Kansas Speedway ready to make its biggest gamble (cont'd)

Oh, and there's more. Lights, of course, perhaps to illuminate that second Sprint Cup event. An infield road course. A Grand Am sports car event. These are all huge, ambitious expansion plans for a racetrack that's huge and ambitious already. And the gambling won't have to wait until 2011 -- because the speedway promised the state of Kansas that it will have a casino up and running by next year; visitors will be able to throw dice and flip cards in a temporary facility during the 2009 race weekend.

But the biggest gamble may be the second date, which for a Sprint Cup racetrack can be both a blessing and a curse. The facility formerly known as California Speedway sold out its first seven events, until it received a second date at the expense of old North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham. Not only has it not sold out since, but it's become something of a pariah because of all the empty seats on display during race weekends. It once seemed that Texas Motor Speedway could draw 150,000 people to watch Sprint Cup cars go through technical inspection, but we've seen many available seats there, too, since the addition of a second date in 2005.

Will Kansas, now a golden child of the ISC portfolio, be different? Boerger believes so. Renewal rates here, he says, are second in the industry only to Bristol Motor Speedway. They've had sellout crowds every year. Of course, they've also always been sold out by Friday of race weekend -- until this year. But hey, the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs have a home game. The economy is bad, and gas prices are high. Boerger believes a lot of the people who buy tickets for the current Sprint Cup race will show up for a second one as well.

"We don't think we'll have a problem," he said. "This will be a destination."

Kansas isn't perfect. A lot of fans don't like the fact that the speedway sells tickets in season packages, forcing them to buy an IndyCar race they might not want in order to see Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. rub fenders. If a second date becomes a reality, Boerger says, that policy will be re-examined, as well it should be. But to a large degree, they've done everything right here, from locating the track at the junction of two Interstate highways, to keeping it close enough to Kansas City, Mo., so it doesn't feel isolated from the big city, to surrounding it with a commercial area that on Friday night was bustling with race fans and locals alike.

No wonder there's so much confidence over the prospect of adding a second date. So where will it come from? "There are higher powers that will decide that than me," Boerger said. "We'll definitely be in the discussions." Yes, they will be, as surely as they chant "Rock chalk, Jayhawk," at college basketball games in this state.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.