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Kansas Speedway – From Hayfield To ‘Destination’ In A Decade

Charlotte, NC (October 11, 2011) – Even the people who planned Kansas Speedway couldn’t have envisioned the seismic change the raceway would jump start in the surrounding area.

Opened in 2001, there was literally nothing around Kansas Speedway other than large fields. That changed quickly as retail outlets – a mall, several restaurants and incredible specialty stores like Nebraska Furniture Market and Cabela’s – all sprung up.

Along the way, a very cool minor league baseball park was constructed. There are now several nearby hotels and more are on the way.

Our visit to Kansas Speedway this past weekend also revealed a modern soccer sports stadium complex has just opened outside the infield tunnel of the raceway. It’s very cool looking from the outside and some locals on the flight home to Charlotte indicated it’s incredible inside.

Meanwhile, the newest addition to the Kansas Speedway landscape is the soon to be opened Hollywood Casino. Overlooking turn two and part of the back straight of the 1.5-mile Vegas oval, the casino complex will be ready to open the next time the Cup Series returns in 2012.

There will also be a new ribbon of lightening-quick asphalt racing surface as Kansas Speedway will be repaved during the off-season. The new surface will undoubtedly have more grip and is sure to be smoother, devoid of the car jarring tar strips now marking the lanes of asphalt on the track.

In short, the new Kansas Speedway is going to be bad fast – maybe pushing or exceeding 180 miles per hour average. That’s way quicker than the 174-plus pole speed for Sunday’s final Cup event on the old racing surface.

Just a decade ago, Kansas Speedway was a pretty cool new racetrack in a big hay field – one that included interesting amenities like the first infield ‘Fan Zone.’

Now Kansas Speedway is one of NASCAR’s coolest stops with tons of things to do in an easy to get around area – all attached to an awesome racetrack. It’s now also a destination, a place where fans can come drop anchor on the motorhome or travel trailer for a week’s worth of fun.

And did we mention it’s pretty much right in the middle of the country?

Sunday’s attendance at Kansas Speedway was reported to be 82,000. Look for this number to go up in coming years as more fans come to enjoy the most rapid, ever-emerging racing, shopping and entertainment complexes in the United States.

Jackpot Junior

The final rundown will show that Dale Earnhardt, Jr. finished 14th in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Sunday. According to a Forbes.com report this week, Earnhardt hit the jackpot anyway.

In a Forbes Fab 40 report, Earnhardt was ranked seventh on the World’s Most Valuable Athlete Brands. The top 10 athletes listed were Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, Phil Mickelson, David Beckham, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Earnhardt, Maria Sharapova, Cristiano Ronaldo and Shaun White.

No other NASCAR driver was listed in the Forbes Fab 40.

Not Dead Yet? – Hardly

There was some rocking good racing at Kansas this weekend as Jimmie Johnson broke a 21-race winless streak in Sunday’s Cup race.

Just two weeks ago, some racing wags were breaking out the shovels, ready to start burying Johnson’s hopes of s sixth-straight Sprint Cup title as he fell to 19 points out of first place.

Two races later, Johnson is now third in the standings, just four points behind leader Carl Edwards.

Meanwhile, Kevin Harvick is just one point back of Edwards in the title chase with Brad Keselowski (-11) and Matt Kenseth (-12) completing the top-five in the points after four of 10 races.

The rest of the Chase standings after Kansas include Kurt Busch (-16?), Tony Stewart (-19?), Kyle Busch (-20), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (- 43?), Jeff Gordon (-47), Ryan Newman (- 54) and Denny Hamlin (- 79).

Next up for the Cup crowd – Charlotte.

Going Truckin’

It’s been awhile since this reporter worked a NASCAR Truck Series race, but that’s exactly what I’ll be doing this weekend providing media support for Max Gresham at Las Vegas.

The event will be a big one for Max – his Truck Series debut after racing his way through the ranks including winning the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East championship this year.

Now, it’s on to bigger and better things as he takes the next step in his career this weekend at Vegas in the No. 66 Turn One Racing Chevy Silverado.

It’ll be cool for me too. The Trucks were in their infancy when I first came to the series in 1996 with Richard Petty Motorsports and good buddy Rich Bickle. Early on, there were a lot of fun trips to places like Bakersfield, Portland, Flemington and Odessa and in later years to Vegas, Texas, Daytona, Charlotte and all the rest.

Some of my most memorable career moments came in the division as I wound up spotting at most of those tracks too having more than 100 Truck Series starts on my racing ‘resume.’

It going to be really great to see old friends again this weekend. That, along with truck racing and a trip to Vegas, sounds pretty sweet to me.

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