PIR unveils $178 million facelift
AVONDALE, Ariz. -- It was Election Day when Bryan Sperber, Phoenix International Raceway's president, made his final presentation to International Speedway Corp. directors last November seeking approval for a long overdue $178 million redevelopment of the 53-year-old oval's facilities including modern amenities for fans, corporate guests and competitors.
Paraphrasing the slogan Donald Trump used throughout his campaign, Sperber implored the board members of PIR's parent company at its Daytona Beach, Fla., headquarters to "Make Phoenix Great Again."
Like Trump, Sperber won the day.
Valley fans will, too, when work is finished in time for the November 2018 NASCAR weekend, track executives and Joey Logano, winner of last November's Can-Am 500, said Monday at a news conference to officially unveil project details.
"The venue has aged and we weren't able to provide the fans with the level of comfort and amenities they deserve," Sperber said. "Now, we'll raise our game to delight and excite all of our customers, and upgrade from an industry standpoint how the venue interacts with the race teams.
"I think everyone was overlooking some shortcomings. We won't have to ask fans or teams to overlook anything in the future."
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Highlights include:
– New grandstands, with 45,000 stadium-style seats (down from the current 50,000), each with Wi-Fi, starting in what is now Turn 1 and wrapping around until the dogleg. Turns will be renumbered with what is now Turn 3 becoming Turn 1, and so forth. The pits will be relocated inside of what is now the backstretch. The existing front-straight grandstands will be removed and motorcoach spaces sold in that area. Hillside seating still will be available.
– Two "canyons," each with an escalator, will provide what Sperber described as a "vertical transportation pavilion" to take guests to the grandstand concourse. Elevators will also go up to the 51 suites, including a 300-person enclosed high-end club for fans.
– A Fan Zone inside what is currently Turn 1, which will physically place spectators inside the Cup Series garage area for a close-up look at the cars, crews and drivers. Fan Zone ticket holders also will be able to see inside the structure where the pre-race drivers' meeting takes place. Victory lane will be nearby. A tunnel will connect the zone to the midway behind the grandstands, site of musical performances and other entertainment.
--Relocating the start-finish line to the current Turn 3 area, a wide dogleg that will allow for more passing - and probably more crashing.
"It's going to be like no other garage area on the circuit," Sperber said. "The big innovation is the fans will be physically in the garage with the teams. They'll see up-close everything that is going on.
"The drivers' meeting is a behind-the-scenes activity fans generally never get to see. There will be a red carpet walk for drivers going to the meeting and that (structure) will have a glass wall so fans will be able to look into the meeting and have audio so they'll be able to hear."
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ISC chairperson Lesa France Kennedy said fan reaction to the recent $400 million "re-imagining" of the company's flagship Daytona International Speedway "accelerated (the directors') enthusiasm" to redevelop PIR.
"I always say the most difficult thing I have is getting people to the racetrack for the first time," Kennedy said. "If you can do that, and show them a good time, they're hooked and will come back. We've found with that investment in Daytona, the fan reaction was far greater than we thought."
Ticket prices in some areas are expected to increase from the $25-$125 range for the March 19 NASCAR Camping World 500.
"We'll raise, modestly, some prices and I think in certain areas prices will decline," Sperber said. "We're really mindful of impacts of ticket pricing. Fans are smart enough to know if we're going to make this kind of investment and upgrade the venue to this level, it's natural to assume there will be some price increases."
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Both Kennedy and Sperber said the new PIR could host additional events, some non-motorsports related.
Logano said relocating the start/finish line to just before the dogleg will have drivers do "some crazy stuff on restarts."
"The biggest thing is where we're going to get up-to-speed on restarts," explained Logano, who drives the No. 22 Ford for Team Penske. "Turn 1, right now, is very narrow. No one tries to go three-wide. You're going to flip-flop it from one of the most narrow corners to probably the widest corner entry (current Turn 3) in all of motorsports.
"You are going to be 4-5 wide because you've got the dogleg right after the start/finish line so now we can go anywhere you want. You're going to go to the bottom to make it the shortest distance, most likely, which leaves two, three, four lanes open. Every other racetrack you have to get back up on the track on the banking (for the turn). Now you can run 2-3 lanes below the yellow line and be fine.
"With the new configuration you can go anywhere and it will make it very inviting to go 3-4 wide. There will be room for it, but when you get there, there's no grip so cars will be sliding. There will be contact. There will be crashes.
"It will be insane. But that's a good thing. That's what we want to see. That's what the fans want to see."
Knight writes for the Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY Network.
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