Nationwide Children's Hospital 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course

I can't think of a better way to end this "mini series" of posts about the Nationwide Children's Hospital 200 than to share with you my favorite pictures from that weekend at Mid-Ohio!

China Beach/The Esses

In the first post of the series, I told you that the Esses is one of the most popular locations to sit at Mid-Ohio. Here are a few examples of why that is.

 

 

Friday Practice

Pictured: Sam Hornish, Jr., Alex Bowman, AJ Allmendinger, and Regan Smith.

  

 

Garage Tour

My mom and I won passes for a garage tour through Mid-Ohio's Twitter. If you aren't following them on Twitter, you can find them here.

 

 

Autograph Session

Nationwide/Mid-Ohio were kind enough to give away 400 wristbands to an autograph session featuring almost 20 drivers!

Track Walk

Fans were able to walk part of the track before pre-race ceremonies.

 

Pre-Race Ceremonies

The Ohio State University Marching Band made an appearance!

 

  

 

Jeffrey Earnhardt

 

Alex Bowman

 

  

Travis Pastrana

 Elliott Sadler

 Austin Dillon

 

Max Papis

 Brian Vickers

 Kyle Larson

AJ Allmendinger

And that concludes Racing Fuel's coverage of the Nationwide Children's Hospital 200 from Mid-Ohio!

Thank you, Mid-Ohio, for a great time. I can't wait until next year.

Did you attend the NCH 200? Email me your pictures and/or share your thoughts below!

Lexington, OH--Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course: Q&A (Part 2)

In case you missed it, I posted a brief history about Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Friday, as well as part one of the Q&A session with Jesse Ghiorzi, Mid-Ohio's Public Relations Representative.
Now, it's time for the second half of that interview.

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Racing Fuel: How did Mid-Ohio accommodate the increased amount of people?
Jesse Ghiorzi: We staffed up dramatically and had big contributions from volunteer groups like Lake Erie Communications, Lexington Football Boosters, Lexington Elks Lodge, Nationwide Children's Hospital, and others.

Also in regards to the people management on site, we worked closely with NASCAR and the Morrow County Sheriff Department. Those groups, plus ODOT and our team, especially our Security Manager Cody Chalfant, put together a great egress plan to help keep cars flowing as much as possible after a large event.

RF: What was the biggest difference in preparing for NASCAR in comparison to IndyCar?
JG: Anytime you have a new event, especially one this size (our largest event), there is going to be a lot of planning. We've had IndyCar here (at Mid-Ohio) for nearly 30 years, so all parties involved (track, sanctioning body, drivers, teams, fans) are very familiar with the event. NASCAR is a new type of racing for the track, fans, and region. So there was a learning process for us that doesn't exist with our longtime events both internally and externally.

Additionally, Nationwide and Nationwide Children's Hospital were new partners to work with and learn from.

The fundraising element of the NCH 200 added another wrinkle.

In short, all these new elements led to some extra foundation building for year one that we can use as a basis moving forward.

RF: Will this race remain a standalone event for NASCAR Nationwide Series, or is the hope that NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will race at Mid-Ohio, also?
JG: We had a great first event, but there are some ways we can improve. For the foreseeable future, we'll continue working with NASCAR and Nationwide on hosting a huge standalone event.

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A huge "thank you" goes out to Jesse for taking the time to answer Racing Fuel's questions!

What questions would you have asked Jesse about the NCH 200?

Lexington, OH--Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course: Q&A (Part 1)

The Inaugural Nationwide Children's Hospital 200 was last weekend at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. I was lucky enough to attend, and it was quite the turnout!

The crowd in the Esses at Mid-Ohio during the Nationwide Children's Hospital 200.

I have so much that I want to tell you about NASCAR Nationwide Series' visit to Mid-Ohio, so I've decided to start a three-part "mini series" of blog posts.

Because I'm an aspiring Public Relations Representative, I was interested to learn some of the work that went into preparing for a first-time event, especially when that first-time event is as huge as a NASCAR event.

Mid-Ohio's Public Relations Representative, Jesse Ghiorzi, was kind enough to take time out of his busy (and I mean crazy busy) schedule to answer some questions for Racing Fuel. So, the first two posts of this mini series will be the Q&A with Jesse, giving you a behind-the-scenes look at the preparation for the Inaugural Nationwide Children's Hospital 200.

But first, here is a bit of the road course's history.

The History

 

As mentioned, Mid-Ohio is a road course located in Lexington, Ohio.

When the track first opened in 1962, it was a 2.4-mile course with 15 turns. Now, the track has two layouts: the original and the newer, 2.258-mile course with 13 turns.

The two most popular spots to watch the races are the Keyhole and the Esses, which you can find in the picture below.

A map of Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Photo retrieved from Wikipedia.

The Keyhole and the Esses are the most popular locations because of the "excitement" (or crashes) that goes on. During practice on Friday, I think I saw three cars land in China Beach.

The no. 73 landed in China Beach on Friday during practice at Mid-Ohio.

Some of the major racing organizations that race at Mid-Ohio are the American Le Mans Series, IndyCar, and most recently, NASCAR.

Q&A: Part 1

 

Racing Fuel: How does Mid-Ohio compare to the other road courses NASCAR visits?
Jesse Ghiorzi: We're one of three road courses on the NNS (NASCAR Nationwide Series) schedule. The others are Watkins Glen and Road America.

Road America and Mid-Ohio have "standalones," which means the NNS race is the top billing and the track doesn't have NSCS (NASCAR Sprint Cup Series).

All three tracks have long, storied histories and rank among the best traditional road courses in America.

The Glen is similar in length to Mid-Ohio but a bit more slanted on right turns, like a reverse oval.

Road America is significantly longer than Mid-Ohio, so green-white-checkers can really change the end of the race in terms of fuel mileage. The two tracks are comparable in elevation changes, each featuring a difference of 140+ from high point to low.

Mid-Ohio is more park-like than the other two road courses and has limited grandstand seating as fans fill up the track's natural viewing mounds.

RF: How did it feel to have NASCAR at Mid-Ohio for the first time?
JG: It was unreal. So much work went into this event over the last nine months since we secured the date and announced it in November 2012.

The racing was all we could ask for, especially on restarts.

Any time you put in work for an event and it's finally here, the feeling is a mix of relief, excitement, and nervousness. I was about 80% excited and 20% the other two!

RF: What kind of turnout were you expecting? Did it meet your expectations?
JG: The crowd was massive, loud, and gave the event an amazing atmosphere. Crowds were bigger than we expected.