Being an invited guest to a suite to watch a race is a great experience. Sometimes, there’s even a bus ride to the race included.
The following photos are of a few of the suites I worked while in Motorsports. This first one is from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. We used this suite for the Indy 500 and the Brickyard 400.
The bus would pick up the guests at their hotel and bring them to the race with a police escort to beat traffic. If you’ve ever been to a race like this before, then you know it’s the only way to go besides a helicopter.
We’d have breakfast ready when the guests arrived. There would be the morning’s paper and the TV would be on racing programming.
We changed drivers every so often, so we had to redecorate the suites also.
The guests would have breakfast and something to drink, then get ready to start their day at the races.
I would take those that wanted to go, on a Garage and Pit Tour. They’d learn a lot and get some great photos.
After the tours were over, it would be getting close to lunch time. Sometimes we had guests that ate a liquid lunch because all of the beer and cocktails were free from the bartender.
Here I am with our Driver, Greg Biffle, as he speaks to the guests.
Our bartender Paula, Karen and Kellie in our Indy suite.
Our staff was one of the nicest.
Paula, Karen and Kellie.
Paula, Moi’ and Kellie.
Karen, having a good time in the suite with the guests.
I liked getting to the track very early. Most times I’d be there to hear the cannon go off to signal the start of race day.
Here’s our view from the suite.
Quite a bit of difference when you add hundreds of thousands of people.
It’s a tranquil feeling early in the morning, mixed with excitement for what was about to unfold this day. History will be made.
Being on the front stretch was always great. The driver’s call this canyon of fans “The Million Dollar View’. I drove this track in a NASCAR race car, so I know what it feels like to drive it, but nothing like what a real race car driver sees with all of the fans present.
This next pic is from the Brickyard 400.
Now I’ll show you the suite at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Not as nice as Indy, but still great accommodations to watch a race.
Each guest also received a ‘Goodie Bag’ with things they could use throughout the day, i.e. a hat, a Koozie, a shirt, autograph cards, ear plugs if the suite had an outside observation deck, like Indy.
The breakfast, lunch and free beer and cocktails still applies, as well as the bus ride to the track from the hotel.
On hot days, it’s nice to watch a race from inside the air conditioning.
The item most used by our guests was the koozie. They always drank a lot of beer.
The TV’s allowed our guests to see the replays and hear the commentators call the race.
We had nice furniture to relax on.
And lunch was always hot and good.
During the Caution Flags, we’d hold a Raffle for Prizes to keep the guests entertained. A lot of times, I’d be the one to buy the Raffle Prizes and I always bought nice things… things that I’d like to win if I were a guest.
Atlanta had a little outside room next to the suite for smoking. That’s the view below.
This photo shows the disparity between the people in the air conditioned suite and those camping in the hot Infield.
Now we’ll take a look at Bristol Motor Speedway. Bristol is nicknamed ‘Thunder Valley’.
It’s like a bowl of thousands of people and loud ass race cars. The noise is deafening.
Here’s the campground nearby.
This view is from a photo I took at Phoenix International Raceway from our suite.
Here is the view from our Daytona suite.
It was a great place to see the Pre-Race festivities from.
I miss Daytona.
Kortnie and I in our suite at the Houston Raceway Park drag strip. I hope you enjoyed this brief look at a day in the suites.
That completes this NASCAR 101 Course. Give yourself 3 Credits towards Graduation. Congratulations on your Quest for a Degree from The Universite de Arachnida.
To see other course requirements for your degree, see next link.
Motorsports Degree Requirements
Any questions and/or comments may be directed to the following:
Dr. Spider Michaels, Phd.
Spider@SpiderMichaels.com