The Dale Jr. Download - Fan-First Always: Behind the Scenes with SMI's Chief Experience Officer

Episode Date: December 4, 2024

In this episode of The Business of Motorsports, Kelley Earnhardt Miller sits down with Jessica Fickenscher, the Chief Experience Officer at Speedway Motorsports, to dive into her incredible 26 years from intern to executive. Jessica pulls back the curtain on what it takes to enhance the fan experience at NASCAR events, from innovative engagement strategies to the game-changing revival of North Wilkesboro.Discover how fan feedback drives decision-making, why affordability matters, and the creative ways Speedway Motorsports keeps fans coming back for more. Jessica also shares her passion for grassroots racing programs like Legend Car Racing and the powerful community impact of Speedway Children’s Charities.This is more than a conversation—it's an insider’s look at the challenges and triumphs of modern motorsports. From global expansion plans to personal career advice, Jessica’s insights reveal the heart and hustle behind one of SMI’s most dynamic leaders. Check out Dirty Mo Media on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DirtyMoMedia  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The following is a production of Dirty Mo Media. Welcome to the business of motorsports. It is yours truly, Kelly Earnhardt Miller. You know, one thing that I really hope that this series does is open up people's horizons. I got in a lot of trouble and I got challenged. I don't know why you're coming here. You don't trust us. I said, no, it's not I don't trust you.

I'm running a business. A lot of people kind of feel like, well, we're, We're never getting back to where we were. Why do we ever get to where we were? There's so much more involved in decision. I mean, I want to rip somebody's head off every day. I say yes to me. Oh, you say yes on the phone.

Well, you made me say. All right. Welcome to the Dirty Moast Studio and another episode of the Business of Motorsports. I'm super excited today to welcome, wow, just an amazing female in our industry. Jessica Fickencher. She got a long name, so we'll just say Jessica F. And I've got to work with Jessica for quite a few years in her career, her 26-year career. Currently the chief experience officer at Speedway Motorsports, and I'm excited to learn what the chief experience officer does.

But first, I want you to tell us about your journey, because 26 years at an employer and just your rise to where you are today. Yeah, absolutely. And thank you for having me on the show, excited to be here. So I started out as an intern. I was 19 years old. I was a sports management major, and I had to do an internship. The Panthers weren't here yet. I think they had the team, but they hadn't moved here yet, and they weren't official. So somebody said, oh, you should go check out the speedway up the road.

Didn't know anything about racing. I grew up in New Jersey between Philly and Atlantic City. So I showed up at the track and had an interview, got the internship, and I literally have been there ever since. I didn't leave. You didn't leave. You must enjoy it. I did. I do, yeah.

Yeah, I love it when internships turn into that. You know, we have that here at Junior Motorsports and DEJ from time to time. And you just, well, actually, it happens quite often. So it's super fun. So Chief Experience Officer, tell me a little bit about that. Sure. So I wear a lot of different hats, but with the chief experience officer part, it's more of everything that kind of the fan touches from the time that they buy the ticket to the time they leave the property after the race. So anything that they would encounter from an event's perspective or, you know, food and beverage and buying merchandise, getting in and out of the parking lots, getting through the gates, you know, making sure that, you know, our bathrooms are clean. So anything that the fan would see, I kind of have some oversight on.

And that's for all SMI facilities, correct? It is, yes, yes. So that's a pretty big undertaking. What kind of team do you support you? Yeah, no, we have an amazing team all throughout the country. So each track has their team. And we also have a team, we call them Globe. They're based out of Charlotte, but we go out to the speedways when the races are there.

So, you know, the events departments, the operations departments, you know, they kind of all make it all happen. And they're the boots on the ground, folks. So you're kind of the thinker, though, as it comes to, like you said, everything the fan touches. So what, you know, what is that like to think about that? And how do you go about thinking about that and implementing things that you want to see or for that fan to experience? Yeah, absolutely. So the biggest thing for me is we do surveys after each race to all the fans. fans and I really I go through every single one they have an opportunity to write out specifically

something that they really liked or something that they didn't like so and I do the fans how many do do you get oh I mean tens tons thousands and thousands like it'll take me like you know weeks to go through one event so they participate which is great because you know I get those surveys from different things I'm like I don't know but if they have something to tell you I'm sure they want to tell you and sometimes you'll see a theme you know a common theme and even you know we always ask people for the bad things, but I want to know the good things because, you know, if somebody really liked that concert we had, but we don't have it the following year, if they don't tell you that feedback, so it's, you know, it's a good way to kind of keep doing the things that they like and the change

of things that weren't working. So I really kind of go off of that, and that's what makes our decisions for the following event for the following year. When you came into this position, you know, I'm sure there were things that because of your tenure at SMI and your role, I know, I know, in that period of time for you, if I needed something, you were my girl, right? Like, if you needed something from SMI and from Marcus, you just emailed Jessica and she made it happen. But is there an example of something innovative that you've put into place since you've taken over this role? Because you took over this role in 2018, right? Yes. Yeah. So, gosh, there's... Or just talk about some things that are changed, you know? Yeah, I mean, a lot's changed, you know, with the whole fan experience

during COVID too. We worked really closely with NASCAR on that to make sure we were mirroring, doing the same things at their venues versus ours. So that was a big challenge. Just, you know, we were the first sport back racing not only on TV, but then had fans in the stand.

So that accomplishment was awesome. You know, we wanted to get back to some sort of normalcy and fans, people didn't want to talk about the bad things, right? They wanted to go back to having fun. So that was a big challenge, and we accomplished that. Yeah, I mean, gosh, there's so many things.

And Speedway Motorsports is so great. Like if you have an idea or something you want to implement it, I mean, Marcus gives you full brain to do that. I mean, obviously, you know, I mean budget and all that. But he really kind of lets you own what you do. And so that's been a lot of fun too. And really kind of talking to the folks at the tracks, the workers there, getting their feedback too and making sure that they're empowered to make changes that they want to do.

If they see something, you know, go ahead. and have at it. Speaking about the workers, I think that's one of the things that I get amazed at attending any kind of event, you know, whether it's a concert or racing or whatnot, is the crew that it takes that is not a full-time crew that you get to work with and how you manage that and manage those people, you know, because they're a reflection of everything that your fan experiences. How does that work? Absolutely.

So our events, I mean, there's thousands and thousands of folks that are just events. staff. They're not full-time employees or not even part-time employees. And, you know, 90% of our fans interact with them rather than the full-time employees. So it's really important. Training is a big initiative for us. Actually, that's something that we implemented was a big training program, you know, doing it virtual to make sure that, you know, the person that has a soccer team that's coming to help out in the parking lots, you know, you don't want to church groups soccer team. Right, yeah, exactly. And make sure it's easy for them to learn and understand. And, you know, It's not a burden for them to come out to work at the Speedway.

You know, they want to be there because time's precious, right? So your weekends and stuff are valuable. So for somebody to want to come out and work for us, it's a big deal. Yeah. And you want those people to know, right? I mean, I know when I go to an event and I ask a question, I want to know where the closest restroom is or whatever it is. I want them to know. Absolutely.

Absolutely. So training is a big part of that. And I get frustrated if they don't. Exactly. So, you know, so much has changed. I get asked all the time in terms of. marketing and sponsorship and all of those things on the race team side. The same thing has to hold true for the span experience in this world of digital entertainment. You know, I wanted it

yesterday. You know, I need it right now. I need it to work right now. What are some challenges that you've seen as you, you know, create these experiences? Yeah, absolutely. I think to your point, you want it now. You want it yesterday. The younger age, like everything's on your phone. It's amazing. I know my both of my kids were excited when they got their license, but they have friends who don't even care if they get their license or not. They're content connected on the phone. So that's a challenge for us. How do you make something where somebody's going to buy a ticket and get off the sofa and come out to the to the event? So all the ancillary stuff that we do, you know, the race is like one part of it. And I mean, you know, growing up

and I mean, you've got the concerts going on. You got the fans. And there's no other sport out there that does it like NASCAR does. So making all those other things that happen around the track, you know, appealing for somebody to want to come and actually get out of their house. And, you know, TV is amazing. Everything that TV does, you feel like you're there. Yeah. So it's, you know. What's something that you guys have implemented from fan feedback that you feel like works? The camper parties are big hit for us. We've had Tim Dugger. He plays at most of them for us. So he's been traveling around at the Speedway Motorsports facilities, and he's been great. So camper parties are a really big deal.

We'll get thousands of campers that come out. We feared free hot dogs, give them free beer, give them a concert, and they absolutely love it. And those are our biggest money spenders, so we definitely want to take care of them and make sure that they want to come back next year and renew those tickets. Has the, you know, change since COVID for NASCAR in terms of, you know, used to be a three, four-day experience, right, for people. I can remember, and I'm sure this still happens, you know, from time to time, of course, when the Winston was at Charlotte, but you had that week, you know, if you were there for 14 days. What have you done to adjust to that?

What have you seen from that? Because attendance is great. Like you said, campers, I mean, you look out across and you're like, wow. Yeah, so campers are still coming early. You know, we still, we open up our campers traditionally the Sunday before and we have campers moving in. And those are the ones that are coming from like Canada and California. So they make a big trip out of it. And they're always fun to go and talk to and hang out with.

So, you know, a lot of them try to find stuff within the area. You know, they'll ask us what's there to do. So they'll make a vacation out of it. I mean, Charlotte's a little bit different because they've got all the race shops here. So they can be entertained the whole time. But, you know, when you go out to, you know, Sonoma, you know, do some wine tours and that kind of stuff. but we do still have campers out there for definitely more than three days. Do you guys engage with the community to kind of put things together in the different communities that your tracks are?

We do. So a lot of the haller parades. So we work with whatever town we're in to make sure we can get the streets closed. And then the towns kind of put on their own thing there. And it helps them because it's got people coming into their restaurants and their stores and spending money. So we definitely do a lot with the different cities and towns that we're in. What's a memorable fan encounter for you? Like when you walk away from that weekend, what do you say that was successful? I mean, just seeing people smile when they leave. I mean, that's really it. I mean, kids especially, if they're smiling when they leave, then, you know,

because that's our future too. So I think it's just, you know, I guess what their driver doesn't win, they're not smiling. But most of them are just that, you know, the renewing tickets. You know, a lot of renew their tickets there. we do gifts with renewals. So kind of, you know, watching them go up to that renewal tent. Like, I got to be here again.

So you know you did something right. Yeah. I've noticed, you know, I have obviously have people ask for tickets and this, that, and the other. And sometimes I'll just go on the sites and just see how much they are, right? Because I don't know why some people can't Google and figure that out. But they're like, you know, I want to get tickets to Charlotte. Do you know anything about how much they are now? You guys have an amazing kid policy, you know, right, for your tickets.

Yes. for pricing and I think I even saw like on the truck and Xfinity races, they're free, you know, kids. So that's really awesome. Yep. And we actually worked with NASCAR on that because we wanted to make sure it was across the board. It wasn't just Bway Motorsports doing it. So we implemented that together. We rolled that out together. Same thing with our rain plan. If it rained out, your tickets good for another event. So you don't have to re-buy. And we worked with NASCAR on that as well to make sure that we were kind of locked up. all that kind of stuff. Do you, I'm sure you do, but, you know, look at other leagues, other,

you know, I think about, I used to hear this all the time when I was in the souvenir business, you know, about the cost of product and the cost of this, that, and the other. And, you know, I would go to a concert and a t-shirt would be 35, 40 bucks. And at the NASCAR race at the time, they were 20 bucks, you know. You know, how do you stay included on the trends and what's happening and how do you feel about where our sports sits in that larger picture? To your point, I don't think I can go to an event and actually watch the event. I'm taking pictures of the food and beverage pricing and the souvenir pricing and how they're doing their parking. Unless the Eagles are playing, I'm not paying attention to the game or anything.

But yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think growing up in, you know, I kind of grew up in this business, I was 19. But your mind goes to all those other fan elements that you see at other events. And I feel really good about where we are as a sport. I think we are extremely affordable. You know, you look at ticket prices for an NFL game, a hockey game, a bit. I mean, they're expensive. It's a lot of money.

And you can take a family afford to a NASCAR race for relatively a fraction of the price of another major league. Yeah. Often people, you know, also say, you know, I'm going to my first race. What are the things that I need to know? And what track do I go to? Right. I know you love all your tracks. So we won't pick on one in particular.

But from an experience standpoint, like what would you recommend for people? Oh, man. I don't know. It's so hard. Like 20 years ago, I would have been like, oh, the Bristol Night Race. But then the mile and a half has been so good this year. I'm like, oh, you got to go Atlanta because the racing is amazing. So I guess it just depends on their location.

But I think for a fan, they definitely, you know, you need to get the, you know, a scanner. You got to listen. You got to pick a driver before you get there. You got to have somebody to root for. you know, go to the fan zone. There's drivers doing autographs. There's track side live where drivers are doing Q&A. There's just so much to kind of take in and do.

So you got to kind of see and feel all that stuff. So how do you, in your position, work with, let's say, sort of the competitive angle of things at your track? So, you know, what is it called? Do they put down? Yeah, PJ1. Yeah, PJ1. It was escaping me. I'm not in that world every day, right?

So like, you know, when something like that or the Atlanta, when you said Atlanta, this made me think of this because Atlanta is such an awesome track now, right, with the changes that they made. What involvement, how does that work through the executive team, which you're a part of and all? Because, you know, a lot of the fans wonder if we actually all talk to each other sometimes. Right, right. Yeah. And we do. We do. We've gotten much, much better.

But yeah, so like when you're doing a track reconfiguration or, you know, what are you going to actually do the track the day of competition. So there's like two different routes. So if you're actually going to do like a major repave or change the banking or that kind of thing, it's usually, um, the drivers and Marcus has really close relationships with a lot of the drivers and these friends, it usually kind of starts there where somebody will come to him and say, hey, did you ever think about doing this? Or he'll go to them and say, hey, I'm thinking of this. What do you think? And then once that's kind of vetted through, then it goes to Steve Swift, myself, our CFO, and Mike Birch.

So then we kind of talk through it. Then we get NASCAR involved. So, yeah, it is definitely, everybody's at the table at the end of the day, for sure. Yeah, which is great. Other events at your facilities, you've got a big one coming up this year at Bristol with the baseball game. What's your involvement there and what that looks like? Yeah, so actually it was funny.

I was on a call coming in. on the way in with the Bristol folks on that. So right now it's involvement from like the food and beverage side, the working with the Bristol team on the events operational side because we've got to race three weeks after that. And we have to have everything. I mean, and they're built. I mean, it's, we have to take out, you know, part of the pit wall and we got to put it back. So there's a lot to do.

So just making sure. Is it as complicated as putting dirt in and taking dirt back out? Oh, man. I feel like it's more complicated. I'm like, but yeah, so and just making sure that our team, our operations team, stays motivated and energized and they're taking the time that they need to be with their family. Because once we get into that, that stretch, it's game on and they're going to be, you know, 24-7 for a few weeks there. So just making sure that they're being taken care of is a big role that I like to oversee

too. I really kind of like to get involved in that part of the business. So how how do events like that come together, you know, concerts. I mean, you guys have done a lot of different things. Yeah, just, you know, making it work because you don't think of a racetrack. At Bristol, yes, a little bit better, but you don't think of a Charlotte that hosts different things. Right, right. Yeah, it's just, it's all about relationships. You know, with the MLB one, for example, I mean, that's years and years and years and years and years of discussions and years and years of discussions. And it was, you know, there's no team in Tennessee. So the MLB was really excited about it.

And I think they saw success, you know, with their field of dreams that they've done. So, yeah, it's just, it takes a lot of relationship building, working with, you know, politicians, which is a whole other, whole other, you know, angle of things. But, yeah, they definitely take time. They don't come easily, you know, or quickly. The concert, just building relationships with those types of folks that fell, the monster trucks, the Supercross. Feld would actually that came together because of Atlanta during COVID they couldn't do it in the Georgia Dome where they did it so they had to be outdoors so they came to the speedway the guy at Atlanta Motor Speedway made a great relationship with them and now they're at Texas Charlotte Vegas and Atlanta Hey everybody this is Dellenhart Jr and in honor of National Day of Giving I wanted to highlight one of the many ways our partnership with Helmans came to life this year our friends at Helmonds made a generous

$150,000 donation to the Dale Jr. Foundation to support the fight to end food insecurity and hunger during the upcoming holiday season. We can't thank them enough for this incredible contribution. This donation has been used to directly support organizations like Feed-N-C and Blessings in a Backpack. It's helping families in need across our local communities and across the country. With the support of partners like Helmonds, we're able to make a positive impact in people's lives this holiday season. That means a lot to all of us. If you'd like to join us in Helmonds in our fight to end hunger, please visit Blessings in a Backpack.org or FeednC.org.

You can also get involved in your own local community. Speaking of politicians, that could lead us right into discussions about North Wiltsboro. So you were the executive director for the North Willsworthsworthsworth Race last year, which I was just really thrilled for you. So talk about that and the race, you know, the track. coming together and I mean that's we're in our getting ready to experience our fourth third year third year third year yeah yeah it was um it was fun that was a project you know when

when Marcus um Steve Swift actually Steve Swift was in my office and Marcus came in he's like hey you think we could the all-star race at North Wilkesboro we were like yeah we could and you just got you know probably put some money into it and do a few things do a few things and take the trees out of the grandstands but and so we thought he was talking about 24 and he was talking about 23. So we had eight months to do it all. And it was, that was a project, but it was probably one of the most rewarding things I had done in my career. So that was a lot of fun. We just kind of took a lot of people across the company. I kind of picked, I was like a pick the A team, you know, I was drafting people left and right from Vegas and Snowman, New Hampshire and brought them all in. And we just

worked our butts off. And, you know, the state was amazing. The county, the city, everybody involved, just kind of rolled their sleeves up in eight months to kind of rebuild a racetrack and put on a race. Yeah. Yeah. It is just really astonishing that what's come together because, I mean, I experienced that place as a kid. And to go back there that first year was, I mean, I cried. Yeah. We had a lot.

Yeah. It was like, wow. You know, this is like when it's something that's in that community, that track was such a big part of that community. You know, talk about how that has positively affected. Yeah, so, you know, that community, to your point, so they lost the NASCAR race, Lowe's corporate headquarters moved, and Tyson, or, you know, they moved their corporate headquarters. They're still, they have a factory there, but they pretty much moved their corporate folks. So they took a big hit within like two years.

So it really left that county in that whole area in a really, really bad spot economically. So being able to see people get excited. You've seen the movie Cars where the little town, you know, radio springs, they start cleaning the windows and painting the stores because people are coming. That's like that's how. And people were so proud. And that was the most special part about the whole project was just working with that community and then being so proud to have something back. And they still are. You know, I was up there the other day.

We're getting ready to do our grant distribution up there on third. Thursday night, so I think we're going to do about $400,000 to kids in need in that area, so that would be exciting too. Yeah, during some of the hurricane efforts, your tracks have been hot spots for the hurricane relief kind of efforts. Yeah. And you guys have done a lot with that. We have, and we still are out of Bristol and Wilkesboro.

Yeah, I mean, people still don't have heat, you know. They need heaters. Actually, I took a bunch of gloves and scarves and hats up the other day and dropped them off at the track so they could go deliver them. And Bristol still has a warehouse full of stuff that they're getting out. And actually, after the baseball game, some of the material that's going to be left behind, we're going to donate it because they're going to build houses for some folks that don't have houses up there. Wow. Wow, that's amazing.

And not just, you know, SMI just isn't about NASCAR races. You have NHRA facilities at many of your facilities. You have dirt track facilities. How has that just strengthened the role that you play in terms of the different fans? You know, because they're all different. Man, a dirt fan to a NASCAR fan. I mean, you know, my son's running dirt. Yeah.

Yeah, they don't cross over. What's a big difference? Can you put it into words? I'm not sure. Like, I think like the NHRA fans, they just like that loud, roar and the car's going straight. They don't want to sit there and watch cars go in a circle. The dirt people want to get dirty. They sit in that front row with their goggles and their car hearts. They're just different. I'm not sure how to explain it. But they're all motorsports enthusiasts,

which is awesome. And I just think the more events you have, the better you get at it. So it just kind of keeps us fresh and always on our toes. Tell me something. Tell me about, I was thinking about this as we talked about North Woodsboro and Kentucky was one of an SMI track. What, what is that process? Is there, do you have involvement in that process? Help fans understand what that looks like. So doing the dates or the, yeah, and figuring out the date, closing a facility and what do you do with the facility, you know, like you'll see, I just saw a picture of Kentucky on the internet and they're like, oh, it's just sitting here, you know, like what, what's that process like? Um, inside of that a little bit. You know, you kind of,

you look at the landscape across the country and in the markets, you know, know, and with Kentucky, you know, taking another race to Atlanta or to Texas and kind of sit down with NASCAR. So there is conversation that goes on, or, you know, NASCAR say, hey, we really want to be in this market, Cota, for example. So we don't own. Yeah, you don't own Coda, but you promote Cota. Yeah. And that market's really important to NASCAR. They love it. Fox loves it. So we kind of work together. Like, hey, if we did this, would you guys be behind it? Like, oh, 100%. And if they're not, then like, okay, let's look at something else. So yeah, you kind of sit down and talk, you know, a couple years out. Like, where do we want to be in a few years? Do we want to take,

you know, a race to, you know, New York or, you know, New Jersey, you know, something like that. So what are some of the challenges with CODA in terms of the fan experience being spread out? I mean, obviously you have the Roval, but yet you're within the confines of your facility. Yeah. Yeah, it is a challenge there. And their employees, kind of run everything. So it's, but if we work together fine, but it is a little bit different. So what aspects do you control versus? So really just kind of like the fan zone, the camping, but we just have to work with the CODA staff. It is spread out. We're doing the short course this year or yeah, next year. So the fans kind of kind of a better experience from a viewing standpoint

because it is so spread out. So you've seen motorsports of. evolve, what, you know, what do you see on the horizon in terms of how our fans are going to experience the race? I think, you know, I think that, excuse me, Mexico, I think is going to be a really good thing for us. I think kind of spreading out, you know, hopefully getting to Canada, just doing more international. I mean, not going back to Japan like we did 20, 30 years ago, but I think kind of hitting those different types of markets are going to be big. I think the digital platform's going to be big. I do think the whole, I'm excited about the whole TV schedule next year. I think having Amazon involved, you know, that's what's going to kind of get,

I think, our next group of young viewers to. Well, that was leading to my next question from a generational standpoint. How do you see that shift? What are you guys doing, you know, from an SMI standpoint to preserve because the core fans and, you know, you know, You know, our older fans, we protect, you know, we want to protect them. We want to protect why they feel a certain way about the sport. But at the same time, you have to grow new fans. You need to get, you know, our kids and all involved and what they love about. Yeah, absolutely.

And that is something we talk a lot about. But I do think, you know, having the same, you know, having our events just be good events that fans want to come back to, they feel good about spending their money there, their stuff to entertain. MX, that's, I think, going to help our core fan, making sure that the competition's great. And it has, I mean, this year's, I think it was one of the best years that I can remember of competition. So, you know, making sure that stays how it is. And then, but like I said, the Amazon deal, I think it's going to be great for new fans. I think people are used to, or getting used to having, you know, streaming, streaming things.

So. Yeah. And it's like, you know, football's on. I mean, come on. Yeah. So, yeah, I'm excited about it. We do go up against, I mean, you know, we go up against every sport, really, at the end of the day. Right, right.

That's a big deal. So in addition to your role as the chief experience officer, you oversee some of the business operations for legend cars. You also, and I want to talk about Speedway Children's Charity as well, so you have your hands in quite a few different things. I've experienced the legend car racing at Atlanta and Charlotte. Tons of fun. What are those, you know, those are 10-week programs and they're different, you know, between Atlanta and or here. Do you see those having an impact for your fans that are coming to your big races?

Like, do you see a correlation between what you're doing in the summer for the 10-week series at Charlotte? I think so. because I think the kids that are racing in them, all of their friends want to kind of come and see it, and then they kind of get a little bit of a taste of what a race is like. You know, and then they might want to go to a NASCAR race. But, you know, our U.S. Legends program is, I mean, as you know, it's one of the theater systems for the sport. We've got a great group of alumni that have come out of it and not just become, you know, the cup drivers. You know, we've got cars tour drivers.

You've got Jake Bowman, for example. you know, he's, he's been doing well. You go to the late Maud. So it's just a great grassroots program. And then you also have your folks that are hobbyists and they don't want the $50,000 big boat, you know, to take out on the lake or whatever, you know, so then they want to race cars. So, you know, we've got everybody from 8 to 88, literally. We have an 88-year-old driver.

That's wild. And so, you know, tell our listeners about the Legends Cars series, you know, and I-NX and stuff in terms of, you know, it's, and I didn't really even realize this until Wyatt started participating, but the breadth of where you race in the States, there's a national tour. You can go to just your local track, you know, where that, I mean, you know, we've been to Dominion. Obviously, I know out in Las Vegas, you've got Atlanta, you've got Charlotte, like, talk a little

bit about that program. Yeah, no, it's a great program. So we have the Bandolero cars, which you eight to 12. and then I think load the age to 10 actually so you can get into a legend's car a little bit earlier. So and then you go into the legends car and then kind of take it from there. But you can, we just had the national asphalt nationals at VIR. I actually had two kids from Australia to stay at our house. We had like 50 Italians running around Harrisburg and Charlotte and then went up to Virginia.

So that's our big international ones. They all come over and they race and that's a great event at VIA. VIR. Dominion. We had our national, asphalt national event there this past year. I'm sorry, road course national was at VIR.

The asphalt nationals was at Dominion. So you can pretty much race anywhere from Florida to California. We talked to Kern Speedway. We're going to have some races out there. There are going to be points races. And so Inex is the sanctioning body, which stands for inexpensive. That's where it started from.

So I don't think a lot of people. that. I didn't know that. Yeah, that's great. I love it. I think Bruton did that. And so, yeah, so yeah, so they're the sanctioning body and then you've got, we fabricate, make all the cars, build them in Harrisburg, North Carolina, and send them out all over the world. That's crazy because that, you know, people ask, obviously, how do you get involved in the sport? And, you know, how can my kid participate? Because we're not a, you know, we're not a rec league, you know, in your town or community. But Legend car sort of is. Yeah. Yeah. And you can go on our website. You can find your local dealer if you don't live in North Carolina. We've got a dealer

network system across the country and they can help get you set up. We've got teams if, you know, mom and dad, you know, my son's racing. I don't know. Jim and I don't know how to broke in a car. So we've got a guy who, you know, is this team guy and help set up the car and takes it to the track. And I think they're going to get a race this weekend. Yeah, you think about, you know, William Byron, you know, because he drove here, I know this story well, just in terms of, you know, him going to his dad and telling him that he wanted to race. Yep. You know, and it's like, how do you get involved? Right. And his dad's a financial manager, you know, and financial services. And, and so they go legend car racing, you know, and William shoot, I mean, he, I think he about won everything

that he could that year. And his dad's like, wow, you know, he really has this. So that's the kind of thing that, you know I think a kid and a family that they weren't born into the sport or you know knowing about the sport can do through the letter yeah which is cool it is neat and you kind of walk through the pits and you see the families that you know they have their teams and they're got the set up guy and mom and dad are hanging out but then you have the teams where mom and dad and kid are working on the car together like it's it's neat to see like them kind of do something together and making memories and it's something that that they always have you know whether that kid goes on to have a career in racing in some form or fashion or goes on to be a banker.

Who knows, but it has those memories of being at the track with mom and dad. Between your different tracks with this fan experience, do you have, are there, do you treat tracks differently in terms of the fan experience, you know, that's there's something that you would do in Vegas that you wouldn't do in Atlanta or whatever it is? Yeah, we do. We do. Because each area has its own personality, right? So when you're in Vegas, you probably want to go to the strip and to your hotel and go out to dinner and, you know, do Vegas stuff. So that fan experience and the race is early, right?

So people are like 11 in the morning, you know, getting out to the track. So that fan experience is going to be a little bit different than New Hampshire, for example. Like New Hampshire, that's probably one of our strongest camping tracks. And those folks party at night. And we have an ACDC cover band and a poison cover band. And we have them every year. and people love them. And that's what they do after the race that night

when they go to the lobster lounge and they party it up. So, you know, that's for New Hampshire. Yeah, so everything's different. You kind of like play on the personality of the area that you're in. I don't even know if you know this, but you say lobster lounge.

It made me think of like how, and, you know, obviously Texas and cowboy boots and that kind of thing and the fire and the guns and then you've got lobsters in New Hampshire. every track seems to have a little personality of their own.

How is that created? You know, like is it like Marcus, I know when he first, you know, maybe comes across the track and puts it into play or whatever or is it just kind of over time?

I think it's just organic. It's just, it's nothing's been, you know, we're going to call it this. Like it's just like I'll take our turn 11 building in Sonoma.

We built this beautiful hospitality building and everybody said, what do we need? We kept calling it turn 11. What are we going to name it? I'm like, turn 11. That's what we keep calling.

Let's call it turn 11. Yeah. It's just natural. Yeah, and I just think that's how those things happen in different areas. It's just organic and you don't try to force something that doesn't seem like it would fit. Consumer Cellular is the official wireless partner, Brack Haslowski, RFC, RFCK racing, and the number 6 car. If they can count on consumer cellular, then you can too. Brack Haslowski and the RFK racing team, they know speed, and that's just what you get with consumer cellular.

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because you have a 26-year career with the same employer. You know, what are some things that you can look back on and that you've stayed true to in terms of, your growth within the company because you you know I was looking I never knew your title I'm not a title person okay I just am not I will admit it I'm not I know that there are title people if you needed something done you emailed Jessica and if you asked Marcus for something he told you to email Jessica so he still does yeah right I mean so like obviously you get stuff done but talk about your career and just you know the path of of coming up through and and and how that has worked for you for other people.

Yeah, so, you know, I started as an intern in the PR department, then would start working at night for Benny Parsons when he did his fast talk with Benny Parsons, and then I got to know he and Terry really well. And, you know, in every event, even like after my internship, I was always there. I was always working. I was always doing something in any department.

I didn't care. I just put me to work, put me where you need me. So I think that helped a lot. You know, I wasn't like, well, I'm not going to do that because that's kind of beneath me. Like there was an admin role that came out. And, you know, I said, let me do it. Like, you know, I don't care if I have a college degree. Like, I want to do everything I can.

I just, I always kept my foot in the door. Yeah. And I was always in Marcus's office or somebody's, Humpy's office, like, what can I do for you today? Yeah. And I think that, that helped a lot. Then as I kind of grew, I think it was, we were Lowe's Motor Speedway and we needed somebody to have, Marcus needs somebody to help him with the Lowe's account. So then I went and started to work for him.

So I've been with him since actually 2020. And just kind of anything I saw, I would want to try. Like, hey, like, I saw this over here. I think this could be fixed. Do you mind if I work on it? And then I would just kind of own it. And I think that's how, like, a lot of those things kind of rolled up under me because I would just kind of get my hands in it.

Did you upset people along the way with that? Maybe overstepping or anything? Or you don't know. I don't know. They're probably talking about me behind my back. But no. No, and I think that was the other good thing, too, where I have this ability, like anybody at the track knows they can kind of come to me.

You're very approachable. You're very personable. Yeah. They kid around and say like my office is like the psychiatrist's office and, you know, tell me all their problems. But so it's, you know, you form a relationship with folks. So I definitely tried to, you know, definitely not step on any toes. And usually I got involved in an area where nobody was doing something.

You know, maybe wasn't their area. But like, hey, let me kind of like our food and beverage operations. Like nobody really owned it. So I saw some things I think thought could be fixed. And I just I just wanted to get involved in everything and learn. And I listened a lot. And I would ask, you know, to sit in certain meetings with Mark, like, hey, do you mind if I sit in there and just listen and learn? So I think that's kind of how it just evolved over the years. And, you know, as he grew in his career and I just kind of always followed along with them. So I just want people to hear that because, you know, in terms of, uh, uh, just making yourself available and putting yourself out there, you know, to be interested in other things like you said and never feel like it's something that, you know, you're not interested in. I mean, all of it works together. Right. You know, right. All of it affects each other. Right. Right. So, I mean, how many people are on your executive team through SMI that you all work together? How many are there? Probably 12. 13 and something. And everybody's got a role. And you have

have to be communicating and thinking and open-mindedly. Right. Right. I mean, that's hard. It is hard, but you're right. Absolutely. Very hard to want to bring up things, you know, at a table. And are you the only female on the executive team?

Our HR. Okay. Yeah. You and HR. Yeah. So talk about that a little bit, you know, in the sport. Get asked that all the time, obviously, being a female in the sport. and I don't, I just want to be a productive, successful person in the sport.

I don't care if I'm male or female, but it is something that's out there, right? And how you grow into those roles, being a female. Yeah, no, no, for sure. And I've always felt like I had a seat at the table. I've always been extremely respected by Marcus and, you know, in Bruton and had a great, have a great relationship with Humpey. I still keep in touch with him. So I always felt like very respected and that my opinion and my thoughts mattered, which was, I mean, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for that support. So having the support of my fellow co-workers was, is huge. I don't think

I've really ever encountered a time. I think I do remember one time we were in a meeting and somebody asked me to make a copy in Marcus in front of everybody says she doesn't make copies. And good for him. Yeah, so I just always had that support, which would make me feel great. But to your point, you know, if I'm, I don't want to be at a table because I'm a woman. I want to be there because of what I'm capable of doing or what I've done. Yeah. And it's not a bad thing to be making the copies. Right.

Don't give me wrong. Right. Right. No, exactly. But it's a stereotype, right? Yeah. That the female in the room is going to clean up the table after the meeting is over or be the food or take the notes.

Right. Or whatever. Yeah, exactly. And all of those, every day. job, you know, I say it around here. I mean, every job's important. I would walk around and take the trash out. I'll walk around here and do anything. And, but, you know, there's a respect level amongst your peers that, yeah, they wouldn't ask the other eight men sitting at the table to go make the copy that they look at you. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. That's funny. So what's one of the most

rewarding things about your job? Just kind of sum it up. Oh my gosh. We haven't talked about Speedway Children's Charities. Let's do that first. Okay, yeah. Because that's very rewarding. That is very rewarding. So Speedway Children's Charities, it is the charity for all of the SMI tracks. Each track has a chapter. Yep. And you participate in the local community. So take it from Yeah. No, so each track has a chapter. We raise funds that go back to that, to that community. We've focused on critical needs for kids. We've been around for over 40 years. And since inception, I think this year we're up to over $70 million that we've given away to kids in need. You know, it started out with the loss of the son that Bruton and Bonnie Smith.

Okay, I never knew that story. Yeah, yeah. So they started it back then. Yeah. So it's just we do amazing things. Focus around raising money around our events. And we do, our team does an amazing job with it. Tonight we're getting ready to grant the Charlotte chapter.

I think we've got about 1.5 million that we'll do tonight. And then North Wilkesburg later, I think New Hampshire is doing theirs tomorrow. That's insane. Now do you go to all of those? I'll go to Charlotte and North Wilkesburg. Yeah, yeah. The other ones, that's a little too much travel. Yeah.

So what is your travel schedule on a yearly basis? I go to all the Speedway Motorsports events and then a couple other events here and there. Just, you know, Daytona, you know, obviously. And a couple of the races, if they're needed. I imagine that just due to location for all the tracks, you guys video conferenceed and Zoomed way before COVID. We did. And COVID finally made it cool, you know, acceptable, right? And that's probably how you spend a lot of your time, you know, connecting with people.

Right. Do you find, you know, how do you feel about that as it relates to overseeing people directly in your office and those relationships? and those relationships and connections because I've struggled with that to some extent and what that looks like. I think being together is so important. Last week at the not Thanksgiving, the week before, the banquet week,

it was here in Charlotte. And that time when all of our tracks come together and we're all in those same room together, we get more out of those days than we do on all the Zoom calls combined throughout the year. So I think being in the office is super important. I know some people get mad at me. I mean, I'm flexible.

Like if you need to work, but you know, just having that connection and go and grab a cup of coffee with somebody, I think is so important. And that's a big part of communication. And, you know, if somebody's not coming in, well, I didn't know that was going on. It's like, well, yeah, come in a little more. You know, no. Well, the emotional connection to things is so important. Right.

You know? Right. The connection that your fans making emotionally to your facility and to the event that they're attending. Yeah. You know, like I said, I mean, you know, the TV does a great job, but you can't smell it. Right. You can't hear it the same way you do at the races.

And you can't touch it, you know, the same way. So there's just, there's something about that in-person experience no matter what it is. All right. So biggest influence on your career. Who's that been? Oh, my gosh. Is there just one? There's not just one.

There's not. I mean, working for Bruton and Humpy. I mean, that right there is absolutely amazing. I probably... Just him. Yeah, and I mean, and Marcus has just been such a great support. And, you know, I've learned so much from him, and he's really giving me the runway to do what I want to do

and how I want to do it. So that's been amazing and so grateful for him and his family. What kind of legacy do you want to leave in the sport? I want to make everybody better that's worked for me. I want them to be better than I am. That's what kind of, I heard something the other day. It's like I want my legacy to have legs. I want it to be the people.

Yeah, yeah, I love that. I love that. Piece of advice to somebody, well, we talked about this already, piece of advice for your first motorsports, advice for somebody breaking into the sport. You have to get asked, just like I do. Yeah, I mean. Do it like you did it.

Don't say no. Make yourself. I mean, I didn't make hardly anything and I waited tables at night just to make ends meet, but I knew that's what I wanted to do. So if that's what you want to do, you just, you know, roll your sleeves up. Yeah. Nothing replaces hard work. Right.

Ever. Right. I don't care how smart you are. It's not the MBAs. It's not the amount of college. It's none of that stuff. Right. Nothing replaces good old fashion hard work.

sure yeah um what about uh the best business advice that you've been giving bet you've been giving because this is my dad always said uh it always needs to be a win-win you know so you're sitting across the table and negotiate with somebody it's got to be a win-win like something of that nature in terms of that you kind of carry with you gosh there's so many i know i got a book full right here i know um i guess just be something simple yeah yeah i mean just kind of like be true to your like don't don't do something if it doesn't feel right or if you know it's not right just for the sake of getting a deal done or you know that that's that's something that marcus has always kind of kind of preached to me and you know if it doesn't feel right it's not right or if it doesn't

feel ethical you know that's it's okay to walk away from something yeah if you know the money if it's if it doesn't feel good yeah what um what does the next you know well i mean i would i don't want you to have to work 26 more years. So I hope you don't work 26 more years. But yeah, what does what does the future look like for you? You know, where can you go and grow? I love what I do. I think I can't really imagine myself anywhere else. You know, we're not a huge company. We're a small company. It's a family run company. So I think, you know, where I'm at is my seat at the table. And I think I still can bring a lot of value for the next, you know, 10 years, 12 years, whatever it is. And I'm just excited to kind of take it to the next step.

But I definitely kind of see myself in this role. So doing what you're doing. Is there something in 2025 that the fans could look forward to something new and different at the SMI tracks? So let's see. We're doing a couple of CappX projects here and there. We haven't announced yet at some of the tracks for next year. So that'll be exciting. So stay tuned.

Stay tuned. But yeah, I think some of our CAPEX projects that we're doing are going to be fun. You know, we're kind of constantly striving to improve our fan zone area. Dover Motor Speedway, they have an amazing fan zone. So I try to tell everybody, like, just copy them. It's so much fun there. Don't reinvent the wheel, right? Yeah, don't reinvent the wheel.

Yeah, that's awesome. You know, as the Chief Experience Officer fans are first and foremost, During the championship race at Phoenix with Justin, there was a little boy, his family. They drove from Oregon 22 hours to Phoenix to watch Justin race for the championship. And I didn't know the story at the time, but Wayne Alton had saw this little boy standing out of the track. And over a four-year history, he had on a Brant, full Brantfire suit that he had gotten. And so he wanted to meet Dale Jr. So we brought him up into the holler.

And just that, man, the interaction, I just, again, I just wanted to cry in terms of how excited he was. You've had to have a million of those encounters with fans. Talk about a few that have stood out, a younger old. Yeah, I mean, my goodness, there's so many. Because races are bucket list events for people. Like, this is what they're saving their money from. This is a bucket list of. event, right? So, you know, we've had Dakota. He was a little boy that's been to a lot of our races,

had a terminal illness, and he passed away last year, but he would be at every single Charlotte Motor Speedway race. So just seeing him and talking to his parents was always special when you saw Dakota at the race. You know, we had a couple got engaged, the first All-Star race, the second All-Star race. They got married there at the same spot they got engaged at the Roeville. I met a couple who moved down from Pennsylvania to the mountains. Five days later, the hurricane happens, they lost everything. And they got in their camper and they came to the race. We just needed, like, and just, I mean, everybody has like these amazing stories.

And gosh, I can't try to think there was another one. The Coke 600 a couple years ago. This guy, just big Kyle Larson fan, had a heart attack at the race, went to the hospital. Kyle Larson found out about it. His person called me, signed a bunch of stuff. We took it to the hospital. And just kind of seeing how the whole community, the industry comes together in times like that. You know, Joey Lugano, he brings a bunch of kids out.

We give him a suite and, you know, we always go over and say hi to them. And just they might not be around next year, right? So just getting to see the looks on their faces. And what we're doing is, I mean, we're in the entertainment business, right? We're having fun. you look at these kids, adults that, you know, this was the one thing that I've always wanted to do in their life. It makes you feel, that's when you walk away. Like, this is pretty cool.

That's it. Yeah. I feel the same way. I, you know, just, you probably have made friends as well with fans. And sometimes my kids will go, well, who was that? And I'm like, well, it was one of my brother's fans that, you know, we had this encounter years ago. And we just remained friends, you know. And it's not, I mean, like, it's not friends, like, come over to my house and hang out.

But, you know, you, you, you, they share things with you. You share experiences with them and you just get this connection, you know, year after year as these people come to your track, you know, that, and they're like, oh, hey, Jess. Yeah. And it's, that's very rewarding. It is, it is. It is. Very rewarding.

Well, this has been super cool. Chief Experience Officer. I might change my title here, CEO. and have some fun with that. But this has been great. Thanks for sharing your stories. And I hope that our NASCAR fans see the passion because it's there. It's not something that you can read on social media.

You've got to feel it and touch it and engage with it. And if you haven't, listeners, experienced your first NASCAR race. Come to one of the SMI tracks and do that. you're sitting here listening to the girl that makes it all happen and you mean something to her. So I think that, yeah, your role is very cool. So thanks for joining us for that. And anything else you want to add before we sign off here? No, this thank you for having me.

It's been a lot of fun and always awesome to talk to you. Awesome. Well, thank you very much for listening to this week's Business of Motorsports. You can catch us again here next week. Check out Dirtymo Media on Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.