots of the whole track.
After our VIP tour of the corporate offices, we also got Pit Passes. One of the marketing interns drove us out to Pit row. There was so much excitement and energy down on pit row. The garages of course are state of the art and looked as clean as an operating room. The pit stops were unblieveably cool as well - I had no idea how large those tires were!!
I was totally amazed with the whole tour! I do believe that I would become a major race fan if I always scored an invite to the President's suite & pit passes!
Now, back to the President's Suite. One of Bruton's sons is the President & GM (Marcus). He arrived at the suite a little late, shook hands with everyone and settled in to watch the race alone. (Side note, he's a short dude too- just like his dear old dad.) He was very quiet & kept to himself and everyone in the suite left him to watch the race on his own.
So what about the food? It was definitely what you would expect for this sort of venue. I think it is catered by the Levy Resturant Group which operates some upscale and semi-upscale restaurants. They also provide food for many sports complexes, arenas, convention centers, etc.
On the night we were there, they offered a wide variety of food... everything from hotdogs to roasted chicken. The chicken was seasoned well and roasted just right. They have a variety of assorted sides that were good as well. It was not the best meal I've ever had by any stretch, but for food served at a racetrack, it was damn good.
The only odd thing was that there was absolutely no alchol in the suite. They had plenty of sodas and bottled water... but no adult bevvies. I would have liked to have gone for a beer or glass of wine but I didn't feel that it was appropriate to bring one into the suite given that none was offered (not even for purchase) inside the suite. Oh well, it was a super-fun night even sans alcohol (which previously I thought was mandatory for having a good time at a race!)
I must admit (even though its pretty morbid) I really got excited when there was a crash (thankfully, no drivers were injured that night!).
The suite was really unbelievable! As you would expect, it was right in front of the checkered flag, so we had a great view of the start and finish of the race. I loved the big windows that gave you a great view of the track. The stadium style seating in the suite ensured that everyone had a great view!
Also, of the coolest things about the President's Suite is that it is stocked with plenty of those really cool scanner devices which have headsets & a little built-in screen so that you can listen in on communications between the driver and their crew. And, if the driver you're tuned in to has the camera in their car operating you can get a "birds-eye" view of the track from inside the car. I like it because you can hear them talking about pit strategies, how the cars are handling and what other drivers are doing on the track. You can listen to just one team or switch channels to see what each team is talking about. It was definitely the way to go if you are watching a race at the speedway (especially great for A.D.D. people like me!). http://storefront.nascar.com/raceview
They also had these nice glossy NASCAR magazines for everyone in the suite so you could read about the drivers and the tracks. Again, nice for someone with a short attention span.
So I hate to admit it - but that night I became a "fair weather" race fan. What does this mean? For me, it means that I won't be buying tickets to sit in the stands and I won't be buying club membership either, but if I happen to score Speedway Club tickets, I'll definitely be there! And while I still don't sit down and watch a race on TV for any length of time, from time to time I'll tune in to a race for a short bit to see what's happening.
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