Luxury Boxes For Chosen Few At Races

Kevin and Donna Briand sat high above the New Hampshire International Speedway in air conditioned comfort, dining on carved roast beef in a carpeted luxury box with its wet bar and private rest rooms.

What a way to see a stock car race.

Down below about 82,000 fans sat in the hot sun, packed into the crowded grandstand and waited in long lines to buy food or go to the bathroom.

But in the 29 luxury boxes each holding 30 to 60 people, a select few wooed by major corporate sponsors watched the race in the kind of detached comfort the rich and famous have become used to in team sports.

“We’ll name our first child after you,” Kevin Briand told the salesman who arranged their spot in the luxury box. Not necessary, he was told.

“Then we’ll change the name of our dog,” Briand replied.

Corporate hospitality sites - both large tents and private boxes - are not new to auto racing, but the phenomenon is growing.

“We feel like the chosen few,” said Briand, who works at a grocery store in Concord.

And they were. Another 12,000 or so were among the chosen many at the July 14 Winston Cup race. They got tickets for the corporate city of more than 60 tents set up on 10 acres in front of the track for customers of Budweiser, AC Delco, Ford, Goodwrench, Goodyear and on and on.

Luxury boxes at tracks have yet to receive as much publicity as their counterparts in the National Football League, where the boxes are such a big money-maker teams say they can’t survive without them.

“We could exist without them, but they are good profit,” said Gary Bahre, who operates the 6-year-old New Hampshire speedway with his father, Bob Bahre.

Texas Motor Speedway, expected to be completed in the fall in Fort Worth, will have 194 luxury suites, each seating 64. The boxes will rent for $65,000 to $100,000 a year, said Laura Maready, who does public relations for the track.

The track also will have a hospitality village and 58 condominiums overlooking Turn 2 that sell for $275,000 to $500,000 apiece. Thirty already are sold, Maready said.

Other tracks also have condos.

In contrast, Texas Stadium has 360 luxury boxes, with 21 more being built, and they cost $30,000 to $200,000 a year for Dallas Cowboys games and other events. They hold eight to 30 people.