Race to get Summit Motorsports tickets downs Norwalk Internet, phone service

NORWALK

At about noon Monday, phone service failed in parts of Norwalk.

Although it snowed that day, bad weather had nothing to do with the outage -- good sales were the cause.

Internet and phone service were interrupted for about an hour on Monday because Summit Motorsports Park received a huge influx of calls and Web site visits, said Bill Bader Jr., president of the race park.

At noon, tickets and racing spots for the park's Aug. 27-28 event -- "PINKS: All Out" -- became available, leading thousands of people from across the Midwest to order tickets or register for the competition.

"It was huge," Bader said. "The 425 racing spots were sold out in two minutes."

Christy Reap, Verizon spokeswoman, said customers in Norwalk likely experienced a busy signal or delay in getting a dial tone when call volume became excessive.

"Traffic returned to normal after the volume subsided," Reap said.

Bader estimates about 9,000 racers phoned or went online to acquire a spot in the competition, which is nearly double the number of racers who fought two years ago for slots in the 2008 event.

"PINKS: All Out," a reality television show featured on the Speed Channel, last visited Summit Motorsports Park in June 2008.

Entering its fourth season, "PINKS: All Out" stops at racetracks across the country to film drivers drag racing in street-legal cars.

Unlike most modern drag races, which use a traffic light to signal go, "PINKS: All Out" host Rich Christensen drops his arms to tell drivers to gun it.

The arm drop dates back to the days of illegal street drag racing.

Bader said the first installment of "PINKS: All Out" attracted more than 25,000 fans to the race park.

Norwalk's phone lines also became overloaded when tickets and racing slots for that event became available.

Based on the thousands of ticket already sold, Bader said he expects August 2010's event to pack the stands and draw tons of visitors to the area.

"By all accounts, interest in 'PINKS: All Out' is higher than it was two years ago," Bader said. "We think that's a positive sign for the economy and for northern Ohio."

For information or tickets, call 419-668-5555 or visit them online at summitmotorsportspark.com.