{"id":7994,"date":"2014-09-17T13:15:06","date_gmt":"2014-09-17T20:15:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=7994"},"modified":"2014-09-17T11:27:27","modified_gmt":"2014-09-17T18:27:27","slug":"texas-motorplex-prepares-to-give-nhra-a-big-texas-welcome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/texas-motorplex-prepares-to-give-nhra-a-big-texas-welcome\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Motorplex Prepares to Give NHRA a Big Texas Welcome"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TM_2009_looking_tower<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been said that everything is bigger in Texas.\u00a0 When the NHRA rolls into Ennis, TX this week for the Texas Motorplex\u2019s AAA Texas Fall Nationals, all the eyes of the racing world will be focused on them, particularly after last weekend’s surprising events in North Carolina<\/a>. \u00a0The second of the six-race NHRA Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship will also, by necessity, host the conclusion of Carolina Nationals finals<\/a>, and the biggest winners of all will be the fans in attendance.<\/p>\n

Gabrielle Stevenson, President \/General Manager of NHRA\u2019s first supertrack, is\u00a0a transplant from the California Bay area, and the pressure of pulling off this event is largely on her capable shoulders. \u00a0In 2011, at the request of Motorplex\u2019s owner, Billy Meyer, she came on board to lead his staff and help ensure the success of the track.<\/p>\n

Texas Motorplex is known for bringing innovation to each national race, to trying something new and Stevenson has grasped what makes these touches special to the fans.\u00a0 The major task on her mind is always \u2018what\u2019s going to bring them back.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a year-round program,\u201d said Stevenson, a former NHRA media official. \u00a0\u201cWe don\u2019t have one check list; every manager has a weekly checklist that specifically covers an NHRA national event.\u00a0 We want to make sure our other events don\u2019t suffer because of our year-round work on the nationals.\u00a0 But to host something as big as one of NHRA\u2019s biggest races, we want to make sure we have our bases covered from start to finish.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlanning starts the moment we have fans from the last race walking out of the gate.\u00a0 We want to make sure they get to their cars and get to the highway safe.\u00a0 Most of all we want them to be feeling they had the best experience possible and they want to come back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have fans that have been sitting in the same two seats for 29 years,\u201d said Stevenson.\u00a0 \u201cThey want to keep it that way, so we offer a renewal period for our really loyal fans.\u00a0 So, those fans get renewed and receive their tickets in October and November for next year.\u00a0 Come hell or high water, they are sitting in those seats and we love that about them.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to make sure we have all our bases covered.\u00a0 There are so many things to do when you have thousands of your best friends on site.\u00a0 Making sure the concessions are clean and attractive, having enough rest rooms available that are very clean and giving the flow of people traffic plenty of room to get to where they need to go at their pace.\u00a0 Having the right signage around the property to make sure people can get into and around the facility takes up more time than I\u2019d like to admit, even after all these years, because a parking pass will change or we\u2019ll do something different like moving the lot to a different location.\u00a0 So we listen to the fans and if we hear that was difficult to get to then we need to make a change to make it better for them.\u00a0 We meet and talk about all this local law enforcement, regional law enforcement and we have different groups that have been working with the Motorplex.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"P1230624\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As the GM of such a forward-thinking facility, Stevenson still has to be ready for anything. Looking ahead \u00a0and seeing potential problems is a skill that helps her keep those problems at bay during the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe break our events down to security, cleanup, competition, ticketing, marketing, finances and then there\u2019s always guest services. Everyone has to deal with guest services,\u201d smiles Stevenson, going over her list of main concerns.\u00a0 \u201cThen we have to worry about all the little things between that.\u00a0 Billy and I make sure our managers train all their staff and everyone else in that department.\u00a0 The only thing across the board is guest services. That\u2019s the only thing that touches every single department because it\u2019s not enough to have a great race anymore.\u00a0 It\u2019s not enough to open your gates.\u00a0 We must be able to accommodate the very special requests and special contingencies.\u00a0 We always want to make sure we always accommodate everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

An example of this is the simplified ticket buying process, including the knowledgeable people manning the phones who can help with tickets, seating questions or drag racing inquiries from brand new or seasoned fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who come back year after year, they know where everything is, but we have to make sure we always teach people about racing.\u00a0 Most of them didn\u2019t grow up around drag racing.\u00a0 Our ticket staff will spend 10 to 20 minutes on one phone call explaining where people can sit and where they should sit to watch the race.\u00a0 Our staff will go through the whole option with the customer. I think they do a great job with our tickets.\u201d<\/p>\n

She keeps a constant eye on appearance and cleanliness and this track is known to have abundant restrooms and concessions that fans enjoy for a daylong adventure into the NHRA over the weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to,\u201d said Stevenson.\u00a0 \u201cWe make sure we have a minimum amount of vendors to make sure the fans benefit.\u00a0 Make sure they are going to be high volume distributors because we know that a line means something good is going on, but that line needs to move quickly.\u00a0 Everybody knows people could be out here for 12 hours or longer on a race day, but they still don\u2019t want to stand in line.\u00a0 We want to give them options.”<\/p>\n

\"2013-09-21<\/a><\/p>\n

Track owner, Billy Meyer, had a pretty stellar career as a Funny Car driver with 12 National Event wins and knew when he built the all-concrete supertrack that every year it needs to be even better. This ethos has\u00a0been a tremendous influence on Stevenson during her tenure as President\/GM.\u00a0 Staff is encouraged to come up with new ideas for fans and visitors, and they collectively walk through these ideas to see if they’ll work.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest thing is trying something new,\u201d Stevenson said.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re always trying to add a new piece to the fun and a new piece of the event. We’re getting the Fast and Loud Gas Monkey Garage guys out here.\u00a0 We\u2019re doing a Fanfest on Wednesday<\/a> before the race in Ennis, which we\u2019ve never done before.\u00a0 We\u2019re having live music and a live radio remote. \u00a0 It\u2019s Championship Drag Racing.\u00a0 We always want to mix it up a little bit and also start to look towards next year with the big date change (moving from the second race to the fourth in the Countdown) and the 30th<\/sup> anniversary.\u00a0 We have a few things brewing that we want to share them with the fans even as early as during this event.\u00a0 It\u2019s just not enough to be the same old thing, but at the same time you don\u2019t want to change it up so much that your loyal following doesn\u2019t like it or recognize it anymore.\u00a0 You want to see what new things you can add to the event.\u201d<\/p>\n

And even with the unexpected addition of the Carolina finals being added into the weekend, Stevenson isn’t sweating it. Her team is prepared.<\/p>\n

“Obviously, we hate that the fans didn\u2019t get to see all the action in Charlotte, but hopefully they\u2019ll just come on down to Texas Motorplex where they\u2019ll get to see what amounts to two finals,\u201d Stevenson said. \u201cFor our fans it\u2019s a pretty nice little bonus to get to see all that extra racing.<\/p>\n

\u201cTypically, when they leave here, you\u2019ve got a pretty good idea of who the top contenders are going to be for the championships. It\u2019s always a really exciting weekend because of the playoffs but now with all the extra racing going on, it\u2019s going to be even more of a drag racing fan\u2019s dream weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

The AAA Texas NHRA Fall Nationals starts this Friday with first round of professional qualifying starting 3:15 p.m. CDT.\u00a0Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle will begin Charlotte eliminations during the second round of qualifying on Friday. For a breakdown of who still needs to qualify from Charlotte, check out this guide:\u00a0http:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/2014\/09\/17\/two-for-one-drag-racing-this-weekend-in-texas\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What does it take to get a track ready for one of the biggest race events of the year? Texas Motorplex General Manager Gabrielle Stevenson shares some of the prep she and her team have done to host the NHRA AAA Texas Fall Nationals this weekend.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":7999,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3465,3470,3399],"tags":[554,1259,1326,515],"class_list":["post-7994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drag-racing","category-news","category-nhra","tag-2014-nhra-mello-yello-drag-racing-series","tag-countdown-to-the-championship","tag-gabrielle-stevenson","tag-texas-motorplex"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Fall-Nationals-2013-Feature.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-24W","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7994"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7994\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8008,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7994\/revisions\/8008"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}