Originally Posted on May 3, 2007 on foxsports.com
One of my favorite memories from attending my first Brickyard 400 was eating a picnic lunch in the stands with my Mom, Dad, brother and sister-in-law. We kept giggling every time someone remembered something else we had to eat, because we had no idea which backpack it ended up in. So things would go like this:
"I think I'd like one of those apples."
"O.K. Let me see if they are in this bag."
"No, they're in Dad's backpack"
"No, I think Dan has them in his camera bag."
"All I have are the melted chocolate chip cookies."
"And I have bottled water. Maybe we left them at the hotel?"
"Did we pack the oranges?"
I'm afraid that last weekend's Talladega spectacle where fans pelted Jeff Gordon's car with beer cans spelled the death knell for this kind of tailgating at the track. The only way to stop the irresponsible attendee from throwing projectiles at the track is to dis-arm them. And at this point, the trash tossers have left Nascar and ISC no choice but to ban carry-in items. Tracks will likely add more security at the end of the race to help prevent the milieu. And in the end, this will only hurt the fans.
Think about it: What other professional sport allows you to carry in food and beverages ? I have season tickets to the Kansas Speedway, and this year they opened the gates to allow coolers to be brought in. A couple families who sit near me were very excited as it will considerably lower the cost of attending a race when they can bring in food for their family of five.
The price of alcohol at the track is high: This weekend, Kansas Speedway was selling beer at $6-8 depending on brand and size of bottle. Non-alcoholic drinks are pricy too - lemonade starts at $5, and a 20 oz. bottle of soda is $4.50. The weather was hot - with temps reaching toward 90 degrees. At that heat, people need or want lots of liquids. The privilege of carrying in your own beverages is great - I don't have to hunt to see if the track is a Coke or Pepsi track, as I can carry in my own Diet Dr. Pepper.
But the antics of a few short-sighted people will probably result in the added cost to all. I'm sure there was not a thought process that took place to incite this incident. Because if they thought about it, the trash tossers would realize that (1) Jeff Gordon is IN the car, and won't be hurt, (2) the car might get dented, but probably not enough to ruin it, (3) the track won't be damaged by the tossed articles, (4) the most likely candidate to be hurt is someone sitting several rows in front of you when the unopened can falls short of the intended target, (5) throwing the can would not change the outcome of the race and (6) the better object to throw would be a scanner, as it is heavier and would leave a bigger dent in the car. My guess is they were not so drunk or clueless that they didn't realize a can of beer is MUCH cheaper than the costs of a scanner, as a scanner would be a much better projectile.
As this has now happend on two consecutive weekends, at Phoenix and Talladega, my guess is that Richmond would be wise to have extra security on hand in case Virginia fans go crazy if Denny Hamlin, Jeff Burton, or Elliott Sadler (all home-grown Virginians) don't win. Talladega is certain to increase its security given that this is at least the second time trash has been thrown on the track at the cars at the end of a race. How will tracks recover the added security costs? Well, I'd guess that ticket prices would need to increase.
In the end, the ones to benefit will be the concession stand operators, and the cost of attending a race just got a bit more expensive.
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