LVMS pleased after smooth event

Tuesday, March 9, 2004 | 10:23 a.m.

It was hard to tell who had the bigger smile Sunday afternoon following the NASCAR Nextel Cup race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway: Race winner Matt Kenseth or speedway general manager Chris Powell.

By most accounts, the seventh edition of the state's largest sporting event was an unqualified success. Even Mother Nature pitched in with Chamber of Commerce weather, with temperatures reaching the mid-70s during the 267-lap race.

"I think it was easily our most successful event of the six we've staged since (Speedway Motorsports Inc.) acquired the facility," Powell said. "It was just a really good weekend and I can foresee that we'll be measuring some future weekends against this one."

Powell wasn't talking strictly about attendance -- even though Saturday's Sam's Town 300 NASCAR Busch Series race attracted a record crowd in the vicinity of 100,000 and attendance for Sunday's UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 Nextel Cup race was estimated at 142,000. The traffic issues that plagued the first several NASCAR weekends at LVMS continue to lessen each year, Powell said.

In addition to having more uniformed officers directing traffic on Las Vegas Boulevard from the speedway to Nellis Boulevard, traffic congestion on I-15 was eased somewhat by race fans who opted to use the Las Vegas Beltway to enter and exit the speedway. Powell also credited more fans using the CAT bus system for helping with the flow of traffic on race day.

"There were times back in 1998 when (I-15) was packed from Tropicana all the way back to the speedway," Powell said. "We've come a long, long way -- and it's not just the speedway; it's all the law enforcement agencies and governmental agencies that really worked hard to come up with a plan to make it work so smoothly.

"I talked to the Highway Patrol (Sunday) and they told me that they wished more people were using the (Beltway), but as soon as you got past that interchange, (I-15) freed up going toward the Spaghetti Bowl and people were back up to speed."

It appeared as if most of the spectators were on the grounds for Sunday's race in excess of an hour before the noon start and Powell said speedway officials met or exceeded their goal of having the parking lots cleared of the majority of vehicles within three hours of the conclusion of the race.

Despite the apparent successes, Powell said he would hold a review meeting today to discuss what the speedway could do to improve future NASCAR weekends.

"There are always things we can do better," Powell said. "As far as race day operations, all of our planned efforts seemed to work quite well.

"When you go into the office the next day and you listen to your messages and you read your e-mails and there are just so few complaints -- and a lot of compliments -- it really makes you feel good; it makes you feel like all the planning we do is working."