USA TODAY International Edition
Fans enjoy taking life on road
They travel from speedway to speedway, hauling all the comforts of home, including sometimes their pets and almost always a survivalist’s stash of food.
NASCAR nomads, as one group calls itself.
Even in the current environment, with crowds in grandstands at some NASCAR tracks down significantly, recreational vehicle traffic remains substantial at most speedways. The two — camping and racing — fit well, as many have discovered.
“It’s a way of life,” said Ron Clark of Oakland, N.J. “Every one of our vacations revolves around racing.”
Clark and his wife, Stacy, travel to eight to 10 races a year, pulling their 29foot Passport travel trailer. On their schedule this year are Bristol Motor Speedway, Dover International Speedway (twice), Pocono Raceway (twice), Richmond Raceway, Watkins Glen International and Martinsville Speedway.
“We have friends on the circuit that we don’t even know their last names,” Clark said. “But every year we get together at the tracks they come to. It’s a great time. It’s like you’ve known them forever.”
At Pocono, the Clarks park in the infield near the tunnel turn. Their temporary home lasts from Thursday to Monday.
It’s the only way to go for a racing fan, Clark said. He and Stacy have been on the racing road for years, having given up hotels for self-contained travel.
“It takes all the pressure off,” he said. “When you’re in a hotel, you’re always worried about what time you should leave to get to the track, the parking and all that. And we cook what we want and when we want.”
This is such a lifestyle for the Clarks that they plan to hit the NASCAR trail full time when they retire in a few years.
“I’ve already said when I retire that we’re going to get a bigger camper and head out of Jersey and do all the tracks in one year,” Stacy said. “We try to do a new track every year, but we want to try them all just one time.”
Jim and Diana Missig, have driven RVs to NASCAR tracks for 18 years. Now on their fourth RV — a high-end Newmar Essex — they depart from their home south of Chicago to destinations that have included Daytona International Speedway, Michigan International Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway, Pocono, and Bristol.
Their reserved spot at Talladega, among hundreds of RVs and travel trailers parked outside the track, is on Richard Petty Lane. They park in the infield only at Daytona.
The price to rent an RV space varies by track and location with most offering lots inside the track grounds and just outside. There are also private lots available near many tracks. RV enthusiasts can also choose their location based on their needs from bare-bones spaces to upgraded plots under shade trees and with access to water.
Like the Clarks, the Missigs have a track friends network that has expanded to include people across the country. At some tracks, they arrange to park their RVs in a U-type configuration, creating an open “patio” area for meals, conversation and general frivolity.
“It’s about the whole experience of the weekend,” Jim said. “We don’t have to worry about the traffic. We make sure we have enough supplies, and we cook with our friends and just enjoy the time together.”
Along for the ride is their dog, Toto, who isn’t in Kansas anymore.
The campgrounds, from those with tiny, well-used tents to the parking spaces for million-dollar-plus RVs, tend to become neighborhoods, with people sharing food — and, perhaps especially, drinks — with others they might have met only hours before. Some come mostly for the parties and happen to hang around for the race.
The Missigs’ RV has a large TV screen situated under the outside awning. “I looked around one fall Saturday when the Georgia-Tennessee game was on, and there were people gathered all around watching the game,” Jim said. It was an unscheduled “open RV.”
Most tracks have camping areas designed for families and for those who might have a more adventurous weekend in mind. The Missigs, who are so into the home-away-from-home aspect that they decorate their RV at Halloween, say they prefer the family atmosphere.
On the other hand, Ken Abrams of Ocala, Florida, journeys along NASCAR roads mostly on his own. Seventy-one and retired, Abrams said his wife, Kathy, has little interest in racing.
“I take my ‘man cave’ with me because my man cave thing is racing,” Abrams said. “I go without my wife, and she seems perfectly OK with that.”
Abrams, as a lone ranger, is an odd duck when he visits track campgrounds 12-18 times a year.
“I don’t see a lot of RVs with only one occupant at the races, but that’s OK,” he said. “I make plenty of friends. And I also take my motorcycle with me. I go a few days early, explore the countryside and then watch the races.”
A retired telephone technician, Abrams sometimes stays on the road for weeks, stringing together three or four races in his 36-foot Damon Outlaw. He’s been to every NASCAR track except Sonoma Raceway in California, site of Sunday’s race. His RV has plenty of room for a single traveler. In fact, it might have too much equipment.
“If it wasn’t for the microwave, I’d starve to death,” Abrams said. “My food needs are pretty spartan — TV dinners and such.”
Abrams parks outside at tracks, passing up the party nature of most infields to save money.
“Cost is one big factor,” he said. “If this space (at Atlanta Motor Speedway) costs me $400 for the week, an infield spot might cost $1,400. In the infield, you have to play merry-go-round with your head to watch the race, and I want nothing to do with that.”
“It’s a way of life. Every one of our vacations revolves around racing.” Ron Clark NASCAR fan