KANSAS CITY, KAN. — Plans for the new Kansas Speedway keep expanding as interest builds from auto racing fans.
It still takes some imagination to envision NASCAR speedsters roaring around this place -- it looks more like a lunar landscape than a banked speedway.
But it's taking less and less imagination to see the $225 million project succeeding.
Kansas Speedway Corp., just getting a good start on a 1.5-mile racing oval in Wyandotte County, keeps souping up its plans to keep up with demand from auto racing fans nationwide.
"The interest ... is even greater than we anticipated," said Kansas Speedway Corp. President Grant Lynch. "We are overwhelmed by the excitement that folks around the region have shown."
Hot sporting event
It's become a national obsession: NASCAR racing is the fastest-growing spectator sport in the nation. It's already the second-highest rated sport on television, right behind NFL action.
And it's not just for Southern good old boys.
"Really, the demographic of NASCAR has changed considerably over the last 10 years," said Gillian Zucker, the corporation's director of business development. These days, the average fan earns about $60,000 a year and, increasingly, is female.
"Women make up 40 percent of NASCAR fans," Zucker said. The reason: Women relate to the sport. "Women drive almost every single day. They can understand what it's like."
The expanding popularity is translating to expansion at the race facility being built near Interstates 70 and 435.
In July, the speedway corporation credited overwhelming demand for a decision to increase the number of hospitality suites being built at the speedway.
Late last month, more were added.
Interest mounts
Original plans called for only 32 luxury tower suites. In July, that was expanded to 68. They all were sold without promotion, and hundreds more requests have rolled in. Now, another 36 suites are being added.
"The luxury suites were our first taste of how successful motorsports is going to be in this area," Zucker said.
But there's more evidence than just the suites.
Tens of thousands of race fans have contacted speedway offices in search of tickets. Because the place isn't scheduled to open for racing until 2001, it'll be awhile before tickets are available.
Original plans called for 25,000 parking spaces. That's been expanded to 65,000.
All the expansion is just fine with Jeff Werthmann, project manager for Turner Construction Co., the speedway's contractor. He's excited to be involved with a project of such magnitude.
"This is one of the largest excavation jobs ever in the Midwest," he said on a recent tour of the project.
By late last month, about 6 million cubic yards of earth had been moved at the site. That's about halfway to completing the massive excavation job.
Despite a rainy stretch earlier this year, Werthmann said construction was about three weeks ahead of schedule. "We would have been further ahead without the rain," he said.
Working around the clock, crews operating heavy equipment, blasting away rock or erecting steel are sculpting a speedway into the landscape where hills, trees, neighborhoods and businesses once stood.
"You're standing where a Kentucky Fried Chicken store was, but you're about 40 feet above it," Werthmann said as he showed a visitor the just-erected concourse level of the main grandstand. About 45 feet below, a banked curve of the speedway is obvious, but far from race-ready. Behind, steel girders form the skeleton of the skybox suites that have proven so popular.
The speedway will use so much concrete -- about 50,000 cubic yards -- that it has its own cement-mixing plant.
The project is massive. Thirty scrapers and 15 bulldozers crawl over the 1,250-acre site, knocking down a hill here and building a berm there. There's a mile-long stormwater system that will collect water in drainpipes big enough to drive a car through. A transportation tunnel to access the track's infield will be big enough to drive semi-tractor trucks through in two directions at once.
Area to reap benefits
Developers say the speedway's economic impact will be similarly massive.
The corporation expects major race events to draw fans from a multi-state area with a population of 41.2 million.
The typical fan will drive from four to six hours to attend an event, and often will arrive three days before the main race.
"It makes the weekend more of a mini-vacation," Zucker said.
During the days leading up to a racing event, it's expected the majority of the 22,000 motel and hotel rooms in the Kansas City area will be booked, including all 1,000 of the rooms in Lawrence.
"Usually, these events fill 25,000 rooms," Zucker said of her company's experience with other facilities. Kansas Speedway Corp. parent International Speedway Corp. promotes nearly 100 motorsports events annually. It also owns and/or operates five similar facilities, including Daytona International speedway in Florida.
Already, two new hotels have gone up near here. "And we've had a lot of other inquiries related to lodging," Zucker said.
The annual economic impact in tourism dollars on the Kansas City metropolitan area is estimated at nearly $200 million, according to Kansas Speedway Corp. figures. The Lawrence impact is unclear.
The economic impact of the daily operations won't be so great.
The speedway will employ between 40 and 60 people full-time, but that will swell to nearly 3,000 event-day employees for big races.
Now, there are 14 full-time employees, mostly working on sales and promotion.
Werthmann estimated his company had a $50 million payroll for about 2,000 construction jobs.
-- Richard Brack's phone message number is 832-7194. His e-mail address is rbrack@ljworld.com.
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