Tickets to Coca-Cola 600 - Need advice

My parents are visiting us here in NC during the Coca-Cola 600 (we are Swedish and they are flying over for a 2 weeks stay). Neither I nor my stepdad (who is also a huge gearhead) have been to a Nascar race. So I'm surprising him with tickets to Charlotte Motorspeedway.

We want to see the race (duh!) and we want to walk the paddock, look at the cars and rigs, etc. He is 73, but a tough old bastard - I'm torn on getting a box with AC or not. We want the genuine experience with the noise, bad hotdogs and terrible American beer (No offense...).

So which tickets should I book? Where is best to sit (turn4?). I'm OK to spend a bit on the tickets, but I'd like some guidance on what to get.

1st of all, here in america we judge our beer and our hotdogs by quantity, not quality. 

I bet during the race weekend Charlotte Motorspeedway drinks more beer than all of Sweden. 

No experience with Charlotte, but I've done Richmond both ways.  Wife has been lucky to score tickets in the Toyota box a couple times.  It's very insulated from the "atmosphere" of the race, but of course, you can always venture out among the unwashed masses and really get the up close visuals, noise and smells of the race and its thousands of inebriated fans by walking along the perimeter fencing that encircles the track.  You're fine, as long as you're moving, but they won't let you stop and watch. 

If you choose to sit in the stands, you'll get the full experience, good and bad.  Consider the weather, and prepare for the noise.  I would consider hearing protection an absolute must.  It's LOUD, and after a few hours it'll wear on you.  The people are generally great, except for the occasional redneck that's had 12 beers or so too many.

Coming from basically a non-fan who has had the opportunity to see several races for free, I'd go with the box, but as a guest of Toyota and getting free food and drink, I may be biased.  If you're more inclined to be in the thick of it, go with seats in the stands.  Sight lines may be significantly better in the nose bleed rows.  If you're close to the track, you may only see action on that section.  I know the "tower" seats are popular at Richmond.

I'll let others comment on where the best place to sit is having only been to Charlotte in the infield when I was racing there. But. Good news. At Charlotte each person is allowed to bring a cooler into the event. It must be no more than 14"X 14"  (36cm x 36cm for the rest of the world). So bring your own damn beer! LOL. Only other restriction is that no glass containers are allowed so that rules out your fancy beer in a bottle.   You can even bring some meatballs if you like.   I'd recommend soft coolers with a shoulder strap.

Other suggestion go to a truck race or Busch race as well.  Much smaller crowds and bit better access behind scenes.

Have fun and give us a trip report.

I have not been to Charlotte specifically but this should be the same...

Contrary to traditional sports events, the best seats at an oval track are not the lowest, closest to the track seats.  You want to assure that you are up high enough so that you can see the other side (or as much as possible) of the track.  

Sample: high enough to see the other side billboards and track.  Also high enough to not be obstructed by the fencing.  

Not high enough:

Also, see that speaker on the fence.  It is an insanely loud speaker if you sit very close to it.  

Though, I do highly recommend that at some point in the race, while the cars are charging hard, you come down to the fence and FEEL the cars go by!  

John Welsh said:

Though, I do highly recommend that at some point in the race, while the cars are charging hard, you come down to the fence and FEEL the cars go by!  

Agree 100%.  There is something quite awesome about being that close to a number of racing machines running at something near 200 mph.

Awesome advice! Thank you very much! 

How about renting scanners? Can you listen in on the team radio conversations? What can we hear on the scanner that isn't announced in the speakers?

Scanners are great to get the whole racing experience. When you rent them they will (should) provide you with each driver's frequencies so you can hear, unedited what is actually going on between the teams.  It's well worth the money. 

Tickets are booked.  To be continued...

Torkel said:

Awesome advice! Thank you very much! 

How about renting scanners? Can you listen in on the team radio conversations? What can we hear on the scanner that isn't announced in the speakers?

You can rent a scanner from Racing Electronics, and listen in on teams, as well as the TV, radio, and PA feeds.  You won't hear much of anything over the track speakers.  The RE scanner is very simple to use, and will already be programed for both Cup and Xfinity.  You might be able to save some money if you pre-pay for a rental voucher.

Also, Darrell Waltrip has a neat little shop near the Speedway with 8 or 10 of his old cars.  JR Motorsports is I believe the only team offering regular shop tours for civilians.  They were on Friday mornings when we've done them.  Hendrick has several cars and memorabilia in their gift shop near the track.  All the major teams have gift shops and some sort of viewing platform of window into their shops.  Penske has a mezzanine looking down into their final prep and truck bays.

What about what Ovid and Flem said and go to the Bush race ( is it still called that?) on Saturday?

In reply to BlindPirate :

Had to look it up

Nascar monster energy cup is premier class

Next down is Xfinity series

Then Gander Mtn camping truck series

Memorial day weekend...saturday Xfinity series qualifying in morning.  Race at 1:00 300 miles

Sunday evening 600 mile Monster energy Coca-Cola 600