At the Track

We'll note happenings at the national and local levels of racing.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Now available at that retail giant


Well, it’s finally happened. You can now officially get pretty much anything at WalMart, even tickets to NASCAR races.

Yep, WalMart is now offering ticket packages for $99 – 4 seats, 4 sodas, 4 hot dogs and a souvenir program.

Visit www.walmart.com/nascar and you can shop all things NASCAR - tickets, shirts, diecasts, grill covers, toys, videos, games, you name it.

And if that’s not enough, race teams’ show cars and simulators are making appearances in the parking lots. They call it parking lot retailtainment. This week they are, of course, focused around California, and will be in Fontana, Rialto, San Bernadino and Rancho Cucamonga.

Packages are available for 18 of the 38 races this year.

Remember when you couldn’t find NASCAR anything at the store?

No more! WalMart is even the sponsor of Trackside Live on SPEED. Nice new set they’ve provided, too.

Apparently the boys on Trackside are promoting the daylights out of WalMart and this new package deal.

The stuff you can get online shipped to door or store includes things like flags and grill covers, Kick scooters, K'nex models to build, video chairs, framed photos, diecasts, autographed canvas prints and framed driver photo/card, driver throws and a plethora of DVDs – season highlights, driver bios and specialties like greatest finishes.

Just which tracks are taking part in this venture? Would you be surprised if I said the ISC and SMI tracks?

Ding-ding-ding-ding! You are correct, oh Exhaust Breath!

The ISC tracks available are Auto Club Speedway in California, Darlington Raceway, Homestead-Miami Speedway, Michigan International Speedway and Watkins Glen International. SMI tracks are Atlanta Motor Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

For example, the Family Track Pack for the All-Star Race includes: 4 race tickets in Turn 2 (Diamond Tower) rows 22-46 or rows 47-66, 4 hot dogs, 4 sodas and 1 souvenir program. Now, if you like the Diamond Tower, it’s a good deal.

Personally, I don’t like the Diamond Tower. I'm spoiled. My seats for the last 5 years at Charlotte have been at the start/finish line, and continue to be so. In the Diamond Tower, I don't think you'll be able to see the newly constructed, world’s largest HD video display board on the back stretch. FYI, you can see the construction live on the Charlotte Motor Speedway website. That’s www.charlottemotorspeedway.com

But, you are still at the track, and can see the race with a pretty good perspective with the exception of Pit Road.

By the by, this package is available for the Coke 600, too.

Who said going to the races isn’t affordable anymore?

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