NASCAR/BGN: 1998 Daytona 500 ticket drawing

• Dave Rodman
• MNI - Motorsport News International
• Tue Sep 10 21:06:55 EDT 1996

1998 Daytona 500 Ticket Orders To Be Awarded By Drawing


DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Sept. 6) -- The Daytona 500 is unarguably one of the
toughest tickets in sports.  However, the procedure for buying tickets to
the "world's greatest race" has now become simpler with the introduction of
a random drawing for tickets to the race with the largest audience in
motorsports.

All Daytona 500 grandstand tickets are renewable, therefore, few seats each
year are available for purchase.  Historically, unrenewed tickets have gone
on sale the first business day of each new year.  In 1996, more than 100,000
phone calls were attempted to the Speedway ticket office on the first day of
sales, leaving many fans frustrated without the opportunity to purchase tickets.

Therefore, for the 1998 Daytona 500, to be eligible to purchase tickets,
interested parties must send a postcard to the Speedway ticket office
listing name, address, daytime telephone number and number of tickets
desired (maximum of four).

The postcards will be limited to one per customer, and must be postmarked
no earlier than Dec. 1, 1996, and no later than Dec. 31, '96.  A random
drawing from all cards received will be held in January '97 to determine who
will have the option to purchase tickets for the '98 Daytona 500.  Those
whose cards were selected will receive an invoice for their '98 Daytona 500
tickets, some of which may be part of a two-race package with the Daytona
300 NASCAR Busch Series race.

"We believe this is the most equitable way to serve our customers who would
like to purchase Daytona 500 tickets," said Daytona International Speedway
President John Graham. "We hope this will ease the frustration of trying to
get through to the ticket office on what, in the past, has been an extremely
hectic day."

Infield tickets for the 1997 Daytona 500 will be available at the gate
beginning Feb. 13.  Infield Reserved RV Packages for Speedweeks '97, and
tickets to other Speedway events are available now by calling (904) 253-RACE
(7223).