NAASCAR Kentucky 2011: Track Officials Rushing to Apologize for Race Day Debacle

NASCAR's 2011 Kentucky Stop Will Be Remembered For One Thing: Traffic

When you are talking about a race, it is never a good sign that the first thing that comes to mind is slow moving traffic. That is the exact opposite of what you want people talking about. And while the cars in the race at the Quaker State 400 were free to race at high speeds, it was the people getting there that struggled.

Attendees for the race were stuck in traffic for upwards of six hours. It caused many of them to miss big chunks of the race. And now people involved over the race are falling over themselves trying to apologize.

Track general manager Mark Simendinger released this statement:

To those fans that were not able to attend the Quaker State 400, we offer our sincerest apologies, track. We'd also like to apologize to all of our fans who endured challenging conditions during our event weekend.

Marcus Smith, president and chief operating officer of SMI, had this to say:

I would like to apologize on behalf of Speedway Motorsports to the fans who had tickets, yet due to logistical issues, were not able to attend the inaugural Sprint Cup Series race at Kentucky Speedway. For those fans with tickets who were unable to attend Saturday night's event, we will honor their ticket at any remaining 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at a Speedway Motorsports facility, or the 2012 Sprint Cup race at Kentucky Speedway.
Our company has always been about enhancing the fan experience with first-class amenities and putting fans first. I feel terrible for the fans that had a bad experience at Kentucky Speedway. We are asking that they give us a chance to make it up to them.
We are very thankful for the overwhelming fan support we had for this inaugural event. We learned some valuable lessons this past weekend and will do everything in our power to make sure we don't have these issues again.

Kentucky Senate president David Williams said Kentucky Senate transportation chairman Ernie Harris has agreed to hold the hearing saying:

I sympathize with the angry people who didn't get in; I was one of them. On behalf of those impacted and on behalf of all taxpayers, I am going to focus on analyzing the problem, getting information and finding a solution so Kentucky isn't again embarrassed nationally.
While I do not believe there should be a rush to judgment, I do think the legislature has a responsibility to investigate the public safety issues created by Saturday's debacle and ensure that signature economic development events reflect well on Kentucky.
We felt like this was a situation we wanted to roll out all the stops, and go above and beyond. All the plans we made and all the effort we put forth didn't produce the results we wanted, and we want to try our best to make it right with fans who are understandably frustrated.

It is nice that people are owning up to this travesty, but it should have been seen coming. It was obvious the track was ill prepared for the crowds they knew they were going to receive. And while they are trying to make it up to fans, there is little that can be done to erase the frustration and stress of sitting in traffic for six hours.

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