Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 6, 1994 TAG: 9402060050
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But today, 47 years after it opened, Martinsville - along with the short tracks in Richmond, North Wilkesboro, N.C., and Bristol, Tenn. - is becoming a racing coliseum, where the drama of the Winston Cup series is played out on an oval that is nearly encircled by tens of thousands of screaming fans.
At Martinsville, the crowds have become so large and enthusiastic they sometimes drown out the cars themselves. The Goody's 500 crowd in September was estimated at a record 56,000 - almost three times the population of the city.
Still, that attendance record is destined to fall after one race.
Martinsville Chairman H. Clay Earles and President Clay Campbell are at it again, doing their share to keep unemployment down in Martinsville by keeping workers busy building new seats.
"It looks like it's an every-year thing right now," said Earles, 80. "I never would have thought racing would have come to what it has. I always looked forward to it growing, but not this much.
"At one time, I thought big tracks would be the ones to take over the sport. But it's not true. The big tracks are growing, but the small tracks are, too. I think the small tracks are growing faster than the big ones."
Work started in January on Martinsville's latest expansion project - construction of 3,340 seats above and around the Clay Earles Tower in turn 2.
"We expect to have the work done for the April race," Campbell said. "Tickets for those seats won't go on sale until we finish them, which should be sometime in the first part of April.
"We've also worked on extra parking," he said. "We've filled in part of the lake [outside turn 4] and so we have more parking down there, room for 1,000 more cars."
Unlike some tracks, Martinsville sells all of its tickets on a first-come, first-served basis. Tickets for the Hanes 500 on April 24 and all other 1994 races went on sale Aug. 15. Advance sales are better than ever, but there still are plenty of good seats available, said Dick Thompson, the track's vice president for corporate communications.
Chair seats in the higher rows (including the new seats) are priced at $45 each. The cement seats in the lower rows, which have no backrests, are $35 each.
And the speedway, of course, will continue its long-standing practice of selling 10,000 unreserved backstretch seats for $30 each on the morning of the Winston Cup races.
Martinsville's season opens March 20 with the Miller Genuine Draft 500 doubleheader, featuring a 300-lap Grand National race at 1 p.m. followed by a 200-lap late model stock race.
This format will be repeated Oct. 16 for the Advance Auto Parts 500 doubleheader.
Tickets for these events are $25 for unreserved lower seats and $30 for reserved chair seats in the towers.
The April 24 Hanes 500 will be preceded on April 23 by a 150-lap NASCAR All Pro Series race.
The schedule also includes the annual Goody's 500 Winston Cup race, set for Sept. 25, preceded on Sept. 24 by a 150-lap late model race.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB