Sweet MIS Suites

It’s been a couple of weeks since the June NASCAR race took place at Michigan International Speedway but the sights and sounds still circle around in my head. One of the most impressive sights at the track this year is the brand spankin’ new suite/media center situated just behind Pit Road. The overall project cost $17 million and it looks to be worth every penny. To say it’s a stunningly beautiful addition to the track is putting it lightly. The suites are spacious with great views but if wanting to get outside to watch the action there is plenty of room on the roof. The view from the top is hard to beat. It overlooks the pits and gives an excellent view of the start/finish line. 

 

The media center inside the building is on the ground floor and now has extra space for reporters and photographers, not to mention the large screen TVs piping in all the latest action and weather. There are still a few little issues to work out, being so new and all, but the building offers great spaces to work in. The current top 12 drivers were scheduled for interviews in the media center’s deadline room and I was pleased with the one-on-one feel despite having the big news outlets standing side-by-side with us weekly papers. All of the reporters there were offered the opportunity to ask questions to get what they needed from the drivers, no matter what news outlet they were from.

 

But I’m really not the one the track is trying to please. It’s you, the fan they want to make happy. The suite/media center layout has changed where the driver’s meeting is for example and now that its been moved from the garage to the new facility, fans have an excellent opportunity to get even closer to their preferred drivers. The fans create a gauntlet before and after the driver’s meeting and many of the wheelmen stop to give out autographs.

 

The new facility has changed MIS so much that it’s worth checking out again if you haven’t been there in a while. Gone is the old gopher hole that took fans from the pit lanes to the grandstands as well as a couple of entrances from pit road to victory lane. The face of the building is covered in glass and mirrors the skyline suites above the main grandstands. 

If there were just one track NASCAR designated as the most fan-friendly, Michigan would be at the top of the list, if you ask me. When I was shooting the finish from the new suite/media center roof, fans were right next to me taking pictures as well. When I was out on Turn-4 shooting the race, the fans on the infield were much closer to me than ever before. MIS picked up the old fence and moved it a heck of a lot closer to the action.

 

I’ve attached a video to this blog that has several of the top 12 drivers talking about how much they like racing at Michigan. Jimmie Johnson didn’t say he loved or hated MIS, it’s one of the few tracks he hasn’t won at, but talked of his frustrations there. His interview was one of my favorites. The four time defending Sprint Cup champion talked about running out of gas on the track and how he got flipped off by an old lady after accidentally draining his fuel tank on the way to the airport.

 

There is a lot more footage that I can’t show you. I was very excited about getting to the track this year with the Herald trying to add as much video as possible to its online edition but found out that we can’t use it. NASCAR holds all broadcasting rights to footage shot outside of the media center. But, at least we have the interviews.

We were so impressed with the improvements at MIS that we’ve decided to send a couple of our readers to the NASCAR Sprint Cup race in August. We just have to come up with a competition to give the seats away. Stay tuned!