Oh Atlanta!
Atlanta, GA: Over the past several years, we have traveled to many different tracks. Atlanta Motor Speedway ranks as one of the best. It is a beautiful facility with a great track. Unlike a lot of tracks, you have an unobstructed view of the entire race course. It is a thrill to see how fast the cars fly down the straightaways and dip into the curves. Watching a race here is an enjoyable experience.
Unfortunately, getting to the track is not so enjoyable. In fact, it is like a horrible nightmare. A trip that took about 15 minutes on Saturday for the Busch race, took 3 hours on Sunday for the Winston Cup race. It was painfully obvious that the Georgia State Police needed to consult with the North Carolina Highway Patrol in Charlotte to learn the finer art of traffic control on a Winston Cup race day.
On Saturday, we made note that there was no clear indication for handicapped parking. Once we found one of the few parking lot attendants, we discovered they didn't know where handicapped parking was available. We were told "just park up next to the fence like those other cars." It appeared to be too much of a bother for them to have to worry about these details.
When we finally made it to the track on Sunday, we asked about handicapped parking and once again were met by attendants that didn't know where it was located. We were sent to one area (near the fence where we had parked on Saturday) only to find the gate locked. There were 2 attendants leaning on the gate and we asked them where we should go for handicapped parking. They told us to go back the way we had come into the paved lot directly in front of the track. We got turned around and when we reached the place where the original attendants had misdirected us, they were no where to be found. In fact, the lot we pulled into had NO parking attendants.
After sitting through most of the rain soaked day, we headed to the parking lot to wait for NASCAR to make a decision about having the race. As we left the stands, we discovered all of the gate attendants were gone. If NASCAR had dried the track and continued with the race, anyone could have gotten in. There was no one to verify that you had a ticket. But nature won out and the race was postponed until Monday.
Though returning to the track on Monday was not nearly as taxing, it was not without its problems.
There were still several intersections that did not have police control. This caused unnecessary
backups and sometimes dangerous crossings. Hopefully when we return next season, traffic control will
be much improved.
Article by S. Kipple
10/27/03
Links
Website designed and maintained
by CSP
Media
original content (c)2002-2004 Dawn Church
Visit http://www.Virtual411.com
"Your Place" in cyberspace
Statements within are the opinions of their authors and do not
necessarily reflect the opinion of CSP Media and their affiliates.