Multi-Million Dollar Changes at Charlotte Infield
Written by John Davison · April 30, 2004
The infield at Lowe’s Motor Speedway at Charlotte is undergoing some major changes. With a total cost in the millions of dollars, planning for these changes has been under way for months.
All the people who crowded into the infield at Charlotte last October won’t recognize the new infield layout now. The only buildings anyone will recognize will be the existing Cup garage building, the tire sheds and the timing tower/medical center. There’s a new Busch garage that rivals the Cup garage area, joined by a new and huge Media Center neatly dropped down between the two garages.
Joining the Busch garage and Media Center will be the new infield public showers and restrooms; several new catering buildings and a new Victory Circle. The M/C features a deadline room with space for as many as 140 reporters, all with high-speed internet connections at their seats and wireless connections available. The other end of the building has an auditorium with tiered seating for press conferences. The room has doors that will allow new race vehicles to be unveiled indoors instead of outside as at the previous M/C. The team and series PR officials will be ensconced in private offices along a corridor adjacent to the deadline room while the track’s PR staff will be in an office just off the deadline room where they can cater to the needs of the working media.
The old M/C was unveiled in (I think!) 1984. In the last 20 years, it’s gone from being state of the art and the standard for the industry to an admittedly crowded and sometimes hard to work out of room. The new Busch garage replaces an open expanse of asphalt where the Busch teams worked on their cars out in the open.
If you’re expecting to see the same things you saw in October, you’re in for a multi-million dollar surprise. All these changes are on top of the new SAFER barrier being installed in the turns and along the front stretch. Lowe’s Motor Speedway once again seems to be setting the standard for race tracks.
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