No fans, no problem: Some Coca-Cola 600 fans turn out anyway

CONCORD — Chris “Pops” Bowyer sat in a lawn chair wearing a plain white T-shirt and drinking a beer alongside wife Jana and their friends outside of their motorhome a few hundred yards from Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Bowyer knew he wasn’t getting into the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday to see his Cup driver son Clint race, but decided to make the trek from Kansas to be close to the action.

“Well, we’re here,” said Bowyer. “The kid is racing, so we’re here.”

Added Clint’s mother, Jana: “We don’t like it. We’d like to be in there where we could watch, but we can’t.”

Jana Bowyer certainly isn’t alone in those feelings. But due to the coronavirus pandemic, NASCAR isn’t allowing spectators into its races until further notice. The only people to see the race were those working it and those who live in the Turn 1 condominiums at the track.

But the Bowyers came anyway, taking up temporary residence in Jerome Little’s Route 29 Pavilion RV campground and entertainment center located just across the street from the speedway. It was a dual purpose trip for the Bowyers: they wanted to spend time with an old friend who is suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease) and also wanted to be there to support their son.

Because the campground property isn’t owned by CMS, Little was allowed to host those in motorhomes while still encouraging social distancing.

In a normal year he hosts approximately 175 motorhomes and two acres of cars on his property.

On Sunday there were only a handful of cars in the lot, and those were owned by members of the media. But there were 33 motorhomes on his properties, with race fans traveling from as far away as New York, Texas and Maine.

“These fans are dedicated and they’ve come from all over the country,” Little said.

Like many around the country, Little has taken a financial hit due to fans being shut out of sports, but the third- generation owner of the campground said, “honestly, I feel terrible for the fans.”

If you didn’t know better, you’d never know one of NASCAR’s most popular races was in town.

Considered the series’ “crown jewel race,” CMS has attracted more than 100,000 fans to the event, which began in 1960. But on Sunday it was eerily quiet, resembling a ghost town rather than the epicenter of the NASCAR world.

Bruton Smith Boulevard, which is normally bustling with cars on race day, was virtually empty except for an occasional passing car or truck. Absent were the hundreds of North Carolina State Troopers who line the entrance ways to the track and the vendors selling NASCAR T-shirts, hats and flags.

There were no pedestrians crossing the walkways, no bands blasting music outside the track, contributing to an eerily quiet atmosphere. All Charlotte Motor Speedway-owned campgrounds were closed and vacant.

The Coca-Cola 600 promotional signs that normally adorn from the front of restaurants during race week were non-existent.

Restaurants like Hooters, Twin Peaks and Iron Thunder Saloon, which are typically packed on race day, were half empty just two days after the state entered “phase two” of its coronavirus recovery plan, allowing them to open at 50 percent capacity with plenty of restrictions.