I consider myself to be one of fortunate few who will get a chance to see the last fall race at Auto Club Speedway this weekend and naturally I have been looking forward to going to this race for quite some time. I have spent most of my life in the south where NASCAR was born and raised and I have attended many races over the years at tracks such as Atlanta, Charlotte, Bristol, Martinsville, Darlington, Rockingham and Richmond. During all my years of attending races in the south, I have never heard of or seen such a thing as what I am about to share with you all.
So here it is…Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California does NOT allow you to bring your own alcohol inside the grandstands! That’s right, all alcohol in your possession must be consumed OUTSIDE of the general grandstands at Fontana. Here’s the best part; Alcohol may be purchased once you are inside the gates!
Now I’m not claiming to be the most business savvy person in the world, and I am certainly not going to be the next Donald Trump, but I am pretty sure if I am about to lose a race from slumping ticket sales I might step back and re-evaluate some of my policies that may be keeping fans away from my race track. After all, NASCAR is a sport that originated from alcohol and to keep race fans from bringing their own into a track is just not right.
My plea to you, Auto Club Speedway, is to think long and hard about what got you to where you are today and understand that NASCAR is a spectator sport and fan loyalty is what keeps you alive. If I save my hard earned dollars to buy an expensive race ticket and fly 3,000 miles to see a track that I have always wanted to see, let me bring in my own beer and enjoy the show!
I do remember hearing about one of the horse race tracks doing the same thing and their attendance was signifantly down, they went back to allowing alcohol the following year for the same major race, my guess here is that some related alcohol incident happened previous race and to appease stock holders or concerned locals this was put into effect and when bottom line was effected an abrupt change was taken………LOL