Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

Not sure how fair the reservation process is. Site says you can’t book more than a year in advance , I waited till clock struck midnight, all sites went from unavailable to reserved in the matter of a minute, what the heck

You can purchase tickets for the Nationals in December. If you have existing reserved tickets you must have those paid for by sometime in October if I'm remembering correctly. 

Keep It Real

i am talking about the campsites, not race tickets 

Everyone is sitting at their computer ready to go at midnight.  Myself and other people were the same.  Two of them got a spot me and another did not.  I had a spot in my cart and was on the second page of the checkout process with over 6 mins remaining to complete it a message popped up saying that spot was no longer available.  This is the third year in a row that I've had issues with their "new" reservation system.  The last two years I actually got a paid receipt for a spot then was informed the next day that it doubled up and someone else had beaten me to it.  They gave me one of the unreservable spots both times.  This time I didn't even get that far.  I don't know what I could do differently.  It was my cart which was supposed to hold it for 12 mins and then magically gone.  After 19 years in a row camping there I suppose I won't have a spot next year.  I'll probably just stay home.  

Every year they told us it was going to be fixed and it's still isn't.  Either they've manipulating it in the background to give spots to particular people or It's flat out incompetence on someone's part and they should be fired for it.  But since it's government run I'm not particularly surprised.  It just adds to the bad attitude towards governement agencies.  Private companies make online ticket reservations work.  This is the exact same thing and there's no reason it shouldn't work just as well.  But here we are 3-4 years later and it still doesn't work as they advertise.  

Yeah I agree with you, my first impression was its a matter of who you know 

I also see there’s 30 non reservable sites but I don’t like the idea of dragging my camper for 18 hours and not knowing if I will get a spot or not 

What about the other campgrounds in the town?

My thoughts exactly, or stay at a Campground in Pella... They are about 20 minutes away

The Crowd Pleaser IS THE BEST ever!

This year they had to give 25 of those to people who got doubled up on reservations.  I was one of those.  I assume they didn't double any last night so all 30 should be available.  You have to get there Sun before the 360 nationals to have any hope of getting one.  You can stay on a spot for two weeks.  That's what a lot of folks do.  All of those spots will be taken too.  

In the past they allowed you to keep your spot every year as long as you paid by a certain day and they kept a waiting list.  A few years ago someone in some government office somewhere decided that wasn't fair and they should open those spots to anyone every year.  That's what gave us this reservation system that has never worked correctly since.  Every year they tell us it's been fixed and will work.  It still doesn't.  It's been a cluster every year.  

Is that the only campground in the area?  When I was there, it seemed like that there were campgrounds all around Knoxville.  Or do you just want to be IN Knoxville?

Yeah I prefer to be in town , have stayed out at Howell station before, and the north campground seems to be more crammed in there, not any room between campers 

The north campground is a different animal for sure.  I have friends that camp there every year.  They like to party all night and it seems like that's the place to do it.  They used to have a waiting list too. 

It seems there's more and more campers setup in yards all over town every year.  Part of the fun experience for us is camping with friends and hanging out together in the campground playing games and relaxing.  It's not as enjoyable when you can't camp next to each other.  We've had 3 spots next to each other in the county park for years.  That won't happen next year.  

All this sounds like a lot of fun.

In 88 or 89 a buddy and I got tickets for the 1st 3 nights. We had no clue how big of an event this was. Being invincible at that age we jumped in the truck. Didnt make any reservations or even thought about where to sleep. 24 hr drive,, slept in a couple oat swaths somewhere, upon arrival we knew we were homeless. Stayed up late and crashed in a campground  or hay pasture full of people north of the track , got up early to avoid being detected, slept in the truck, the truck box and under the truck. Showered at some state campground a few times. On the way home we tried to go nonstop. Not successful after that many short nights. We pulled into a John Deer dealership about 5 Am. Intentionally parked right in front of the huge overhead door so they would wake us up at 8 and we could continue on. About 10 Am we woke up from some noise, they had opened the door and went to work all around us.. Embarrassed a bit we drove away laughing and got home 29 hrs after the checked flag on Friday.

Even though I may not know you, I 
care what most of you think!

It's shameful. My grandparents have been attending Nationals for 40 years and have stayed in that campground for at least the last 30+. Now, since they are not computer savvy, they are out of luck. Should I really tell them to just go ahead and get a spot over at the north campground? Keep dreaming.

No clue why the policy had to change, but its a disgrace. They've completely alienated the same people that have attended and supported the town, track, and campground for 4 decades (along with bring almost 20 family members each year for the entirety of 360 and 410 nationals).

It absolutely kills me to say this, but Knoxville will be a shell of itself before too long. It will get more and more national attention and become less and less the beautiful spectacle it has been for so many years. It's may favorite time of year, bar none, and I wouldn't miss it for the world; but if things continue to progress in the direction they are now I'm not sure we'll like what we find on the other side of the rainbow.

Don't take this as me bitching just for the hell of it. I think Knoxville and everyone involved is doing an excellent job and trying their damndest to keep it as the best sprint car race in the world. Most of these changes are organic and unavoidable I'm afraid.

The campground issue has no excuse. Poor policy put into place by those who have no clue what they're really doing.

That is absolutely fantastic!!!!!

The folks we camp with have been in the campground for over 30 years.  Their son does the computer work for them now.  He managed to get one last night somehow.  The campground told me this morning that they have a lot of new names in for next year.  That means even more long time folks got pushed out.  It stinks.  I don't blame the park rangers or anyone there.  I get along with them fine.  They catch a lot of flak but it's out of their hands.  It came from the top and those people don't have to face anyone.  

Attendance has grown quite a bit the last 5 years.  A better ecomony has helped as well as the national attention Larson, Smoke, Kasey and others have brought.  Its getting to the point of being a little difficult to negotiate and do the things I used to like to do during the week.  Parking is tougher.  We used to ride the tram for free.  But someone apparently fell off and sued them so the track and Chamber of Commerce quite sponsoring those.  Now its a bus service that costs $5 a day to ride.  The don't have enough of them after the races and it takes a long time to get one and back to the campground. 

But it's still an awesome 10 days of racing and time off work.  There are a lot worse things I could be doing.  Not sure if I'll go next year or not.  A year off might make it more exciting the next year.  

Are you all talking about the camping that is located on the track / grounds?  Behind 3 and 4? 

No.  Marion County Park.  On the west edge of town by the high school.  

We have a couple of scooters that we like to ride around town and to the track .That’s hard to do when camped out of town. We have a 28ft trailer and the last time we were in the north campground it was really tight, especially if you have a slide., that’s why we were looking at other options, but Marion County Park is a lost cause, at the very least you need to be very lucky to get a spot. Van Donslers may be an option, who knows .

I just think you miss out on too much if you’re not in town.