They’ll Do It on the Cheap

From his office high above Atlanta Motor Speedway, track president Ed Clark has a panoramic view of all 124,000 seats in a grandstand rarely filled to capacity.

An innovative marketing strategy might help change that.

Atlanta and the Henry County Chamber of Commerce are offering packages for October that include two tickets to three days of events, a hotel room for two nights and transportation to and from the track on race day -- all for less than $500. There also are coupons for area restaurants.

The first tier of packages, which went for $325, sold out in 13 days, and more are available for as little as $350. At most other races, those amounts wouldn’t cover the hotel bill.

“We’re really offering fans one-stop shopping for their entire weekend,” Clark said.

So far, about 75% of the people buying these tickets will be making their first visits to the track. If longtime fans continue their support of the track, Atlanta should see a surge in attendance, and it couldn’t come at a better time.

Last month, NASCAR announced a major shake-up in its 2004 schedule, taking a race away from North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham and giving it to California Speedway in Fontana. The decision was based mostly on the declining attendance at Rockingham, which seats only about 60,000 and hasn’t sold out in years.

Although Atlanta regularly has six-figure crowds, there are thousands of empty seats. Other tracks, such as new venues Kansas and Chicago, don’t draw as many people even though they sell out, but they’re in previously untapped markets for NASCAR.

“We know we have to keep performing,” Clark said. “But at the same time, we’re a top-10 market that NASCAR needs to be in. We need to have races here.”

Clark points out that his speedway not only fights other tracks for fans, but other sports. With a date in late October, this year’s Georgia 500 will compete against a full slate of Southeastern Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference football, along with the NFL.

The biggest part of the deal is the discounted price for the hotel room.

Through the chamber of commerce, two hotels in Henry County are offering their rooms at $69 or $79 a night for the Georgia 500 -- about half the usual price for a race weekend.

“I hate the gouging part of it, and this will be good for the people in Henry County,” said John Chauhan, a partner in the local Microtel Inn & Suites. “We’re still making a nice profit on these rooms, and this is more fair than some people do it. That’s what’s important to me.”

Other tracks have programs in place to help fans find cheaper rooms, but none offer the total package of Atlanta.

“We’re in a little different situation,” said Mike Smith, a spokesman for Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.

“We have pretty limited lodging here near the track, but we have Greensboro (N.C.) and Roanoke about 50 minutes on either side of us, and they’re so far away that the rates don’t go up that much.

“But being able to do what they’re doing at Atlanta, that’s a great idea.”