The Horrible Failure of Kentucky Speedway
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- Опубликовано: 22 янв 2023
- In this video, we focus on the beginnings of Kentucky Speedway and the journey to the cup series. From there, we dive into the 2011 race and the logistical disaster that doomed the track from the beginning. Finally, we sum up the lackluster years that followed and the present day speedway.
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The Horrible Failure of Kentucky Speedway 
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Gen Xer
With all of the successes Kentucky Speedway had hosting Xfinity and Truck Series races, you never would think that Kentucky hosting a Cup Series race would be the slow kiss of death to the track, but that is what appears happened.
I’m so scared for my home track North Wilkesboro. The infrastructure just is not there at all for parking and traffic. When Dale Jr raced there this past summer the roads were extremely backed up. They better figure out what to do so it doesn’t end up being a disaster for the All-Star weekend.
Considering it’s a week long event, If they don’t have that figured out than it will be the biggest failure in nascar history and I think it can possibly be the biggest week of racing in American auto racing. I mean literally the line up of series that week, the hauler parades and all other festivities I heard that hotels 50+ miles in all directions were immediately sold out. With it being a week like that hopefully the fans evenly come in through the week they definitely need to double and triple them backroads. I’m super bummed, I’ll be on vacation the entire week and very likely I won’t get to see the race.
Atlanta used to be like that too. It was crazy 🤪
@@ronniewatkins me and the parents went to Texas 01-08, 01-05 was absolutely insane. I was there for the 236,000 sold out race and I can tell you it was hours of traffic going to those races. Went to the all star race in Charlotte in 09 I think it was and we ended up lost and drove around the track 5 times and were lost for so long that literally we had to have been the last car to leave the area.
It’s coming back
@@TailsFan369no2 as what, parking for all those new Fords awaiting computer chips from China 🇨🇳?
MIS is in the middle of nowhere Michigan. It opened in 1969 and had about 27,000 seats so traffic wasn't a problem. Until the late 80s and early 90s. Later the MI State Hwy Patrol helped direct traffic into the additional parking areas that the track acquired so getting in improved, but it would still take 3-6 hours to out of the lots. Traffic is an issue at all big tracks. Smith should've known that this was going to happen.
I feel really bad that the whole 2011 debacle caused a bit of a spiraling effect and the track never recovered. I know the racing later on wasn't great but to have a bad deal like that was very unfortunate
This race track produced horrible Cup cars. It was just another 1.5 mile cookie cutter track.. if they would have went smaller with the track or bigger track to like a 2 mile track like Michigan or Fontana. It's sick there turning Fontana into a half mile short track. The 2 mile tracks have produced great racing. Also Nascar should have let the Cup on the 2 mile Michigan and Fontana race with the larger engine package. Cup should race everywhere with the 800 Hp engines. With all the safety innovations why is Nascar slowing the cars down. They have ruined Daytona, Talladega and somewhat Atlanta. 10 years ago cars at Daytona and Talladega were running 190 mph to 195 mph. Now there going 180 mph with less passing you have safer cars until 2022 and yet they slowed them down. Nascar should just bring 40 cars a week and hand them out like IROC and SRX. Give teams the cars and let them go practice in 2 1 hour sessions and have a Qualify by Random draw put the # of every car in a big bin and reach in and pull their starting spot that way Nascar has ruined racing and the finally killed it with Next-generation Car.
Honestly I think the racing was okay with old surface, after the repave it was a just freight train around the bottom.
@@matthewhoward5514 You can hate Cookie Cutter tracks but they do produce the best racing when the package is done right.
@@brandanhall9943 amen if they had just repaved it and again not reconfigured the track it would have been perfect Kentucky before the reconfiguration was perfect
I sat in that line for 8 hours, stuck, couldn't even turn around. The race was over and they were filing people out of the parking lot while holding us in traffic . I didn't even watch the rest of the season on TV after that. After the bubba crap it was easy enough for me to walk away for good. Haven't seen a race since. That's the impact on us. So yeah, it was cluster.
There was bad planning for sure from the get go. Toward the end things were running pretty smooth. I lived only 45 minutes away so Kentucky was my go to race so when NASCAR said they were not going there anymore it sucked. Now if I am lucky I may go to one race a year. It hurts to drive by the place now.
Been following NASCAR since 1999 but never knew that it was this bad. Wow be careful what you wish for. They wanted a Cup race for so long and when it happened all hell broke loose.
Very well done video, some great points raised. Have fond memories of this track. Been going to races there since ‘05. Hearing it shut down was almost like losing a second home. Pretty sad how so many factors played into the tracks downfall, some the result of Bruton’s poor leadership and others outside the tracks control. As bleak as it looks I still hope to see it be given a second chance. I do believe with the new car the track can put on good racing.
With Marcus there now, he might bring a date back potentially, though Nashville and Indy might be complicating things, as well as Mid-Ohio. I wonder if they are going to Ohio maybe soon.
Living in Ohio (2 hours from Sparta) I remember being so stoked to get to see the Cup series go there in 2011. It ruined me to sit in traffic and eventually miss the race. Long story short after 2014 I was ready to see Kentucky go away. Then the revamp came and I just wouldn’t watch it.
I’d rather drive 5 hours to Bristol every year to watch a good race. Shame Kentucky was such a nightmare. Just way too many problems for way too long. Would love to see them turn it into a short track and attempt a return in the future to get a closer Cup date to me.
I wish Ohio would get some love from the cup series… especially an oval race would be great
I think we'd see Kentucky Speedway actually have great racing today if they never went away. I do love your short track idea, though.
I was lucky enough to go to the 2018 and 2019 Cup races there. Being in college at the time, I took advantage of their super cheap ($30) "college-aged" tickets, and they were in the Action Alley section of turn 1. My brothers and I went, and all being huge NASCAR fans and fans of a good party, the area at Action Alley was awesome! We drove from NW Missouri to Sparta for the two events, and honestly it was amazing. Living about 45 minutes from Kansas Speedway and having been there numerous times, my two trips to Kentucky Speedway were way more enjoyable than any time at Kansas. Cheap beer, exciting racing, and great people personify Kentucky Speedway to me. Sad to see it go!
If Bruton Smith had an ounce of hindsight, he could have seen the problems before they happened. Everyone talks about the first Cup race, but the first race, a truck race, was just as bad. I had tickets and took my brother. In the weeks leading up to the race I'd been talking to my brother about the route we'd take from Cincinnati. My brother and my dad seemed to think that using 71 would be the way to go. As a local delivery driver, I knew better. Gallatin County, KY had no idea what was about to happen. We hit traffic about 14 miles from the track. I told my brother to do a u-turn and go back to the Verona, KY exit and take KY 14 to US 42 and into Warsaw, KY. Then we went up KY 35 and only sat in traffic for about 20 minutes. At the time all the parking lots were grass, former farmland, and it had rained about 2 inches the day before the race and the parking lots were mud bogs. We got lucky, we got to see the race mainly because I knew an alternate route. We left at the second red flag for rain, but almost didn't get my brother's 2wd S10 up the hill. A nice guy helped me push and once the truck started moving I jumped on the bumper and bounced us up the hill. We got on 71 north and made it to my brother's in time to watch the final restart. When the race was over I still had friends stuck on 71 south trying to get to the track. Over the next several years my brother and I went to numerous ARCA and Indycar races at KY Speedway and enjoyed every one. But KY Speedway was doomed from the start. There wasn't and still isn't, enough infrastructure to deal with that many people at one time. Eventually a new exit, a mile south of the Sparta exit, was built, but it was too little, too late.
This is exactly what happened. There were numerous tales of the same thing. A total drop the ball event for what then, was a great new idea.
They knew. Nascar had refused to go there because the logistics being horrible. Smith assured them they'd address them so Nascar gave them the race and Smith did fuckall to fix it.
In my opinion, there were 3 things that really killed Kentucky Speedway:
1. The overhyping and flat out awful planning by Bruton Smith and SMI put a huge dent into the fans desire to go to
2. The reconfiguration and the awful package led to awful racing, and with drivers the fans didn’t really care for winning, led to fatigue and fans not caring to even tune in
3. Covid not allowing fans in 2020 was one thing, as most every track in the early parts of Covid didn’t have fans. But when they were told they couldn’t guarantee having fans in 2021, SMI looked to move it to another track that would be able to have fans, and that’s where Atlanta got its second date
It really sucks to lose my home track, and I really do hope they return
Governor Andy did a good job nailing that coffin shut!
Bershear is a commie.
Kentucky Speedway could have been way better than intended.
You did a really good job on this video! This was my home track and I went to races there dating back to 2005 when I was 8 years old. I even went to every Cup race (besides 2020). I really feel like the traffic nightmare from 2011 really hurt the track from that point on. The repave didn't help either as that wasn't done well. Had things gone better off for the track, whether it was from SMI or things out of the track's control, it may still be on the schedule. It hurts to see the track sitting there doing nothing now and I hope that the track gets another chance again, whether it's for IndyCar, Xfinity, Truck, or whatever it may be.
The 2007 Nationwide race there was the first NASCAR race I ever went to. I had tickets to the 2011, but I never made it anywhere near the track. I remember the headlines in the paper about how big of a planning disaster it was, and how they were going to try to fix it for the next year. There was even a full page photo of the updated highway which would now bring people in, with 7 trucks side-by-side. The only problem was this was a 2 lane highway, with the trucks driving on the two opposing lanes, the median, and the runoff.
Even before the Cup race the track was cursed. One event it rained and hundreds of cars were stuck in the parking lots that became mud pits. It took up to five days to clear out all the bogged down vehicle.
Just recently got into nascar this past year and as a Cincinnati resident this really bums me out. Closest oval race to me is Michigan now. It’s be amazing to have a cup race in my backyard.
I moved to kentucky in 2018 and never even knew this track was 40 minutes away. I learned about it when the hot rod power tour came through. Sucks that they dont have any events there, i have to go to bowling green or putnam park to do any events
Great video, I think it would be cool to do one on Chicagoland as well.
I liked the old configuration of Kentucky Speedway. The old configuration in my honest opinion put on great racing. When they reconfigured the track, that's what ruined it for me.
We'd probably get the good racing back into the Kentucky spotlight if they never left that track.
You can thank smith for that. Every track SMI reconfigure has been a disappointment afterwards
Texas, yes. But the current surface is slowly starting to become groovy. That's why the last Texas race was not as hated as past ones. The real problems were not the track's fault, it was mainly NASCAR officiating and Goodyear tires. The Next Gen had it's problems as well, but it was their first year, and it was expected to have issues regardless. But if Texas were to be reconfigured again, as many rumors are saying, it will without a doubt improve racing at the track.
Kentucky, initally yes, but not right now. Since the track is no longer on the schedule, we will never know, but as far as I'm aware, the last two races held there featured great finishes and it's share of great racing. So perhaps Kentucky could run as well as Auto Club did last week if NASCAR ever decides to go back there.
Atlanta, I completely disagree. Superspeedways always produce great racing, and we have seen plenty of that last season.
Sounds like they forgot the 6 Ps rule. Proper preparation prevents piss poor performance.
I was part of a group of 5 that drove to a race a few years later. We had no problem getting in and watching the race. However after the race it took almost 2 hours after the race before we decided to get in the car to try to leave. is was about another 1.5 hours before we actually got on I71 north to get back to Ohio. I have never had that experience at Michigan.
this track seeming of continued the trend of "great for Indycar, shit for nascar cup cars". the kentucky Indycar race was absolutely gorgeous, for all 12 years it happen'd, esp 2009-2011.
Kentucky is my closest track and we went every year for the weekend camping in the infield. A lot of great memories especially for my son. I would love to see nascar try it again. In my opinion if they would not go to so many of the same tracks twice a year and go to more different tracks like Kentucky and Chicagoland it would be better. Some tracks deserve 2 races a year but I don’t think they all do.
The Problem is Amazon with the trucks for facility to facility and Ford with unsold vehicles are holding the place hostage.
This track was an excellent place to watch a race. Beautiful facility. More recently its become an outdoor warehouse for pickup trucks awaiting computer components
This was my home track. Went to every race weekend since 2015. A lot of great memories here, and although the racing wasn't always great, it still had that home track feel. I hope maybe one day it can get back on the schedule, but I understand if it doesn't.
I live about an hour and a half from the track south of Louisville. I couldn't express to my friends and family enough of how we needed to leave EARLY! The gates opened at 9am so I wanted to get there no later than 10am. We left town at 8:30, got there at 10am and drove right up to our parking area just off the 2nd exit. When the race was over, since we parked so close to the exit, we were out of there in less than 5 minutes after we got back to our car. Interstate was clear.
Track officials, Kentucky State Police, and newstations repeatedly told people to get to the track early in the day. However many didn't listen and I have to put that part of the blame on the fans. You can't leave Louisville at 4pm for 7:30pm time start in a place that's holding over 100k people and expect there not to be problems. Many fans just failed to plan their trip like they should have. A NASCAR race is a day long event, not a night time sporting event.
This sounds like what happened at the first Cup race at LVMS. I had been there for their first ever event, IndyCar, and knew how bad the traffic was, (Plus, living in Indianapolis for many years, I know about race day traffic) and we left early and had no problems. Many people never made it into the facility that day, and many others didn't make their late night flights out. If you just plan ahead, it saves a lot of headaches
I left Louisville around 10am. We were parked but not in when racing started. This wasn’t about people leaving late. We expected to be at the track around noon.
Yeah I can say from personal experience NEVER had that issue with Indy at ANY race lived an hour from the brickyard for a time and always got into the track when leaving 3 hours before the start. KY was a huge black eye for the track with fans and the poor PR handling of it should be a master class for others on what not to do.
I live about 35-40 mins from the track and had been thinking a lot lately about why they pulled the races from KY. Thanks for the video!
That was my first NASCAR race ever. We ended up parking in the infield of the track. By the time we walk to our seats. They had just dropped a green flag. I live in Bowling Green Kentucky. And had left five hours earlier than we needed to get there. I attended in 2015 and it was much better. To see my favorite driver Jeff Gordon runners last race at my local track.
I have a lot of love and respect for bruton smith. built Charlotte motor speedway built zmax dragway and many other great venues but man hes the guy that took my very close hometown track rockingham. Glad wilkesboro is coming back hope rockingham can get a date lots of memories and great racing.
I agree. Bruton Smith wasn't always a bad decision maker.
It's so sad to see no racing at the Kentucky Speedway since 2021. I wish they could demolish it and reconfigure it to a short track, but I don't think that's gonna do any good. I love Kentucky Speedway, but I hate to see it go.
I live 45 minutes away from the track in southern Indiana I went to many Xfinity races here and my 1 and only Indy car race here. The track is a beautiful facility with wonderful seats no matter where you sit it's a shame to see it become what it is now I hope to own a piece of the track if they do tear it down. Hopefully NASCAR will use this as a lesson learned for future tracks and dates. Indy car was giving away tickets to the Masse's to come to the race at Kentucky and they still didn't fill the stands.
Your a true fan! If that happened to anyone else they would never watch NASCAR again
We really can't hardly have anything fun for long here in Kentucky. It was an Awesome track to go to.
You did a really good job on this video. Thank you for the inside view of what a race was like at Kentucky. I have been going to every race at Talladega for the past 22 years.
Sucks cause it provided some great racing in the mid 2000s IRL series
I remember going to the first Cup race there, since it's my home track. I'd been to several Truck, Xfinity, and Indy races prior. Prior to the re-configuration, traffic problems aside, I feel the track actually put on really good racing. Post reconfiguration, it just became another cookie-cutter tri-oval that watched like a discount Texas. It was a real shame.
I want them to configure the track back to how it was previously and bring back a cup race for that. It'd be a fantastic spectacle.
I went there in the early 2000s for an Indy race. Tickets were free because of a Marlboro promotion. My first premiere series race. All in all it was a good experience. It wasn't too hot, and of course a considerable smaller crowd. Of course they were pining for a Cup date which I was an avid fan of at the time. I thought to myself that they needed to upgrade seating, concessions, and parking then to accommodate a Cup race.
The racing itself was another story. Not even remotely competitive, even by Indycar standards. Sam Hornish Jr. NEARLY lapped the entire field, having lapped up to 5th or 6th before the one brief caution of the race for a broken gearbox put down some fluid on the track. Pit stops and wave arounds put about a dozen cars back on the lead lap. With only about 1/3 of the race left, Hornish had managed to lap up to 4th place and in 10 more laps would have got 3rd AND maybe 2nd. When he took the checkers, the 2nd place car was barely setting up to go into turn 3!
I went to Dover five times and three were when it was 500 miles. Those races were close to five hours long. The first race ace seated 35000 at best. The last was upwards of 120000 the roads were the same. So many tracks have issues.
I took my daughter to the Sonoma race back in 2007. Not an easy track to access on a busy race weekend. Getting there wasn't to bad. Getting out was a REAL exercise in patience. It was one and done for me - never went back for NASCAR. NHRA, on the other hand, doesn't draw quite as large of a crowd, so I still go to that one
I thought it was an underrated 1.5 mile track until the repave. Maybe they should repave to a concrete 1.5 track
I went to the inaugural Quacker State 400 myself back in 2011.... We were stuck in traffic for hours... We wound up getting to the speedway halfway into the race... The people directing traffic just let us in the infield as there was no where else to park. Was quite the experience... I remember the traffic being the worst i've ever experienced in my lifetime. Was a crazy day forsure.
Had fond memories of going to a truck series race in 2007 and the meijer 300 in 2008 as a kid. It's a shame that this was squandered and now the race track is just sitting empty. There's been a lot of talk over the years that the location of the track was a horrible choice and that some corruption may have happened to get it built.
The 2012 race was my second race as a fan. The price of water was so insanely high that day, it was almost criminal. The race was so darn boring, but seeing my favorite driver win was incredible. But being from Upstate, NY, my Dad and I couldn't justify coming back after that race weekend. I really enjoyed the video, great work!
I spent the first 22 years of my life in Upstate New York. Good people, lots of snow.
As another Nascar fan from Louisville I kind of seen the end coming from the start (even though I seen it grow since 8 yo) the main reason I kind of expected the cup to fail was cause of the fact is Indianapolis is another hour away and you can take your cooler into indy instead of paying $16 for a beer at KY
Me and my dad would go here all the time, I live in Vevay Indiana, maybe 7 miles from the track. Indy cars here was the best an will forever be my best memories. The first cup race in 2011 we got in, just to see KFB dominate an win. Harvick won a Xfinty race there in like 2014 and I got to get his autograph after victory lane.
I grew up in Patriot. If I don't know your dad, I bet we know some of the same people.
I was there for the first truck race, I was a spotter, I remember the bugs. A night race in Kentucky with spotlights and thousands of bugs. I think it rained and we were more than a little concerned about being in those aluminum stands with lightning
KY Speedway is special to me because it was my first cup race, 2015. My all time favorite drivers final race there, #24ever. And the first time I met an athlete, Michael Waltrip. All in all it was a good day. Fun race. KB won, he’s not my favorite but was okay.
I attended two races here both of which I stayed in the infield in the early 2010s. One of the races (I can’t remember what year) I rode around the track in the bed of a pickup truck during pre race. I also remember being on the way out of the track we were along side Kyle Busch’s hauler which was pretty cool as at that point he was my favorite driver.
Kentucky is my home track, grew up going to mainly the xfinity series races throughout the 2000’s. I too was excited about cup races. Luckily we decided to camp in 2011 so we were not a part of the traffic disaster. But by 2018, after seeing lackluster races after lackluster races, we quit going. So many boring races, such a shame.
I think if Kentucky never was taken off the schedule after the 2020 race, we actually would start to see a golden era for the track. Great finishes from the 2019 and 2020 races and the performance of the Next Gen car at the mile and a halfs provides proof of that. But it is what it is.
That bit of the freeway becoming a parking lot was funny.
To stay alive Kentucky Speedway should have limited seating to 60,000-70,000 after that first debacle. That would have cut down the traffic congestion significantly. Then as they figured out solutions add to ticket sales.
I've been to Kentucky a few times. It was always a family tradition to go camping the week before race week in Carrollton and go to some of the races. I don't remember much about 2011, we had got there fine early in the day since we were visiting my dad in the TV compound so we had no issues with traffic. I do remember getting stuck in traffic for about an hour and a half on the back roads and falling asleep before waking back up in the campground. After that debacle my family went on and off for a few more times 2014 or 2016 (one of Keselowski years) that we stopped going. Still remember my time there pretty fondly
The area is in such an odd spot. There is a track, one hotel and a few gas stations around. Other than that, the infrastructure lacks.
I remember being stuck in that traffic coming from Louisville, getting off at that first exit parking on the main road and walking for miles just to get to the track and the race was halfway over. We were given tickets to the Bristol race that year to make up for it.
Your video really illustrates the need to properly plan and vet the logistics of an event. You had a very nice track that needed a few upgrades and certainly could handle bigger events located in a good market. It seems a study on the capacity of the surrounding infrastructure would have been a good place to start. In the end they got their number.. It was 20,000 short of what they built. Race fans are durable... but everyone has their limit.
I hope they turn it into a short track if they wanna bring it back to cup
Why not instead turn it into a superspeedway ? Not every single track needs to become a short track.
@@TomLehockySVK if they wanted a superspeedway, they should've reconfigured kentucky, not atlanta. I pray that we dont see more superspeedways beyond daytona, talladega and atlanta, but yet, that's the direction I feel texas is heading.
@@soren_review Texas or Kentucky as a superspeedway would be cool. But any other track, no thank you.
@@danielfoster3642 Yep Texas and Kentucky would be a better choice for Superspeedways.
I never been to this track before, but used to go to the Goodwrench 200 & 400 every year. My parents lived an hour away from Rockingham so it was fun to drive down there hang out with the family and see some racing.
Now Ford parks F-150s there while they wait for chips. I heard it's packed.
We went to the race and had no problems but we were in traffic but we got threw with fairly quick. We had to spend the night because traffic back up and left in the morning. No traffic problem on our way home.
Attendance was solid the last few years the track had a cup race.
As a person from Kentucky, I can confirm. The heat here is HELL. The 85% humidity mixed with 90°F is a recipe for fainting.
The fact that Road America is on a 2 lane county highway and supported almost 200K people with no issues really shows you how bad this is
Not only that, but you also have Watkins Glen International Raceway in New York state, which is also literally located on a county road. And that track produces some of the best road course racing you'll ever see.
I went to several of the IndyCar races there. When they announced their plan, my group looked at each other and laughed. It was hard enough getting in there for those races. The fact they thought Cup would work there proves their lunacy.
My sister and I sat in that traffic for four hours that day, but we were lucky ... we eventually got parked (waaaay out in the back 40 somewhere) and got to see the race. I felt bad for all those who were still trying to get in at the mid-point. I got to visit there once more, I think in 2016, this time with a friend. There were a lot of empty seats that day. I'm sad it's closed and hope racing can some day come back.
Bruton Smith is a huge part of NASCARs downfall. I’ll share our port a pot story. We stayed in the camp ground. Of course no permanent bathrooms were there. The port a pots ended up being shared with a HUGE make shift parking lot. It was literally overflowing with crap above the toilet seat by Saturday afternoon and was not cleaned all weekend. People after being stuck in cars for hours ended up just going next to them pee, poop, whatever. It was disgusting
Very Interesting.
Thank You for Sharing.
I went to KY Speedway in 2005 for the indyCar race. While getting there was easy, the wait getting out took over three hours on I-71. I warned anyone who went for the Cup races a few years later to leave as early as you can.
I stopped there on the way to Louisville a few years back. I only thing I saw opened was a convenience store on that exit. Everything else was shuttered down.
It was a good idea, but at a bad location. Add in the fact it was grouped into the 1.5 mile cookie cutters and you could see a slow death.
I don't really think it was a bad location, tapping into the Cincinnati/Louisville market was a good idea and there was certainly plenty of space to work with. I think the execution was piss poor.
I can also attest to how god awful it was getting out of there. There was only one massive lot on the frontstretch, and when it came time to leave, all exiting traffic was funneled down into one lane. I don't know what numbskull thought that was a good idea, but it's what we got and the track suffered as a result.
I went to every Cup race there with the exception of 2020, along with dozens of Xfinity, truck, ARCA, and Indycar races, but the issue was never fixed.
Yeah, even Racers, the strip bar, shut down.
With all of the problems there, KY Speedway still had better attendance than the Brickyard 400 in the late 20teens.
I miss KY Speedway, I have hopes maybe the truck or Xfinity series will return someday...who knows??? good video, well done!
From the photos you show it looks like the inside wall in turns 1 and 2 used to be further from the track, but they shifted it closer some time before the cup race possibly to build an area for infield campers. Neat idea for the fans to get a close up view of the racing, but not worth it to sacrifice driver safety.
I went to every single Kentucky race since 2011 and I had a blast every time. The 2011 disaster was bad enough, but after the reconfiguration and repave it sealed the track's fate. Covid was the final nail in the coffin. Thanks Bruton Smith.
The first Daytona 500 I went to was in 2010 and well that was awful.... But after that Daytona basically remodeled the entire track and now its like going to a modern stadium and IMO WAY better now.
I got there at 6:30am every year from inception. Never had an issue with traffic going in or leaving. Granted, I left down thru Warsaw and up 42 instead of dealing with the interstate.
I live five minutes away from the track
thats crazy all that traffic that must have been a nightmare. i miss watching kentucky races especially indy car
Kentucky being a logistical nightmare was why NASCAR balked at going there for over a decade.
they should have repaved the track before 2011 but SMI was always trying to cut corners
NASCAR needs to be in Kentucky. The market was and still is there. But with the constant traffic and facility issues. And just not great races. Kentucky Speedway isn't the answer
It’s not the failure of the Kentucky Speedway, it’s the failure of NASCAR!
I know everyone hates Mile and a Halfs but when they are done right they are the best form of Nascar there is and Kentucky was that before the reconfiguration.
i was also at the quaker state 400 2011. i bought tickets for my best friend for his 30th birthday and drove us and a bunch of his family from columbus ohio down to the race. I scoped out some back roads prior to driving down in case of getting stuck. I had no real experience going to NASCAR races, so I'm not sure why i thought of it. It came in clutch because at about 10am,(it was a night race), the traffic on 71s was at a dead stop somewhere around Napoleon, KY. it took 1:30hrs to go a half mile. I found a back road and we landed at a lot on the other side of 71 from the track. we still tailgated and got drunk. got to the race, it was boring as hell. but I always remembered what a logistical nightmare it was because as the race was ending, there were still cars trying to get to the race off of 71. People sat in traffic for the whole race. I remember all the talk on local radio on what a big deal it was for ownership of the track to get that race and to fit it with more grandstands with investments, only for it to end up one of the worst races in NASCAR history.
What sucked about Kentucky speedway was 1st they had to pretty much sue nascar to get a cup race.then it's cookie cutter.this is 2023 and we keep getting lame race tracks and not enough of them,no reason so many tracks to have 2 dates each year.should be a greater variation of tracks.
My wife and I went to the first race there with the big boy’s racing. She liked Jimmie Johnson and I liked Dale Jr. and left around 12:30 and we got stuck in traffic too but we got there to watch the race and stayed overnight and left in the morning and there was hardly any traffic.
The death of this track also killed a track in the building stage. Branson Mo. had a track that was started but moth balled when Kentucky was chopped.
So there were plans to build a race track in Branson? I'd like to hear more of the story.
Went in 2018. Garbage racing, garbage parking and garbage venue. Plus I had a 4 hour drive to get home. Got home at 5:30 am. Glad it’s gone.
If Kentucky Speedway ever came back, it more than likely would produce great racing. The 2019 and 2020 races, as well as the overall performance of the Next Gen car on the mile and a halfs show proof of that. The parking, though, does need some major improvements. And I won't argue anyone's opinion on the facility.
If they had more time preparing the track for Cup for say 2012 or 13 then maybe the track would still be on the NASCAR schedule in some way today. Even if it would be an Xfinity or Trucks Series track. Which personally that was the best thing that the track should had been. It's somewhat ironic that Atlanta the track that lost its date to Kentucky got it back an decade later. If the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet added an lane on 71 in both directions before the Cup Series came, who knows that could had help kept the track on the schedule.
The biggest reason for the fail was the following of Nascar's demand that Kentucky Speedway run Indy Car off. It was embarrassing that Indy Car would run 80 mph faster than NASCAR.
I don't think that's why but I say that same thing about the types of road courses they run at. Often they are the slowest or near slowest division of racing that runs at the track. Reconfigured fast sweeping ones like Watkins Glen are good, it's a joke to see those tanks limp around Portland though. Speed isn't the be all end all but it's pretty damn important
I was at the first Cup race. The highway system was not adequate to get the crowds there. I got there very early....but some people I knew who were coming Never Made the race. They gave up and went home. I never went back.
I remember the radio adds for the race one year was the driver saying how bad the track was on the in car radio
It's funny that even that radio station knew that track was bad.
We had season tickets to KYS from when it opened to the first cup race, when the track manager came out and blamed the fans for not planning properly or leaving early enough to get to the track we voted with our wallet. The truck races were by far the best heck it was fun to watch the Indy guys burn it up. But the treatment of the fans was inexcusable. It’s not like it was the tracks owners first time putting a race on either.
Kentucky was my home track lived an hour from it an my first race was the Kentucky 300 when Indy car was there and buddy baker won that race lol
This speaks volume’s as to how much money that Nascar brought in from the late 70s and up until around 2012. To myself it’s unimaginable that they are going to demolish a new track because of traffic and parking. I attended Bristol for 15 years and there was plenty of traffic and I would pay 25 to 50 bucks for parking and then walk at least a half mile. The lines for the food booths were extremely long and I also remember waiting in line for the restroom. I think nascar has overstepped to much for many years and they got so greedy that they have burned teams down with rules and costs and the same thing with fans. It’s ridiculous what it costs to watch a race. If they are going to have every car deed equals they should just start the iroc series back up. I don’t want to watch 43 cars run in a huddle just to see which ones can survive the wreckage of the last 10 laps and take the checkers. Let the crew chiefs do their job and let the drivers drive.
Bruton ruined every aspect of nascar that he touched.
Thank for share
I have an idea why don’t you do 2013 Pepsi 400 wreckfest
when i heard they were building a track i immediately thought about how much rain this area gets and i personally felt it was a bad idea
In 2011 we were the last car allowed to enter before traffic flow was reversed. From leaving Louisville at 2pm, we were stuck for 7 and a half hours. We walked up from the absolute farthest parking spot to see 4 laps of racing from the fence.
Will say, as much as Smith squirmed on who was to blame for it, the people kept him honest. That track though just never had the stuff to be a good cup facility.
Going there in the last couple cup races, you could feel the energy dying. Instead of the traveling circus feel you get from Richmond or Indy, it was all very muted.
so heres my ?.y would anyone leave at 2pm 4 a race that starts at 7pm?i always get 2 the track several hrs b4 the race starts and never have i been late 2 a race.leave early stay late problem solved.
I grew up about 35 mins north of Cincy. Remember hearing about how bad the traffic was for the first Nascar race. Really wanted to go until I heard how bad the delays were