After an election last weekend approved alcohol sales
at Texas Motor Speedway (TMS), officials said that the track
"won't sell beer after all" for the April 2 NASCAR Winston
Cup DirecTV 500, according to Annette Reynolds of the DALLAS
MORNING NEWS. Beer will not be sold in the grandstands but
will remain available in private club areas, and fans can
continue to "haul their coolers" into the facility. A
"major issue" for TMS was that TX law does not allow the
speedway to sell alcohol and allow coolers in the same area.
TMS GM Eddie Gossage said that he would "continue to assess
fans' desires but that unless they give him the clear
signal" that they want the track to sell beer and outlaw
coolers, he "probably will not change" the policy. Gossage,
on possibly "never" selling alcohol at TMS: "Professional
sports have been doing a great job of ignoring their fans,
giving them a million reasons not to buy tickets. We are
not going to do that. We are going to listen to our fans
and give them what they want" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 2/9).
ONE MEEL-YON DOLLARS: In Dallas, Tony Fabrizio writes
that Gossage "estimates" TMS "will be giving up more than"
$1M in profit if it chooses not to sell beer at four of its
"major race weekends," including $750,000 in net revenue
from NASCAR weekend alone. Fan surveys "will help the track
decide what to do" after the April 2 race, but both Gossage
and SMI Chair Bruton Smith say that they "are disinclined to
change the existing policy" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 2/10).
