yoda
Nitro Member
Probably gonna get flamed for this one, but after reading about Powers new hospitality world (which the S.F. is bigger than most homes..), and knowing that there is now another section in the pits that A) is pretty much off-limits to the general pit-pass holding public, and B) adding even more inability to watch what is usually some of the most exciting mechanical work in motorsports, isn't it time that a new plan as far as pit placement strategy comes down from above?
I've always been a fan of walking around in the pits, coming from the days of before the "velvet rope", when you could literally walk up to the car and driver, and just as long as you stayed out of the way, you could see some pretty cool stuff and learn something in the process (most of my mechanical skills came from watching guys like Brandt and Veney up close).. Now I understand that with the increase in attendance and the 75-minute turn, a bit of separation is a necessary evil, but now its a case of rarely ever finding the driver because of "private access" sponsor commitments, and now even harder to see the cars and mechanics at work because there are giant temporary ballrooms constructed as the center of the pit compounds.
Not to suggest the elimination of hospitality tents and trailers (a necessary evil to keep sponsors paying the big bills), but maybe consideration of a lineup of cars and WORKING trailers could be done on one or two rows of the pits, with all the hospitality zones being on the opposite row, just in front of the tractors, so that the entire row is nothing but the hospitality tents and trailers, a neighborhood, if you would (Private access to the row would be a plus). The "honored guests" get to do whatever they do, have visual access if they are so interested and do the schmmoze thing, and the fans get a better (re: less obstructed) view of what many of them are there for in the first place.
We all know it isn't going to get better before it gets worse (all I envision is Formula 1...
), but it has gotten to the point where the general paying public is getting less and less of the "show" that probably attracted us to this sport in the first place, and the fix is just as easy as a new layout. JMO...
I've always been a fan of walking around in the pits, coming from the days of before the "velvet rope", when you could literally walk up to the car and driver, and just as long as you stayed out of the way, you could see some pretty cool stuff and learn something in the process (most of my mechanical skills came from watching guys like Brandt and Veney up close).. Now I understand that with the increase in attendance and the 75-minute turn, a bit of separation is a necessary evil, but now its a case of rarely ever finding the driver because of "private access" sponsor commitments, and now even harder to see the cars and mechanics at work because there are giant temporary ballrooms constructed as the center of the pit compounds.
Not to suggest the elimination of hospitality tents and trailers (a necessary evil to keep sponsors paying the big bills), but maybe consideration of a lineup of cars and WORKING trailers could be done on one or two rows of the pits, with all the hospitality zones being on the opposite row, just in front of the tractors, so that the entire row is nothing but the hospitality tents and trailers, a neighborhood, if you would (Private access to the row would be a plus). The "honored guests" get to do whatever they do, have visual access if they are so interested and do the schmmoze thing, and the fans get a better (re: less obstructed) view of what many of them are there for in the first place.
We all know it isn't going to get better before it gets worse (all I envision is Formula 1...
), but it has gotten to the point where the general paying public is getting less and less of the "show" that probably attracted us to this sport in the first place, and the fix is just as easy as a new layout. JMO...
