We’ve been going to
Phoenix for the past five years and we always enjoy it. The pit passes are some of the
best the public can get. It puts you right on the wall of pit road for practices and
qualifying.
Traffic getting to and
from the track moves. They know how to convert a two-lane road into four lanes on raceday.
Three lanes into the track before, and three lanes out of the track afterwards. They have
police directing traffic through the stop signs, even five miles away from the track.
The parking lot can be a
little slow getting out, depending where you have to park, but then that happens at all
tracks, (you always need a little luck when it comes to parking on raceday). The lots are
all sand/dirt, but driving on it is no problem.
There are trams that will
take you to the entrance of the track. The parking lots are located behind turns 1 and 2.
There is parking in private property (for $$$) from turn 4.
Views from the seats are
pretty good. We like the two-year-old stands they constructed in turns 1 & 2. The sun
is at your back from turns 1 & 2, so you don’t get any glare.
They don’t allow
alcohol into the track, but they do sell beer throughout. They have people walking the
grandstands selling cold beer, so you don’t have to miss any action if you want to
quench your thirst. We’ve even bought a cheap styrofoam ice chest to purchase beers
from the vendors, and keep them until we were ready (the vendors sell cans).
The nearest lodging is
about 8-10 miles away, but we stay around 20 miles away where there is ample amount if you
plan early enough.
The first year we
couldn’t find anything closer than 45 minutes away, and they were full of race fans
too, so you might have an hour drive if you are late in making plans.
Phoenix and nearby cities
like Tempe and Scottsdale are great areas with good food and shopping. There are great
steakhouses throughout the area. 45 minutes north of Scottsdale is a very little town
called "Cave Creek". There are a couple of GREAT restaurants out there which I
make the trip to every time. My favorite is "The Horney Toad". They serve the
best fried chicken I’ve had from California to Arizona. The other items are also
great. The atmosphere is western outdoors, as are most of the restaurants. Friends of mine
who told me about the Horney Toad got married behind the restaurant in the chapel last
year. There are too many good steakhouses throughout the region, so go investigate.
One other honorable
mention is the festivities up at Peannicle Pete’s. They also have a good restaurant
where if you wear a tie, they cut it off of you, and hang it from the roof. I haven’t
been there for many years, so who knows what it looks like now!!!
