1on1: Clay Campbell (cont'd)

Q: Full seats versus empty seats is a big debate, or a big challenge; with a supposedly weak economy, high gas prices, etc.; so as a race promoter have you found any solutions to that?

Campbell: I wish I had a solution to it for everybody in this business, because I'd be a wealthy man. Right now, you're faced with a lot of things that we don't have control over. The economy is not in the best shape it's ever been in, gas prices don't help matters any so in one way or another, it's probably the toughest year we've had in a long time.

Clay Campbell

And most of it is not something we can control. So the best thing that we can do for those that come to our events is to make it where they want to come back. But it's tough times right now.

Q: There's a lot of talk about messing with the schedule and messing with racetracks -- either dropping or adding them. But you've got a classic facility that's been a part of NASCAR for as long as it's existed; so as far as you're concerned, is there always going to be a place for short track racing in the Sprint Cup Series?

Campbell: I think so, and I've always felt that. If you look at what I think made NASCAR so popular, it's that you've got something to suit everybody's tastes.

Everybody doesn't like short track racing, everybody doesn't like superspeedway racing, nor does everybody like road courses. But, for those that do, you've got short tracks, you've got intermediates, you've got the superspeedways and you've got road courses.

I think that's one thing we have over other forms of motorsports, and that's something to please everybody. Now, that being said, we are the shortest track [in Sprint Cup racing], but everything we have done outside the confines of that racetrack, we've grown with the times.

We've expanded our seating, we've done suites, we've done new roads, tunnels and garages -- the whole works and everything that you need to do to maintain current standards, and I think we've achieved that.

People love short track racing. It's a form of racing you can't get anywhere else and I'm not concerned about the future and a lack of Martinsville on the schedule. Sure, I think we have a place on it and I think we always will.

We have the cheapest ticket prices of any track on the circuit -- standard ticket prices and not slashing prices for specials; but our standard ticket prices. In fact, our highest ticket price is probably lower than some places' lowest ticket prices.

That's something my grandfather always did when he was at the helm because he wanted it to be a family-type atmosphere where a man could bring his wife and kids and not have to worry about anything; and go away and still have some money in his pocket.

I think we still accomplish that and I think that's important and I think the fans recognize that.

Q: In this day and time, and considering what you and Bristol and Richmond -- and even Iowa have done with short tracks -- are you surprised that more people have not considered building short tracks when they contemplate new facilities?

Campbell: I am, and I think that it shows, with our company, International Speedway Corporation, that the track that they were going to build, if they ever got everything in order to do it in New York [City] is going to be a short track -- three-quarters [of a mile], seven-eighths, whatever.

I don't think the size of the track is ever critical, but at one point everybody was building mile-and-a-halves -- bigger was better -- and that's not necessarily true. If we had the opportunity to build Martinsville from scratch -- you've seen what we've done, building it piecemeal -- but if you started from scratch, you could easily put 100,000 seats around the track, and Bristol has proved that.

Q: Speaking of the fans, how do you deal with fan feedback at Martinsville?

Campbell: We send out e-mails to our ticket holders, pretty much a questionnaire, asking them the good, the bad and things of that nature. Every letter or every phone call that comes into our office, if it's addressed to me or it's directed to me -- I answer it.

Every piece of mail I get, I answer it at some point in time. It may take a little while, but I respond to it because their feedback is of the utmost importance to us. There are some things that may have gone on for years and they may not have been the best, mainly because we didn't know that the fans didn't like it.

So if they let us know something, we try to address it, if we feel they have a valid point. That's the way I've always felt about it, because they're the reason we all have the jobs that we do. (Continued)