NASCAR fans feed their need for speed Thursday at a virtual reality Dale Jr. Racing Experience in the Sam's Town parking lot. Photos by John Gurzinski.
The Dale Jr. Racing Experience draws people to the Sam's Town parking lot on Thursday. This weekend's NASCAR events are expected to attract nearly 95,000 out-of-town visitors to Las Vegas.
Unlike clueless tourists, the NASCAR racers who drive around in circles without signaling are possibly some of the most welcomed group of out-of-towners in Las Vegas.
That the racers' bump-and-grind driving attracts 160,000 locals and visitors to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and generates an estimated $129.5 million in nongaming economic impact contributes to the welcoming atmosphere.
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The big money is evidence of just how deeply Las Vegas has cultivated America's racing culture since the late 1960s, when everything from Indy cars to stock cars to drag racers sped around places like the Stardust International Raceway at what is now the intersection of Tropicana Avenue and Rainbow Boulevard.
"People go crazy here when NASCAR comes to town," said Terry Kelso of Las Vegas.
The race weekend has the largest economic impact of special event of the year, although it is not as lucrative as the International Consumer Electronics Show, which generates $214.3 million.
Kelso, a 50-year-old dealer at a Strip resort, said racing fans, crews and drivers make the weekend of the Sam's Town 300 and the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 NASCAR races the most wonderful time of the year for Las Vegas.
It helps that Kelso, who dropped by the parking lot at Sam's Town to snap pictures at the Dale Jr. Racing Experience, is a huge racing fan.
Kelso said his memorabilia collection includes old gambling chips from the defunct Stardust featuring racing legend Richard Petty, who will also appear Saturday at Sam's Town.
He said he's also dealt blackjack to three NASCAR-driving brothers at the same time and craps to another driver in recent years.
Combined, the celebrity contingent and massive crowds make NASCAR and other racing events favorites for casino workers.
"The turnout is just astronomical," Kelso said.
The races are also a favorite event of the casino operators.
"It has turned into an important holiday for us," said Patrick Fitzgerald, marketing director at Sam's Town.
Boyd Gaming Corp., which owns Sam's Town, the California Hotel, Main Street Station, the Fremont, the Gold Coast, The Orleans and the Suncoast, credits its NASCAR connections with helping to fill the company's 5,200 hotel rooms in the Las Vegas area for the weekend.
The events this weekend are expected to attract nearly 95,000 out-of-town visitors.
For hotels with NASCAR-fan customers, the weekend means preparing for top-tier regulars who make Las Vegas one of the top destinations on the racing circuit.
"As the track has improved and the racing and the event has improved, the audience has increased," said Dan Stark, Boyd Gaming's vice president of corporate marketing.
He said traditional NASCAR communities like Talladega, Ala., tend to attract a greater proportion of local and regional fans, while destination venues like Las Vegas attract bigger-spending, vacationing fans.
"This is one of the most popular stops on the circuits for all the sponsors," Stark said. "Talladega is really out in the hinterlands and there is really nothing to do at night."
