Fewer than 24 hours had passed since the checkered flag had fallen on Sunday's sixth annual UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 and Las Vegas Motor Speedway general manager Chris Powell already was thinking about next year's race.
Although the annual visit by the NASCAR Winston Cup and Busch series was, by most accounts, a resounding success, Powell tossed around several ideas to improve the experience for the estimated 220,000 fans who took in Saturday's Busch Series and Sunday's Winston Cup Series races.
Powell's biggest project, of course, is the construction of the 22,000-seat Dale Earnhardt Terrace, which will be built onto the existing grandstand overlooking the speedway's Turn 4. The addition, which will be completed by next year's NASCAR weekend, will result in an additional 15,000 seats and will push the track's permanent seating capacity to approximately 125,000.
"We're tearing down 7,000 seats and building 22,000 seats, which will increase seating by a net of 15,000," Powell said, revising earlier estimates of how many seats would be removed to accommodate the new structure.
At a time when some Winston Cup tracks are having trouble filling the seats they do have, LVMS owner Bruton Smith has no reservations about adding such a sizeable structure.
"I think we're proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that what we do (in Las Vegas) is contrary to what's going on (in the sport) -- we're bucking the trend here and making it very successful," Smith said. "One thing that we credit this to is the way that Las Vegas and Nevada have put their arms around this facility.
"I'm amazed with the progress that we've been able to make here. We have been able to do things here that I really thought it was going to take us 10 years to accomplish and that speaks highly of our sport."
Smith reiterated his desire to bring a second Winston Cup race to Las Vegas, but said he so far has not been successful in acquiring another Winston Cup track or its dates. He also said he would not move a Winston Cup date from any of his other tracks, as was suggested earlier this year by NASCAR chairman Bill France.
" I would not consider that, no," Smith said. "I don't know that we've made any progress (in buying tracks or dates) but I think the word is out there. I've made two attempts at buying but we will continue to try that and who knows -- one day somebody might say (yes)."
If LVMS elects to erect temporary bleachers outside Turn 3 as it has the past two years, seating capacity could exceed 140,000 for next year's race.
But with an increase in seating capacity comes additional traffic -- a problem that plagued the track in its first two years but one that speedway officials have been constantly working on since Smith's Speedway Motorsports Inc. purchased the track in December of 1998.
That, Powell said, is an issue he and his employees have been addressing since plans for the new grandstand first were discussed.
"We have improved our traffic flow every year and every year more people make the wise decision to ride a (Citizens Area Transit) bus," Powell said. "As long as those numbers keep going up, we very easily could still have fewer cars on the streets and highways next year than we did this year."
Powell said that virtually all fans were on the speedway grounds about 45 minutes before the noon start for Sunday's Winston Cup race and that the parking lots were cleared of most vehicles within 3 hours and 15 minutes of the race conclusion. Powell said the track's goal is to have the lots emptied within 3 hours after the race.
Another matter that Powell and his staff will address before next year's race will have to do with the segment of the Las Vegas Beltway that opened this winter and connects U.S. 95 with Interstate 15 about a mile from the speedway. According to news reports, the Beltway did not appear to be used by many fans either before or after the race.
"That's going to be one of our points of emphasis prior to the 2004 race, to encourage people to use the 215 loop," Powell said. "I don't know if race fans were aware that you didn't have to merge into the main two lanes (on I-15); you could stay on the shoulder coming off of the Beltway and drive right into the speedway."
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