Best thing about last year’s Indycar season for us….Indycars
returned to Pocono Raceway!
Coolest thing…Brandon Igdalsky, President of Pocono,
invited
us up on July 4th to watch Indycars test before the race.
Recently
we asked him if we could interview him for part
of our ‘Behind the Scenes in Indycar’ interview series.
of our ‘Behind the Scenes in Indycar’ interview series.
He said yes!
(Brandon Igdalsky is the grandson of ‘Doc’
and Rose Mattioli, the founders/builders of Pocono Raceway)
Q:
What kind of odd jobs did you have when your grandfather owned the track?
A:
I worked in the sewer plant, I pumped the poop. I did garbage. I’m not allowed
to paint anymore, I’m banned from painting. I was supposed to paint the ceiling
and after the job was done, we had to paint the whole wall and get new carpet.
Q: What are your favorite
memories at the track?
I was six
or seven and in victory lane for the first time.
I had my little pen and notepad and was getting all the autographs from the
drivers. That’s my first big memory.
Q: Who was your favorite driver as a kid?
A: A.J Foyt was actually my favorite
driver. I had my whole room decorated in
A.J Foyt stuff. My brother liked Richard
Petty, and I liked Foyt. I also really liked Tim Richmond
Q: What are your favorite memories at the track with your
grandfather?
A:
Him firing me…laughs…three times, and I deserved it each and every one of them.
Q: Did you race karts as a
kid?
A: Yes, I ran Beril Roos, which
is here at the track, but I wasn’t that good at it, my brother was faster, so I
didn’t race, I would just go out for fun. I would go out and race the go karts,
anything I could climb into and have fun.
Q: Did you always want to work
at the track?
A: Nope. (Laughing) I had always been interested in the restaurant business,
but my Grandfather always had me at the track every summer. When I turned 18, my grandfather said “Go do
something else when you get out of college”. Like I said, I had always been
interested in the restaurant business, but for some reason like moths to a
flame, I wanted to come back to work at the track every summer and have fun at
the races.
Q: What was your first job
away from racing?
A: I was a bus boy at a Mexican
restaurant, and I helped my dad. He had
a dental lab and my brother and I would go over there and file. We’d put the filing cabinet in alphabetical
order and organize….Ughh.
Q:
What has been your favorite task at the track?
A:
Well there are a lot of them, but one time at a NASCAR race one of the ad
banners on the safer barrier was loose, I ran up the hill, took my headphones
off, climbed the fence and fixed it during the race, and the whole fencing was
shaking. After I was done I put my headphones back on; called my boss and said
“Okay, the ad banners fixed” My boss answered “Don’t ever do that again.” So the next year it happened again and they
made me wait 130 laps until a caution came out to go fix it. That’s the fun stuff.
Q:
What do you do in your job?
A: Lots
of planning. Some days are interviewing
like today, and others we are in meetings.
We plan for lots of different things that are coming up. Sitting down on twitter, talking to the fans.
Q:
Do you go to any other races?
A: Yes.
I go to four or five NASCAR races a year and two to three Indycar races. This
year I’m going to St. Pete and Indianapolis (Indycar) and I was at Daytona (NASCAR)
and I am going to Darlington and New Hampshire (NASCAR)
Q: As
track owner, do you get privileges to interview all the drivers at the tracks?
A:
No. We don’t ask. We just do it. (Laughing)
Q. Are there any
tracks you are not allowed to interview at?
A.
No, not yet. But we’ll get
there…I’m sure we’ll be there soon… (Laughing)
Q: As a track owner, what are your
duties in the offseason?
A: We get ready for the season. There’s a lot of work to do putting
sponsorship plans together, selling tickets. Figuring out what we’re going to do new for
the fans and for ourselves. How we’re
going to grow. We’re all planning all
winter long because we have a quick little summer season where everything that
you have to do has to get done easily without any snafus and without any
issues.
Q:
What about on raceday?
A:
Race day’s non-stop. It starts
before the sun comes up, I walk around to make sure everything’s in its place,
and give a lot of high-fives. I go to
the drivers meetings and intros, that kind of stuff. Then once the race starts I can relax until
the end. So once the race starts I’ll
actually go sit with my family and watch the race. I usually have lunch with my kids, meet with
some sponsors and people I have to see, then, after the race I run down to
victory lane to hand the trophy to the winner…. Then I go to sleep for the next
three days. (laughing)
Q: How excited were you to
have Indycar back at Pocono?
A: As excited as you were. I grew up watching Indycar racing here, so to
have them back was really great. But
seeing the new fans, that’s great, that’s what makes it more exciting. That’s what it’s all about.
Q:
What do you think about the
new double points for the Triple Crown races in Indycar this season?
A:
It is exciting because it puts pressure on the teams to get up there and
run good. It is also better because
Indycar is more weighted to road and street, and it’s like a double header on
the ovals.
Q: What is your favorite thing
about Pocono Raceway?
A: It’s a triangle. What’s cooler than that? And the fact that
everyone is family. All of our family
works here. Our staff is like family, the
fans are like family, you guys are like family, you know, just come over and
hang out. It’s like coming home.
THANKS BRANDON!!!
Here's a video of how much fun we had doing the interview
July 6th, 2014
and Kids (14 & under) can join the new
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