By Mark Hansel
NKyTribune managing editor
Tuesday’s Kentucky Speedway Media Luncheon at the Montgomery Inn Boathouse included discussion of last year’s track resurfacing, a possible change in the sport’s business model and the announcement of a birthday party fit for “The King.”
NBC Sports analyst Kyle Petty draws a laugh from Kentucky Speedway General Manager Mark Simendinger at Tuesday’s luncheon (photos by Mark Hansel).
Speedway General Manager Mark Simendinger, was joined by NBC Sports Analyst Kyle Petty and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver and Louisville resident Ben Rhodes at the luncheon.
Simendinger first talked about changes to the fan experience, which include the implementation of a no-smoking policy in the grandstand. Previously, the Speedway had requested fans not to smoke in the grandstand out of courtesy to other patrons.
“That didn’t work real well, to be honest,” Simendinger said. “You still are allowed to smoke on property, but not in the grandstand area.”
Also, new this year at all eight tracks owned by Speedway Motorsports, the owner of Kentucky Speedway, is a new pricing policy for children. Kids 12 and under get in for free to all races, except the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup (formerly Sprint Cup) race, where admission is $10.
“That’s an incredible deal, there is no reason in the world why you can’t bring your family now, to Kentucky Speedway,” Simendinger said. “I think that and the no-smoking policy kind of go hand-in-hand, just making the whole venue even more fan-friendly.”
Kentucky Speedway will also have the rare opportunity to honor a living legend at this year’s race, “The King,” Richard Petty. Petty, Kyle Petty’s father and the all-time NASCAR wins leader, will celebrate his 80th birthday July 2, just a few days before the Speedway’s tripleheader weekend.
“Richard will be at Kentucky Speedway for race weekend, he’ll be there for the Quaker State 400 on July 8,” Simendinger said. “In connection with our partner Alsco, we are going to have a birthday party for Richard Petty and the general public is invited.”
NBC Sports analyst Kyle Petty talked about a variety of topics, including the changes to the configuration of Kentucky Speedway and the youth movement currently underway in NASCAR at Tuesday’s luncheon at the Montgomery Inn Boathouse.
A 1,000-person hospitality tent will be set up and fans can purchase a ticket, which includes admission to the race, for $180.
“You get a chance to see a legend (and) sing him happy birthday on his 80th birthday,” Simendinger said. “I would suggest any fans that are interested in doing this, you’d better hurry, because this will sell out in the next couple of weeks, I would guess.”
More information on the birthday celebration is available here .
Simendinger said the track resurfacing and reconfiguration last year was a challenge because the oval had become very popular with drivers, but the response has been positive.
“We had a really good test leading up to our race, got a lot of good feedback from the drivers,” Simendinger said. “We were able to do some work and condition that racetrack, put a lot of rubber in the track, put some lime in the racetrack to try to age it as much as we could. The gratifying thing is that we had really high quality races in all three races.”
The cream rose to the top as the driver who won the most races in each of the NASCAR series.’ William Byron (Camping World Truck race), Kyle Bush (Xfinity race), Keselowski (Sprint Cup race) won the most races on each circuit for the year, also won their respective races at Kentucky Speedway.
“The track did a good job of identifying the best driver (and) we were really happy about that,” Simendinger said. “We had a lot of really good action, a lot of passing and the overall response from the industry was really, really good from participants, but also from all of the fans.”
Rhodes said that while he considers himself one of the better drivers in the Camping World Truck series, his experience last year was disappointing.
Rhodes drives for ThorSport Racing and just prior to last year’s event a fire ripped through the company’s Sandusky garage, destroying a brand new truck Rhodes planned to drive at the Speedway.
Ben Rhodes of Louisville, who spoke at Tuesday’s luncheon calls Kentucky Speedway his home track. Rhodes who drives the ThorSport Racing No. 27 Toyota Tundra in the NASCAR Camping World Truck series, is part of the sport’s youth movement.
Using a back-up truck, Rhodes was still running near the front until a few bad pit stops took him out of the running.
Kentucky Speedway’s local driver, who will be racing the Camping World Truck series full-time in the No. 27 Toyota Tundra, hopes for a better performance this year.
“We feel like this year is going to better than ever for us, Rhodes said. “Our personal goal is three or four wins and I want to make Kentucky Speedway one of them.”
Petty talked about the changes to the sport, which included the unexpected retirement of popular driver Carl Edwards and some aggressive rules’ changes designed to enhance competition .
“I’m not going to say to anybody out there that you are going to like it, because you have to form your own opinions,” Petty said. “Some people are going to love it, some are going to hate it…but you’ve got to give NASCAR credit (for sitting) down in the offseason, to take a blank sheet of paper and try to come up with a system that makes things more interesting. Whether it’s the segments, whether it’s the points system and the way that works…whatever it may be, at least they’re trying stuff.”
He believes the changes will make the races more interesting for fans and drivers.
“Having to run the first segment, having to run that second segment, being up, being consistent, fighting for every position (because) every position matters at different times into the race,” Petty said. “One thing I do know about NASCAR competitors is, if there is a weak spot in this system that somebody can exploit, it will be exploited fairly quickly in the first five or six races.”
Petty also talked about the youth movement in the sport, which really started with Jeff Gordon and now has come full circle.
“There are more guys, and girls, trying to drive race cars, be engineers, get into the sport,” Petty said. “It is as healthy as it has ever been as far as it has ever been and there is a lot of young talent that is going to be swinging through this sport over the next 10 or 15 years.”
Petty wonders if that, coupled with the retirement of drivers at an earlier age, is a sign of a business-model change for the sport.
“My dad and those guys retired in their early 50s and now it seems to be moving to the mid-40s, when you look at Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart, then Carl Edwards pops off at 37 and throws that number in there,” Petty said. “You see kids starting at 20, you see guys like Harrison Burton, Jeff Burton’s son is 16 years old, starting out.”
He sees the changes as a positive for the sport as older athletes can retire with their health relatively intact and drivers such as Rhodes, Byron and Harrison Burton get their shot sooner.
Petty also addressed the changes to Kentucky Speedway, which were necessary for the safety of drivers.
“I like the way the drivers used to get out and they would say their jaws, hurt, their necks hurt, their backs hurt, but don’t change anything, it’s a perfect place” Petty said. “It gave those guys something, they felt like they made difference as a driver. When you feel like you can take a fifth place car and run second or third or win a race with it, that’s huge.”
Despite the changes, or maybe because of them, Petty says Kentucky Speedway remains one of NASCAR’s most challenging courses. He said Turn 3 compares favorably to those at some of the sport’s legendary tracks.
“Everybody talks about the tunnel turn at Pocono, being a tricky corner to get across or Turn 1 at Darlington, which was Turn 3 at Darlington all those years, was just narrow enough for one car to go through,” Petty said. “Kentucky is building that reputation for its Turn 3.”
Kentucky is a relative newcomer, hosting just its seventh race on NASCAR’s premier circuit, Petty sees that as an opportunity to create a new legacy. He used his father, who “has been around forever,” to emphasize the point.
“Kentucky hasn’t been around forever; Kentucky is building a tradition,” Petty said. “You guys will look back and say…I was there in the beginning. I’m building that tradition and I’m helping Kentucky Speedway build that tradition, and that’s pretty cool.”
The 2017 season at Kentucky Speedway begins in July with the return of a NASCAR tripleheader weekend anchored by the July 8 Quaker State 400 presented by Advance Auto Parts. The Camping World Truck Series starts the weekend with a 225-mile event Thursday, July 6 and the XFINITY Series Alsco 300 is Friday, July 7.
The XFINITY Series returns to the 1.5-mile tri-oval on Saturday, Sept. 23 along with the ARCA Racing Series Crosley 150 on Friday, Sept. 22 to conclude season’s racing.
Fans may purchase season tickets and camping, July weekend packages or individual race tickets now by calling (859) 578-2300 or visiting the Kentucky Speedway ticket office at 1 Speedway Drive, in Sparta.
Contact Mark Hansel at mark.hansel@nkytrib.com
