Michigan International Speedway staff beats the odds

What do you do when you throw a party for 75,000, or so, people and much of your staff that you had put in place is no longer available?

According to Sammie Lukaskiewicz, Director of Communication for Michigan International Speedway, you use all the full-time staff to fill in where needed.  Sammie said ON PIT ROW Tuesday, "Everyone from the PR office was doing jobs that our huge volunteer staff usually perform.  I was driving a tram, others were working concessions and we had PR staff selling tickets."

Most media attention was focused on the drivers and what they did to pass the time while waiting for the rains to subside at MIS.  Little attention was paid to the countless volunteers that Sammie and the staff assemble for each race.  That group of volunteers, including ushers, ticket takers and maintenance workers had a Sunday race programmed into their schedules.  And while many were able to stick around for a Monday makeup race, when things got pushed to Tuesday, much of that group had to return to their regular lives.

One of Sammie's normal tasks during the year is to provide credentials for media.  The two NASCAR races at MIS gets coverage, not from just the traveling national wags, but the local media turns out in droves to get some "real time" with the NASCAR stars or with a local boy made good.  This year was particularly challenging with each additional delay; as media from all over wanted to know the status of events.  They needed to adjust their schedules and Lukaskiewicz was the one they turned to for answers.

Sam Hornish Jr. ran the Busch race on Saturday and most of the local Ohio media made the hour long drive to see how he fared. 

When asked about the loss of the IRL race for next year, Sammie told ON PIT ROW it may only be a short hiatus for that series as they expect them to return within a year or two.  What can MIS do to better utilize the facility?  According to Lukaskiewicz, the return of the road course that Stirling Moss designed and was in use in the early 70's could make a return to host a Rolex Grand-Am Series event and more.

Sammie gave credit to all the fans that hung in at MIS this past week and despite some make shift staffing those fans had a great time, were well behaved and saw a great race.

Thanks Sammie; and the entire staff, for giving the fans, race teams and media a great event in the worst of circumstances.

Sam Hornish Jr. photo:    BethAnne Heisler--ON PIT ROW

Comments

[robert bourne]

rarely mentioned are the little people behind the scenes...Kudos to all and to you for bringing them to the fore front..without all these people the event doesn't happen

[Steve]

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http://www.freshrubber.com/blog/