I was given the pleasure to go review the Smoky Mountain NASCAR Speedpark in Sevierville, TN. My daughter and I got to go on Fall Break, Monday, October 12, 2015. They were not all that busy, but according to the staff, they were busier than normal for a Monday. My daughter and I the last time we went to NASCAR Speedpark was maybe 10 years ago. I don’t remember anything from it.
NASCAR Speedpark (Review)
The first thing my daughter noticed was they were playing Christian Music. I couldn’t hear it that well until I got out of the ticket area. But they were playing Christian Music.
The other thing at the ticket stand, I noticed what I thought might have been a gospel tract. But it was actually their business card. They just had the side with the Bible verse facing up. On their business card they have 1 Thessalonians 5:11
So encourage each other & build up each other up,
just as you are already doing.
I think on average, we had to wait 30 minutes or so to ride a go-cart at each station. They have 8 go-cart tracks on site. Each has certain restrictions for drivers, the track is different and some have different types of go-carts. Each go-cart I believe is governed so they cannot go too fast. You will notice that some go faster than others. Even keeping the peddle to the metal, it seems in some you go slower than the others.
I did notice as the day went on and got closer to 4-5 pm, it seemed the lines were lower and lower and less people there. I don’t know if it picked back up, as we left around 6:30 p.m. We got there around 12:30 p.m.
One thing my daughter and I noticed is you really have to watch out for the others driver as they do not seem to care to watch out for you. Even in the pit area, you are not allowed to rev up the go-carts, but people still do. I had one child that did and each time you can feel the exhaust and smell it bad. But the pit crew person never said anything to him or the others.
I did find out they still operate when it rains, just some things are limited when it does rain. NASCAR Speedpark has more than just go-carts.
They will allow reentry. This way you can go to your car and eat your lunch or dinner or drive down the road if you want to brave the traffic and get something to eat. That is what we did, we went down to Ci Ci’s Pizza, as their snack shop didn’t have that much choices to choose from to eat and none sounded or looked good.
NASCAR Speedpark has something for most everyone!
You can even take pictures of yourself with some NASCAR cars that are on the sight.
The Pit Crew (Staff)
I did notice most of the pit crew people seemed to be nice. They did go over the rules before you were to race in the go-carts. However, I did tell one of them, about one go-cart that my daughter was in, had a flat back tire. This pit crew guy didn’t seem to care. He just said, Yea I think I saw that. That is all he said, but he kept allowing it to race.
Bumper Boats
The bumper boats were closed down the day I went, but that could be because the bumper boats are only seasonal. So, I have no review of the bumper boats. If they were open, I would have gone on it. My daughter was a little disappointed they were closed, but understood.
Dragon Layer Fantasy Golf (Mini-Golf)
They also have mini-golf you can play. They have two 18 hole courses!
If you go, I would take two balls with you when you get your club and balls. You pick those up by the ticket area in the main entrance. That way you don’t have to walk all the way to the entrance area and back to the mini-golf area.
They have the Viking Mini-Golf area, that was I thought was rather easy. Then they have the Dragon. The Dragon area was harder for me. I think my daughter done better on the Dragon course than the Viking.
Climbing Wall
They also have a climbing wall you can climb. This is an indoor activity. I didn’t get to do the climbing wall.
Rides
They also have several fair type rides that you can ride on. My daughter got to ride a few of them and enjoyed them. I don’t do those type of rides. But, she had fun. Even some little boy enjoyed it. He rode one back to back. As there was no lines there.
My daughter rode the Tilt-A-Whirl & The Scrambler. My daughter really liked the Tilt-A-Whirl, she said I got to ride it several times.
Now my daughter and I did get to ride the roller coaster, Speedway Draft. That was fun. It is a short, kid type roller coaster that even adults can ride too.
Smoky Mountains Speedway
This ride you must be 18 years old with a drivers license. My daughter, 17, couldn’t ride this ride. I think she was disappointed she couldn’t ride this one. They do check for you license.
This one you also must wear a helmet. Plus, this one uses flags, like a real NASCAR race. You get to drive a 3/8 scale care of a Sprint Race car go-cart.
This track was okay. I had a hard time putting on my eye glasses with the helmet on. You have to remove your glasses to get the helmet on or off.
This ride is very shaky. This ride is much harder to see to drive especially if the sun is shining. You have to pay to attention to the color of the flags. I do think this was an okay ride. I am sure it would have been better if the sun wasn’t shining as much that blinded you some. It was hard to see what color flags were up.
Wearing the helmet and being enclosed in this car made me feel hotter. After I got out, I was sweating a little bit. Give it a try. It is not for the faint!
At the end I knew I had one more lap because I had the white flag and then I couldn’t see the flag up and the person in front of me swerved and cut me off, causing me to hit them and causing my car to go into the pit. This one you have to be very careful on. This ride there is no warnings. I’m just glad it was toward the end.
The Competitor
I think this oval shaped track was both my daughters and my favorite track of all. I am not sure really why I liked this track the best, I just did. My daughter wouldn’t tell me why she liked this one either. She just said she did. She is that normal teenager that likes to give vague short answers.
The Rest of the Tracks
I got to experience all the tracks but the Baby Bristol. My daughter got to experience them all but the Baby Bristol and the Smoky Mountain Speedway. We did enjoy the other tracks too. They all have their own unique twist on the track and type of go-carts. Most of the tracks used a similar or same kind throughout with a few exceptions.
List of all 8 tracks at the Smoky Mountain NASCAR Speedpark
- Smoky Mountain Speedway
- The Competitor
- The Imitator
- Slidewayz
- Family 500
- Young Champions
- The Qualifier
- Baby Bristol
Downs of NASCAR Speedpark
You can smell the exhaust of the go-carts, as you wait, and also while you are in the pit area.The smells did cause me to have a slight headache. So there is chances of carbon monoxide exposure.
Another thing, as I mentioned, most people don’t seem to care about the other people around you. So you will need to watch out for them, because they won’t. It seemed the staff let somethings go while other things no go. More so, if you were bumping or crashing people they would say something, but they didn’t say anything to those reeving up their engines in the pits.
I am not totally sure, but some of the park doesn’t seem to be totally ADA compliant. As you have to go up stairs to cross over The Smoky Mountain Speedway. I didn’t see any other way to the other side.
The other thing, when I first got there, I was trying to find the bathrooms. It didn’t seem it was clearly marked as where they are. I even went outside, walked around a short bit and couldn’t find them. Finally came back inside and found them.
Some parents seem to just let their child run all over the place. Even cut line. So watch as you go from attractions for running wild children with no parents in sight.
Specials
Just a hint! You may want to check online prices first, because sometimes they offer the unlimited day pass at a discounted rate. Plus, they often will have other specials available too.
They also offer a 7 day pass too. I think that might be the best bet to experience all NASCAR Speedpark has to offer.
You can also have a birthday part for your child who is 14 and under!
Closing
Overall, even with some of the downers, I would still recommend you take your family and experience a day of racing, mini-golf and more. I would make sure you can spend a good bit of time there, as lines can be long at times. You never know they may have to shut down one of the tracks to refuel the go-carts. One track was doing that and they told the people, it should be about 20 minutes and they will resume the races.
We were there 6 hours, minus the time away to eat. I wanted to stay longer, but my daughter was ready to leave.
When you go, tell them you saw this review on CourageousChristianFather.com!
Disclaimer: I was given two tickets to do an unbiased review. This is that review for the Smoky Mountain NASCAR Speedpark.
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