BROOKLYN — With only one week left until one of the state’s largest sporting events, race fans have spoken and it’s loud and clear: The price of a ticket to a sporting event is more important than ever.
MIS officials realized this long ago when implementing a new sales strategy that reset the price of tickets across the board for its events. So tickets have not been this price since 1998.
At $30, a general admission ticket to a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at MIS is one of the best, most affordable tickets in big-time auto racing.
That’s why only a handful of GA tickets remain for the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 on June 19.
“Without general admission tickets, I don’t think I would be able to continue to come to MIS,” Wayne Hartley, 36, of Benton Harbor, Mich., said. “My wife and I make it a family weekend for our three kids, so bringing my kids for free allows us to take a small vacation together to MIS.”
At MIS, kids 12 and under are free in all general admission sections on Sunday; and all reserved seats Friday and Saturday. Kids 13-17 are half price in reserved seats on Saturday and Sunday.
Hartley said he and his family get to the racetrack early, dump all their gear in their seats and head out to enjoy the rest of the facility, including the displays in the New Holland Fan Plaza.
While the ticket prices have allowed the Hartleys to continue to bring their kids to MIS, for other race fans, the GA tickets have allowed them to add bonus NASCAR races to their year.
“We used to just go to the August events and sit in the center grandstand,” Jason Wills, 46, of Manistee, Mich., said. “Then gas prices skyrocketed, so my brother and I moved to GA to save a little money. But we saved so much, we come to the June race, too, and we added pit passes. I can’t do that anywhere else.”
Wills said a GA ticket hasn’t changed his view of the race, its excitement or his experience at MIS, but he did add there are more kids in GA than he remembers in the center grandstand.
The next price level after general admission is $39 for adults with kids 17 and under half price in this reserved section, still cheaper than most major racetracks, in the speedway’s newest seats near Turn 1.
The speedway’s director of Ticket Operations Linda Wyne always encourages guests to buy early.
“We experienced our biggest Sunday walk-up sales day ever last year and anticipate a busy sales day again next week,” she said. “But some people were shocked last year because our two lowest-priced ticket options sold out. So if you don’t want any surprises and you don’t want to wait in a long ticket line, you should buy today.”
As always, parking is free at MIS – and the track allows coolers through the gates. Check the speedway’s website for details.