Martinsville to reduce seating capacity
Sunday, 14 January 2018
By Kelly Crandall / Image by Scott LePage
Martinsville Speedway will remove seating on each end of its half-mile facility says track president Clay Campbell.
Campbell revealed details of the project to the
Martinsville Bulletin. Both attendance and the logistics of fans getting to those seats were the reasoning behind their elimination.
The seats being removed in Turns 1 and 2 will be the rows above the press box, which are reached without the assistance of an elevator. In Turns 3 and 4, the
Martinsville Bulletin estimates it will be about a dozen rows taken out.
"I want everyone to know that the sky is not falling," Campbell told the
Bulletin. "It's not uncommon if you look at other professional sports, whether it be baseball, football or whatever, they're redoing their stadium and that's what we're doing here. Just making it a better experience.
"Really when you come out here you probably won't even notice the change, it's so few seats. But I think it's going to look better, so we're excited about it."
Ticketholders for the seats being eliminated will be relocated. The speedway currently holds over 60,000 seats and the seating being removed was added to the speedway in the early 2000s.
Campbell also said details about the track working on other projects, including changes to its front entrance, would be provided in the future.
Martinsville Speedway is one of the oldest venues on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series circuit, and it is the only track to host a Cup race every year since the series' inception in 1949. The track started as a dirt facility and was paved with asphalt in 1955. In addition to luxury suites being added in 1998, other track renovations include the addition of LED lights last year.