Track officials vow to be prepared for big crowds

Thursday, July 8, 2004 | 9:57 a.m.

1. Bruno Junqueira...133

2. Sebastien Bourdais...130

3. Patrick Carpentier...104

4. Alex Tagliani...86

5. Paul Tracy...85

(tie) Ryan Hunter-Reay...85

7. Mario Dominguez...81

8. Justin Wilson...74

9. Jimmy Vasser...73

(tie) A.J. Allmendinger...73

11. Oriol Servia...65

12. Michel Jourdain Jr....59

13. Roberto Gonzalez...57

14. Mario Haberfeld...50

15. Rodolfo Lavin...48

16. Nelson Philippe...43

17. Alex Sperafico...28

18. Gaston Mazzacane...22

Tentative schedule for the Sept. 24-25 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and Champ Car World Series weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway:

FRIDAY

Champ Car practice (Time TBA)

Champ Car qualifying (Time TBA)

SATURDAY

NCTS practice -- 10:30- 1 p.m.

Champ Car warm up (Time TBA)

NCTS qualifying -- 3:30 p.m.

NCTS race -- 7 p.m.

Champ Car race -- 9 p.m. (tentative)

The Champ Car World Series-NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series doubleheader in September at Las Vegas Motor Speedway has the potential to be the third-largest single-day sporting event in the state.

Or the second largest.

But even if fewer than the 60,000 fans that attended last year's Truck Series race at LVMS show up on Sept. 25, speedway officials insist they will be prepared -- unlike last year.

Because of a special promotion offered to local businesses, nearly 150,000 tickets were distributed for last year's stand-alone truck race. Speedway officials, expecting the usual crowd of 10,000 fans, were caught completely off guard when six times that many showed up. Traffic on both Las Vegas Boulevard and I-15 came to a standstill and some fans were just getting to their seats when the race was nearly over.

David Stetzer, vice president of operation for LVMS, said the speedway is approaching this year's doubleheader as if it were a NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race, which attracted a capacity crowd of more than 140,000.

"We're preparing for every seat to be full," Stetzer said. "We were expecting 10,000 -- based on the history of that event -- (for last year's truck race) and many, many more than that showed up. We all learned a valuable lesson last year.

"We've already enacted a traffic plan similar to what you would see for the NASCAR weekend. The Highway Patrol has approved it and it's in the hands of (the Nevada Department of Transportation) right now. Once it's approved (by NDOT), it will go to Clark County and then Metro."

LVMS general manager Chris Powell confirmed that the speedway again has offered blocks of 5,000 tickets to local businesses for $5,000 and said that sales for such ticket packages have been "going well," but would not say how many have been sold.

With the addition of the Champ Car open-wheel series to the Sept. 25 race card, it is conceivable that crowd for the event could equal or surpass the 95,000 that attended the NASCAR Busch Series race at LVMS in March.

"I think we'll be able to gauge that by how the phones ring in the ticket office over the next few days, when word gets out that this event is now on the schedule," Powell said.

Stetzer said that regardless of the size of the crowd, the speedway would be ready. But he also cautioned race fans that it will be important to leave early for the speedway to avoid being stuck out on the interstate or Las Vegas Boulevard when the green flag drops on the Truck Series race at 7 p.m.

"I feel pretty good about the traffic plan this year," Stetzer said. "The key is going to be to arrive early. If you're coming to the Champ Car race, don't wait until 7 -- come out earlier in the day. Give yourself two or three hours to get here.

"That's one of the things that helps us so much with the NASCAR event: People come so early in the day that the last two years, they've been in well over an hour before the race has begun."

Tickets are on sale at the LVMS box office. They range in price from $30 for general admission to $61.50, which includes a reserved seat and a paddock pass.