Cooler trouble may be brewing at Chicagoland
By Tim Packman, Turner Sports Interactive
July 2, 2001
12:15 PM EDT (1615 GMT)
JOLIET, Ill. - When the NASCAR Winston Cup and Busch Series visit the brand new Chicagoland Speedway the weekend of July 14-15, a new tradition may be started. In addition to hosting its first NASCAR events, it will also break with tradition by allowing no coolers to be brought into the grandstands.
What has been a long-standing policy at NASCAR events -- fans being allowed to bring self-stocked 14” coolers into races -- is not going to happen at Chicagoland. The 1.5-mile trioval seats 75,000 fans.
The facility is owned by Raceway Associates, LLC., which is a combined interest of International Speedway Corporation and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corporation. Route 66, a nearby quarter-mile dragway, half-mile clay oval and road course test track, is also part of Raceway Associates.
ISC owns tracks in Daytona, Talladega and Watkins Glen, to name a few. The other participant owns the famed two-mile track where the Indy 500 and Brickyard 400 are run. They all allow coolers to be brought in by fans.
Route 66 already has a “No coolers” policy and that is the reason, according to one Chicagoland official, the policy is carrying over.
“We have a policy of “No coolers” allowed into the grandstand area,” said Brian Crichton, director of public relations. “Route 66 has been running for four years now and that’s one of our policies at that facility. So, we’re just carrying that policy over to our new facility.
“We’re sticking to our policy we’ve had at our other race track.”
A large majority of tracks on the NASCAR circuit allow fans to bring coolers into the grandstand area.
One track that did have a slight cooler policy problem when it opened in 1997 was Texas Motor Speedway.
Due to the laws in the precinct where the track was built, no alcohol could be sold on the premises. Fans, at first, interpreted that to mean there would be no alcohol on the grounds at all.
However, TMS officials said coolers were allowed, but the track could not, and would not, sell beer. The law was changed after a vote in February of 2000 that allows the 1.5-mile Speedway Motorsports Inc. track to sell the amber beverages.
But, they had to do it in an enclosed area. So, beer gardens were set up where fans could walk in, purchase an alcoholic beverage but had to consume it in the confined area.
A fan can bring a cooler in, consume food and beverages from it at his/her seat, but not take it into the beer garden area. And, the fan can’t buy one from the beer garden and take it to his seat.
“We’ve always allowed the coolers, but have never allowed glass,” said Gary Guehler, publicist for TMS. “I think we shocked everybody in the local media after the vote.
“We announced we were going to still allow fans to bring coolers in even though the vote allowed us to sell beer.”
So, if a ticket has been bought for the upcoming NASCAR events at Chicagoland, be sure to leave the cooler in the car. No beverages or food items can be brought in.
The track recently opened the doors to holders of its Preferred Access Speedway Seating (P.A.S.S.) holders. Those were sold at a one-time fee of $500- $1500, depending on which seat level you chose, for up to a 30-year period to maintain their same seat. The package doesn’t include actual tickets to motorsports events.
“We had our Founder P.A.S.S, 'meet your seat' day a couple weeks ago,” Crichton said. “Some of them shared their concerns with us.”
| 
