December 21, 2009

Well it’s Christmas time and everything is supposed to be quiet around the racing world, but that’s certainly not the case. I have never seen more attention focused on the annual ARCA test at Daytona since I’ve been in the business. That’s right, I said annual ARCA test, as in they are in Daytona every December to get ready for the season opener. Some of you were probably not ever aware of that. This year the test was highlighted by Danica Patrick’s debut in a stock car. Early reports are pretty positive about her performance as she posted a speed in the top-20. You can be certain that a lot of attention will be placed on her in February.

I remember in 1999, Shawna Robinson finished second in the ARCA race at Daytona and we did a special promotion with her for the ARCA race at Talladega. If Shawna won the race here at TSS, we were going to award $100,000 to a fan. We did a lot of media around Shawna for that race, which created a lot of attention on her performance. While it wasn’t the magnitude that Danica is getting today, Shawna was a big focus of our fall weekend that year. While I can’t remember where she finished, I do recall her not finishing the race because of a wreck. Shawna recently posted on her Facebook status that she was about 10 years too early in her racing career. Maybe so, but she, along with the other female racers, must be credited with helping open the doors for the nine female drivers who were testing ARCA cars last weekend in Daytona.

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

December, 15, 2009

Christmas is always a special time of year around Talladega Superspeedway.

Annually we participate with a local radio station to do an on-air auction to raise money for families in need. We have been doing this for about 13 years with Thunder 92.7 in Oxford and it has been a tremendous success. It’s been a very heart-warming experience as well. This year the event raised more than $13,000 that will go back out to families in local counties. While the amount is down a little from past years, it is certainly an amount we are as a staff are proud to be able to contribute.

What a great way to start the Christmas season. I hope you and your family have a Merry Christmas.

December 7, 2009

The move to Las Vegas for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series banquet was well received. The comments were all very positive from the industry and the fans.

Fans lined the streets of Vegas for the Sprint Victory Lap and several hundred fans attended the banquet for the very first time.

These fans were guests of the tracks, drivers and others within the sport.

We invited long-time ticketholder Charlie Crawford and his wife to the banquet.

While Charlie was unable to attend, his wife Betty (top photo, L) and her friend Kathy (top photo, R) were able to attend and had a great time. It was a pleasure to spend time with Betty and Kathy and the other fans at the banquet.