No fans in the stands, but racing will go on at Meridian Speedway. Here’s how
If you’ve grown tired of watching reruns of classic sports matchups on TV, get ready for live racing Saturday at Meridian Speedway.
No, you can’t pack the stands with a few thousand of your favorite racing buddies. But you can tune in from the comfort of your own couch.
With large venues unable to open to the public until Stage 4 of Gov. Brad Little’s reopening plan, Meridian Speedway has partnered with SpeedCast.tv to provide short-track racing fans with a pay-per-view online broadcast. There will be two sets of races on Saturday at the quarter-mile paved oval. The 1 p.m. event features SPEED Tour Sprint Cars, Pro-4s, Super Stocks and Hornets, while the 6 p.m. event includes SPEED Tour Sprint Cars, ISRL Sprint Cars and Street Stocks.
The cost is $39.99 for both races, which can be viewed for up to 30 days, $19.99 for the 1 p.m. race or $27.99 for the 6 p.m. race.
“When the governor put his guidelines out for the four-phase deal, we just jumped inside there, read the rules and tried to figure out where we fit,” said Adam Nelson, Meridian Speedway’s track promoter. “Lo and behold, nonessential businesses got to start operating on May 1, so we were able to hatch a plan basically that let us try to figure out how to take our product, which is live entertainment, and make it available to the masses who are all stuck at home.”
To adhere to social distancing guidelines related to the coronavirus pandemic, pit crews are limited to five people, an empty pit separates each car, and fewer classes are run to allow for the extra spacing. Meridian Speedway will have dedicated “Social Distancing Marshalls” who will monitor the production area, and anyone breaking with social distancing protocols will be removed from the facility.
The broadcast will be commentated by Brent Arte and Todd Seaver. They’re also experimenting with some trackside reporting during races. There are no face-to-face interviews in order to adhere to the 6-foot social distancing rule.
Meridian Speedway did a test run on SpeedCast.tv last weekend, Nelson said. But Saturday will likely be a true measure of whether televised racing at the track is a sustainable model until fans can attend races in person again.
“It’s definitely gonna be interesting to see how it pans out,” Nelson said. “In the end, it’s all quantitative. If there’s enough numbers of people who want to see it, whether we sell 3,000 tickets at the speedway or 3,000 tickets online, it’s the same. If we have 250 people watch, then probably it’s not going to work in the future.”
Colton Nelson, a 23-year-old driver from Meridian, won the 25-lap NASCAR Modifieds race last weekend. He’s still getting used to racing in front of empty bleachers.
“It’s refreshing to be able to just race again and kind of get back to what kind of felt normal for a couple hours,” said Colton Nelson, who is Adam Nelson’s son. “It was really weird not having the fans in the stands. It really didn’t hit me until we rolled out for the main event. That’s normally when everyone’s jumping around and screaming and you’re all rolling onto the track together. It was just empty. It was like: ‘Well, this is pretty weird.’
“It’s nice to be able to race, but it does suck without the fans. They’re the lifeblood of the sport, and you kind of do it all for them.”
