Behind the Scenes: Pepsi 400, Part One

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- In terms of planning and executing a sporting event, there are few venues better suited than Daytona International Speedway, the site of Saturday's 45th annual Pepsi 400 NASCAR Winston Cup Series race.

Robin Braig has spent a good part of his business career preparing for the role of president of the flagship facility of International Speedway Corporation, the multi-track conglomerate that is operated as a public corporation by the France family.

	Robin Braig

Braig got his first taste of NASCAR racing as an executive in the sports marketing department of Anheuser-Busch, which sponsors NASCAR's Busch Series, which will run at Daytona on Friday evening with the Winn-Dixie 250 presented by PepsiCo.

He spent several years as the president at Daytona's sister track, Phoenix International Raceway, and has found in his first year at Daytona that the challenges and rewards are many.

"Planning for the Pepsi 400 and carrying out the final week of operations leading up to the race is an exciting opportunity for me to manage, as the president of the speedway," Braig said. "On a daily basis, we have a staff of about 300 people, but what's amazing to me is that by Saturday we'll have more than 5,000 staff members.

"Getting ready for the Pepsi 400, which really is the second biggest event that we hold in a calendar year that is totally packed with special events, is really a wonderful work in progress that doesn't stop until well after the checkered flag falls on Saturday evening."

Braig's staff coordinates more than 200 days of events throughout the year, and while most of them are quite a bit more low-key than the Daytona 500 or the Pepsi 400, they still present a test of systems and plans.

VIDEO CLIPS Daytona International Speedway President Robin Braig discusses the final preparations for the Pepsi 400. Play video

The inaugural Dale Earnhardt Tribute Concert, which was held last Saturday between the standard Florida mid-summer thunderstorms, presented just such a test when the rainfall turned the trioval grass in front of the concert stage into a giant mud puddle.

But for Braig and his cohorts, the show must go on, and this week, it will.

"On Monday, we're already in an operational mode on one side of our departments," Braig said. "Our vice president of operations, Dick Hahne, has been here for nearly 25 years and has got it pretty much down to a science on what he needs to get done -- right down to checking the grass and making sure the lines that are cut to show up on TV are done properly.

"We also have to make sure that everything that was dismantled on pit road for the concert stage is put back together, the fencing and light poles for our Musco Lighting system.

	Michael Waltrip is the defending winner of the Pepsi 400. Credit: Autostock

"Then, the maintenance staff is performing the final checks on the fences and grandstands all the way around the race track, and we're doing whatever final bits of painting and mowing we have to do."

Braig said in the currently challenging economic conditions, sales and marketing of the speedway's event opportunities, of course including tickets, is a constant concern.

"We've still got tickets to sell so my sales staff is monitoring the media, including NASCAR.com and our own Web site, daytonainternationalspeedway.com, to determine how many people are visiting, and are they purchasing tickets, and if they aren't, why might that be?"

Braig noted that fans were already queuing up to get into the speedway's cavernous infield by last Friday, a full five days before they would be able to get into the facility.

He said Monday is the last day in which any semblance of quiet visits the outside of the facility.

"By Tuesday and Wednesday a lot of the vendors have shown up, which is really a spectacular and traditional aspect of our events, not only here at Daytona but everywhere else along the circuit," Braig said. "Their trailers, selling souvenirs, scanners and other products are really impressive.

"We have our own in-house division, Americrown Service Corporation, that handles our own souvenir vending and also coordinates all the vendors that we have here on-site."

Braig said that by Wednesday the track's expansive corporate and fan hospitality areas are also set and going through their final checks.

"We are doing everything from checking to make sure we have the right number of tables and chairs for all the guests we're expecting, to making sure the tents and other amenities are clean and bright," Braig said. "And we're also checking to confirm our menus and supplies for that entire operation."

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Braig said elements of the staff walk every inch of the facility, with an eye to the minutest details, from the sublime, like last-minute paint jobs, to the ridiculous, such as a simultaneous flushing of the commode system, to simulate a rush on the facilities that a caution flag might create.

"We have to make sure we have the water pressure to handle a situation like that," he said with a confident grin.

Finally, on Wednesday competitors in the Busch Series and the Grand-American Rolex Sports Car Series arrive to begin preparing for their events, which are preliminaries to the Pepsi 400.

"Summer Speedweek" at Daytona means switching back and forth between the 2.5-mile trioval that is used for the two stock car divisions and the 3.56-mile road course that is used for the Grand-Am's Thursday night Paul Revere 250.

"By the time Thursday gets here we're wide open in our event mode," Braig said, "but we're still selling tickets, not only to the Thursday night Bud Pole Qualifying for the Pepsi 400, but also the sports car race.

"And the Friday and Saturday night events are definitely not sold out, either, so we're trying to keep that ball rolling."

Braig said he appreciates every fan that comes for the racing events, but he did not want the effort of everyone on his staff to be overlooked in what is a daunting weekend, given the day-and-night schedule.

"Our events get over at night, or early in the morning in the case of the Paul Revere 250, and we've immediately to get to work on cleaning up and restocking the facilities," Braig said. "Because the fans are going to be coming back the next day and they expect everything to be as special for them as it was the day or night before."

The Pepsi 400 is the first event for the NBC/TNT combination that televises the second half of the NASCAR season, and Braig said that is the final element that has to fall into place for a successful event.

"They want to know if the pre-race schedule is going to go off on time, if the jets are going to fly over at the right moment and are the cars going to roll off when they should," Braig said. "Television is such an important element of what we do and I have a wonderful staff that has spent their careers building a relationship with them, for that to work out as it should."

Then, all that's left after the post-race fireworks display over the infield Lake Lloyd, is cleaning up after the final crowd of somewhere between 150,000 and 200,000 people.

"We've made a commitment to getting everyone out of the facility within three hours after the race," Braig said. "As important as having a great event is, egress from the facility is equally a big deal to us.

"Once we accomplished that, and gotten the place cleaned up again, we're already planning for Speedweeks 2004."

Part 1 of a six-part series.