Day two of the Sprint Media Tour ended with a trip to Charlotte Motor Speedway and the Chevrolet dinner at the guest hotel. CMS hosted what was called “A Taste of SMI.” With SMI Chairman Bruton Smith holding court, the media was told of changes being made at each of the corporation’s tracks and how all the changes were to make tracks more fan friendly.
Each track’s General Manager told how they were changing things to attract more fans to their track. The changes included perks for first time attendees, long term attendees, people with children getting a reduced ticket price for their young ones, and top notch concessions. All of the SMI track chefs were there and featured such items as Coca-Cola Tacos, Green Beer, Bacon Cotton Candy, and Fried Bourbon Balls. Not all items will be featured at each track. For instance, the green beer will be a Bristol-only treat because the March race is hear St. Patrick’s Day and the bacon cotton candy is a specialty of Texas Motor Speedway.
Earlier, Smith asked the media to help him change two things about NASCAR. He wanted the media to lobby fans and NASCAR via our writings to outlaw teams who start and park and convince NASCAR to slow down the racing.
The Chevrolet dinner was an explanation. Chevrolet officials went through the process of how the Chevrolet SS car was developed from carbon fiber model to clay to what you will see on the speedway in the Sprint Unlimited and the Daytona 500. Although the production model of the SS will not be revealed until February 16th and actually arrive in showrooms until later, it was a long process and from the looks of the finished product, very successful.
The final event of the day was Nationwide Insurance’s Rally hospitality event to raise money for Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Several Nationwide Series drivers were available for interviews and money was raised for a great cause. All in all, it was a very busy and rewarding day.
