Pocono Raceway — Attraction in Tunkhannock Township

First time to Pocono Raceway. Trip to the Pocono’s for our 40th anniversary included going to the track. I use a wheelchair and spoke to guests services about whether I could get to level 300 with the chair. Our ticketed seats were near turn 3 and we were relocated to a companion seating area near the start/finish line. I was assured that my TWO companions would be able to sit with me in the companion seating section. At the elevator we were told that only one person could board the elevator with me due to heavy usage. My son pushes the chair and after multiple requests to allow my wife to also board we got on as my wife was told that the “stairs are down on each end”. Period. Never been to this track before and now she’s on her own searching for the stairs. Both of us are senior citizens and we were NOT pleased about this. After she was coldly sent to search for stairs the elevator proceeded to go up with NO ONE ELSE on it but the two of us! 🤨 Reunited after more than 25 minutes we attempt to find our disabled/companion seating. Five different directions or ‘info’ from five different people. Finally we seat and are immediately confronted and told that one of my two companions must sit in a ticketed seat far down the front stretch ALONE. 😠 My wife doesn’t push the chair that much so apparently she was supposed to sit alone halfway down the front stretch. We’ve been to many NASCAR tracks and have never had such a negative start to our experiences. Some time later and before the race began my son had to bring me to our vehicle and it began to sprinkle a little. Heading back in we reached the security check and…. officials shut everything down. No one in, no one out ‘due to conditions’. Again we are separated from my wife and she has my medications which I needed to take at that time. Told them such and was yelled at, told to leave the gate area and my wife tells me by phone that they won’t let her come approach the gate to join us even after she mentions my meds. When she is eventually allowed near the gate to hand me my medications (now late) which I was given permission to take from her I am screamed at to stop by the very same person who grudgingly allowed me to do so as two security people rush me as if me and my wheelchair were an enormous threat to the facility. Again my wife was alone in the unfamiliar venue. Gates open again & security has tired of us so they’re rush us thru the checkpoint. The Tricky Triangle is what it’s called and, quite frankly, the design stinks if you want to actually see a race. Seems 77,000 seats are all along the front from turn 3 to turn 1. After that the cars disappear unless you have powerful binoc’s. It must be close to a mile from the seats to turn 3 and the cars are mere specks. Out of turn 3 they’re going as fast as 190 mph so your view is limited to a few seconds and they soon disappear from view. The speakers in our section were inaudible and the cause/results of every caution ~ from the far end of the track were a mystery until the replays. Not very exciting at all. With around 90 laps to go we finally decided it would be more fun to just leave. Along with a couple thousand others it turned out and one traffic director who seemed uninterested in getting any cars out of the lot at all. 😡 This was not what we looked forward to for the past few months. We were all very very disappointed and couldn’t wait to get back on the road. Which was of course a whole ‘nother disaster. If you’ve stayed with me & recall my opening line, you’ve probably guessed that this is our LAST trip to Pocono Raceway as...

Went to the June 2017 race. Traffic was backed up when we were coming to the track, but it was never stand-still. The majority of the drive there was in light traffic. You only hit the traffic when you're about 5-10 minutes from the track. This was the same story when we left the track. We waited an hour to leave so that traffic would clear. That didn't do anything. I recommend just going without waiting for traffic to clear. (NOTE: Route 115 and I-80 were merged into 2 lanes. This helped move the traffic.)

Security is a HUGE plus. Instead of checking you and scanning your ticket at the gates, they check you right when you enter the track. So there's no rush to get to your section's gate. (NOTE: If you are thinking about bringing a seatback, make sure that it is NOT METAL. According to security, it can be used as a weapon.)

The fan zone was one of the highlights. Pocono takes advantage of its huge size by providing an exceptional fan zone. To those who skip that area and head straight to the grandstands, DON'T. You don't want to miss out on Pocono's fan zone. My one complaint is that if you ordered scanners online, it is confusing on where you are supposed to go to get them. You cannot just go up to a normal scanner area and show them the confirmation paper. There's more steps. (It saves money to buy online, I should add.)

Every section in the grandstands has something unique about them. The Petty tower lets you see turn 3, the France Tower allows you to see the start finish line, and the Donohue tower lets you see Turn 1, and the restarts. You can see pit road from all sections. You can't see the back straightaway very well, but I found that if you were able to see it, you never really look back there anyway. So sitting up high really only gives you the benefit of seeing the turns and front straightaway better.

The racing is never the best at Pocono. If you are taking someone who is not a NASCAR fan, make sure they have scanners or fan-visions. Pocono is not a good track for non-fans. If you are a NASCAR fan, Pocono is a great track despite the lackluster racing.

VERDICT: Pocono is a great track for NASCAR fans, but not for people who don't follow NASCAR. Overall though, Pocono is a track that every NASCAR fan needs to go to...

I grew up going to Pocono and have loved it since I was a kid. It was the first place I went when I got back to PA after separating from the Navy in 2017. Unfortunately my experience with their Fan Council has me wondering if I'll ever go back.

I was selected to the Fan Council in the spring and there were emails talking about the plans they had to include us in "lanes" where we would help out with things like marketing. Aside from an introductory meeting, we weren't included in anything until the week of the race when we were asked to volunteer our own time during race weekend to man the fan information booths and help with events. We were, in essence, a cheap labor force since all we got was a t-shirt. Most of us had already bought our tickets. There was no training before manning the fan information booth despite being tasked with helping race fans answer whatever questions they had about the event. When I helped with a driver appearance, I was ignored by the raceway staff who seemed to be putting things together last minute. They acted like I wasn't even there. A week after the race, there was no thank you message or any sort of recognition for the time we gave. The gentleman who never followed through with any of his promises to get us involved acted like nobody should ever challenge his character. When you take advantage of your most loyal race fans, you're damn right you should be looking in the mirror about your character.

I would suggest making the longer drive down to Martinsville Speedway. The racing is better especially for the October event which is of course the last race before the Championship 4 event in Phoenix. They have well coordinated events like trick or treating for the kids. You pay much less to see more of the track. They call you about your experience like your attendance there matters to them. Best of all, I don't recall seeing them take advantage of good and successful people like the people I met on the...