Interview With Sherry Clifton Of Hickory Motor Speedway

SCR: Have you done any facility upgrades recently?
CLIFTON: It's a constant struggle anytime you're dealing with a historic property. While it's not a registered historic property, it still has been here since 1951. So with the history comes repairs. Hickory has become-I won't say legendary but I will say notorious-for the nasty infield men's room. We had Band-Aided that thing and duct-taped it and replaced pipes and replaced toilets and still it was just horrible. I finally bit the bullet and talked to the property owners and said, We've got to do something about this. We've replaced the whole infield men's room and have gotten more comments on that than anything we've done all season. It's funny when you see guys who haven't raced here in about a year. They'll come in and go to the men's room then come walking back out and look at the sign. They think they've walked into the wrong place. From the time I was a kid coming over here, the infield men's room had a reputation of being horrible. People aren't going to put up with that kind of thing anymore. This is a new era. We're also upgrading the seats. We tore down all the wooden bleachers and replaced them with aluminum seats. There are a lot of things. We've worked on erosion control and drainage issues. We had always had a problem with seepage because the track is in terrible need of paving, but I can't pave it. I don't own the property, you know. So there are big cracks, and for years when it would rain it would be two days before it would dry. But we've done some creative bulldozing on the outside of the track to get the runoff to go in different directions. Thank God we haven't had a whole lot of problems with that this year.

SCR: How many fans do you draw on a typical Saturday night?
CLIFTON: This year it has gone up to about 1,500.

SCR: What is the most popular division you field?
CLIFTON: I would have to say our Late Model Stocks, because of the high car counts and the level of talent in our competitors. We've been lucky enough to have some of the best drivers in the country racing with us this year. They know on any given Saturday night that we've got a huge depth of field and that anyone can win. It's not a runaway.

SCR: Do you do anything specifically intended to draw families with young children to build the fan base for the future?
CLIFTON: We do offer, like many tracks do, a family pass. Young kids 6 and under are admitted free. But what has really attracted the kids is there are more youngsters driving. These are kids they go to school with and the same age as them. We've got some 14-year-olds here racing with us and they're very competent. As a matter of fact, one of them won the Limited division championship this year. The little girls come out because they think these guys are so cute. And what's cooler than a race car driver walking around school?

SCR: Where does your competition for spectators come from in your area?
CLIFTON: That's a tough one. We've got some serious competition in this area. Hickory, for some reason-I think it was in a magazine a few years ago-was listed as one of the top 10 places in the country to open a new restaurant. I think everyone took note of it because you have to drive past 50 restaurants to get here, probably six or seven movie theatres, bowling, miniature golf-there's something on every corner. And we've got the Hickory Crawdads (minor league) baseball team in town. So there's a lot of competition for the entertainment buck, and not a whole lot of bucks to go around.

SCR: When Cup races are held on Saturday nights, what does that do to your turnout?
CLIFTON: It does affect it. It certainly does. Depending on the venue, if it's Martinsville, Bristol, the Nextel Cup All-Star event, nobody goes up against that. You may as well cut your throat if you're going to do that. Same with the Daytona night race. Some of the people, though, have gotten their fill of staying home every Saturday night and they come out to watch live action, to watch guys put their heart and soul into it.

SCR: What about when races are held at nearby Lowe's Motor Speedway? You could probably make the argument that it helps you on Saturday night if they're racing at Lowe's on Sunday and have a lot more race fans in the area.
CLIFTON: It can work both ways. We lose some of our fans to Charlotte from the local area. But we gain some who are in Charlotte just for the Lowe's events and they'll come to Hickory. You would be amazed at how many people come by this place and just walk into the office on any given day of the week and say, I'm from Washington state and I was in Charlotte for a meeting and I couldn't be this close to Hickory Motor Speedway that I have heard about all my life without driving up here to see it. That really gives you a good feeling.

SCR: With all the track's history, do you get phone calls from people looking for souvenirs to buy?
CLIFTON: Oh yeah. Our Web site gets something like a hundred thousand hits a month.

SCR: Can you buy souvenirs online?
CLIFTON: We're not set up for that, but that's something I would like to go with in the future.

SCR: What about your average fan? Is it someone who is from Catawba County and has attended races there for years, like you, or has the profile of the average fan changed?
CLIFTON: I would say our regulars come from about a four-county area. And I would say probably a 50/50 split of longtime supporters of the track and new people to the area who have found out about us.

SCR: What advice would you give to someone thinking about getting into track promotions today?
CLIFTON: You better love the sport, you better have an understanding family that doesn't need a lot of attention, and you better have thick skin. The main thing short track promoters need to keep in mind, the foremost thing, is respect for your racers. These guys and girls every Saturday night when they pull in that gate, they know they're going to lose money. Even the winner is going to lose money, and they do it for the love of the sport. You've got to give them respect and make them feel welcome.

In operation since 1951, HMS is a 0.363-mile semibanked asphalt oval located just over an hour north of Charlotte, in the rolling hills of North Carolina.
(828) 464-3655
www.hickorymotorspeedway.com