Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Speedway's master plan focuses on fans' fun

Brian Hilderbrand's motor sports notebook appears Friday. His golf notebook appears Wednesday. Reach him at [email protected] or 259-4089.

The $200 million Las Vegas Motor Speedway opened in 1996 to largely rave reviews as the premier motor sports facility in the world.

But there is room for improvement, according to LVMS general manager Chris Powell.

Speedway Motorsports Inc., which purchased the track last December, is developing a master plan for the track which, Powell said, will make the facility even more fan-friendly for spectators.

Included among the improvements being considered at LVMS are two fairly massive undertakings: Razing the two-story infield media center and relocating pit road closer the main grandstand.

"Those are among the possibilities," Powell said. "Has it been decided yet? No. The master plan is not finished.

"This is 1999, and the purpose of the master plan is what we want Las Vegas Motor Speedway to look like in 2020. Everything we do between now and 2020 -- or whenever the master plan is finished -- we want to get closer to that master plan."

Powell said the reason behind either razing or lopping off the top story of the infield media center and moving pit road closer to the main grandstand is to improve sight lines for spectators.

"That building is a perfect building for the purposes it is used for right now," Powell said of the media structure, which also houses meeting rooms, a drivers lounge, souvenir shop, restaurant and luxury suites.

"The problem with it is it gets in the way for the fans who are trying to watch the race."

Those fans seated in the lower third of the main grandstand are not able to see the cars on the back straight because of the two-story building. As for pit road, it is located at least 175 yards from the grandstand, making it difficult for fans to watch pit stops during a race.

Although both projects would be costly undertakings, Powell said that has never been a stumbling block for SMI president Bruton Smith.

"Hey, it was a massive undertaking to move a mountain at Bristol, and it got done," Powell said. Smith had one mountain at his Bristol Motor Speedway removed to accommodate more seating and another leveled to build a drag strip.

"Bruton has proven in the past that no matter how massive the undertaking is, if it's good for the fans and it's good for the speedway, we ought to take a look at it ... and in many cases, act on it."

Powell added that the Speedway is working on correcting two of the biggest problems to plague last month's Las Vegas 400 NASCAR Winston Cup race: tickets and traffic.

"We have put together a ticket form that does exactly what we said we were going to do, which is to make good to the people who were incorrectly shifted," Powell said. "I think they'll be very happy when they realize that we are people of our word; we are going to see to it that those fans have an opportunity to return to their rightful seats.

"As far as the traffic issue, we are working on several different things that we are confident will help ease traffic coming into and leaving the track."

* NASCAR: At least one driver said he is impressed with recent renovations at Talladega Superspeedway, the site of Sunday's Diehard 500 Winston Cup race.

"Oh, man, this place looks fantastic," Rusty Wallace said upon entering the track this week. "I used to never want to come to Talladega because this place used to be a dump."

Among the changes at the 30-year-old superspeedway include a new, colorful paint job, repainted seats, landscaped entrance, and new garage, infield care center and media center. ...

NASCAR and Winston announced this week a record $1.4 million point fund for the 1999 NASCAR Winston Racing Series short-track program.

Each regional series champion will receive $40,200 and the national champion's point fund will increase to $138,200.

* CART: Las Vegas resident Jimmy Vasser will be among nine drivers from four series who will drive special Superman-themed cars this year.

Vasser will drive the Superman car at the U.S. 500 on July 25 at Michigan Speedway. The car's colorful paint scheme will feature the Superman "S" shield and images of the Man of Steel.

Other drivers campaigning the Superman cars include Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (NASCAR Winston Cup); John Force, Joe Amato, Warren Johnson and Matt Hines (NHRA); Ron Hornaday (NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series); and Steve Kinser (World of Outlaws).

Naturally, Action Performance will be marketing a line of collectible die-cast cars and other memorabilia to commemorate the special paint schemes. ...

Bob Bahre, owner of New Hampshire International Speedway and former Las Vegas Motor Speedway president, on his track's decision to dump CART for the Indy Racing League (which NHIS has since dumped) in 1996:

"Ever since we went with the IRL, we lost money every year," said Bahre, who estimated his total losses from IRL events to be $1.6 million-$1.7 million. "I'll admit that we made a mistake when we didn't stay with CART. CART is not perfect, but I know we would've done a little better with CART than we did with this one. But they've got to get together someday." ...

Tim Homburg, a tire changer on Michael Andretti's car for Newman/Haas Racing, caught a red-eye flight following last Sunday's Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach and competed in Monday's Boston Marathon.

Homburg, 40, completed the marathon in a time of 3:29:05.

* IRL: Lyn St. James, who has competed in six Indianapolis 500s, still is looking for a ride for next month's race.

The 1992 Indy 500 Rookie of the Year said she is close to securing some sponsorship deals that will make her available for the race, and has assurances from several teams that they would be interested in fielding a car for her. ...

Henderson's Sam Schmidt has picked up a new sponsor for his Treadway Racing G-Force/Aurora for next month's Indianapolis 500 and the Longhorn 500 at Texas Motor Speedway in June.

Unistar Auto Insurance will be the title sponsor on Schmidt's car at Indy and will be an associate sponsor at Texas.

* BACKMARKERS: Bryan Germone of Southern California and Kurt Busch of Las Vegas will renew their battle for the points lead when the NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Series returns to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway 3/8-mile paved oval Saturday night.

Germone leads Busch by 83 points (619-536) heading into the Las Vegas 100, which also will feature a 40-lap NASCAR Winston Racing Series Late Model Sportsman Division race.

Gates open at 5 p.m., qualifying is scheduled to begin at 5:30 and racing at 7. Tickets are priced at $20 for adults and $10 for senior citizens, military and children. ...

The Pace Supercross Series returns to Sam Boyd Stadium on Saturday, May 1 at 7 p.m. Many of the top Supercross riders such as Jeremy McGrath, Ricky Carmichael and Jeff Emig will compete in 125cc and 250cc divisions.

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