NASCAR fans are still camping at Atlanta speedway despite coronavirus postponing races
Cars never touched the track, but vehicles circled Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend, camped out to watch a slate of NASCAR races that would never happen.
When word came Friday that the season had been suspended to help stop the spread of COVID-19 — the disease caused by the new coronavirus — there were more than 100 trailers in the speedway’s campgrounds that had no intention of leaving despite warnings to avoid mass gatherings.
“I’m of the opinion that this is way overblown nationwide,” fan Debbie Belfiore, 56, said.
“You’ve had all these people in the infield. You’ve had the race teams, the drivers, the personnel for the speedway, some reporters,” Belfiore continued. “Now you decide to postpone everything and make everybody leave? Have you prevented anything?”
These fans planned their weekend around NASCAR and they intended to make the most of of their camping experience, races or no races.
Belfiore and her husband, Jeff, said they drove 14 hours from their home in Pittsburgh, Pa., to attend the races. They left home Wednesday and arrived at the speedway Thursday shortly before NASCAR announced that the weekend’s track events would be closed to spectators.
“(We’re) very disappointed,” Belfiore said. “Because this is a yearly thing for us. We look forward to it every year. I know it’s not the track’s fault, but it’s still disappointing.”
Rather than watching practices, which were originally scheduled for Friday afternoon, the Belfiores sat outside an RV with Debbie’s parents, Bill and Ruth Slingluff, and friends, Ronnie and Carol Boyd, in a camping lot on the west side of the track. The group debated best Cup drivers and potential winners of the Truck Series bounty, and they were all in agreement about how to approach the pandemic sweeping the globe and canceling all major sporting events.
“I’m not going to stop living my life because there’s a virus that might make me sick or might even kill me,” Belfiore said. “There’s a lot of things out there that could kill me.”
“In 80 years, you can’t believe how many times I was told something was going to kill me,” added her father, Bill. “And I’m still here.”
Her mother, Ruth, 77, also seemed unconcerned.
“I was washing my hands before all of this,” she said.
The family represented one of the many groups of NASCAR fans that remained clustered into a surrounding campground site despite being barred access to the infield. Their response to the crisis reflected the type of die-hard, risk-it-all — even reckless — mentality that lies within the sport’s foundation. In a nutshell, NASCAR fans are a different breed of sports fan.
One fan, Kevin Gross, didn’t have to travel far. He said he lives about six miles from the track and was planning to watch this weekend’s races with his wife, Tracy, and some friends. “Even though they weren’t letting fans in, I was gonna find a way to see the race,” Gross said.
But with no NASCAR races until further notice — next week’s event at Miami-Homestead was also postponed — Gross made a sign that read, “Boo Wu’ Flu,” and stood outside the speedway entrance waving at the team haulers as they made their exits.
The sign was supposed to be a play on the phrase “Wuhan coronavirus,” a reference to the Chinese city where the outbreak is believed to have originated. The geographic labeling of the virus by some Republican politicians has received backlash from Chinese government officials for stigmatizing the country. Gross said he just liked the rhyme.
“I was sitting in my office and an update came across the ticker that said ‘NASCAR postponed this race,’” Gross said. “I was sitting there and I thought, ‘Boo. Boo Wu. Boo Wu Flu.’”
Gross placed the sign on the windshield of his truck behind two Corona Light beer cans — another play on the coronavirus name.
“I’m making a lot of friends,” he said, as he waved to another passerby that slowed down to read his sign.
Like the Belfiores, Gross was “bummed” he wouldn’t get to watch any racing for at least the next two weeks.
Gross, 60, said he had been attending NASCAR races for 10 years and last attended last season’s weekend at Talladega. He also called the folks of NASCAR a “community,” comparing fans to a Grateful Dead show.
He was even familiar with the Belfiores in the campsite across the way and knew they had traveled all day to see the races.
“When we got here yesterday, that lot was full of campers and coaches that were ready to go into the infield,” Belfiore said. “You’ve already got half your crowd here and now you’re telling them too bad?
“... Do you realize how many people you’ve affected and how you’ve adversely affected them to prevent something you can’t really prevent anyway?”
This story was originally published March 14, 2020 at 3:00 AM with the headline "NASCAR fans are still camping at Atlanta speedway despite coronavirus postponing races."
