Charlotte Race May 29, need some advice

I'm looking for some information, any suggestions would be appreciated.

Me and a couple friends are attending the Charlotte race in May. We will be attending the Nation Wide and Nascar races, visiting several shops, the Hall of Fame, and taking in the city.

Not being familiar with the city or track, where are the preferred seats? Any suggestions for restaurants, activities, or places to visit would be appreciated.

Who else will be attending this race? Hope Robby attempts the double, looking forward to a great weekend of racing.

Thank you,
David

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Permalink Reply by Tim Nation on March 17, 2011 at 2:51am
save your money the hall of fame is a waste of time and money
Permalink Reply by TOG on March 17, 2011 at 7:56am
seriously doubt there will be a 'double'.....either one or the other.
Permalink Reply by BRUCE WILLIAMS on March 17, 2011 at 8:49am
My wife and I went in 2009, "the rain weekend" 00 won in a shortend race, Robby like second place. We stayed in Morresville. Lot of places to eat. What i suggest is go to as many race shops as you can. they are all in the area. Went to RGM. GIBBS. DEI .STEWART-HAAS. PENSKE. DALE JRS. & KASEY KANES. Ran out of hours, many more you can see. As far as seats, ordered mine when they went on sale in like January. Sat in the GM section just before the start-finish line about 28 rows up, They had armrest sests not bleachers. As for the Nationwide race, sat right on start-finish line, same row.
Permalink Reply by Michael Kozlowski on March 17, 2011 at 9:18am
I will be attending the race, and I have before. Here are some tips based on your questions:

Preferred seats: Well this just comes down to how much money you want to spend.

There is a section called the Ford tower that gives you the best view of the race that is available at ANY cookie-cutter track, but those seats are also the most expensive.

If you're looking to not spend money there are great deals on CHEAP seats on the backstrech. Problem there is you are on the backstrech. No view of the pits and bad/limited/no view of the frontstrech. If you plan on getting really drunk, though, it wouldn't be a huge deal.

Pretty much all around the track the seats are worth about what they're charging for them.

Unlike at other tracks the entire Charlotte area hikes up their motel prices for that week. Aboot $90 per night for a decent place. If you're staying with aboot 3 other people it's not too bad and probably worth it, but you might want to consider staying further away and paying a normal price and just commuting in and out of the Charlotte/Concord area.

Traffic isn't ever bad on the interstates. It's only bad around the track on Sunday before and after the race, but when I say it's bad, I mean it's the absolute WORST of any track in NASCAR. Like, seriously, allow yourself 2 or 3 hours of just sitting parked in traffic EACH WAY.

Not sure if you're into shopping, but the best part aboot the Charlotte races is that there are TONS or independent merchandise sellers, and they're all set up in tents right across from the track where all of the official souvenir haulers are. I'm not exaggerating when I say you can spend almost a day checking them all out, and they have amazing DEALS and some really unique/hard to find things.

I haven't got my tickets or motel yet either, so keep in touch; maybe we can get a little group going that stays and sits near each other!
Permalink Reply by Michael Kozlowski on March 17, 2011 at 9:25am
Oh, one other thing, for some reason at Charlotte only there are a ton of parking lots there trying to get you to pay a lot of money to park. Don't do it. The speedway has its own parking lots that are free. The only exception is if you feel like walking a few miles, you might want to pay like $5 at one of the far away lots. Even with having to walk that far it's not like you're going to be driving any faster if you were in your car.
Permalink Reply by DefLefty on March 17, 2011 at 10:28am
If you happen to traveling with kids, there is a Great Wolf Lodge just down the road from the track. Made for a fun trip for the kids while there wasn't racing going on, and those who have kids know, when the kids are happy, you're happy. Plus, the hotel was close enough to walk to the track (around a mile and a half...less than a 30 minute walk) so no traffic to deal with pre and post race and no pay parking if you're a guest. They did offer shuttles, but walking seemed easier than working around their shuttle schedule.
Permalink Reply by David on March 17, 2011 at 10:40pm
Thanks for the replies. Just booked our flights, will be staying 5 nights and 6 days. Also, just booked a room at Embassy Suites, should be nice rooms, and a free happy hour.

Since my friends and I are avid fishermam, and it's my bitthday, just booked a guide to takes us out on Lake Norman, maybe I can land a couple bass in front of Robby's house.

We plan on visiting Robby's, Hendrick, Penske, and Roush's shops. Hopefully Johnny Kaiser is around, I grew up with him in Arcadia. Be cool to get a up close look at the shop.

Thanks for all the great suggestions, look forward to visiting the track, and we are still looking at ticket options.
Permalink Reply by David on March 17, 2011 at 10:47pm
Tog... If you had to guess which race, is he leaning towards indy?

Michael... thanks for the tips, parking can be a problem. When I attended the Indy 500 in 2003, took us ovr 2 hrs to get to the track.

If we can visit more shops, definitely will get as many in as possible, would also like to see Stewarts shop.

This is a boys trip, no kids. Definitely will be checking out the night life.
Permalink Reply by Tim Nation on March 19, 2011 at 8:57pm
Well if if nightlife is what you want you should check out BAR CHARLOTTE the one and only party bar in uptown
Permalink Reply by Mike Taylor on March 18, 2011 at 1:40am
really any seats from coming off turn four all the way into turn one are good seats, but as it has been said on here it just depends on the money you want to spend. I dont know if you are going to be able to find a hotel room right near the track this late, when my wife and I go we usually make about 4 days out of it and just stay downtown. it is about a 25 minute ride to the track but downtown is nice especially if you are into going out at night, but there will be plenty of places to eat and shopping at the track exit.
Permalink Reply by Nena Patrick on March 18, 2011 at 10:57pm
Charlotte is a lot of fun. Some good eat near your hotel are Razoos and Smoky Bones. I agree...park for free in the lot closest to your seats. All star last year I parked for free near my seats and didnt sit in traffic at all. Most seats at Charlotte are all th same. I like turn 2 myself...less crowds on that side and easier parking..but you will have to deal with the sun set but itas only bad for about 10 minutes.
Permalink Reply by Kevin Pasch on March 19, 2011 at 10:49am
My brother in law lives in Concord so we are down in the area about once a year.

If you go one shop, make it Penske. It is far and above the best to check out. Most of the other shops are worth going to have windows where you can see the guys working on the cars except for DEI, which is simply a museum. RGM is cool but you have to look through the outside windows, I've been the creeper looking through the window 3x now. I've had the most fun going on a Monday. The shops are busy, you see drivers and other crew members that you'll see on tv.

As far as seats go, we sat going into turn 1 for both races and could see the entire pit road and all of the track. As a previous post said though, the more you spend the better your seats. We did the ebay route both times.

Skip the hall of fame but spend at least one night in uptown Charlotte. The Epicenter is always busy with a ton of different bars and restaurants. Dixie's tavern was our favorite place, a block off the main drag but really cheap drinks and nice people.

Any other questions shoot me a message.

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