A Little help - visiting races

[Osella]

Hi All..

It's been a while since I was regularly posting here (There used to be a whole section about attending races!) , however, I have a plan of next year (2012) heading to the States from the UK for a few races.. And to this end, knowing how helpful some of you folks have been, I'm after a few recommendations of places to stay and places to avoid(!) around some of the tracks and cities.

Now, the 2012 calendar isn't finalised yet, but the plan is roughly to head to the Texas chase race on Nov 3rd/4th - hopefully the trucks will run on the 2nd as well, then travel across new Mexico and Arizona over the week between Texas and Phoenix, take in a few places on-route, then do the Phoenix Race weekend, then back across (maybe fly) for the F1 race in Austin on the 18th November! Spending a good few nights in Austin to hopefully catch some bands playing in the week/nights..

If I'm lucky there'll be some Hockey and NFL in either Dallas/Arlington or Phoenix area around the same time too.. So sort of an epic sports/road/music trip..! :bounce:

As I say, any recommendations on places to go, good food, good places to sit, advance ticket sales, anything will be massively helpful! I've got a while to plan it, and to save, but I know once the race calendars are announced, places will start to book up in and around Dallas/FW and Phoenix, so I need to start thinking ahead!

[slorydn1]

Hey old friend! Unfortunately I'm not gonna be much help, I'm more of an eastern US guy. I did go visit my son at Fort Bliss in El Paso Texas back in April, and that was the first time in my life I had been west of St Louis. Every thing seems so different in that part of the country, even the major fast food chains have different names!! I do have friends that have been to the new football stadium in Dallas and they say its a must see (I drove past it on my way to El Paso but I didn't have time to stop) so that sounds like must do. I hope you like steak, beause just about every resturant in Texas serves the biggest steak you'll ever see in your life, and its good, too. The locals are really friendly, too. They say the races at Texas Motor Speeway are really good in person and that there's not a bad seat in the place (which would be light years ahead of Charlotte, which even tho the tracks themselves look very much alike, there are huge blind spots, especially in the backstretch grandstands at Charlotte). The best piece of advice I can give about seating at any race track, is unless you absolutely have your heart set on being right at the Start/Finish line, the best place to sit is as high as you can stand it in either turns 1 or 4 at any of the ovals. That generaly gives one the best perspective of the whole track (but does have the side effect that in a close side by side finish you won really be able to tell for sure who won-but to each his own). I have sat high in turn 1 at Darlington, Rockingham and Richmond and had a great view of the entire track at all three facilities (and they are all very different places).

Hotel wise I'm not really sure what to tell you. Unless you feel the need to stay in a real fancy place and spend a lot of $$$ I have found that either Days Inn's or any of the "Choice Hotels" a conglomerate that owns the Comfort Inn, Quality Inn, Comfort Suites, Sleep Inn, EconoLodge and many other brands franchises seem to work best for me.

Just make sure you support my driver and drink plenty of Budweiser!!!! :beer:

[Mark in Oshawa]

I would echo a little of what Slo said. Most of the basic chains are fine for places to stay. Food wise, in the Southwest most of the restaurants serving steaks are all good, and of course, being the southwest you have to eat Tex Mex and Mexican food.

As for the tracks, higher is always better in a lot of these tracks. Be prepared to walk miles....these tracks are big and the vendors are fun for all the goodies they offer up with driver's faces on it.

I think make sure you have decent maps for driving, don't be afraid to try the local cuisine, and don't worry, you wont cross in to Mexico by mistake, but it will seem that way at times....Make sure you swing up to the Grand Canyon and maybe Vegas if you can as well. Also, The Dallas Stars would be my pick if you wanted an NHL experience. Phoenix exists as a team by some total lack of sense by the owners since the league owns the franchise, and the atmosphere in their games is like a funeral. IF you are going to see your pro hockey, Dallas is the place. For hoops, Dallas or Phoenix. Check all the appropriate websites for tickets (the teams or Ticketmaster). For the NFL, I would go see the Cowboys or if you cant do that, go to a U of Texas games and see what US College Football is about. Not sure on the scheds' matching your needs, but again, just ideas.

AS someone who used to drive truck down to Texas a lot, Texas is America with the volume turned up loud! I love it down there and it is a wild place at times.....

[Osella]

Thanks for the tips guys! Yeah, I'm not that fussed about accommodation - as long as it's got a bed & a shower! I'm just after somewhere to crash..

Slorydn - thanks for the tips about seating; I'm thinking turn 4 at Tx seems good - usually sees a fair bit of action - esp in the Nationwide and Truck races.. I'm tempted to try up on the hill at Phoenix, but I don't know how far it might be to run to the john or to find a cold (astronomically-priced) beer! I know Jayski has a lot of tips for visiting tracks too - so that's my next port of call.. I don't know if anyone on here has been to Phoenix before...??

Mark, thanks for the encouragement! Yeah, I'm looking forward to visiting Texas too, just seems a long time off! I was in Toronto back in March actually.. Really tempted to go back for the Indy in July, but can't afford that and the southern swing!
I am well aware of the Coyotes issues (so there may not BE a team in Phoenix next season!), but compared to the Canadian teams - the prices for a game are amazing!! US$26 for reasonable seats.. It depends on who's playing tho.. I'm a Detroit fan, so it does hinge on the proposed East/West reallocation. If not, Dallas sounds good! Likewise, I'm a Jags fan (don't ask!) in the NFL, so I'd like to get to one of their games, and it depends if they are playing Arizona next year at the time I'm over..(results-wise, who can say!) or Dallas.. & obviously won't know that until late in the year!

How about Phoenix, anyone ever stayed around there, any thing else to do in that area, or is it worth taking the time to travel through NM & Az and stop off at a few places on the way..? Then I'm looking forward to the volume getting louder and louder in Austin! ;)

[tstran17_88]

I'm not from Texas, but was there last November and I'm going back this November. Also, I've been to the Phoenix track a few times as well for the spring race.

There are tons of hotels in the DFW area so it shouldn't be a problem getting a place within a 45 minute drive that is reasonable. We stayed at a Wingate by Wyndham in Irving/Las Colinas last year. For the most part, it's a very nice chain. This year we are going to try a La Quinta. The particular one we are staying at is in Euless. Not as familiar with the hotel situation in Phoenix though. Both times I was down there, we stayed at a house that my parents rented out for the month. My brother and I flew down there for a long weekend.

I can tell you from advice from relatives...it's a long, boring drive through West Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.

I've only bought Cup tix's for Texas and they go on sale near the end of April. They have three day packages (Truck, Nationwide & Cup) that go on sale earlier. Just keep an eye on their website. Granted, I went to the spring races in Phoenix, but those tix's went on sale in November. And we bought the two day package (Nationwide & Cup) in order to get better seats.

We really didn't eat out in the DFW area. Just went to Wal-Mart for food, etc. to take to the race & grabbed fast food after the race. The main focus of our trip was Port Aransas along the gulf coast and the race was a concession my wife made to me for taking her to Texas. :) There was a nice Brew Pub we ate at in Glendale, AZ in the same mall as Jobing.Com arena otherwise my dad is too cheap to eat out alot, so we didn't much of that in Phoenix.

On a side note...we might be blowing off the Cup race in Nov. of 2012. I want to go to the F1 race in Austin as well. :)

I'll try to help if you have any other questions.

[tstran17_88]

Generally the NHL individual game tickets go on sale in late August and September, depending on the team. I'm a Nashville fan because a lot of the players played in Milwaukee for their AHL affiliate Admirals and also the University of Wisconsin. I'll go to Chicago and St. Paul to watch them, but I've seen the Hawks and Wild play other teams as well.

FYI...There are three AHL teams in Texas and tickets are a heck of a lot cheaper! Dallas has their affiliate in Austin, the Wild's is in Houston and the Florida Panther's is in San Antonio. (Up until this year, San Antonio was the Coyote's AHL affiliate.)